The Major League Baseball draft lasts so long it can take hours to analyze the 50 or so picks each team makes during the three-day event.
By early Wednesday evening, more than 1,500 college, junior college and high school players had been selected. A chosen few will sign contracts with massive bonuses. As many as 20 — depending on the team — won’t sign at all, intending to go to college or just rebuilding their draft value for 2012.
We know whom Washington drafted with its top picks. First-rounders like third baseman Anthony Rendon and right-handed pitcher Alex Meyer need no introduction. They will be at Nationals Park soon enough. But who else fell into the Nats’ laps? There are plenty of good stories if you sift through the remaining draft picks.
Mike Rizzo and Co. rolled the dice in the 19th round on Mississippi high school pitcher Hawtin Buchanan, a 6-foot-8, 230-pounder with a big arm. The only problem? Buchanan is committed to Ole Miss and easily could soar up the draft board with three years in Oxford. But Rizzo heard similar stories last year about fourth-rounder A.J. Cole and 12th-rounder Robbie Ray and wasn’t fazed. Instead, Cole signed for a fourth-round record $2 million bonus, and Ray — thought virtually unsignable with a commitment to Arkansas — signed for $799,000 the day before the deadline. Now both players are at low-A Hagerstown and rank among the organization’s top prospects, according to Baseball America.
The Mid-Atlantic states run hot and cold with baseball talent and were down this spring. But Washington still scoured its own backyard for talent. Georgetown catcher Erick Fernandez went in the 25th round. Outfielder Peter Verdin, a Paul VI graduate, was chosen in the 39th round. Matt Snyder (Westfield High) — whose older brother, Brandon, plays for the Orioles and whose dad, Brian, was a 12-year pro — was a 44th-round pick out of Ole Miss. And don’t forget about Bryan Harper. Yes, he’s 18-year-old Bryce Harper’s older brother. Drafted three times now, including by Washington in 2008, Harper, a left-handed pitcher from South Carolina, was taken in the 30th round.
