MLB Draft 2013

mvandersee · June 08, 2013, 05:22:18 PM

Congratulations to Tanner Vavra, who was drafted with the 890th pick by the Minnesota Twins!

VU75 · June 08, 2013, 05:27:47 PM

YSU third baseman Drew Dosch goes to Baltimore in the third round.

LaPorteAveApostle · June 08, 2013, 05:36:38 PM

Doesn't appear that the injury hurt Dosch too much. (Although you are a little off...he was pick #219 in the 7th round.)

Or Tanner, for that matter

(That's Round 30, for those of you who are old school : )

Those are the only HL players so far, btw. We're in Round 37 as of this moment.

LaPorteAveApostle · June 08, 2013, 07:28:20 PM

...and that's it for VU and the HL.

Probably not one of our better years (as a league...we've had plenty of years with no one drafted, just not for a bit : )

But at least we can be sure of Karch coming back and coming back extra-motivated!

vusupporter · June 08, 2013, 07:52:39 PM

Milwaukee's Uhen was chosen yesterday in the 5th round.

LaPorteAveApostle · June 08, 2013, 08:12:45 PM

Right you are.

I searched under "Wisconsin" and "Milwaukee".

I did not think to search MLB's stupid, stupid draft tracker under "U" for "university".

valporun · June 11, 2013, 11:49:23 AM

Tanner's selection couldn't be because of the injury. Just like Lloyd McClendon's son a few years ago, Tanner's selection was more to do with his dad being a coach in the Twins farm system. If it were any other team, then I'd agree with the injury not being a factor with his draftability.

vusupporter · June 11, 2013, 11:59:03 AM

There is a huge difference between Bo McClendon and Tanner Vavra. There was a good chance that, if the Twins had not drafted Tanner, another club would have.

LaPorteAveApostle · June 11, 2013, 12:39:24 PM

Quote from: valporun on June 11, 2013, 11:49:23 AMTanner's selection couldn't be because of the injury.

No one ever suggested that. more like "in spite of", not "because of".

We'll find out if you were right, but I suspect VUSupporter is closer to the truth.

historyman · June 11, 2013, 06:15:19 PM

I have a feeling that if the Twins thought they were doing a favor and paying back Joe Vavra for working with the Twins it was not a big favor and could easily benefit the Twins some day.

valporun · June 12, 2013, 10:40:18 AM

The MLB draft commonly sees the son(s) of a Hall of Famer or member of the coaching staff get drafted by the team he played for/coached with. That's all I was saying was the reason the Twins took Tanner. Sure, any other team might have given Tanner a chance, but MLB draft history being what it is, when Tanner was still on the board the Twins played the "draft in the family" card. I hope Tanner plays well, and I can't wait to see him come up to the Class A Midwest League Twins affiliate and play in Beloit, WI a few times, but the MLB draft, especially in the late rounds gets to that organizational family roster filling draft card game, where they'll draft a kid who might have a family member in some part of the player development staff as an in-kind gesture, regardless of what school the kid went to, or what position he plays. They just do it that way, and old scout's tradition in the search for draft picks and roster filling.

VUfan · June 12, 2013, 05:54:00 PM

The Twins Class A team is now The Ceder Rapids Kernels! he may Suprise you!!

LaPorteAveApostle · June 12, 2013, 07:21:52 PM

Quote from: VUfan on June 12, 2013, 05:54:00 PMThe Twins Class A team is now The Ceder Rapids Kernels!

While that was true, I think he knew that, and was merely referring to him playing VS. Beloit.

But, anyway, they are a Class A team, the Kernels. But their HIGH Class A team is down here in Ft. Myers

ml · June 12, 2013, 08:22:32 PM

Here is a very good story from the St Paul, MN paper about Tanner and his being drafted by the Twins.

http://www.twincities.com/sports/ci_23430317/minnesota-twins-tanner-vavra-proves-uncle-tommy-right

Tanner is great representative of of Valpo and our baseball program. It is a pleasure to have him as part of our Athletics family.

LaPorteAveApostle · June 13, 2013, 12:51:37 PM

great story. and a lesson for some of our posters:

QuoteThis was no courtesy pick. Ten more rounds remained. Thousands of qualified players were left on the board.

