Three of the Rays un-signed picks from the 2009 draft have been named to the Baseball America 2010 College Freshman All-America Team.
Kenny Diekroeger (2nd round) of Stanford was named to the first team at third base. He hit .356/.391/.491 in 216 at bats this year.
Austin Maddox (37th round) of Florida was also named to the first team as the designated hitter. In 264 AB's he put up a .333/.363/.587 line with 17 homeruns for the Gators.
Dylan Floro (20th round) of Cal State Fullerton was named to the second team as a starting pitcher. He was 7-2 with a 3.26 ERA in 91 innings, with a 69-11 strikeout to walk ratio.
The Diekroeger kid is a fabulous talent. I've seen him on TV several times and followed him over the year and he is the real deal.
ReplyDeleteA little off topic here but, is it fair to say Mitch Talbot is one who got away? He probably has been Cleveland's most consistent pitcher this year.
We may be sorry one day we did not try harder to sign Diekroeger. He could turn out to be a star,probably at 2B though. He is already being considered as a top ten pick in the 2012 draft.Drafting Dietrich this year for compensation for not signing Diekroeger probably will not make up for it.
ReplyDeleteWhat makes you think we didn't try?
ReplyDeleteWell Maddox was kinda a lost cause for us seing as he was a 30 something round pick, but Diekroger and Floro, I thought coulda been signed with the money we didnt spend on Levon.
ReplyDeleteTalbot didn't get away, we got rid of him. But really where was he going to be with the Rays? He was out of options and wasn't going to make the rotation, so it was either the bullpen or trade him, or we lose him on waivers. I thought he was worth more than Shoppach, who was on his way out with the Indians anyway, but apparently the other 29 teams didn't agree with me.
ReplyDeleteOn Diekroeger, he was going to be a tough sign. Who gives up a chance to go to Stanford? The inability to sign him doesn't really bother me, it's picking him in the first place. The Stanford commit wasn't a secret, wonder if the Rays were misled about what it would take to get him signed. I don't really care about Washington not signing, but the Diekroeger pick bothers me. Something happened there.
Floro and Maddox were later round high school guys, looking at small signing bonuses, so not real suprise they chose to go to college. If they continue to do well they may get drafted higher after their junior years and plus they get the college education. I'd take that risk, rather have a partially paid for education and chase coeds than a couple grand and riding a bus around the Appy. Depends on how much the guy wants to get started as a pro.