8/10 Games

[ChiSoxJon]

Not exactly the same mistake; Sox only team to draft Mitchell instead of Trout. Some of the other 22 teams probably drafted a pretty good baseball player; Sox got a football player. Just meaningless hindsight blabber now. Mitchell looked pretty good for a year or two. It would be interesting to see those first round picks if you have the link.

 

Was Mitchell a surprise pick that year? Can't remember.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_Major_Le..._Baseball_Draft

 

Can't lie, I was a HUGE fan of the Mitchell pick...just noticed LA got Garrett Richards in the second round that year, what a draft for them...we got Phegley

[southsider2k5]

Not exactly the same mistake; Sox only team to draft Mitchell instead of Trout. Some of the other 22 teams probably drafted a pretty good baseball player; Sox got a football player. Just meaningless hindsight blabber now. Mitchell looked pretty good for a year or two. It would be interesting to see those first round picks if you have the link.

 

Was Mitchell a surprise pick that year? Can't remember.

 

Again, Mitchell looks a whole lot different if he doesn't destroy his ankle in a spring training game. Of course he wouldn't be Mike Trout, but no one is.

[royoung]

http://www.chicagonow.com/future-sox/2014/...e-rough-sunday/

 

Recap posted. Adam Lopez makes his 2014 debut.

[witesoxfan]

Again, Mitchell looks a whole lot different if he doesn't destroy his ankle in a spring training game. Of course he wouldn't be Mike Trout, but no one is.

 

Well, Mike Trout is Mike Trout, so your argument is invalid.

[southsider2k5]

Well, Mike Trout is Mike Trout, so your argument is invalid.

 

On draft day, no expected Mike Trout to be Mike Trout, so therefore I re-validated it.

[ILMOU]

http://www.chicagonow.com/future-sox/2014/...e-rough-sunday/

 

Recap posted. Adam Lopez makes his 2014 debut.

 

Finally. And a good inning to start.

 

It's been an encouraging week for the future (short, medium and long term) of Sox pitching, from Noesi down to Guerrero. Lopez another AFL candidate?

Edited August 11, 2014 by Stan Bahnsen

[royoung]

Finally. And a good inning to start.

 

It's been an encouraging week for the future (short, medium and long term) of Sox pitching, from Noesi down to Guerrero. Lopez another AFL candidate?

 

I think Lopez is a no-brainer for the AFL. He should be ready for the level, he's age appropriate, and he needs more innings.

[ChiSox_Sonix]

Not exactly the same mistake; Sox only team to draft Mitchell instead of Trout. Some of the other 22 teams probably drafted a pretty good baseball player; Sox got a football player. Just meaningless hindsight blabber now. Mitchell looked pretty good for a year or two. It would be interesting to see those first round picks if you have the link.

 

Was Mitchell a surprise pick that year? Can't remember.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_MLB_draft

 

I'd rather make a mistake with the 23rd pick instead of the 3rd or 4th pick like some teams. The Angels also "screwed up" their pick right before taking Trout themselves so that whole argument is pretty silly.

[Chisoxfn]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_MLB_draft

 

I'd rather make a mistake with the 23rd pick instead of the 3rd or 4th pick like some teams. The Angels also "screwed up" their pick right before taking Trout themselves so that whole argument is pretty silly.

I don't know..Angels pretty big winners in that draft. They had Trout at 23rd and took Garret Richards (IIRC) with their supplemental first round pick that same year. For those not familiar with Richards, he's been lights out this year and has nasty stuff (huge fastball and a great curve). Oh and he was beat out by Sale in the final vote, however, both deserved to be all stars, imo.

 

Edit: I just went to your link, Angels hit pretty well on 3 of their first 4 picks in that draft, with their first being a good prospect in the Cards system now (traded this off-season; not a top prospect but has a shot at sticking with a major league squad in the OF) and then nabbing Trout, Skaggs, and Richards.

[Chisoxfn]

I am not sure that they "missed" on Grichuk. He has his warts and he's no Mike Trout but he's still just 22. He's hammering the ball in AAA albeit in the PCL. There is still a good chance he can amount to a 4th outfielder or a second division starter. Plus, I'll never discount anyone in the Cardinals' system.

I agree; He's with the Cards and has a potential place. As a whole, he had value too. They really did an excellent job.

