The MLB Draft

I treated myself to the annual double-sized issue of Baseball America that analyzes the MLB draft. 

This was a yearly tradition for me for most of this century. I have fond memories of going over it line by line, highlighting pertinent facts, then live tracking the draft and comparing it to the BA traditions. 

That's a little harder to do when you order it weeks in advance but they ship it so late that it arrives with 48 hours to spare. 

Ces't la vie. 

This was their projected pick for the hometown Brewers, in the 17th slot of the draft: 

Instead, the Brewers selected Braylon Payne, a high school outfielder ranked #53 by BA, a 17 year old they gave "a chance to be drafted inside the first three rounds."

Well. 

This isn't an attack on the Brewers, or on Baseball America's prognosticators. Unlike the NBA and NFL the MLB is very much a guessing game, with even top prospects not showing up in the bigs for years, and many first rounders never getting there at all. 

So, I hope the magazine was wrong, the locals were correct, and Payne goes on to be a perennial All-Star for us. 

Time will tell.