Grit and Determination: A Look Back at the 2004 Draft

Back in 2004 the Boston Red Sox were up against a wall a bit due to the fact that they held 0 first round selections in the Amateur Draft (They had given up their pick to the A's). The Sox first pick came in the second round on overall pick number 65.

With that pick they went against the mainstream, went against the "toolsy", the "5-category potential", the "raw-power" and selected a 5'8" SS out of Arizona State University.

Had OTM readers been following the draft in 2004 as we do today, I can imagine the comments. With the lack of hindsight I'm sure they would have been less than stellar.  "A short middle infielder!, come on!" "Where is the pitching!" "Great another David Eckstein!"

Enter Dustin Pedroia

In terms of WAR production from that class: Only one player of the 64 drafted before Pedroia have outperformed the mighty-mite (Justin Verlander - 24.4 to Pedroia's 23.9).

The Minnesota Twins drafted 6 players before Pedroia's slot: Plouffe, Perkins, Waldrop, Fox, Rainville, and Swarzak Those 6 have a grand total of 1.9 WAR). They haven't found a suitable player to man 2B since Chuck Knoblauch.

The LA Dodgers had 4 selections prior to #65 and managed this group: Elbert, DeWitt, Orenduff, Johnson.  

The 2004 Draft has not exactly been stellar in terms of ML production as a whole. Sure there are some studs: Verlander, Weaver, Gallardo, Pence. Some solid types: Zobrist, Butler, Drew, Street, K. Suzuki, Lind. Some up-and-comers: Phil Hughes, Gio Gonzalez, Seth Smith, Chris Ianetta. But, on the whole, the draft that started out with Matt Bush, has been one of the worst in recent memory.

Kudos to the Red Sox for throwing a thumb at the pundits and taking a chance on a too-short player who plays with grit and determination......and is currently one of the best players in the league.

Link to the 2004 Draft:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/draft/index.cgi?draft_round=1&year_ID=2004&draft_type=junreg&query_type=year_round