Well its that time of the year once again, folks. Time to pull out the spreadsheets and laptops in preparation of this year's MLB Draft. Its an exciting time for clubs, who will use every resource they have in their front office and scouting system to try to land that elusive, Hall of Fame franchise player.
Last year, the Dodgers made a surprise move, going against the tradition of drafting a pitcher in the first round, instead electing to go with high school shortstop Corey Seager with the 18th overall pick. This year, again holding the 18th overall pick, it seems the Dodgers will return to their draft roots, with heavy speculation that their first round pick will be a high-profile pitching prospect. Before I start naming off possible prospects the Dodgers will pursue, lets answer a big question I'm sure many fans are asking. Why pitching?
As you look around the diamond for the Dodgers, its easy to see we don't have much depth in terms of young infield talent. Even looking at our Farm system, which has been greatly diminished by the recent acquisitions of big name players like Adrian Gonzalez, Hanley Ramirez, Carl Crawford, and Josh Beckett, the most promising prospects the organization was able to retain are mostly pitchers.
So why draft more pitching?
As a rule of thumb, organizations in general, usually draft to their strengths, and without a doubt, the Dodgers strength is developing strong starting pitching. Two recent examples being Chad Billingsley, taken as the Dodgers first round pick in 2003, and staff ace Clayton Kershaw, the Dodgers first round pick in 2006. As the organization begins to acquire these pitching prospects and develop them, they eventually end up with a surplus of young, strong arms which are then utilized in trading situations to get missing pieces of the puzzle, whether that be a power bat, a shut-down reliever, etc.
Keeping this strategy in mind, it is likely that the Dodgers will consider multiple different pitching prospects when deciding who will receive their first pick.
Now lets get to the prospects, their numbers, and most importantly, their potential.
As draft day has gotten closer, and high school/college stats are rolling in, the draft pre-rankings are constantly shifting. One pitcher that is definitely on the Dodgers radar, and at one time was considered to potentially be the best left-handed arm is the draft is Indiana State's starting pitcher Sean Manaea. He made 13 starts for Indiana St. this year, posting a record of 5-4, with an impressive ERA of 1.47. He threw 73.1 innings, and struck out 93 hitters, which comes out to 11.45k's per 9 innings pitched. The allure behind a college draft pick is the relatively short amount of time it takes for them to be serviceable at the major league level, as compared to a pick used on a high school prospect. Proof of this accelerated development can be seen with last year's draft pick of Paco Rodriguez. The lefty specialist out of the Dodger's bullpen was the first overall player from the 2012 draft to make an appearance at the major league level.
It seems that Manaea would be a great pick for the Dodgers if they were after an arm coming from the collegiate level, but as recent draft history has shown, the Dodgers have had a lot of success going for high school arms (staff ace Clayton Kershaw and 2010 first round pick Zach Lee) as well.
Two high school arms that seem to have caught the Dodgers attention in this year's draft are left-handed Matt Krook, and right-handed Devin Williams. Krook, the more well-known prep arm from Northern California, stands at an impressive 6'-4", sporting a fastball in the mid-90s and is considered to be one of it not the best left-handed prep arm in the draft. Williams, the lesser-known righty from Hazelwood West High in Missouri, stands at 6'-3" and has had his fastball clocked in the low to mid 90s.
While neither of these pitchers may be as developed or refined as Manaea, their upside is tremendous and will be hard for the Dodgers to pass up when it is their turn to draft.
It is worth noting, but highly unlikely, that if the Dodgers do decide to look at prospects in an area other than pitching, many believe they will follow last year's move and select another infielder. When looking at the farm system, one can easily see that adding infield depth will be a main priority of management moving forward.
While it is easy and fun for us fans to speculate on who the Dodgers may take in this year's draft, for the organization and it's staff it has been a long year of scouting, and diligently doing their homework to ensure our team comes out ahead of the rest. With the Dodgers history of developing hall of fame arms and a little luck on our side, we could be well on our way to drafting the next Justin Verlander, Stephen Strasburg, or dare I say, even the next Clayton Kershaw.
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