I wouldn’t jump on Dominguez just yet (after all, John has him ranked as our second best prospect, and he still should be a solid player). Other than that, the players you mentioned have not done well, absolutely. I think you can give the front office a free pass on Allison, what happened to him was very different to just normally busting. I think Sinkbeil is the most egregious bad pick for the FO in the first round.

Gets me to a general point about our strategy. We’re very well-known for going with prep arms in the first round. Whenever I see draft analysis, it never surprises anyone when the Marlins get a high school pitcher in the mid-first round. The problem is that high school pitchers have traditionally produced the lowest average WAR over their team-controlled years. College hitters are usually the best, followed by high school hitters then college pitchers.

The times when the Marlins went hitter this decade haven’t been as bad. Hermida busted, but was at least serviceable most of the time. Dominguez still has a bright future. Skipworth right now looks like the only awful player. But arms are always inherently more risky due to injury risk and how much more difficult it is to pitch in the bigs than hit.

Moti, I think you bring valid concerns in regards to the draft. Chad James is highly regarded, but he hasn’t pitched any yet. We’ll see how he turns out. We have a few other guys like Volstad who are still trying to pan out. Draft’s a crapshoot, but I don’t think the Marlins’ strategy is giving them the best chances. But what do I know? John, got a take on this?

Our FO gets plenty of well-deserved credit. However, I feel as though our drafting has been horrendous. Obviously, most drafts in professional sports are a crapshoot and luck plays a huge role. Brett Sinkbeil, Aaron Thompson, Jeff Allison, Matt Dominguez (Jayson Heyward went 2 spots after him! imagine having Heyward+Stanton), and of course Kyle Skipworth. Bust after Bust after Bust in the first round. Did they find some gems in later rounds? I guess. But it seems to me the FO has not been criticized enough when it comes to their drafts. The baseball draft doesn’t have as much fanfare as the NFL’s, but it’s just as important (or should be) to baseball fans. My main point is while Larry Beinfest, Mike Hill, and company deserve a lot of credit, I think they have been undercriticized.