Back in 2010, I did a series looking back at the 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004 MLB Drafts and how the Cardinals did 6-10 years later. Now, let’s take a look at the 2005 MLB Draft and see how the Cardinals did 7 years later.
The 2005 MLB Draft was one of promise, potential, injury and ultimately disappointment so far for the Cardinals. Their high upside position players were beaming with potential that so far they have been unable to reach. Their starting pitchers looked great on paper, but ultimately ripped apart like paper. The 2005 MLB draft gave the Cardinals moribund minor leagues a much needed breath of fresh air, lifting them into the upper echelon of farm systems, but ultimately that did not reach the St. Louis Cardinals with as much energy as we were all hoping. There is still time for three of the draftees to increase their impact on the Cardinals franchise. Let’s take a look pick by pick after the jump.
In the first round the Cardinals selected CF Colby Rasmus and SS Tyler Greene. Both have had up and down careers in the majors but with high quality numbers though out the minors. A lot has been made of the development of Rasmus who was traded midseason last year to the Toronto Blue Jays. Tyler Greene has been platooning with Skip Schumaker and Daniel Descalso at second base in 2012 and despite his tools, has not made the best of them. Both players came out of the draft as “toolsy” and both remain “toolsy” despite seven years worth of development.
Luke Hochevar and Clay Buchholz were toolsy pitchers picked after the two Cardinals selections and they haven’t quite reached their potential either, so I’m not sure in hindsight if I would change either. (Maybe Greene for Buchholz.)
In the Supplemental Round, the Cardinals selected RHP Mark McCormick and RHP Tyler Herron. Here’s the writeup from MLB on McCormick: “Smooth delivery brings mid-90s FB that can hit 97. Throws two hard breaking balls from a 3/4 delivery. Sinking change-up. Stuff is dominant enough to be top MLB starter.” McCormick was out of baseball after 6 final starts in Springfield as a 24 year old in 2008 as he succumbed to his injuries.
Tyler Herron was covered on draft day as “Medium, slender build. Square shoulders. Body similar to Brad Radke. Smooth delivery. Live two-seam FB that runs in on RHH. Maintains velocity, hits spots. CB has sharp, 3/4 break through zone. Deceptive change when down in zone. Throws three quality pitches.”
Herron was released by the Cardinals in 2009 and after a short stint in the Pittsburgh system, he was in independent ball in 2010.
In the second round, the Cardinals also has 2 picks. They went with RHP Joshua Wilson and RHP Nicholas Webber. Josh Wilson was “Similar to David Cone. Little guy w/ a big arm. FB has plus velocity that bores right into RHH hands. Can get some riding action on the glove side. Good curve w/ a sharp 3/4 break and tight rotation. Throws a circle change at FB arm speed. Can also play SS.” Josh Wilson had shoulder injury issues like Mark McCormick and was out of baseball after 2009.
Nicholas Webber was out of baseball after reaching Memphis in 2008 as a 24 year old for 6 appearances. (See a theme here?)
Cardinals took Daryl Jones in the 3rd round, who was looking like a DJ Tools for many years, but yet again could not turn his tools into major league production.
Bryan Anderson was selected in the 4th and the toolsy, slick hitting catcher has not been able to crack the major league roster for any extended period of time yet.
Mitch Boggs was picked in the 5th round and he has turned himself into a solid 7 or 8th inning reliever for the Cardinals major league team. He seems to be pitching better as a reliever than a starter as he can unleash much more velocity than he showed as a starter.
Wilfrido Pujols was the selection in the 6th round, seemingly as a favor to then 1st baseman Albert Pujos. Wilfrido was never heard from again…
The 7th round brought Nick Stavinoha, who had a few cups of coffee in the majors, and from the 7th round, that can be considered a good pick. Stavinoha is no longer with the Cardinals and out of baseball after the 2011 season.
Here’s the link to the rest of the Cardinals picks. Not at lot there after the 7th round with the exception of Blake King (EDIT: Oh yea, and some guy named Jaime O Garcia, who may have saved the whole draft for the Cardinals in the 22nd round.) who was briefly a strikeout or walk reliever that showed some potential but could never get it straightened out.
