Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
A pair of Marlins represent the nature of the MLB amateur draft.
Ramos, Colon were chosen 21 rounds apart
PITTSBURGH — Hundreds of amateur ballplayers will take the next step toward their dream of playing the major leagues this week when they hear their names called in the MLB draft.
A bunch will eventually reach The Show. An overwhelming majority won’t.
“There are big leaguers in every draft,” said Stan Meek, the Miami Marlins’ vice president of scouting. “Somewhere.”
There are reminders of that truth in the Marlins’ clubhouse every day. At the extreme ends of the spectrum, infielder Christian Colon was taken fourth overall in 2010. AJ Ramos went 638th overall — in the 21st round — in 2009.
Draft order is an approximation of perceived potential: The best players are drafted early, and the lesser players — still good enough to go pro — are drafted late. But, really, it’s a total crapshoot.
Take Ramos as an example. Only one active Marlin — righty Dan Straily (24th round, 723rd overall) — was taken later than Ramos, an All-Star last year. The day he was drafted, Ramos was working a camp at Texas Tech, his alma mater, when the Arizona Diamondbacks called to say they were going to pick him in the ninth or 10th round. They didn’t. Ramos never found out why.
Instead, he fell all the way to the 21st, when the Marlins — a team with which he had no prior contact — called his name. A scout gave him a ring to say they were going to offer him $1,000 to sign, standard for college seniors with no leverage taken in the middle and late rounds.
“I told him, ‘You just got a Lamborghini for $1,000,’ ” Ramos said.
(To add to the unpredictability: Another noteworthy reliever, the St. Louis Cardinals’ Trevor Rosenthal, was taken immediately after Ramos.)
Take Colon as another example. He was a Cal State Fullerton standout, expecting to go late in the first round or maybe the supplementary round. The Kansas City Royals took him fourth — after the Washington Nationals picked Bryce Harper, the Pittsburgh Pirates Jameson Taillon and the Baltimore Orioles Manny Machado. Instant status. Colon signed for a $2.75 million bonus.
“You want to get drafted,” Colon said. “But then you’re the fourth pick in the country. It was surreal.”
Two players, separated by 634 draft slots and $2.749 million, teammates in the majors.
As new draftees embark on their minor league journeys, it isn’t quite a level playing field for the late-rounders compared with the true prospects. But what happens next is up to each individual.
“It’s a little political because the guys drafted in the first few rounds get a lot more opportunity,” Ramos said. “For me, I didn’t care. I’d work out with a firstrounder, lift more weight than him, run next to him and run faster. I’d make sure to show, this is your first rounder and I’m beating him and I’m a 21st-rounder.
Said Colon: “Guys who do make it after being drafted that late, they’re grinders. Those are guys that are well prepared, take very good care of themselves and take pride in being winners and showing up to the field.”
Ramos had a bit of advice this for this week’s new crop of pros.
“If you go in there just hoping for things to happen — no, there’s a lot of things you have to do,” Ramos said. “You have to be obsessed with being good. You can’t do a little work to get a little better. You have to want to be the best no matter what round you’re drafted in.”
Volquez exacts pound of lumber
After breaking his only two bats during his start against the Pirates, Marlins righty Edinson Volquez promised he’d get one from
Gerrit Cole, his opponent Thursday and teammate in 2014, as payment. By Sunday morning, Volquez had indeed obtained one from Cole, an all-black Marucci model.
“Let’s see what I can get with this one,” Volquez said with a smile.