Anallysis of our second round pick

In the second round the Indians drafted a fielding first HS shortstop,  Yordys Valdes.   Not exactly what you would have imagined a team almost devoid of power hitting prospects and whose strength is to develop college pitchers might do.  I mean, you get your slick fielding shortstops from the Dominican Republic, right?  

So, what happened?

Was he a highly rated guy who dropped to the Indians and they took a flyer on him?  Nope, he was drafted 63rd and he was the 82nd ranked player.

Was he a guy who could change positions and let his bat carry him?   Nope.   His hit tool is rated a 45.  

So, again I asked, what happened.

Well, here is what I think.

The Indians were really targeting two college pitchers, Matt Canterino and Rhye Nelson.  The rest of the college pitchers had significant warts on them that would make them not really worthy of a 2nd round pick.   Basically, I think the Indians thought the other pitchers weren't the type they could develop like they did with Bieber, Plesac, et al.

So they were stuck.  Their Plan Z sucked but they were forced to go to Plan Z.  That is why this pick looks so odd.   If this was football they would have probably done a deal and traded this 2nd round pick for two 3rd round picks or something like that.

Now the Indians will likely say I am wrong and they were targeting Valdes all along.

But an organization that is weak at developing HS hitters and who already has lots of middle infield prospects at the low level of the minors, all of whom can hit better than Valdes, doesn't take a defensive player first.   This is especially true when their recent history of drafting defensive players who they thought they could turn into hitters has gone so dismally.   If you don't believe that look at the second round pick they wasted on Loga Ice a few years ago.   Ice was close to a ML-ready catcher but, save one small sample size right before the draft, he was NOT a hitter.  

So given their bad history at developing hitters drafted out of HS, their strength at developing college pitchers and their failure at turning defensive0first players into hitters, how did they end up with a guy like Valdes as their second pick?

I already told you: Plan Z, every other guy on their board above Valdes and significantly below Valdes was taken already.

Right now this draft is looking shaky.   Valdes is likely to never to get out of A ball.   Espino is a lights out reliever but does this organization need another reliever prospect?  For a team that really needs prospects this doesn't seem like a good draft so far.   But maybe the Indians know something.  Maybe both Espino and Valdes will sign for under slot so we have more money to play with.   Or maybe they don't put much stock into the high rounds of the draft any more.   Maybe that is why they were so free to give away their competitive balance pick this last winter.   Maybe they are saving their dimes for the international free agent period in July because they feel high round domestic talent is overrated and overvalued.  

Who knows?  What I do know is that these first two picks don't look like what a team on the cusp of a rebuild would be making, looking at their organizational strengths and weaknesses.  So I will wait for the other shoe to drop sometime this year or this coming winter.  Because there has to be another shoe dropping, right?