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Monday, July 26, 2004

Sweet Guacamommy: Angels Sign Adenhart

For $710,000. I never expected he'd sign.
Neither Adenhart's talent nor his signing bonus ($710,000) was typical of a 14th-rounder. The Williamsport (Md.) High righthander entered 2004 ranked as the nation's top high school prospect, and he battled LaGrange (Texas) High righty Homer Bailey for that distinction during the spring. While Bailey went on to get drafted seventh overall by the Reds and win BA's High School Player of the Year award, Adenhart didn't have a happy ending.
Good news!

Comments:
wow. all you need is one gamble to pay off to justify all the others. sweet!
mattkew
 
I wouldn't go that far Mattkew. Let's not forget that a third-round pick (the Angels second pick) disappeared into thin air when Bane decided to gamble on Patrick White. Adenhart is a pleasant surprise, but he doesn't absolve Bane of the White fiasco.
 
They once drafted a player whose name escapes me, but if memory serves correct he was a very high draft pick who immediately went on his Mormon mission. Instead of coming up the ranks with other players his age, by the time he was ready to honor his commitment to baseball, he was no longer a "star" prospect. He eventually went on to a have a mediocre baseball career. Kudos to him for sticking to his principles and shame on the Angels for wasting a high draft pick on a player who wouldn't event make it to Rookie ball for a few years. I believe Bavasi was on the hook for that one...
 
I'm neutral on the overall situation, because it will really all depend on how Adenhart actually does once he returns to pitching. As you all know by now, our top pitching prospects (Jenks, Santana) are all on the DL and won't see the end of the season.

White vanishing to play football -- dumb move on his part, IMO, but hey, whatever, and Bane needs to take a boot to the head for that failed gamble. On the other side of the coin, though, is the widely shared impression that the draft was unusually weak this year, so gambles with possible high-ceiling guys made sense. Who knows.
 
The "gotta wait and see" argument is always the key to any draft. Obviously all you can do is take the best players availiable and see how they pan out. Unfortunatly Bane can't even do that, because he can't seem to draft kids who want to sign.
 

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