Everybody loves a draft. Nothing like fresh players who have nothing but upside to amp fervor.
Baseball is no different than other sports when it comes to wanting to spark interest in its future. Baseball is completely different in other sports on just how quickly that future can be affected by a draft.
"The big leagues is very far away from the draft," said Reds senior director of amateur scouting Chris Buckley in the late hours Monday night at Great American Ball Park. "In football, if you need a left tackle you get the guy from Ohio State. It doesn't work that way here."
The MLB first-year player draft got underway Monday night. There's a total of 40 rounds in the draft. That's a lot of new players into the system. The over-hyped NFL monstrosity of a draft is only seven rounds. There are just two rounds in the NBA's draft, although of course you also get the anticipation of the draft lottery to get the blood pumping before the draft. The NHL, like the NFL, has seven rounds. They don't just shove it down your throat quite as much.
The Reds took catcher Tyler Stephenson out of Kennesaw Mountain High School in Marietta, Ga., with the 11th overall pick. They added right-handed pitcher Antonio Santillan of Seguin High School in Arlington, Texas, with pick No. 49 and right-handed pitcher Tanner Rainey from Division II West Alabama with pick No. 71 to close out the night's work.
The remainder of the draft will take place Tuesday and Wednesday.
The Mike Leake's of the baseball world are few and far between. The Reds picked Leake in the first round in 2009 out of Arizona State. He spent some time in the instructional Arizona Fall League that year but by the time Opening Day rolled around the next spring Leake was a part of the Reds' starting rotation. For most players, if you make it through the minor leagues in three years and are able to stick with the big league club you've been fast-tracked.
Leake was a bullet train.
The Reds didn't take Stephenson No. 1 because they are worried that Devin Mesoraco may never catch again due to his current hip impingement situation. They took Stephenson first because he's 6-foot-4, 225 pounds, has shown the ability to hit with power to all fields and is one of the few catching prospects in this draft who, Buckley and the scouting staff believes, has a legitimate shot at being an every-day catcher at the major-league level down the line.
"Sometimes certain people are a little more afraid of catchers," said Buckley.
Not the Reds.
Stephenson is the fifth catcher in Reds history selected in the first round and the third since 2007. Mesoraco was picked out of Punxsutawney (PA.) Area High School in 2007 and got his first taste of the big leagues in 2011. Yasmani Grandal was taken in 2010 out of the University of Miami. Grandal was traded to San Diego prior to the 2012 season as part of the deal the brought Mat Latos to Cincinnati. Grandal is now playing for the Dodgers.
Santillan and Rainey fit the same mold as Stephenson. They're bigger -- Santillan has been listed to be as much as 6-3, 240, although Buckley says he's probably closer to 6-2, 230, while Rainey is 6-2, 235 -- but aren't stiff. Rainey hit 19 home runs, drove in 65 runs and had a slugging percentage of .842 in helping West Alabama to the NCAA tournament.
"One thing you always see, we start with the athlete. Whether it's (Aroldis) Chapman or it's (Raisel) Iglesias, we're all in this together. Most of our pitchers are very athletic," said Buckley. "We always try to do that. Sunday we were up here watching and Mike Leake pinch-ran, and (Michael) Lorenzen took a couple of swings up there. It helps when you're more athletic like that."
The Reds took Lorenzen with the 38th overall pick in 2013. He had been a closer and a center fielder at Cal-State Fullerton but the Reds saw his potential as a starter and he's proven worthy as he's now fixed into the rotation.
Tyler Stephenson will have a press conference in the coming days in which he'll be introduced to the Cincinnati media. He'll be wearing a Reds uniform on that day. Then, in all likelihood, it's going to be a few years before he gets the daily opportunity to put one on.
Baseball's draft is not a quick fix. It's played up larger now with greater coverage from the MLB Network and other media outlets. More information on prospects is known by the general fan public than ever before. That's good as you keep a vested eye on how these players progress through the Reds' minor league system, from Billings to Dayton to Daytona to Pensacola and to Louisville.
It doesn't change the fact that in baseball, development is a slower process than in other sports. It's one of the beautiful truths of the game. It's one of the reasons why the game is enduring.
