What?!?
That's right, the Nationals, the team that most didn't expect to win 70 games this year are leading baseball's most competitve division.
Standings as of June 5th:
Team W L PCT GB Washington 31 26 .544 - Atlanta 30 26 .536 0.5 Philadelphia 30 27 .526 1.0 Florida 28 26 .519 1.5 NY Mets 29 27 .518 1.5
Here's everybody's favorite chart! (ok, so it's still probably just me)
Clear as mud, huh?
The Phillies and Nats are surging, the Braves and Marlins are fading, and the Mets continue to hover around .500.
In this installment of the NL East update we'll look at the draft. First each of the team's top 3 rounds of the draft over the past 3 years, and then see who the teams might be interested in as indicated by the Sickels Community Mock Draft (hereafter refered to as SCMD).
Atlanta Braves
Overall Record: 30-26 Run Differential: +42 Record in last period: 6-7 2004 Rnd Player Pos School 2 Eric Campbell 3b Gibson Southern HS, Owensville, Ind. 3 J.C. Holt 2b Louisiana State U. 2003 1S Luis Atilano rhp Gabriela Mistral HS, San Juan, P.R. 1S J Saltalamcch c Royal Palm Beach HS, West Palm Beach, Fla. 2 Jo Jo Reyes lhp Riverside Poly HS, Riverside, Calif. 2 Paul Bacot rhp Lakeside HS, Atlanta 3 Jacob Stevens lhp Cape Coral (Fla.) HS 3 Matt Harrison lhp South Granville HS, Stem, N.C. 2002 1 Jeff Francoeur of Parkview HS, Lilburn, Ga. 1 Dan Meyer lhp James Madison U. 2 Brian McCann c Duluth (Ga.) HS. 2 Tyler Greene ss St. Thomas Aquinas HS, Plantation, Fla. 3 Charlie Morton rhp Joel Barlow HS, Redding, Conn.
This year the Braves pick at #27. In the SCMD the Braves chose Cliff Pennington, the SS from Texas A&M.
Florida Marlins
Overall Record: 28-26 Run Differential: +24 Record in last period: 4-10 2004 Rnd Player Pos School 1 T Tankersley lhp U. of Alabama 2 Jason Vargas lhp Long Beach St. 3 Greg Burns of Walnut HS, West Covina, Calif. 2003 1 Jeff Allison rhp Veterans Memorial HS, Peabody, Mass. 2 Logan Kensing rhp Texas A&M U. TX 3 Jonathan Fulton ss George Washington HS, Danville, Va. 2002 1 Jeremy Hermida of Wheeler HS, Marietta, Ga. 2 Robert Andino ss Southridge HS, Miami. 3 Trv. Hutchinson rhp U. of California.
The Marlins will be a busy team as they have extra picks from Benitez and Pavano signing with other teams. They'll have #16, 22, and 29. In the SCMD the Marlins ended up with: Cesar Carrillo, RHP from Miami, Michael Bowden, RHP from Waubonsie Valley HS and Taylor Teagarden, C from Texas, as chosen by Bauxite Marc.
New York Mets
Overall Record: 29-27 Run Differential: +17 Record in last period: 6-6 2004 Rnd Player Pos School 1 Philip Humber rhp Rice U. 2 Matt Durkin rhp San Jose State U. 3 Gaby Hernandez rhp Belen Jesuit HS, Miami 2003 1 L Milledge of Lakewood Ranch HS, Palmetto, Fla. 2002 1 Scott Kazmir lhp Cypress Falls HS, Houston
The Mets pick at #9 in the draft. The name most associated with New York is St John's University closer Craig Hansen. In the SCMD the Mets took Cameron Maybin who slipped down the draft board.
Philadelphia Phillies
Overall Record: 30-27 Run Differential: -2 Record in last period: 9-3 2004 Rnd Player Pos School 1 Greg Golson of John Connally HS, Austin 2 Jason Jaramillo c Oklahoma State U. 3 J.A. Happ lhp Northwestern U. 2003 3 Tim Moss 2b U. of Texas 2002 1 Cole Hamels lhp Rancho Bernardo HS, San Diego. 2 Zach Segovia rhp Forney (Texas) HS. 3 Kiel Fisher 3b-of Riverside Poly (Calif.) HS.
The Phillies do not have a first round pick as they lost it when they signed Jon Leiber.
Washington Nationals
Overall Record: 31-26 Run Differential: -10 Record in last period: 7-6 2004 Rnd Player Pos School 1 Bill Bray lhp College of William & Mary 2 Erick San Pedro c U. of Miami 3 Ian Desmond ss Sarasota (Fla.) HS 2003 1 Chad Cordero rhp Cal State Fullerton 2 Jerry Owens of The Masters (Calif.) College 3 Kory Casto of U. of Portland 2002 1 Clint Everts rhp Cypress Falls HS, Houston 2 Darrell Rasner rhp U. of Nevada 3 Larry Broadway 1b Duke U.
Washington picks #4 overall. The Nationals have been said to be targeting Ryan Zimmerman, Ryan Zimmerman, and Ryan Zimmerman, the third baseman from Virginia. In the SCMD the Nats chose Jeff Clement, the catcher from USC.
