I got into an interesting discussion with a fellow Astro fan today about the MLB draft, as it pertains to our beloved Astros. I’m not quite sure how it came up, but the result of the initial e-mails got me thinking… I wanted to see how the Astros drafted over the last 10-15 years, and who they could have drafted. As most people are aware, the Astros minor league system is pretty bare at all levels. This lack of talent stems from a number of different places, when  you win a lot and sign free agents, your draft position tends to be a bit low. That being said, if you don’t pick good players, it doesn’t matter where you draft. Anyway, I wanted to see how we got to this point, because not too long ago, the Astro farm was regarded as pretty darn good. Those days are long gone.

Now, before I get started I’ll address a few things: I know that there are many factors to consider when drafting amateur players, for instance, 

• Some clubs won’t draft High School players unless they’re super-special… 
• Other teams don’t want guys that will command big signing bonuses and are deemed “un-signable” (see: below for 1992 draft)… 
• Some teams, like Houston, don’t want to pay much at all to new draftees regardless of their caliber… 
• Teams won’t take guys based on their representation (see: JD Drew/Scott Boras). 

So, I go into this assessment knowing that those issues are/were real factors in deciding to pass on some guys, while opting for others. So, I guess what I’m saying is; take these criticisms with a grain of salt.

(Due to the potential length of this discussion, I’ll break it down to a couple different blog entries…you are welcome) Also to be fair, I’m only pulling results from the first 10 rounds. At that point, a whole lot of teams passed those players…

Well, add Phil Nevin to that list, because that’s who the Astros took number 1. Now, let’s see who else the Astros could have had with that pick… Jeffrey Hammods, Preston Wilson, Shannon Stewart, Jason Kendall, Johnny Damon, Jon Lieber, Todd Helton, and Jason Giambi. Oh, Matt Williams was a 4th rounder that year too. All of those guys had better careers than Nevin did.

Wait, I saved this one for last, Derek Jeter. Yup, that’s right, “the Captain” Derek Jeter was on the board when the Astro brass decided to take Phil Nevin. Just to provide a little back story, the Astros were initially interested in taking Jeter, but there were concerns about him going to college if the signing bonus wasn’t $1,000,000. After the Astros decided to use their pick on Phil Nevin, scout Hal Newhouser, quit baseball. He said that if he couldn’t convince the Astros to take this special player, he couldn’t convince them to take anyone. Oh, the Astros did pay a good amount to Nevin too, $700,000 was his bonus. The Astros missed out of Derek Jeter over $300,000. Nevin, although an All-Star in 2001, was twice a “Player to be named later”… Thats not #1 overall material.

It’s hard to fault them for taking Billy Wagner 12th overall. Other players taken after that and before the next pick:Derek Lee, Chris Carpenter, Jason Varitek, Scott Rolen, and Jeff Suppan. Their 2nd and 3rd round picks were sent to the Pirates and Reds as compensation for the signings of Doug Drabek and Greg Swindell (thanks Uncle D). Overall, 1993 wasn’t a very good draft class.

The first pick came at #17, another at #25, and #30 (from Mark Portugal). Ramon Castro, Scott Elarton, and Russ Johnson were the first round selections. Other could-have-beens from a second straight weak draft class: Troy Glaus, Aaron Boone, AJ Pierzynski, Javier Vasquez, Geoff Blum, and Carl Pavano. again, not a very good class overall… In fairness, Elarton was considered a very good prospect up until he actually got in the big leagues. Castro has been a good catcher in MLB…just not with the Astros.

The Mariners took local kid Jose Cruz Jr #3 overall, and 16 teams passed up Roy Halladay…oops. Back to the ‘Stros, the 22nd pick belonged to them. We took a RHP named Tony McNight (he had an illustrious career that lasted all of 122.1 IP). Notable misses; Jarrod Washburn, Carlos Beltran, Sean Casey, Randy Winn, Ryan Dempster, Bronson Arroyo, JJ Putz, Russ Ortiz, AJ Burnett, and Mike Lowell.

Eric Milton, Jake Westbrook, and Gil Meche were taken immediately after the Astros pick (Mark J Johnson @ #19) in the first round. Others missed opportunities:  Jason Marquis, Milton Bradley (good miss), Jimmy Rollins, Jeff Farnsworth, Alex Cora, Nick Johnson, Joe Crede, Brad Penny, Casey Blake, Mark DeRosa, and Justin Duchscherer. 

Okay, thats all for now… This is getting a little long now, so I’ll cut it off here… Please check back so you can find out what all of this means.