Last Saturday, the Boys of Summer APBA League completed its rookie and free agent draft for their upcoming 2014 season. Conducted over Facebook, sixteen teams chose 240 players. Yasiel Puig was picked #1 by Shawn Baier’s Traverse City Panthers and Jose Fernandez was picked second.
Here’s how the rest of the first round went:
| 2014 BoS Annual Draft | |||
| OVERALL | PLAYER | Team | |
| 1 | Yasiel Puig | T.C. | |
| 2 | Jose Fernandez | HOL | |
| 3 | Stephen Drew | BRX | |
| 4 | Nolan Arenado | CHI | |
| 5 | Neal Cotts | BUF | |
| 6 | Anthony Rendon | SWAT | |
| 7 | Jorge de la Rosa | KING | |
| 8 | Sonny Gray | HAN | |
| 9 | Gerrit Cole | S.D. | |
| 10 | Pedro Florimon | BRK | |
| 11 | Alex Wood | SEA | |
| 12 | Yordano Ventura | FAIR | |
| 13 | Cameron Maybin | BOS | |
| 14 | Tanner Roark | URB | |
| 15 | Corey Dickerson | POR | |
| 16 | Hyun-Jin Ryu | S.S. |
And yes, I was able to retain the services of Tanner Roark (Go Illini!). Roark also pitches for my Twin City Thunderchickens of the Illowa APBA League. I of course, have the foresight of knowing how well Roark will be pitching in the next two years in the BoS unlike when I picked him in the IAL earlier this year. Then again, so did every other manager in this draft. I guess I feel lucky to get him.
I was bitten by the trade bug during the draft. Perhaps it’s not the wisest idea to take the bait when offered a deal by APBA guru Stray Corrado but I couldn’t help it. He offered me two starters, Ubaldo Jimenez and Jeff Samardzija for my 3rd round and 5th round picks. I couldn’t resist shoring up my staff even during a pitching-rich year.
The draft started around 8:30 in the morning picking tasty prospects like Puig, Roark, Hyun-jin Ryu, and Nolan Arrenado. By 1:30 or 2pm, we were all just searching for warm bodies that just might play a position that we might want to alleviate. Or maybe looking for that dark horse prospect that everyone else overlooked.
Thanks to commissioner Shawn Baier for conducting the draft and keeping us all in line. I know Stray Corrado deserves a little kudos for his help too.
