The shadow of the Dodgers’ 1988 championship was long enough to engulf Chavez Ravine by the time the Dodgers won the World Series last October. Last week, the Commissioner’s Trophy returned to Los Angeles for the first time in 32 years.
Consider, then, the shadow of the Dodgers’ 1968 draft class. It was only their fourth draft ever, and it produced 16 future major leaguers: Steve Garvey, Ron Cey, Davey Lopes, Bill Buckner, Bobby Valentine, Tom Paciorek, Doyle Alexander, Sandy Vance, Mike Pazik, Geoff Zahn, Bob Randall, Ed Crosby, Joe Ferguson, Bob Gallagher, Ed Ott and Bob Sheldon. Not all of them became household names, but six became All-Stars who combined to make 23 All-Star Game appearances ― the all-time record for a single draft class.
The Dodgers did not receive a trophy for winning the ’68 draft. Maybe they should have.
“As much memorabilia as we have, no one’s shown me that one yet,” said Billy Gasparino, the Dodgers’ draft director.
Decades from now, history might judge Gasparino’s 2016 draft class similarly. On Friday, Luke Raley became the 11th player from the group to reach the major leagues when he appeared in right field in the Dodgers’ victory over the Washington Nationals in the home opener.
To put that in perspective, take every player drafted and signed by the Milwaukee Brewers over a four-year period from 2014-17. Nine have appeared in a major league game.
Raley (seventh round) and Colorado Rockies pitcher Jordan Sheffield (supplemental first round) debuted this month. Last year, Dodgers outfielder Zach McKinstry (33rd round) and pitcher Mitch White (second round), Houston Astros pitcher Andre Scrubb (eighth round), and Baltimore Orioles pitcher Dean Kremer (14th round) made their major league debuts.
They were preceded by a quartet of Dodgers regulars – Gavin Lux (first round), Will Smith (supplemental first round), Dustin May (third round), Tony Gonsolin (ninth round) – and Twins pitcher Devin Smeltzer (fifth round).
Gasparino said his sense of pride extends to the players who debut with other teams, too.
“You feel proud because you’re responsible as a group for drafting a player, but there’s a little guilt it’s with another team that’s competing against us,” he said. “There’s this guilty feeling of being happy. Our talent bar with our major league team is so high, so good. At some level, you feel good for the kid to get a chance somewhere else. We’re outrageously talented at the big league level, so it’s hard.”
At least three others in the Dodgers’ 2016 draft class have a chance to bring the total to 14 future major leaguers.
Slugging outfielder D.J. Peters (fourth round) has been knocking on the big-league door for a few years. He appeared in 22 major league spring training games, reached base at a .378 clip, then joined the Dodgers’ taxi squad on the first road trip of the season.
Outfielder Cody Thomas (13th round) was traded to the Oakland A’s in February and batted .292 in spring training. Errol Robinson (sixth round) is considered a talented defensive infielder. He was selected by the Cincinnati Reds in the most recent Rule 5 draft, joining him with an organization short on natural middle infielders at the upper levels.
Each of them faces an additional challenge created by the coronavirus pandemic. The minor league season was canceled last year, relegating each organization’s best prospects to “alternate training sites.” Competing against teammates for a few months could not replicate the typical minor league experience.
“Missing a year isn’t easy as a player,” Gasparino said. “There’s a little doubt: what would happen to those guys? The makeup of that ’16 (draft class) was so special in a lot of ways. Their character carried those guys through this.”
In a Sept. 2019 interview, Gasparino predicted “11 or 12” players he drafted in 2016 might ultimately reach the major leagues. Now, that number seems conservative.
The special nature of the draft class isn’t lost on its members.
“It comes up every now and then,” Raley said. “(Friday) night I was sitting there thinking about it. There’s a lot of good talent here and other places from that draft class. It’s a really cool thing to see and be a part of.”
“We definitely talk about it all the time,” McKinstry said. “It’s fun to see all those guys from 2016 making their debut, doing well – if it’s with the Orioles, Twins, there’s a lot of guys out there from that ’16 draft doing well around the league.
“It’s awesome, coming up with them and seeing them do well in the big leagues.”
Gasparino shunned credit for the career success of two players in particular. Pitcher James Turlington (21st round) is now a successful fashion model. Outfielder Saige Jenco (24th round) recently released his first hip-hop tune.
That, at least, is something no one in the Dodgers’ heralded ’68 draft class can claim.
from Irvine Business Signs https://ift.tt/3thBUDe
via Irvine Sign Company
