2008 Rule 4 Draft

The 2008 Rule 4 draft, also known as the amateur draft, was fairly fruitful for the DC's, let's take a closer look.

Round:Pick - Player (College)

1:4 - Bert Hughes (Arkansas)
The 22 y/o Hughes grades out to be a classic power hitting right fielder with a plus arm down the line. Make no mistake about it, all 42's right fielders who occupy the position in the next few years are just keeping it warm for when Bert is ready. This should be the last time in a LONG while that the 42's have a pick this high in the draft.

1:37 - Oleg Cox (E. Illinois)
Cox was a sandwich pick awarded because of Nashville's signing of LF Gene Sheldon. Cox will make a living in the majors one day as a solid long reliever for a championship level team. Oleg combines outstanding control and a plus curveball.

2:49 - Corey Torrealba (Orange County CC)
Torrealba has the potential to make it as back-end of the rotation starter with his deceptive delivery and sinker/slider combo which make him very tough on righties.

3:81 - Walter Waters (Trinity Valley CC)
Quadruple-U grades out as a subpar defensive catcher with very good offensive abilities. Waters and the IFA Hasegawa will rise through the system together and compete for the ML catching job a few years down the line.

4:113 Vic Martinez (Copiah-Lincoln CC)
Slick Vic projects to a 95 power as a left-handed hitting second basemen. This alone may earn him a spot on a ML roster someday, not bad for a 4th round pick.

5:145 Juan Duran (Rice Univ.)
Duran is another interesting project. He is a setup man who uses his sinker to keep the ball on the ground. Along with his slider he has 2 plus ML pitches, could be viable someday.

6:177 Andres Rodriguez (Boston College)
Rodriguez is by far the most interesting player in the 42's draft class, possible the whole league. First the good; Average control for a ML pitcher and a very good knuckleball, very high durability (93 projecting to 98). Now the bad; He has 0 stamina, literally. A knuckleballer with 0 stamina is unique to say the least. How effective can he be? How many pitches can he throw? 5? 10? How many innings can he throw a season? Well Rodriguez has pitched in 29 games in HiA this season, amassing 20 innings and striking out 20 with a WHIP of 1.25. Much better than expected. Rodriguez would be the ideal candidate for DITR jump, maybe get that DUR number into double digits. Still he remains an interesting grab in the 6th round.

7:209 Jerry Wolf (North Country CC)
A 7th rounder with promise who could really use a DITR jump. His low durability/stamina combo makes his usage pretty low.