Starved for power
Eddie Bane promised he'd draft for power, and he lived up to his word.
Then again, maybe the Angels' director of scouting had no choice. Look up and down the club's minor league system. There is a glaring lack of power.
Except for a kid you may have heard of named Wood, there is nobody who projects as a 30 to 40 home run hitter in the entire organization at the moment, unless you count Mark Trumbo at double-A Arkansas. And yes, I know Sean Rodriguez has 20 home runs at Salt Lake, but I don't see him as a 30 or 40 guy at the next level.
Trumbo was the one big hope (other than Wood) going into this season, but last time I looked he was hitting .216 with seven home runs.
So now you know why Bane took what many baseball people feel was a serious reach on Tuesday. With the 24th selection in the first round, he chose Randal Grichik (pronounced Gri-CHICK) from Texas. This is a kid most teams figured as a second- or third-round pick. His overall skills are not impressive.
But he has the ability to hit the ball out of the park. He's got what scouts call plus-power, and that was good enough for the Angels in a draft when they were quietly desperate to add some big bats.
With their second selection in the first round (the 25th pick), they took Michael Trout from New Jersey, a kid I mentioned as a possibility in yesterday's blog. He has power, too, but he also has speed and a good throwing arm. He was projected to go in the top 25 by most experts.
Every draft is a crapshoot, but baseball's draft is even more so. There are no guarantees, especially when you're trying to project 17-year-old high school kids.
But these moves by Bane show that the club had a major deficiency, and it was necessary to gamble on a kid like Grichik because power is such an important ingredient for the future. If there had been two or three young power bats already in the system, there's no way Bane makes this pick.
The Angels' next selections picks were focused on adding more power arms. They took three pitchers with their three compensation choices, led by Santa Monica High lefty Tyler Skakks, whose potential is highly regarded.
This is a club with a history of developing good, young pitching. What it doesn't have is a history of developing good, young power hitters.
Bane is hoping he took the first step to correcting that problem on Tuesday.
-- Steve Bisheff
Photo: Tyler Skaggs of Santa Monica High was selected by the Angels in the first round of the baseball draft on Tuesday. Los Angeles Times
They must think Grichik has some big upside potential to pick him so early. I guess they figure he can improve on his weaknesses but you can't teach power and bat speed. Hopefully one of these years a gamble on a power bat will pay off. I think Glaus was the last real power hitter they ever produced via the farm system.
On the plus side if Grichik doesn't make it with the Angels I'm sure the Giants will welcome him. That appears to be where failed Angels prospects go to complete there careers (see McPherson and Greene).
Posted by: l.a.guy | June 10, 2009 at 12:50 AM
Well, good for the Angels. They drafted two outfielders in the first round who could be able to hit for power in the major leagues. Unfortunately, that was the easy part. Now they have to actually develop them into good major league hitters who hit for power -- something they haven't done since Troy Glaus joined the club in the late 90's. (Partial credit for Mike Napoli, since he only plays half the time.)
The Trout pick looks good at 25 overall. But the Grichik pick reeks of a team and farm system looking for some good PR after a decade of failure when it comes to developing hitters. Using the no.24 pick overall on a guy whose "overall skills are not impressive" (as Steve says above)??
The Angels have a long way to go before I take them seriously when it comes to offensive talent.
Posted by: Buffalo Rob | June 10, 2009 at 07:45 AM
Why wouldn't you see S-Rod as a power hitter in the major league level? Guys with power often start off with excellent on-base skills, and develop power later.
Posted by: Rob McMillin | June 10, 2009 at 08:36 AM
Bane's accomplishments as director of scouting have been less than impressive. He reminds me of the guys who used to conduct the pro football draft for the Rams when they were here. I realize that baseball drafts are far less certain as to the finished product, but rather large sums are lavished on these guys, most of which do not make it.
Posted by: Terry Crow | June 10, 2009 at 09:53 AM
Why are we bothering with power? As soon as any power threat gets to the Big Club, they're benched in favor of the productive out, slap single players anyway - or maybe we just want to have a power laden SLC club and wipe out the PCL.
Posted by: JimH | June 10, 2009 at 10:02 AM
L.A. Guy and Buffalo Rob, you guys touched on just what I was thinking about Grichik after I saw a youtube clip of his slugging on halosheaven.com ... totally reminded me of Troy Glaus (hopefully minus the chemical enhancers that Glaus was accused of ;-).
Posted by: matthew | June 10, 2009 at 01:37 PM
Salmon could run when he was young like trout. If trout makes the big's i can only imagine what Hud will be saying?
Posted by: AL | June 10, 2009 at 05:17 PM
This Grichik kid could be another Adam Dunn. An ok fielder who may strike out a lot but can drive in 100 runs year after year with 40 HR's a year. Oh wait a minute, the Angels could have had Dunn at a reasonable price in the off season but wanted to go after Abreu. Last time I check the stats (yesterday while voting for Hunter for the All Star Game) I noticed Dunn was having a typical Dunn season......17 Hr's and 44 RBI's and it's only mid June which looks like Dunn is well on his way to yet another 40 plus HR and 100 plus season. Hmmmmmm.....Abrue is on pace for a 6-7 HR and let's be generous here and give him 60 RBI's. Now really people, wouldn't have Dunn looked real good in that DH spot in Anaheim this season?
Posted by: Brian C. | June 10, 2009 at 08:16 PM