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Umm… Jaime Garcia?
Oops, didn’t sign in 2005. My bad.
Ok, so the MLB page linked doesn’t show that Jaime signed in 2005 but his player page on ESPN lists him as a 2005 draftee in the 22nd round.
Not a lot there after the 7th round? Jaime Garcia a left handed pitcher is a pretty good pick in the 22nd round. Ever hear of him?
Hochevar didn’t sign and was the number 1 overall pick a few years later.
Nick Stavinoha’s actually in Japan—for now, at least. He’s hitting .186/.250/.322 for the Hiroshima Carp.
Wilfredo killed a kid and is in prison.
Wilfredo, wiifrido’s brother, killed the kid. The cardinals wilfrido was in the passenger seat, but he had other problems. Horrible naming by the parents.
Was 2005 the firs year you could say it was Lunhow’s?
Yes, I believe that is correct.
Forgetting about Garcia seems to make your following comment a bit false: “The 2005 MLB Draft was one of promise, potential, injury and ultimately disappointment so far for the Cardinals.”
Garcia and Boggs make it all better.
The 2005 draft was very, very interesting. If you google 2005 MLB draft tracker, the whole draft is there along with brief describtions and about 4 minutes of video from prospects. The Rasmus and Greene picks seemed to be the correct ones at the time with no other players as obviously talented in the 2nd round. Rumors at the time is that we were going to draft Bucholoz at 43 but he didn’t make it that far. It’s debatable if at the time it would have been considered drafting him instead of Greene at the time. With Bucholoz gone, the Cardinals got the most talented pitcher iwth the best arm at that point in the draft with McCormick at 43. We could have gotten Jeb Lowerie instead but we had a pick at 46. Unfortunately he went at 45. Essentially the Sox took two guys we wanted one spot ahead of us each time. We took Herron at 46. A pitcher with a ton of projection and he could have been a 3rd baseman also. I have no problem with tha tpick. In the 2nd we took a smallish HS who was still projectable but had pitchability. He probably had better stuff than Jeremy Hellickson. The Ray’s picked the right HS at that point. No problem with Wilson. Yunel Escobar was drafted abotu 7 places after we got Wilson. Rumors are that we wanted Escobar but though he wasn’t really well known as he hadn’t played ball that year. We may have been willing to wait a few round to see if he dropped because we had already traded Tyler Greene that draft. Escobar would have been great in our system. We drafted Nick Webber that round also. We though he had one of the best pitches in the draft with that hard sinker. I’m sure we reasonably expected him to be a MLBer. At the end of the 3rd we picked DJ Tools…TONs of projection the only other smart pick could have been Gabby Sanchez a catcher from Miami.
Essentially, in 2005 early we went with guys with a ton of talent and projection. Not many safe bets. The pitchers didn’t work out most of their careers ended with arm injuries. We know about Rasmus and Greene. The 2005 could have been truly historic for us but I do believe at the time we made the right picks and it just didn’t work out.
Imagine at draft where we pick Rasmus and Buchholoz in the 1st. McCormick and Lowerie in the supplemental. Escobar and Gabby Sanchez in the 2nd.
This isn’t just picking guys that worked out but legit guys that we could hve gotten, were wanting or that made sense for the organization.
Well, Rasmus turned out to be a screaming success. You don’t win a WS without that trade.
That may be true, but the Furcal acquisition was far more important. The team went 13-15 in the time between the Rasmus trade and picking up Furcal. We all know what happened after that. Getting Theriot off SS was far more important.
True….I guess that Brett Wallace was a huge success too. I’m just stating that how these guys develop as players.
Can’t believe Wilfrido was given a $120,000 signing bonus. Wow he was a bad baseball player.
I think Greene and Rasmus were absolutely the right picks to make, and actually turned out well.
A note about Greene. Does anyone else think that If he had more regular playing time at the majors earlier in his career, some of his contact/BA issues would have been corrected? This seems to be the one tool that never really developed.