Kershaw was drafted by the Dodgers in the 1st round of the 2006 draft from Highland Park High School
It’s been almost 17 years since the book Moneyball published. The book has changed baseball and sports in several perspectives. As I read the book again, these lines really capture my attention again, “The scouts adored high school players, and they especially adored high school pitchers. High school pitchers were so far away from being who they would be when they grew up that you could imagine them becoming almost anything. High school pitchers also had brand-new arms, and brand-new arms were able to generate the one asset scouts could measure: fastball’s velocity. The most important quality in a pitcher was not his brute strength but his ability to deceive, and deception took many forms.”
The book was published in 2003. After the book was published, there have been many changes in baseball. Looking back to the first round (including supplemental round) picks draft from 2006 to 2010, anything notable?
From 2006 to 2010, only in 2010, MLB teams selected more high school players than college players in the first round. In that year, there were 28 high school players selected in the first round. Among these 28 high school players, 15 were pitchers.
In the 2006 draft, the first high school player selected was a pitcher from Highland Park High School and his name is Clayton Kershaw. The Dodgers had 3 picks in the first round in the 2006 draft, the Dodgers used 2 other picks (26 & 31) to select Bryan Morris and Preston Mattingly. Bryan Morris was a college pitcher and signed with the Dodgers in June, however, he never played for the Dodgers. He was traded to the Pirates in 2008. Preston Mattingly, son of former Dodger manager Don Mattingly, was a high school shortstop. Preston Mattingly didn’t make it to the big league and retired from baseball in 2012.
Unfortunately, Dodgers owner Frank McCourt fired DePodesta after the 2005 season, a disappointing season due to too many key players injured. DePodesta later joined the Padres in 2006 and became Executive Vice President in November 2008. In 2009 and 2010, the Padres each had 1 pick in the first round. In 2009, the Padres selected Donavan Tate in the first round. Tate was rated as a top prospect, however, he didn’t make it to the big league.
In 2010, the Padres selected Karsten Whitson in the first round. However, he didn’t sign with the Padres and decided to go to the University of Florida.
In November 2010, he was hired by the Mets as the vice president of player development and scouting.
How about Billy Beane? Who was selected in the first round by the Athletics?
Oakland Athletics didn’t have any picks in the first round in 2006. From 2007 to 2010, Oakland selected 6 players (all college players) in the first round. 5 of these 6 players have MLB appearances. Notably, the A’s chose Sean Doolittle in 2007 and he was actually drafted as a hitter. Doolittle is the only all-star among these 6 players and he won the World Series with the Nationals last year.
It seems that Billy Beane is very disciplined in the draft, he only selected college players in the first round from 2007 to 2010. Selecting Sean Doolittle was a great choice and he became an all-star, however, he was drafted as a hitter. While at the Padres front office, Paul DePodesta selected two high school players and one was a pitcher. Unfortunately, the Padres’ plans on these two players didn’t work out. Selecting high school players might be still risky?
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