Grady Sizemore, Cliff Lee, Asdrubal Cabrera, Shin-Soo Choo, and Rafael Betancourt all have something in common.
Jeremy Sowers, Michael Aubrey, Brad Snyder, Jeremy Guthrie, Dan Denham, Corey Smith, CC Sabathia, Tim Drew, Danny Peoples, David Miller, and Daron Kirkeit all have something in common too.
The first group is Cleveland Indian players who are having successful careers and were taken from other organizations.
The second group is Cleveland Indians first round draft choices. Only Sabathia and Guthrie have had successful careers in the majors.
The Indians are better at scouting players who were drafted and started their careers and their development in other organizations. The Indians have had some success at scouting, signing, and developing players from the Caribbean and South America.
However, their ability to scout, sign, and develop high school and college players into major leaguers is in question.
Why are they so much more successful at recognizing talent in the minors than they are at recognizing amateur talent in school? I am sure that the projectablity of a minor leaguer is done in a much more scientific fashion than that of school players. In order for the Indians to compete with the big boys as a small market team, they must be much better at scouting amateur talent, then signing and developing those players drafted out of high school and college.
Original Story:
http://myteamrivals.typepad.com/india...
