Happy Draft Day, everyone!
Oh c’mon, is everyone still bummed out over ANOTHER
premature report concerning Ryan Braun possibly, could be, maybe getting suspended?
Well turn those frowns upside down! It’s on this day that the Brewers will
hopefully draft their next big superstar.
...Alright, so maybe those odds are a little more slim than usual.
As many of us are well aware, the Brewers forfeited their first round pick
this year to the St. Louis Cardinals for signing free agent pitcher Kyle Lohse;
something I imagine the team now wishes they could take back,
considering their current standing.
So why get excited then? Because sometimes when you dig deep enough, you find a
diamond in the rough.
The best teams don’t win from drafting all their talent
in the first round, they find solid
contributors from all over the draft. And as their first pick isn’t until the 2nd round
this year, I decided to take a peak back at all the best selections from that
round in franchise history
Yovani Gallardo
Let's start
it off with a current player. After being drafted in 2004 out of Trimble Technical High
School in Fort Worth, Texas, Gallardo has spent a better part of his career as
the Brewers’ #1 pitcher, and has done quite well in that role overall.
To call him a consistent performer, though, would be a bit asinine since
he’s far from what you'd call a consistent pitcher, and 2013 has been no exception. However, it’s easy to forget just how good he’s been
in the past, as he's currently carrying a career 3.73 ERA (right in line with his
cumulative 3.67 FIP) to go with a 9.07 K/9. He's also coming off of his fourth
consecutive 200 strikeout campaign, and has been worth a combined 15.2 (f)WAR,
which is good for 6th all time in Brewers pitching.
Given where he was drafted and what he’s brought to the
table, it’s really hard to complain about his production to date, especially
when he’s been one of the few rocks in the rotation for Milwaukee for the past 5 years. With a
contract expiring in 2 seasons, however, it's possible his time as a Brewer may soon be
coming to an end. If that’s the case, he will surely be leaving quite an
imprint from everything he and the team would have accomplished during his tenure.
JJ Hardy
In the midst of Seguramania, we've almost forgotten that the
Brewers had themselves an All-Star shortstop just 4 years prior to this one.
Hardy had recently graduated from Sabino High School in Tucson, Arizona when the Brewers selected him in 2001. Years later, he came up with a
star-studded group of prospects that included Prince Fielder and Rickie Weeks,
and despite a poor final season, he performed a lot better than people may give him credit for.
For one, Hardy played his position very well. Spanning over
4500 innings with the Brewers from 2005 to 2009, Hardy rated as the second best
defensive shortstop in baseball, just behind Omar Vizquel (who is, by his own
merit, certainly no slouch with the glove). He hit 75 home runs, and held a
.320 weighted on base average (wOBA), which is by all means
pretty good for a shortstop.
The unfortunate part for Hardy was all the while he was
experiencing success with the major league club, the team had a whiz defensive
shortstop coming up right behind him in Alcides Escobar. This meant that as
soon as he got expensive/wasn’t pulling his weight, it was curtains for him. In a light turn for the team, though, the Brewers were also fortunate enough to acquire Carlos
Gomez from the Minnesota Twins in exchange for Hardy, which has worked out pretty okay, I guess,
especially in the past season and a half.
Still,
when all is said and done, Hardy will not just be regarded as one of the
better 2nd rounders the Brewers selected, but also one of their best
shortstops (even if Segura steals our hearts in the next 5+ years).
Moose Haas
An oldie but a goodie. Selected by the Brewers out of Owings Mill, Maryland's Franklin High School in the 1974 MLB Draft, the right-handed Haas
has gone down as one of the best pitchers in Brewers history. Remember that WAR
list I mentioned with Gallardo? Haas ranks 4th on that list, just a little ways above Gallardo, with a career 20.9 (f)WAR as a member of the Crew.
Haas wasn’t so much a "world-beater" as a pitcher as much as he
was a durable, effective starter. He made 231 starts for the Brewers, only once
striking out over 113 batters, but also keeping a cool 2.37 BB/9. He
averaged around 180 innings in a normal year, and finished a total of 56 games in his career, including one season
in 1980 where he went the distance 14 times.
Though his career numbers wouldn’t necessarily “wow” anyone,
Haas was a reliable part of the Brewers rotation, and stood as someone the team
could count on year in and year out, especially during some of their more
competitive years. For a second round value, that’s more than most teams would
dream of even today.
There are certainly other worthy candidates that could have made this this list, and
let’s not forget about recent up-and-comer Jimmy Nelson from the 2010 draft, who just yesterday was
promoted to AAA Nashville and will likely be seeing time with the club this
September. This is just a nice reminder that even without a first round pick,
the Brewers could stumble on some gold if the right player falls to their
position.
Enjoy the draft, reaction to hopefully come soon after in the days following.
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