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Another reason why Al Avila is historically atrocious as GM, Exhibit Z: Whit Merrifield. NINTH round pick by the Royals in 2010. College player. Afterthought. Yes, KC struck gold. However, go back and chart Avila's picks (even DD's, AA was part of that regime). (THREAD)
Knebel is a decent relief pitcher, got Soria in trade with Texas. Hill is a weak hitting stick, walking injury (40M). Burrows is a 45 High in Baseball America (just a guy). Stewart is a washout, has no MLB position. He recently cleared waivers after being DFA'd. Think about that.
The rest are still in development, with only Mize on the current MLB roster - and, to be fair, a long way to go for him. Infinitely more concerning, where is the organizational depth from these drafts? There ISN'T any. Especially for positional players.
Since drafting Nick Castellanos and his *lifetime* WAR of 9.9 in 2010, here are the career WAR rankings of positional players drafted by Detroit since. This is ALL of them, who have registered a MLB WAR - at all - since 2010. TEN. PLAYERS. Out of *424* selected after Nick.
You wanna know why they stink? THIS is why they stink. McCann was/is a serviceable MLB catcher. He's the BEST on this list. Travis was traded to Toronto for Anthony Gose(!). Casali was traded to the Rays so Detroit could keep its Rule 5 pick. That player was Kyle Lobstein.
That's it. Every other Tigers 'prospect,' during this entire ten-year stretch, who even peeked his head into MLB was a replacement level player (0.0 WAR) or worse. Three total hitters, out of 424 picks, over ten years, have a lifetime WAR of 1.0 or higher. LIFETIME. WAR.
In case you're thinking, 'Well, Ryan - what can a GM like Avila *really* do over a 5-10 year span in the front office? Okay. Observe the absolutely insane 5-year span Jim Campbell and Bill Lajoie had from 1974-1978 in Detroit:
That '76 class is just hilarious. THREE Hall of Famers (Trammell, Morris, Smith). This stretch of drafting built the CORE of the 1984 Wire-to-Wire World Champions. Ozzie didn't sign, because he wanted to go back and play one more year of college. San Diego drafted him in '77.
Also, check out the preponderance of *high-school* level talent taken by the Tigers in that 70s stretch. Lou Whitaker was a FIFTH round pick. THAT...is scouting. Compare that to the last 10 years for Detroit and the list above - only Hill was a HS player. Rest, relied on college.
So for those just poo-pooing, downplaying, or rationalizing Al Avila's drafting and farm system woes... you need look no further for why they can't win without spending boatloads of money on free agents. Also, Avila is TERRIBLE at trades. So there's that. <FIN>
