As we all know, the Astros really messed up with the draft last year. Our first pick, Derek Dietrich was taken in the 3rd round and we failed to sign him. He took his scholarship to Georgia Tech. Wanna know how he's doing as a true freshman? .346 10 HR 33 RBI .444 OBP .720 SLG 15 BB 23 K That's in 30 games and 107 AB's He does have 8 errors in 30 games this year, but he's playing SS while the Astros had intended him to move him over to 3B. Looks like we really missed on this kid. On another note, Brett Eibner, our 2nd pick overall is doing ok at Arkansas as a 2 way player. Was a better hitter in HS than a pitcher, but his stuff projected better as a pitcher. .316 3 HR 25 RBI .426 OBP .495 SLG 13 BB 17 K 2-1 6.89 ERA 15.2 Innings 9 BB 15 K
And how is Drew Stubbs doing? A lot of folks criticized the Astros for not signing him (3rd round pick) in 2003. The Reds drafted him in the first round in 2006. Last year he was still on the Reds lowest single A team. Although the Astros should have done a better job in signing their picks, to say they made a mistake because a guy is playing well as a freshman in college is a bit premature.
Good point on Stubbs. Dude couldn't hit a curveball to save his life. The Astros not signing their top picks is not a good thing, though
True that draft picks are always a risk, but keep in mind that we didn't have a 1st or 2nd round pick. Our farm system is one of the WORST in the league. How exactly is not signing this kid a good thing again? And if you go by the Drew Stubbs logic, then all draft picks will be busts. You do your homework, you'll be rewarded.
B/C you draft a guy and don't sign him and he doesn't do well isn't a WIN for the organization. It is STILL a loss drafting a guy that sucks. They need to draft guys that are going to be good, AND sign them.
You also have to keep in mind that Dietrich is still a freshman and is already putting up huge numbers. Drew Stubbs numbers as a freshman? .301 8 HR 47 RBI 28 BB 75 K 266 AB Soph .311 11 HR 46 RBI 32 BB 71 K 283 AB JR .342 12 HR 58 RBI 41 BB 60 K 243 AB Dietrich still has roughly 40 games left and will hit near 20 homers as a freshman. The strikeouts are a little bit of a concern at once every four AB's, but again, he's a true freshman and he's not striking out nearly as much as Stubbs was.
OK, so our 3rd rounder is hitting .342. That's pretty damned good. I wonder what he would be batting if he was using a wood bat instead of an aluminum bat. I wonder how he would be doing against pro pitchers rather than college players. I wish we had signed the guy, but I'm not really ready to annoint him the next coming of Babe Ruth quite yet. All that being said, we need to do a much better job of signing draft picks so we will have players to develop.
They did, and there was agreement before the draft on 2nd/3rd round money. Then the "advisors" (agents, Purp said Boras was involved) got ahold of the kids & told 'em to play hardball....
Stubbs is doing "okay". Might not be the can't miss prospect that was projected 2 years ago, but he is certainly one of the top 100 prospects in baseball right now. If he were with the astros he probably would be the top prospect in their system.
As they should have given the situation they were in. It would have been malpractice for their agents not to advise that. The Astros should have realized as much before the draft.
anyways, it's over no use crying over what dietrich is doing. Baseball is full of what ifs. What is important is the future. The astros have a great chance in this upcoming draft to infuse some much needed talented into their system.
Their agents told them to play hard ball, and now those kids got a big, fat nothing. If they blow out a shoulder in college, they will be damaged. That is malpractice.
They got ~120 thousand dollars worth of scholarship money + multiple opportunities in the next 4 years to be drafted again. Given how they are playing it looks like there is a good chance they'll get an even better deal two years from now. Simple put, they had other attractive alternatives to signing, while the Astros, with no first and second round picks and the worst farm system in baseball, did not. They had enormous bargaining power over the Astros and it would have been naive, and not in their economic self-interest, not to exercise that power. Any agent would see that. If the astros' primary concern was not going over slot to sign their draft picks, they should have draft players (ie college seniors) with less bargaining power.
true that both players pretty much had the astros by the balls, but it was the astros unwillingness to budge that ultimately caused them to go off to college. hindsight may be 20/20, and while dietrich is doing very very well and is looking like a future 1st rounder right now, you dont just dismiss your 1st overall pick when your farm system is so weak, especially in position players, much less PREMIUM position players such as 3rd baseman. his signing bonus for the 3rd round would have been somewhere between $250,000-300,000. that really isnt a whole lot when you think about it considering he's going to give up at least the next 6 years to the astros. it was reported that his signability wouldnt be a problem and that they were close to a predraft deal, so its not like he all of a sudden asked for $2 million. i'm guessing he was asking for maybe $400,000-500,000...and when you're the astros, you better bust out the checkbook if it's only an extra 100-200k. with all that said, tim purpura cant negotiate worth crap and im glad he's gone.
another factor may have been that dietrich broke his arm during negotiations. i believe he fell down the stairs or something like that. ill have to go look it up. if the astros lowballed him because of that injury, that really makes us look like fools since it was a non career threatening injury. i can understand if it was a baseball related injury like a torn tendon or rotator cuff or labrum, but it was a broken arm. i dunno...its whatever now. im glad we have a new GM.
I believe he cannot be drafted again until after his junior season. The Astros drafted Stubbs out of high school in 2003 and he wasnt drafted by the Reds until 2006.
Yea you're right, I think it's either 3 years and/or after the 21st birthday. I knew Chris Young in college and he got draft when he was 21 after his sophomore year.
