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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& #39;s picks (even DD& #39;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& #39;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& #39;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& #39;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& #39;s it. Every other Tigers & #39;prospect,& #39; 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& #39;re thinking, & #39;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 & #39;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& #39;t sign, because he wanted to go back and play one more year of college. San Diego drafted him in & #39;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.
