Back in April, I wrote a piece on Billy Beane’s Moneyball draft of 2002, examining the list of 20 players detailed by author Michael Lewis as the “twenty players they’d draft in a perfect world.  That is if money were no object and twenty-nine other teams were not also vying to draft the best amateur players in the country.”  But that was then and this is now.  Naturally I began to wonder how those players were doing this season.  So I decided to take a look and here are the results.

 

Jeremy Guthrie – 1^st round #22 by Cleveland – He has spent most of the year in the minors yet again, making 8 appearances (1 start) at the major league level for Cleveland and posting a 6.87 ERA and a 2.02 WHIP in 18 1/3 innings (15 walks).  He is 7-5, 3.17 in 19 minor league starts at Triple-A Buffalo.  Best pitcher in the draft, according to Beane.

 

Joe Blanton – 1^st round #24 by Oakland – 14-10 with a 4.45 ERA and a 1.48 WHIP for the season with Oakland.  3-2 with a 3.13 in August, though his WHIP for the month is 1.61.  Beane called him the second best pitcher in the draft.

 

Jeff Francis – 1^st round #9 by Colorado – 10-10 with an impressive 3.53 ERA for Colorado, including a 3.32 mark at Humidor Field. 

 

Luke Hagerty – 1^st round #32 by Chicago Cubs – Arm problems continue to plague Hagerty who walked 30 batters in just 6 2/3 innings last season.  This year he pitched just twice, walking 9 more (and hitting two) in only 3 innings at Class-A Dayton, giving him 60 in 80.1 career minor league innings.  He was sent to extended spring training in April and has not re-emerged.

 

Ben Fritz – 1^st round #30 by Oakland – The best right hander in the draft according to Paul DePodesta went 1-4 with a 3.30 ERA, .241 BAA, and a 1.20 WHIP at Double-A Midland, earning him a promotion to Triple-A Sacramento.  In the hitter friendly PCL, he has gone 6-4 with a 5.38 ERA, .279 BAA and a 1.55 WHIP.  Fritz had Tommy John surgery in 2004.

 

Robert Brownlie – 1^st round #21 by Chicago Cubs – Started the season a Triple-A Iowa and went 0-3 with a 10.80 ERA and a .429 BAA in 8 appearances (1 start) before being demoted to Double-A West Tennessee where he is 3-10 with a 5.77 ERA in 30 games (7 starts).  For the season he has a 1.90 combined WHIP.

 

Stephen Obenchain – 1^st round #37 by Oakland – Began the year on the DL before going to the Arizona league and posting a 1.08 ERA in 8 1/3 innings to earn a promotion to Class-A Stockton where he has continued to thrive.  In 9 1/3 innings, he has allowed just 5 hits and 1 walk while striking out 13 and allowing no runs giving him a combined ERA of 0.51 in 17 2/3 innings.  Now healthy, his career could be in for a revival.

 

Bill Murphy – 3^rd round #98 by Oakland – Began the year at Triple-A Tucson, going 5-4 with a 5.68 ERA, 1.54 WHIP and a .282 BAA in 36 games (9 starts).  He has made four appearances (3 starts) at Double-A Tennessee, giving up 15 hits and issuing 8 walks while striking out 20 in 18 innings (3.50 ERA). 

 

Nick Swisher – 1^st round #16 by Oakland – Got off to a great start for Oakland, batting .305 through May and has 28 HR, 77 RBI and 87 runs scored for the season – all career highs – but has batted just .208 since May.

 

Russ Adams – 1^st round #14 by Toronto – Struggled both offensively and defensively at the big league level for Toronto, hitting just .223/.276/.332 for the season in two stints.  Just recalled today after his second minor league stint; he had totaled .311/.374/.404 at Triple-A Syracuse.

 

Khalil Greene – 1^st round #13 by San Diego – Currently on the DL with injuries to his left hand, he has batted .247/.320/.430 with 15 HR and 55 RBI for San Diego.  Defensive numbers are improved. 

 

John McCurdy – 1^st round #26 by Oakland – “The next Jeff Kent” is batting .283/.325/.448 with 12 HR and 53 RBI in his second season at Class-A Stockton.  Has just 17 BB to go with 74 K in 339 AB.

 

Mark Teahen – 1^st round #39 by Oakland – After slumping to just .195 though May 4, Teahen was demoted by the Royals to Triple-A Omaha where he hit .380/.500/.658 to earn a recall.  Since then, he has batted .324 with 15 HR and 55 RBI.

 

Jeremy Brown – 1^st round #35 by Oakland – Hitting .257/.322/.460 with 13 HR and 40 RBI for Sacramento.  He has been recalled to the majors three times this season without playing an inning. 

 

Steve Stanley- 2^nd round #67 by Oakland – Hit .133 in 30 AB for Midland before the A’s gave up and released him.

 

John Baker – 4^th round #128 by Oakland – Batting .277/.370/.391 for Sacramento with 4 HR and 37 RBI.

 

Mark Kiger – 5^th round #158 overall by Oakland – Hit just .233/.348/.330 in 176 AB for Sacramento and was demoted to Midland where he has hit .308/.385/.445 in 227 AB.

 

Brian Stavisky – 6^th round #188 by Oakland – Similarly to Kiger, he hit .239/.333/.349 in 109 AB at Sacramento before a demotion to Midland where he has picked it up, hitting .304/.424/.431.

 

Shaun Larkin – 9^th round #274 by Cleveland – Batting .257/.320/.366 in 366 AB for Double-A Akron.

 

Brant Colamarino – 7^th round #218 by Oakland – Best hitter in the draft, according to DePo.  He is batting .286/.365/.487 with 35 doubles, 16 home runs and 89 RBI for Midland.  Possible September call-up?

 

So now that I’ve seen how those guys have done, I decided to see how all 30 teams have done since that 2002 draft, including this season.  Which team has produced the most major league players and which has produced the fewest?  How well did Beane do with his draft so far?  Well, the team that has produced the most major leaguers so far has not been the A’s, but rather the White Sox with six. 

 

As for Beane?  He did fairly well, though it’s worth noting that four of the five players Beane selected that have made it so far were in the first round – out of seven total picks - and of those four, Brown has the aforementioned three cups of coffee without an appearance in an actual game.  The fifth pick that made it to the majors - and the only one after the first round so far - was 9^th rounder Shane Komine who was not one of the original 20 Moneyball picks.

 

But he’s certainly done better than teams like Houston and Seattle.  Houston has yet to produce a major leaguer from that draft, though Seattle’s T.J. Bohn (1-for-7 at the big league level) is all that stands between the Mariners and a goose egg.  Bohn was also the last player selected so far to have made it to the majors (30^th round).

 

Including all mid-season call-ups, but excluding players who did not sign with the team that drafted them, here are the top and bottom in each league. 

 

AL Best from 2002 draft                               AL Worst from 2002 draft

1. Chicago White Sox – 6                                 12. Seattle Mariners - 1

2t. Oakland A’s – 5                                          12. Boston Red Sox - 1

2t. Baltimore Orioles – 5                                   12. New York Yankees - 1

 

 

NL Best from 2002 draft                               NL Worst from 2002 draft

1t. Atlanta Braves – 5*                                     16. Houston Astros – 0

1t. San Francisco Giants – 5                             14t. St. Louis Cardinals – 1

1t. Colorado Rockies – 5                                 14t. Cincinnati Reds – 1

1t. Florida Marlins – 5                                      14t. New York Mets – 1

 

*Braves were two for two in the first round      

 

All in all, Beane did fairly well with a stacked hand (7 first round picks) but little money.  My contention that he did nothing revolutionary stands.