Hornets Address Two Key Needs In First Round

By Jim Derer
    
The Rosehill Hornets went into the draft with a need to upgrade their starting pitching and to get a starting 2B. We also needed backups at catcher, shortstop, and 1B.

The Hornets happily drafted Masahiro Tanaka at No. 8

As the first round unfolded, we were shocked that Masahiro Tanaka dropped to us at #8! We had him projected as the #1 SP and we didn't think he would last that long as other drafts and various projected drafts had him going in the top 4. Our next first-round pick was at #14 and we were able to get our 2B in Dee Gordon who should be our leadoff hitter, and we'll use Freddy Galvis to sub defensively in the late innings.
 
We projected that we could get our future closer in the second round with our pick #28 and luckily we were right. We selected Ken Giles who should help in a limited role this season and we expect big things from him in the future.

In the third round we were able help our rotation with Jason Hammel who we had as the seventh best SP and we were surprised that he lasted that long. There was a run on catchers as five were taken before we were able to fill our backup catcher need by picking Rene Rivera.

Round four saw us pick up a young backup at 1B for Mauer in C.J. Cron a righthanded hitter with some power.

We picked up Casey McGehee, a 3B who hits RHP well with over 600 ABs, and a quality LH reliever in Zack Duke in round five.

Our final two picks were a backup infielder in Andrew Romine and a young SP in Nick Martinez.

The Hornets were very satisfied with this year's draft because we were able to get two quality SPs, a starting 2B, a future closer, LH bullpen help and some nice backups with ABs. Hopefully this will be enough for us to improve this season and keep us in the hunt for the wild card.