The Twins wanted Tanner Vavra, the kid from Menomonie (Wis.) High School who just keeps proving people wrong.

valporun · June 14, 2013, 11:27:42 AM

Yes, I knew that the Twins' Midwest League affiliate changed to Cedar Rapids, IA from Beloit, WI, but I live closer to Beloit, and from time-to-time work at the ballpark there. It will be good to see him play there. I'm thinking he'll end up at Elizabethton of the Appalachian League, which would be a great spot for him. He's better than the GCL level, since he has some rookie level-ish experience from his college days. Best of luck to him this season!

bbtds · June 14, 2013, 02:21:11 PM

The Midwest League is up to 16 teams now with 8 in each division (E/W). The Cubs finally made a deal with Kane County, duh!!! So that moved Peoria back to the Cardinals. South Bend and Cedar Rapids won their respective divisions' first half titles so they will both be in the playoffs come September. Might be a good chance of seeing Tanner in South Bend in September if both teams can repeat their first half performances and get into the playoffs with a full head of steam if Vavra plays for Cedar Rapids.

Cedar Rapids already played at South Bend on May 4-5-6 with the Kernels taking 2 of 3 from the Silverhawks. The Kernels play at Beloit July 2-3 and August 14-15-16, all weekday games. Cedar Rapids plays at Kane County August 10-11-12.

By the way, the manager of Cedar Rapids is Jake Mauer.

KMRY, a classics radio station broadcasts Cedar Rapids games at
http://lightningstream.surfernetwork.com/Media/player/view/KMRY_gsl.asp?StreamingServerName=nick11y&call=KMRY&targetWidth=1000&targetHeight=800

WBEJ, does Elizabethton Twins games at
http://www.wbej.com/live/index400pix.htm

The Fort Myers Miracle of the Florida State League have their games at this site
http://media4.aicmail.net:8080/MiLB/GameAudio/LiveStreamFlash/fsl_fort_myers_miracle

The GCL Twins don't broadcast on the internet, the New Britain Rock Cats of the Eastern League and the Rochester Red Wings of the International League, are places where Tanner could eventually play.

bbtds · June 14, 2013, 04:37:17 PM

Fort Myers also won their division in the first half of the Florida State League. The Miracle start the second half of the season on June 17 against Palm Beach.

Elizabethton starts their rookie league season on June 20 against Bristol.

StlVUFan · June 17, 2013, 05:29:29 PM

Quote from: ml on June 12, 2013, 08:22:32 PM
Here is a very good story from the St Paul, MN paper about Tanner and his being drafted by the Twins.

http://www.twincities.com/sports/ci_23430317/minnesota-twins-tanner-vavra-proves-uncle-tommy-right

Tanner is great representative of of Valpo and our baseball program. It is a pleasure to have him as part of our Athletics family.

If things go according to Hoyle, within 5 years he'll be driving my White Sox crazy 18 times a year

valporun · June 21, 2013, 12:57:09 PM

As I expected, Tanner has been assigned to the Elizabethton Twins, the Appy League short season affiliate. In his first game, he went 1-3 with a single and a walk. I will definitely be paying attention to his growth to see if he becomes a Cedar Rapids Kernel by season's end.

valpotx · June 23, 2013, 11:01:24 PM

Quote from: LaPorteAveApostle on June 13, 2013, 12:51:37 PM
great story. and a lesson for some of our posters:
QuoteThis was no courtesy pick. Ten more rounds remained. Thousands of qualified players were left on the board.

The Twins wanted Tanner Vavra, the kid from Menomonie (Wis.) High School who just keeps proving people wrong.

Just back from the 16 day honeymoon

. Congratulations Tanner! You do not select someone as a courtesy pick in the 30th round, he would have gone soon after had the Twins not selected him. I will definitely follow him as I do Gaedele!

valpotx · June 23, 2013, 11:29:50 PM

Speaking of Vavra, what a terrible way to start your professional career. His minor league bus collided with a car that crossed over the divider, killing that driver:

http://www.milb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20130618&content_id=50995248&fext=.jsp&vkey=news_milb&sid=milb

valpotx · August 14, 2013, 10:05:46 AM

Tanner has been doing well over the last 2 weeks to raise his average from below .200 to .255! Keep it up bud!

http://www.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=p_pbp&pid=643584

Kyle Gaedele has been having a fairly solid season as well, but he still strikes out a lot:

http://www.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=p_pbp&pid=543191

valpotx · August 20, 2013, 01:27:31 PM

1 week later, and Tanner is up to .269!

http://www.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=p_pbp&pid=643584

Gaedele has had a bad week to lower his average to .248:

http://www.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=p_pbp&pid=543191

valpotx · September 03, 2013, 01:19:20 PM

Gaedele is finishing well, hitting .256 with 13 HRs (2 in 1 game last week), with his HR total leading the team. I think that he will be at AA next year, which will be the real test, as they say that it is a true indicator of someone's MLB potential:

http://www.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=p_pbp&pid=543191

Vavra struggled in his last week, but still a decent first season to build on:

http://www.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=p_pbp&pid=643584