FanPost

Walt Jocketty's draft history.

If you'll put up with me a bit the next two or three weeks, I'll post some draft stuff. I'm one of the few screwballs who gets excited about who the Reds take in the 33rd round and stuff like that.

Today, let's look at Walt Jocketty's draft record. I know, the GM doesn't have a tremendous amount of control over the draft outside of the first round. That's while we'll look only at Jocketty's No. 1 overall picks while he was GM of the Cardinals.

In 13 years, Walt selected eight college players, six of them pitchers. The others were a SS and an OF, although the OF, J.D. Drew, technically came from an independent league. Walt took two HS OF, two HS SS and a HS C. Interestingly enough, he never drafted a HS pitcher nor a college IF No. 1.

Here is a look at the players he selected:

1995: Matt Morris, college pitcher. Matty Mo is done, but he had a good career, going 121-92 with a 3.98 ERA. Very good pick.

1996: Braden Looper, college pitcher. Has had a solid career. Walt spun him off to Florida in the Edgar Renteria deal. Very good pick.

1997: Adam Kennedy, college shortstop. Another productive major leaguer. Walt later dealt him to Anaheim in the Jim Edmonds trade. Very good pick.

1998: J.D. Drew, college outfielder. Injuries aside, Drew has had a fine career. Walt dealt him with Eli Marrero to Atlanta for Adam Wainwright, Ray King and Jason Marquis. Excellent pick.

1999: Chance Caple, college pitcher. Caple is in high-A ball and has been OK at best in the minors. Bad pick ends a string of good ones.

2000: Shaun Boyd, HS outfielder. Boyd is in AA with the Phillies. He's never done much above Low-A ball. Bad pick.

2001: Justin Pope, college pitcher. Is AAA filler with the Phillies, making him Philadelphia Filler. Hasn't done much, but Walt did trade him to the Yankees in a deal for Sterling Hitchcock, so he salvaged something. Bad pick.

2002: Calvin Hayes, high school SS. Moved to 2B. Was terrible. Is out of organized ball. Bad pick.

2003: Daric Barton, high school catcher. A winning pick after four misses. Barton is scuffling with Oakland this season. Walt swapped him in the Mark Mulder deal. Good pick.

2004: Chris Lambert, college pitcher. Is 5-1, 2.44 in AAA with Detroit. Was the PTBNL is the Mike Maroth deal. Might be a decent pick in time.

2005: Colby Rasmus, high school outfielder. As recently as the last off-season, some were claiming Rasmus was better than Jay Bruce. Not anymore. A heralded player out of HS, Rasmus is posting a 6-16-.179 .269 .304 line at AAA. He's been no more than so-so since 2006. Looking more and more like a bust.

2006: Adam Ottavino, college pitcher. Was outstanding in High-A ball last year, but is 0-4 9.13 in AA this season. We'll see how he turns out.

2007: Pete Kozma, high school shortstop. Many thought Kozma was a reach, but he's been productive, posting a 3-18-.300 .385 .440 line in Low-A ball this season. So far, so good.

What's it all mean? Like the draft as a whole, it's a crap shoot. I suspect that if Missouri RHP Aaron Crow is there, Walt will grab him. If, though, South Carolina 1B Justin Smoak or Miami 1B Yonder Alonso is there, would Walt buck his trend of shying away from college IFs and take one of them?

Based on his history, who might Walt like? Crow, HS C Kyle Skipworth, Georgia pitcher Josh Fields and Tulane RHP Shooter Hunt all are possibilities at No. 7. Again, though, who knows when it comes to the draft.