WALLY JOYNER IN DA HOUSE! DRAFT THREAD - MLB NETWORK... Read RGHAN'S Draft Preview here. The Angels have 5 of the first 40 picks of the MLB draft. The first round begins at 4:00 PM on the MLB Network. The 2nd round is tomorrow. There are many mock drafts out there with educated guesses and random hunches. A good one is at SBN's MLB Bonus Baby, a great baseball draft site. Here is what we know about the Angels draft strategy:
- High risk, high reward players are okay
- Players wanting over slot (bonuses exceeding those received by the draft picks nearest them) will still be drafted.
- They like high school players, especially pitchers.
- They draft according to a player's perceived ceiling (the best case scenario of the player's potential in the major leagues) as opposed to out of any organizational "need".
- In recent history, the Angels scouting in Florida has been especially successful
Because they lost free agents John Lackey and Chone Figgins, the Angels receive the first round picks of those teams as well as a supplemental pick before the 2nd round. Add in their regular pick and that is 5 picks out of the first 40 players.
The Angels get:
Pick #18 (was the Mariners pick, compensation for the signing of Desmond DeChone)
Pick #29 (was the Red Sox pick, compensation for the signing of Thunder Lackey)
Pick #30 - their pick
Pick #37 - Supplemental pick for losing Figgy
Pick #40 - Supplemental pick for losing Benedict Lackey.
In the 2nd round (broadcast tomorrow) they have the 81st pick. In the 3rd round the have the 111th pick and have the 115th pick as compensation for not signing a high draft pick (J. Spence) in last year's draft.