:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/33732131/20140424_ajl_al8_163.jpg.0.jpg)
The MLB First Year Player Draft is coming up this Thursday, June 5. The Reds have the 19th pick in the first round. Each team is allowed to have a former player on hand to be their representative on Draft Day, and the Reds have selected Eric Davis to play that role for them. The full list is here. Manny Randhawa of MLB.com has compiled a list of the most successful Reds draft picks by round, dating back to the advent of the draft in 1965. I think maybe we can improve on that best ever 13th round pick, though.
John Eradi cautions against trading Johnny Cueto this season due to the difficulty in coming out ahead in trades like these. In the article, he also lists the best pitchers by WAR among those drafted and signed by the Reds. It's interesting when compared to a similar list for hitters drafted and signed by the Reds. It's a clear illustration of how much better of a hitting team the Reds have been historically.
Blake Murphy of Fangraphs asks what happens when a pitch goes right down the middle. There's lots of graphs and scatter plots and all kinds of interesting information here.
Sports on Earth's Matthew Kory put together a list of the all-time best hitters against every team. This is in all of baseball history, so there are some legendary names in the mix here, and several names that are the all time best hitters against several teams. There's also a couple of fun and interesting surprises.
John McMurray, the chair of SABR's Deadball Era Research Committee, had a conversation with Rob Neyer about the Deadball Era and it's relevance to today's game. They also discussed the role of the Baseball Hall of Fame and the impact statistical analysis has on how modern historians view players of whom there is no video record.
Speaking of baseball history, Bryan Curtis has an article on Grantland about the enduring popularity of books about baseball. I found it interesting as someone who has read an unreasonable number of baseball books, and it's good to know I'm not alone in that regard.
And finally, what do you get for the baseball fan who has everything? How about Stan Musial's wallet? It's for sale on eBay, and it even comes with a $100 bill. Get bidding.