Astros look to restock farm system in MLB draft

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Astros look to restock farm system in MLB draft

With the 10th overall selection this year, the Astros would do well to pick someone as good as these players, the best taken in that spot over the first 43 major league drafts:

1. Mark McGwire, 1B, Athletics, 1984 (Southern Cal)

No. 8 on the all-time home run list with 583, he hit 49 long balls as an Oakland rookie in 1987 and achieved his greatest fame with a then-record 70 as a Cardinal in 1998.

2. Ted Simmons, C, Cardinals, 1967 (Southfield, Mich., HS)

Best switch-hitting catcher ever (apologies, Jorge Posada) hit .303 or better seven times for St. Louis from 1971-80. Eight-time All-Star had nine 90-RBI seasons, including two for the Brewers.

3. Robin Ventura, 3B, White Sox, 1988 (Oklahoma State)

In the 1990s, he won five gold gloves with the Chisox and one with the Mets. Drove in 120 runs for New York in 1999, one of his eight 90-RBI seasons. Tied for fourth all-time with 19 grand slams.

4. Eric Chavez, 3B, A's, 1996 (San Diego Mount Carmel HS)

Had four 100-RBI seasons with Oakland between 2001-05, and in American League history, his six gold gloves at third base are exceeded only by Brooks Robinson's 16.

5. Tim Wallach, 1B, Expos, 1979 (Cal State Fullerton)

Though drafted as a first baseman, he won three gold gloves at third for Montreal and was a five-time All-Star. Drove in 123 runs in 1987, one of two years he led the National League in doubles.

Bobby Heck, the Astros' first-year director of amateur scouting, wasn't on the job long when he came to a blunt conclusion about the state of the club's minor league system.

"Thin," Heck said.

Heck's findings came before the Astros depleted their farm system even more by trading away prospects Troy Patton, Matt Albers and Juan Gutierrez in a series of moves aimed at upgrading this year's team.

The Astros hope to begin taking some major steps toward restocking their minor league talent pool in Thursday's amateur draft. The two-day, 50-round draft will be partially televised by ESPN2.

"You can't afford to have these opportunities to replenish your system drift by without handling it effectively," general manager Ed Wade said. "Obviously, with the changes that we made during the offseason and we've acknowledged our farm system is depleted at this point in time, it magnifies the importance of the draft."

The Astros will pick 10th overall, putting them in the top 10 for the first time since they selected Chris Burke at No. 10 in 2001. They also will pick 38th, 57th and 88th, giving them five of the first 109 picks.

The club received a supplemental first-round pick (38th) for losing Type B free agent Trever Miller to free agency and a supplemental third-round pick (109th) for failing to sign 2007 third-rounder Derek Dietrich.

"It's very important," owner Drayton McLane said. "The drafts we've had in the past the last several years, because we had generally finished up in the standings, you get a lower draft pick and then we traded away a lot of draft position because of free agency we had signed. The past five or six years we have not been in good position. This year we are."

The Astros could have their choice of several impressive college pitchers, including Shooter Hunt of Tulane, Christian Friedrich of Eastern Kentucky and Tanner Scheppers of Fresno State. But signing them will be the key.

Last year's draft was nothing short of a disaster for the Astros, who didn't have a pick in the first two rounds after they surrendered their choices when they signed Type A free agents Carlos Lee and Woody Williams.

They took Dietrich, a high schooler, with their first pick in the third round and righthander Brett Eibner of The Woodlands in the fourth round, but both went unsigned after McLane didn't want to pay higher than the slot bonus money recommended by Major League Baseball.

As a result, the Astros didn't sign a pick until the fifth round and spent just $1.584 million on the draft, less than half the average of the other 29 teams. Don't expect the Astros to begin overpaying this year.

"If you overpay one player, that cuts back on the funding you have for other positions you have in the draft," McLane said. "You have to know where to spend the money and how to spend it."

According to Baseball America, Major League Baseball officials have told clubs to take any player they want and not worry about signability, giving scouting directors more flexibility.

"We're going to try to bring the best guys available into the organization, and we think we've got plenty of flexibility in the budget to handle that," Wade said. "Major League Baseball has done some changes with regard to increasing some of the slot money out there. We're going to try to be aggressive in the draft."

McLane shook up the scouting department in the offseason, reassigning scouting director Paul Ricciarini and replacing him with Heck, who had a strong track record with the Milwaukee Brewers.

Heck worked for nine seasons in the Brewers' scouting department and helped restock a minor league system that was ranked 30th by Baseball America in 2000. Among the players drafted by the Brewers while Heck was in Milwaukee were Ryan Braun, Prince Fielder, Corey Hart and Rickie Weeks.

Heck is confident the Astros' system, currently ranked 29th by Baseball America, can have a similar turnaround.

"There's a chance to add quality and depth at the same time, and obviously it's something that needs to be injected into the system," he said.

Best player available

Under Heck and Wade, the Astros are expected to select the best player available, regardless of position or school status.

"Obviously, you look at composition of your organization and composition of the big league club and all those factors come into play," Wade said. "But the final analysis is we're going to try to take the best player we can, the player that projects out with the highest ceiling and could be the most productive player for us for an extended period of time."

Wade spent eight seasons (1998-2005) as general manager of the Philadelphia Phillies, during which the club selected college players in Ryan Howard, Chase Utley and Pat Burrell and high school players in Jimmy Rollins, Cole Hamels, Ryan Madson and Brett Myers.

"The player who projects to bring the most to the table over an extended period of time prevails in my mind," Wade said. "Certainly there's always the potential of us taking a player who's somewhat more polished if it's a close call, because the more polished player the anticipation is he gets there faster.

"I'm a big believer in ceiling and understanding in our sport you have to have a measure of patience. If you're making the right decision from the standpoint of talent, that patience normally pays off."

The Astros still have some pitching prospects in the upper levels in Bud Norris, Brad James and Sergio Perez at Class AA Corpus Christi, but the lower minor leagues are lacking in big-time prospects pretty much across the board.

"That's really not a prevailing factor for us when we start talking about best athlete available," Wade said. "I think one thing leads to another. If we start listing our strengths and weaknesses by position, it leads somebody to believe that becomes a criterion when we are making our selection.

"The reality is we could have shortstops backed up five deep in the system, but if we felt the best player out there was a shortstop, that would probably be our selection."

Signability is key

Heck and Wade spent last week meeting with regional scouts and shuffling names around their draft board. Considering the problems the Astros had signing their top two picks last year, signability looms large.

"Our guys have to be in there and know what the expectations are of the player, the family, the adviser," Wade said.

While it doesn't come close to the depth of talent there was in the 2005 draft, this year's draft is pretty balanced. And with six picks in the first four rounds, the Astros are primed for a bumper crop.

"There's some bats in there, some corner infield bats that project highly," Wade said. "There's some shortstops we've talked about. From a pitching standpoint, there's some guys who project as upper-level-of-starting-rotation-types of arms, and there's some closers.

"From a philosophical standpoint, if a club is open-minded with the type of athlete, there are going to be opportunities there, not only at 10, but 38 and 54 and throughout the upper levels of the draft."