OK, stop me if you have heard this one before. I really didn't like the 2022 draft. So far, here is what we know based on the very start of the minor league season.
1. Chase DeLauter - Drafted with a broken foot. Re-broke it over the winter. No timetable for return
1s - Justin Campbell - Out with ulnar neuritis, No timetable for return
2. Parker Messick - Rated as a soft tosser in college, he pitched at 88-92 today and gave up 7 hits with a walk and 5 Ks today for Lynchburg. His performance today was reminiscent of 2021 9th round pick Will Dion (who never gave up more than 7 hits in a start last year) when he also pitched as an overage pitcher at Lynchburg in 2022.
3. Joe Lampe - Lampe has hit and will continue to hit, I think. The deal with him with limited power is that for his tools to play up he has to play center field. In Lake County's opener he played left field while Jake Fox, who is over two years younger, played center field.
4. Nate Furman - In almost comical fashion when you compared what happened to our top 4 picks so far, Furman also opened the season at Lynchburg and batted NINETH in a lineup filled with much younger guys. As a polished college hitter I felt he should have been hitting cleanup in that lineup. As I said, a polished college bat hitting 9th on his team in a league he is really too old for has to be a practical joke, right?
5. Guy Lipscomb opened today with Lynchburg hitting 8th and over-ran a fly ball down the right field line. Again, you might guess that a 5th round pick from a college like Belmont might have started the season at Lake County. It is certainly surprising that he started at Lynchburg and hit 8th in a much younger lineup. Again, where is the hidden camera to examine the practical joke.
6. Dylan DeLucia has not been assigned to full season team. I don't know if he is injured but as a polished college pitcher it is surprising if he hasn't been assigned to a team yet.
7. Javier Santos has not been assigned to a team yet as he is a HS kid who will likely play in the ACL. Still, having seen him in spring training throwing live batting practice, he appeared really wild. In my opnion, a good lottery ticket pick to me who will need lots of time to develop.
8. Jackson Humphries - As a HS pitcher he hasn't been assigned to a team yet (likely to the ACL team once they start playing) but it is worth noting that he was given a bonus equivalent to a late 3rd round pick so there should be high expectations for him.
9. Austin Peterson - As a college pitcher and a 9th round pick his placement at Lynchburg tracks with where they placed similar college pitchers last year (Boone and Dion) when they started their pro careers. Still, likely very old for a low A league.
10. Jacob Zibin - Another HS pitcher, this one paid late 2nd round pick money, is very appropriately in extended spring training waiting for the ACL season. Like Humphries, it will be interesting to see his performance this year to see how it compared to Tommy Ventimiglia who was our lone HS pitcher drafted in 2021 and who debuted last year in the ACL.
Again, the non-placements of some of these guys due to injuries is not optimal but the placement of our top 10 picks from last year, where they were in the lineup and on the field and how they performed is also concerning. Let's hope this is all a bump in the road in player development or a well-orchestrated practical joke.
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