NL Central Draft Grades

In this quick write-up, I'd like to take a look at the jobs done by the various gms in the 2020 draft. The NL Central is argueably the best division in baseball and with the 2020 draft being a solid draft class, the results of this year will have a significant effect on the future of the National League. I will attempt to keep my bias out of the grades and keep it honest, not trying to hurt anyones feelings but I'm not going to sugarcoat a poor draft.

Chicago Cubs
Draft Grade: D+
Best Value Pick: P Chris Vieira (4th Round, 120th Overall)
Draft Notes: I am not really sure that any player that Sean drafted this season has any serious MLB career ahead of them. Sean drafted some very raw talents and I have my doubts that they will end up panning out. Sean didn't really need a great draft because his team is already great but he is always going to be looking for cheaper options and I doubt this class will produce any good options in the future. Out of all the players, RP Chris Vieera might have the best shot of being a solid bullpen piece.

Cincinnati Reds
Draft Grade: B+
Best Value: P Gustavo Telon (3rd Round, 71st Overall)
Draft Notes: I was much more impressed by the mid round picks of JPS than the early round picks. I realize JPS did not stay around for the whole draft and I am not sure who credit really goes to but for Cincinnatti it was a solid draft. He picked up good value in players like P Telon, LF Page and P Wilder but to me his first 2 picks were very risky. He had the 3 and 11 pick in the draft and he picked a terribly overrated 3B in Marv Eason and a questionable high schooler in 1B Eric Gentner. Considering the other talent that was on the board in the early first round, I feel that he will look back and regret his top 2 picks in this years draft.

Houston Astros
Draft Grade: B
Best Value: SS Peter Conwell
Draft Notes: Conwell was argueably most projectable position player in this years draft and to scoop him up in the late first round was certainly a good move. I know from talking to DJ he was quite high on his mid round picks but I personally believe that is where his picks fell off. I don't see the projectability in players like Nufio, Porcell, or Mezquita so that hurts his grade significantly. He had a ton of picks anticipating a loaded draft but the more I look at the draft, I feel many GM's were fooled by the top heavy talent and the 4th round and beyond were average. DJ agree to disagree on his mid round picks here.

Milwaukee Brewers
Draft Grade: C-
Best Value: LF Joseph Powell
Draft Notes: Simply, Erick had two of the first 5 picks and in a draft that I considered to be top heavy, Erick landed two questionable prospects. He could have made a huge move to set up his team for competition in the NL Central but I feel he missed his shot with this draft. This draft could have proven to be critical in his growth and honestly, I feel like he blew it.

Pittsburgh Pirates
Draft Grade: -
Best Value: P Jeff Vail
Draft Notes: Vail to me, was the best prospect at any position in this draft and to land him at the 6th pick was huge for me. I am obviously not going to give myself a grade because it would be biased. I felt like I made the most of my picks and picked up some projectable players that will help my team within a couple of season.

St Louis Cardinals
Draft Grade: C-
Best Value: Billy Rogers (practically by default)
Draft Notes: I am highly doubtful anybody in this group of draftees becomes a major league starter in their career. Maybe I am too low on their draft but I question the projectability of all the draftees and I could turn out to be wrong but I see a group of MLB bench players and AAAA players for the Cardinals draft