[whitesoxfan99]

I don't know..Angels pretty big winners in that draft. They had Trout at 23rd and took Garret Richards (IIRC) with their supplemental first round pick that same year. For those not familiar with Richards, he's been lights out this year and has nasty stuff (huge fastball and a great curve). Oh and he was beat out by Sale in the final vote, however, both deserved to be all stars, imo.

 

Edit: I just went to your link, Angels hit pretty well on 3 of their first 4 picks in that draft, with their first being a good prospect in the Cards system now (traded this off-season; not a top prospect but has a shot at sticking with a major league squad in the OF) and then nabbing Trout, Skaggs, and Richards.

 

They nailed their 2nd round pick as well as Patrick Corbin who was really good for the Diamondbacks last year.

[Chisoxfn]

They nailed their 2nd round pick as well as Patrick Corbin who was really good for the Diamondbacks last year.

Yep; On paper it looks like one of the better team specific drafts of all time.

[Quin]

Again, Mitchell looks a whole lot different if he doesn't destroy his ankle in a spring training game. Of course he wouldn't be Mike Trout, but no one is.

 

People forget that Mitchell looked reaaaaally good before that injury.

[Rowand44]

Yep; On paper it looks like one of the better team specific drafts of all time.

Ya wow. I've never paid attention to a team specific draft(outside the Sox) but that's damn impressive.

[witesoxfan]

The Angels also drafted some guy named Jake Locker that year too.

[caulfield12]

Back in the 1980s, when Greg Morhardt was just another minor leaguer on his way to soon becoming an ex-minor leaguer, he crossed paths with players such as Rafael Palmeiro, Will Clark, Mark McGwire and Barry Bonds.

 

Decades later, when Morhardt became an area scout, he recalled those future major league stars as he watched a muscular teenager from New Jersey.

 

"Gee whiz," Morhardt recalled thinking, "Mike Trout is 16 or 17 and he's really better than all of them."

Back then, it may have seemed like hyperbole when Morhardt filed glowing, almost unbelievable reports, on Trout. Today, it makes sense.

 

Trout is a virtual lock to be selected the AL Rookie of the Year on Monday. He's also got a shot to win the AL MVP Award, which will be announced Thursday. Trout could join Fred Lynn and Ichiro Suzuki as the only players to win the Rookie of the Year and the MVP in the same season.

 

Trout is the underdog in the MVP race because Miguel Cabrera won baseball's first Triple Crown in 45 years. Trout supporters would say his season was just as historic. He was the first rookie to combine 30 homers and 40 stolen bases. He led the majors with 129 runs.

 

"The home run power you expected to come because he has the frame and the quickness and the strength," Morhardt said, "but you thought maybe it would be a year or two later."

 

As high as expectations were for Trout, they weren't this high.

 

"None of us thought he'd be as good as he'd be last year, at 20 years old," former Angels scouting director Eddie Bane said. "You could dream about it when he was 27 or 30. Even then, we'd have been told we were crazy."

 

That's because in the spring of 2009, when teams were assembling their lists and preparing for the draft, none of them thought Trout would do what he's done. Good thing, too. Or the Angels wouldn't have been able to get him with the 25th pick, after 21 other teams said, "No, thanks," including the Washington Nationals and Arizona Diamondbacks twice.

"He definitely moved a lot quicker and turned out to be a hell of a ballplayer a lot quicker than people were anticipating," said San Francisco Giants scouting director John Barr, who picked sixth. "I think we all look back now and think, 'Geez, we wish he was higher on our boards.'"

 

The Angels had Trout at No. 2 on their board, behind only Stephen Strasburg.

 

"And even that may have been a little low," Bane said.

 

Although Strasburg was baseball's consensus No. 1 pick, a once-in-a-generation talent who has lived up to the billing so far in his major-league career, there was at least one voice in the Angels' draft room who dissented.

 

"I didn't think there was a better player than Mikey," said Morhardt, who now works as a national crosschecker. "I'll put him against anybody. Sometimes you have to jump out there a little bit. I didn't think there was a better amateur player in the country. At some point he's going to have a chance to be a Hall of Fame baseball player."

 

www.ocregister.com

Edited August 11, 2014 by caulfield12