Big Spenders: Toronto’s 2010 Draft Class
With today being the deadline (at midnight) to get amateur draftees to sign on the dotted line, we’ve been building up to the occasion with a look back at the big draft spenders during the past three seasons. If you’ve missed the past two articles, you can find them here: Boston and Pittsburgh. There is bound to be a lot of draft news today as Major League Baseball finally lifts the gag order on big-money contract agreements.
After the 2009 amateur draft debacle that helped send former GM J.P. Ricciardi out of town, the Jays organization took a much different – and much more aggressive – approach to the 2010 draft. Under the guidance of new GM Alex Anthopoulos and scouting director Andrew Tinnish, the club exploited its massive scouting department and focused on high-ceiling talent.
Putting faith in its scouts, the club handed out a whopping 17 contracts that met or exceeded $200,000. Of those picks, 11 were pitchers, and the hitters were mostly of the up-the-middle variety — save for corner outfielder Marcus Knecht and third baseman Kellen Sweeney (who was a shortstop in college). The results – so far – have been rather impressive, which has made Toronto into a top-three organization in terms of overall talent.
College Picks
1st – Deck McGuire, RHP
1st – Asher Wojciechowski, RHP
4th – Sam Dyson, RHP