In past amateur drafts, the Groundhogs have always tried to draft speed.
However, because of paltry talent levels, Sam Thomas and Jack Jackson have
both spent most of their professional careers in the minors, Punxatawney's
two previous #1 picks. Both have decent speedy, but nothing incredible.
This season, the Groundhogs acquired an amazingly fast young third baseman,
Joe Netzel, with their first pick. Netzel's bat is a question, but his
speed and baseball smarts are not. Netzel broke the SEC record for stolen
bases in a season playing for Vanderbilt, stealing 65 bases in the team's 58
games. He also has an incredible arm, one of the best that most scouts say
they have seen in years.
"We're looking to make Joe an outfielder. He's got an incredible arm and
incredible speed. He won't be replacing Rolen at third, so we're looking to
have him replace Dave Martinez eventually," said Dan Shapiro, the team's GM.
"He'll need to learn how to fit in the majors before he gets his chance."
Punxatawney had another pick shortly after. This time, they went for
Charlie Bunker, a right-handed pitcher who just graduated from Upper Merion
High School near Philadelphia. Bunker, only 19, already has a strong arm
and good endurance. His control is suspect, but he already has a solid
fastball, sinker, and slider.
"We took Charlie for the future," said Hogs pitching coach Mark Fidyrich.
"He needs to learn better control, and he needs to improve all of his
pitches before he plays on the Groundhogs, but we think he'll do great in
[LOW Minors] Rhyolite and [AAA] Roswell until he's ready."
Later in round 2, Punxatawney made their next selection, taking a player
with one of the "best names" in baseball. Their selection was another high
school student, Webb Messenger, from Dallas High in Texas. Messenger,
nicknamed "WWW" by his teammates, has great speed but a suspect bat, much
like Joe Netzel.
"We think that he and Joe could end up coming up to the majors together,
eventually. They are both real speedsters and could really give us one of
the fastest teams in baseball someday," said Shapiro.
The Hogs made only 1 other selection in the draft, while some other teams
took picks after round 3. They took a young catcher, Jodie Caffyn, also
just out of high school in North Carolina. Caffyn has a great arm and good
speed for a catcher, but like Netzel and WWW, his bat is a big question
mark.
"We're ok at catcher for now with Dan Wilson, and maybe someday Caffyn could
replace him," said third base-coach Mike Schmidt.
All of these prospects are entering the LOW system, giving Punxatawney one
of the fastest minor league systems in baseball. Someday, these players may
give Punxatawney one of the fastest teams in baseball.
Currently, Punxatawney is not considering trades for these prospects.
Eventually, they may consider parting with some, but for now they want to
decide their roles in the future of the franchise.
