Why are most of the top draft prospects pitchers?

There must be a reason for this, but I admittedly don't know enough about the baseball draft to know why...

over 2 years ago Hilary Lee 18 comments 0 recs |

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Are you talking about this season?

Random chance, really.

by Josh Timmers on Jun 9, 2009 5:14 PM CDT reply actions

Yeah, this season is what I meant.

It seemed unusual to me.

by Hilary Lee on Jun 9, 2009 6:38 PM CDT up reply actions

Because pitching is king

Pitching is the most prized commodity in baseball. If you don’t have it, then you need to pay through the nose to acquire it from somebody else.

You mean, let me understand this cause, ya know maybe it's me, I'm a little messed up maybe, but I'm funny how, I mean funny like I'm a clown, I amuse you? I make you laugh, I'm here to amuse you? What do you mean funny, funny how? How am I funny?

by BLou on Jun 9, 2009 8:14 PM CDT reply actions

Very true

Although if the GMs were doing a redraft of existing players, I would expect the majority of the top picks would be young star position players. Mauer, Longoria, Hanley Ramirez, etc. Those guys are pretty hard to come by.

Since this is a fantasy world I’m proposing, there’s obviously no way of knowing . . .

by madcow256 on Jun 9, 2009 9:22 PM CDT up reply actions

so that is the Cubs problem

DFA every position player, we want 25 pitchers on the staff

baseball is a game of outs......pop out, ground out, line out, pitch out, strike out, fly out, and Fox and Bud's favorite black out

by Cubbie-Tim on Jun 10, 2009 4:30 PM CDT up reply actions

Um -- DUH!

Pitchers are more valuable.

There is no such thing as an ugly female breast

by Worf on Jun 10, 2009 7:04 AM CDT reply actions

Don't you think

That’s a smidge over-simplified? I mean, if your team had the choice of drafting Evan Longoria or …I don’t know… Jason Marquis, would you really tell me the pitcher is more valuable?

by Hilary Lee on Jun 10, 2009 11:33 AM CDT up reply actions

They can help you quicker

Is how I was taking it, if a draftee has at least one plus pitch, one can assume he could be a semi-effective middle reliever rather quickly, and hopefully continue to develop. Whereas position players need more time to grow physically and mentally in order to be of service, particularly in full time duty.

Okay, just so I understand it... in your wildest fantasy, you are in hell. And you are co-running a bed and breakfast with the devil.

by bren on Jun 10, 2009 11:46 AM CDT up reply actions

It's just chance, people!

It has nothing to do with pitching being 90% of baseball or pitching wins ballgames or any of that crap. It’s just that this season there happened to be a lot more quality pitchers available than hitters.

Let’s look at the first round of the 2005 Draft

1. Justin Upton OF
2. Alex Gordon 3B
3. Jeff Clement C
4. Ryan Zimmerman 3B
5. Ryan Braun 3B
6. Ricky Romero LHP
7. Troy Tulowitzki SS
8. Wade Townsend RHP
9. Mike Pelfry RHP
10. Cameron Maybin OF
11. Andrew McCutchen OF
12. Jay Bruce OF

Nine of the top 12 were position players (Actually, 11 of the top 14) So was pitching not king in 2005 but it is now?

by Josh Timmers on Jun 10, 2009 11:47 AM CDT reply actions

because there are better pitching prospects

then positional prospects this year.

FIRE VDN

by gocubs526 on Jun 10, 2009 2:46 PM CDT up reply actions

Im thinking that

2005 was the outlier. Think of a typical team. How many of each position are on a team?
MAybe it’s….
13 Pitchers
7 Infielders
5 Outfielders

Hmmm, which position has the most? Those numbers may not be exact, but you get my point…

"I can accept failure, but I can't accept not trying" - Michael Jordan, the one and only...

by LPLancer23 on Jun 10, 2009 12:56 PM CDT reply actions

You're quite wrong

The typical team does not have 13 pitchers. Every team carries 11 or 12. And during the playoffs, teams ALWAYS carry 11.

by Poloplaya14 on Jun 11, 2009 1:27 AM CDT up reply actions

And he left off catchers.

"You can observe a lot just by watching." ~ Yogi Berra

by Al Yellon on Jun 11, 2009 8:08 AM CDT up reply actions

that is why you convert Catchers to pitchers (ala Marmol)

so you dont need to carry a catcher anymore

(SARCASM)

baseball is a game of outs......pop out, ground out, line out, pitch out, strike out, fly out, and Fox and Bud's favorite black out

by Cubbie-Tim on Jun 11, 2009 11:30 AM CDT up reply actions

I counted cathers as infielders.

And like i said, this isnt exact. You get my point though. You say theres 11. thats gonna be more than any position on the field. You multiply that by 30 teams? You suddenly have alot more pitchers, and thats just in the majors..

"I can accept failure, but I can't accept not trying" - Michael Jordan, the one and only...

by LPLancer23 on Jun 11, 2009 3:07 PM CDT up reply actions

This year

is simply a strong (er) draft for pitchers. There are virtually no big corner infield bats available, like their were last year.

churchofbaseball.com

by MJMars on Jun 10, 2009 1:01 PM CDT reply actions

It's a weird occurance, kind of like in the NFL

you HAVE to take a HB first round kind of deal

I'm a lefty, maybe Lou should give me a shot for a position in the bullpen!!

by Chanman25 on Jun 10, 2009 6:56 PM CDT reply actions

Just a good year

Its a good year for pitchers in this draft. Plus with the current state of the economy and how much teams are paying out for average free agent starters it makes sense to grow the arms on the farm through the draft. I was happy to see the cubs take more college arms than high school pitching. Taking high schoolers seems to be more ofa lose, lose proposition. Whatever happened to young fireballer Mark Pawelek???

by IVYHOPESDreams on Jun 11, 2009 11:10 AM CDT reply actions