High School to the Majors: Positional Players

Recently, I ran across a criticism of the Pittsburgh Pirates, specifically how they handle prospects.  The criticism alluded to the fact that the Pirates generally are conservative with pushing prospects, especially high school draftees.  The general statement bemoaned the fact that expecting a player to make the major leagues within four full years of being drafted is nothing more than a foolish wish.  Under Neal Huntington, college players drafted have beat that four year limit.  Pedro Alvarez made it to the big leagues by his second full year as a professional.  Chase D'Arnaud made the show last year in his third full year.  On the high school level, the criticism is fairly accurate.  In 2008, Huntington's first draft class, the Pirates paid two high school players - Quinton Miller and Robbie Grossman - either seven figures or nearly seven figures.  Miller has been a bust and while Grossman has turned himself into a top prospect (on Keith Law's top 100 list for example) but will start next year in AA and is unlikely to arrive in Pittsburgh by the end of the year.  That will give him one more year to make the show by his fourth full year in the big leagues.  This reality can be particularly disheartening as Pirates fans watch high school phenoms such as Jason Heyward and Mike Trout fly to the major leagues, with the former taking his first at-bat for the Braves at age 20 and the latter taking his first at-bat for the Angels still as a teenager.

I decided to take a more in-depth look at how quickly prospects, specifically those drafted out of high school, move through the minors.  To do so, I used the following criteria.  First, I used fangraphs to identify each batter (I will do pitchers later) that had his rookie season.  My time period was the last five years, from 2007-2011.  From there, I determined which of those batters were high school draftees that made it to their rookie season within five years of being drafted.  That means every player on my list played a maximum of four full seasons in the minor leagues.

2007

Player Name	Draft Bonus	Draft Position	Draft Year	Current Team
Delmon Young	3.70M	1(1)	2003	DET
James Loney	1.50M	1(19)	2002	LAD
Billy Butler	1.45M	1(28)	2004	KC
Jarrod Saltalamacchia	950K	1S(36)	2003	BOS
Elijah Dukes	500K	3(74)	2002	NONE

2008

Player Name	Draft Bonus	Draft Position	Draft Year	Current Team
Ian Stewart	1.95M	1(10)	2003	CHC
Jay Bruce	1.80M	1(12)	2005	CIN
Blake DeWitt	1.20M	1(28)	2004	CHC
Ryan Sweeney	785K	2(52)	2003	BOS

2009

Player Name	Draft Bonus	Draft Position	Draft Year	Current Team
Cameron Maybin	2.65M	1 (10)	2005	SD
Andrew McCutchen	1.90M	1 (11)	2005	PIT
Travis Snider	1.70M	1 (14)	2006	TOR
Colby Rasmus	1.00M	1 (28)	2005	TOR
Dexter Fowler	925K	14 (410)	2004	COL
Jordan Schafer	320K	3 (107)	2005	HOU
Kyle Blanks	140K	(42) (1241)	2004	SD

2010

Player Name	Draft Bonus	Draft Position	Draft Year	Current Team
Jason Heyward	1.70M	1(14)	2007	ATL
Austin Jackson	800K	8(259)	2005	DET
Ryan Kalish	600K	9(283)	2006	BOS
Mike Stanton	475K	2(76)	2007	MIA
Peter Bourjos	325K	10(313)	2005	LAA
Logan Morrison	225K	22(666)	2005	MIA
Michael Brantley	150K	7(205)	2005	CLE
Josh Thole	UNKNOWN	13(389)	2005	NYM

2011

Player Name	Draft Bonus	Draft Position	Draft Year	Current Team
Eric Hosmer	6.00M	1(3)	2008	KC
Mike Moustakas	4.00M	1(2)	2007	KC
Brett Lawrie	1.70M	1(16)	2008	TOR
Hank Conger	1.35M	1(25)	2006	LAA
Ben Revere	750K	1(28)	2007	MIN
Freddie Freeman	409.5K	2(78)	2007	ATL
Domonic Brown	200K	20(607)	2006	PHI

The list is ordered according to bonus amount.  In those five years, there were 31 players who made it to the big leagues out of high school with only four years or less of minor league experience.  16 of the 31 (51.6%) were first round picks.  Jarrod Saltalamacchia was drafted in the first supplemental round.  15 of those 31 received more than one million dollars (48.3%) for their signing bonus.  Those draftees making the show quickly are expected.  They were drafted in the position they were drafted and given the bonuses they were given for a reason: talent.

On the flipside, there were only a few players that came out of nowhere.  Kyle Blanks, Domonic Brown, and Logan Morrison all were drafted in the 20th round or later and given bonuses under a quarter of a million dollars.  Outfielder Michael Brantley also signed for only 150K, although he was drafted in the 7th round.

Basically, the Pirates do seem a bit behind in producing major league positional players quickly once they nab them out of high school.  They are represented by Andrew McCutchen, although that's not unexpected because he was drafted in the first half of the first round.  Still, it seems to me that there are so few players that have zipped to the major leagues.  Again, only 16 who received a bonus under one million dollars in the last five years.  It looks like the Pirates drought will continue into the near future, but considering having a player make this list seems to be a rarity rather than the other way around, I'm not too upset.  However, considering the Pirates have spent more on pitcher, I can't say my sentiment will be the same when my pitching study is complete.