The January, 2000, Supplemental Draft Report

To the songs of Paul Robeson and Vera Lynn, the Moline Greens ambled through the January, 2000, Shoeless Joe League supplemental draft yesterday, acquiring right-handed pitcher Ramon Ortiz, lefty Ed Yarnall, shortstop Wilson Betemit, and outfielders Chris Snelling and Alex Fernandez. None of the players has yet signed, but given the deep pockets of team owner John Deere, Inc., contract negotiations are expected to be swift and generous.

The five new Greens join an organization whose position player core is now peaking, as last year's championship suggests. "Sure, we were aware of that," said John Dark, assistant director of scouting and player development. "So Josh said we should aim for some young guys." Josh Logan, new scouting and player development director upon the sudden death this week of Fate Norris, amplifies Dark's comments. "Fate understood [G.M. Rolf] Samuels's approach. The Greens in Moline, certainly the position players, were collected separately but designed to peak together. Chipper Jones, Charles Johnson, Manny Ramirez, Carlos Delgado, Derek Jeter, these players are just now putting together the strong seasons in the majors that we have foreseen since their minor-league playing days. Such projectability inheres in the advantages of position players over pitchers." According to Logan, this variance in projectability explains the organization's longstanding approach: drafting older pitchers and younger position players.

Those pitchers yesterday turned out to be Ortiz and Yarnall. Often compared to Pedro Martinez, Ortiz lost a year to injury in 1998, but he returned to health and form in 1999 with a strong fastball/slider combination, though his best pitch might be a deadly change. Like Martinez before him, Ortiz is not expected to hit the rotation right away, though he is already older than Pedro was when the Greens' ace reached the majors. Yarnall led the International League in ERA and finished third in SO, which was enough only to earn him a spot as the 10th best prospect in a down year for the league. "That concerned us, yes," explained Logan. "But he is no softy lefty; he throws hard with movement. We like his build (6-3, 234) and his makeup." As with Ortiz, Yarnall joins a pitching staff in Moline deep enough to allow for gradual acceleration of responsibilities. "Neither Ortiz nor Yarnall will be asked to anchor the rotation anytime soon," explained Logan. "You don't know with pitchers. But if you want to play the game, someone must throw the ball."

Among their non pitchers, the Greens drafted only teenagers. Betemit, drafted in the second round, was the last name on the team's draft list in 1999, according to Logan. "What we saw then was youth and good isolated power for a shortstop." His performance in the 1999 made Betemit more than an inside secret. He was selected as the Appalachian League's top shortstop and the number two prospect overall behind outfielder Josh Hamilton, the second player drafted yesterday ("We knew we wouldn't get Hamilton," said Dark). The switch-hitting Betemit offers power from both sides of the plate and holds the promise of staying at short, though he should fill out his 6-2 frame as he grows older.

Snelling, the team's last pick of the second round, also offers growth potential and youth. At 17, the Australian made a smooth transition to American professional baseball, leading his team in home runs, walks, and K/AB ratio. League managers praised his work ethic and instincts. "Snelling looks like a ballplayer," said Logan, "And at 17, he figures to get bigger and stronger."

The selection of Fernandez, Moline's last pick, might have sent other league GMs scrambling for their Baseball America Almanacs, said Logan, but there were a number of positives attached to Fernandez, despite his low-profile status. Left off the California League's All-Star team and top prospect lists, Fernandez hit only .282 .320 .458. But those numbers, while not eye popping, came from one of the youngest players in the league, an eighteen year old outfielder who successfully jumped to high A ball from rookie ball last year. "Fate used to talk about markers, tells he'd call them" said Logan. "And one marker that he pointed to most often was age and level. You haven't heard much about Fernandez, but he held his own in high A ball at an age when most players are in the GCL. That gives him a strong upside, even if he needs to spend another year in A ball."

The sudden death of Norris the week of the supplemental draft threatened to throw the Greens' draft into a tailspin. "I don't think that Fate would have had us draft any differently," said Logan. "We've had these names and reports for some time now. Perhaps he might have qualified somewhat our exuberance for young position players. He was never as much focused on the youngest players as I have been. But collectively we had already hoped to acquire some more starting pitching early in the draft, and we were able to accomplish that." Norris's absence from the draft room was also softened somewhat by a quiet transition of power that had already been quietly occurring. Logan had done much of the work of draft preparation in consultation with Norris and in his absence, since the venerable scout had nursed a hearty cold much of the winter. "And despite his talk of tomorrow and ceilings," said Logan, "He knew that he would not be here indefinitely. That's how you build the team on the field and the team in the front office."

That model of and need for collaboration across decades helped Logan quickly call on Dark, a baseball child prodigy from Coal Valley, who has worked with the Greens as announcer and scorer since the team's arrival to Moline in 1994. Dark called his first draft an "exciting and educational experience." Dark explained that he was surprised at the depth of the Greens' player reports, given the thinness of the draft pool. "That tells me that I better study the low minors more." Having graduated early from high school last month, Dark has more time. Already he and Logan have begun preliminary draft lists for March. That pool looks even more challenging than the one the Greens drafted from yesterday, but even so Dark said that there were some players undrafted from their lists yesterday, players the team was prepared to acquire as high as the end of the third round. "Just a handful, but some. There are always pitchers, though Josh said we have to be careful there. It'll be challenging, but that sure beats high school."