Draft Recap: A Primer from Paul DePodesta

Before we get into our breakdown of the Baltimore Orioles's 2008 Amateur Draft, I wanted to pass along an interesting draft-related article posted by Paul DePodesta (former GM of the LA Dodgers and current front office assistant for the Padres) on his blog.

DePodesta does a fantastic job of explaining the "draft process" and how you might go about examining whether a team is effective in its approach to the draft. He followed this up with a more in depth look at the Padres approach to the draft this year. While insightful, it may frustrate some Orioles fans who agree with his general premise that college hitters were the good "get" in this draft class (you'll note our Shadow Draft nabbed two in the first five rounds -- Kieschnick and Crawford -- and our "Rounds 2-5 targets" included 6 more -- Sobolewski, Adams, Mercer, Darnell, Flaherty and Danks).

Altogether, this is a good primer to Draft Grading and should help us all keep in mind a team's general process as well as its specific approach to a particular draft. We'll keep these two issues in mind as we step through the Orioles's draft over the next couple of weeks.

Draft Recap Schedule:
MON (6/23) - Xavier Avery
TUE (6/24) - L.J. Hoes
WED (6/25) - Kyle Hudson
THU (6/26) - Greg Miclat
FRI (6/27) - Rick Zagone