The Latest MLB Draft – It’s All Relative

Last Saturday on Seamheads, the “No World Series” Theme Team was revealed. This week, a new theme team is revealed — the 2008 MLB Draft All-Relative Team.

Last week’s Major League Baseball Amateur Draft is not full of household names but over 60 of the players drafted on June 5 and 6 had family ties in the baseball (and football, in a few cases) world. While the 2008 Draft All-Relative Team had to be cut down to the standard 25-man roster so some players have been left off, chances are most of the last names will be instantly recognizable. Sorry, Shane Boras, son of agent Scott Boras, despite the Cardinals selecting you in the 35 ^th round, the decision was made to avoid tough negotiations with your dad and pass on your potential. Here’s the All-Relative Team from this season’s MLB Draft:

FIRST BASEMAN

Beau Brett / 29 ^th Round Selection – Kansas City Royals

The nephew of former Royal and Hall of Famer George Brett and former journeyman pitcher Ken Brett was selected by the team both of his uncles played for. Beau has big footsteps to follow – Uncle George’s resume includes 13 consecutive All-Star appearances, an AL MVP Award in 1980, a Gold Glove in 1985, a 3,000-hit club membership, three AL batting titles, and Uncle Ken pitched 14 seasons in the Major Leagues.

Beau — a senior at Joel E. Ferris High School in Spokane, Washington who is expected to honor his letter of intent and attend USC instead of heading to the professional level with the Kansas City Royals – is a 6’ 3” lefty with a nice swing that generates raw power. His professional baseball connections run deeper than Uncle George and Uncle Ken – his father Bobby owns the Spokane Indians in the Northwest League.

SECOND BASEMAN

Jemile Weeks / 1 ^st Round Selection – Oakland Athletics

In 2005, Jemile Weeks, brother of Rickie Weeks, almost became a member of the same organization when the Milwaukee Brewers drafted him in the eighth round of the 2005 draft. Maybe Jemile wanted to follow in his brother’s footsteps in a different way as his brother was drafted by the Brewers in the first round of the 2003 draft.

This season, Jemile did just that when the Athletics made him their first round pick (the 12 ^th overall pick) after he spent a few seasons with the University of Miami. While Rickie worked his way into the Brewers lineup, Jemile was a Freshman All-American in 2006 and is currently playing in the College World Series for the second time this year in his junior season.

Jemile still has an option to go back to college for his senior year and go back into the draft in 2009 but it is expected that he will sign with the Athletics and is expected to move up their Minor League organization quickly once he does.

THIRD BASEMAN

Austin Yount / 12 ^th Round – Los Angeles Dodgers

Like Jemile, Austin Yount is also playing in this season’s College World Series as a member of the Stanford Cardinal. His Uncle Robin – the former Brewer great who was elected to the Hall of Fame along with George Brett in 1999 – is better known than his father Larry who has his own unique baseball story.

Austin’s father was a fifth round pick in the 1968 draft by the Astros as a pitcher and was set to make his Major League debut on September 15, 1971. He was brought into the game in the ninth inning but felt pain during warm-up tosses that prevented him from making his debut. He almost made the team out of spring training in 1972 but never made it back to the Majors with the Astros and was traded to the Brewers in 1974. While he never made it to the Major League level with the Brewers and retired from baseball in 1976, his brother Robin went on to a superstar career.

Austin is a junior at Stanford and plays third base and pitcher. He is 6-3 with a 3.38 ERA and hitting .338 as a third baseman. He was also a spectator when his uncle Robin made history in Milwaukee on August 9, 1992 by getting his 3,000 ^th hit.

SHORTSTOP

Logan Thompson / 42 ^nd Round – Cleveland Indians

Logan and his brother Tyler were both drafted in 2008 and are the sons of former Giant Robbie Thompson. Robbie’s sons – members of the Jupiter (FL) High School team — could both return to amateur ball and attend college or could both try to follow in their father’s footsteps quickly.

Logan and Tyler share another distinction besides having the same father and being drafted in the same round – they’re twins. Logan is older than Tyler by one minute and is headed to Palm Beach Community College if he decides to not sign with the Indians. In his senior year at Jupiter, Logan hit .280 with four homers and is better known for his glove. He probably got that from his father who won a Gold Glove in 1993.

CATCHER

Mike Brenly / 36 ^th Round – Chicago Cubs

If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. That’s the attitude the Cubs took when they drafted the son of current Cubs announcer and former Major League player and manager Bob Brenly for the second time. The Cubs drafted Bob’s son when he was in high school in Arizona in 2005 but Mike decided to go to the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, instead.

Brenly moved up seven rounds from the 43 ^rd round in 2005 to the 36 ^th round this season and hit .307 and threw out 21 of 48 runners in his most recent season as a Runnin’ Rebel. Plus, Mike possesses the genes of a former Major League catcher who spent nine seasons in the Major Leagues and won a World Series as the manager of the Arizona Diamondbacks.

OUTFIELDERS

Cutter Dykstra / 2 ^nd Round – Milwaukee Brewers

Cutter plays the outfield like his dad Lenny, reckless. And the 18-year-old outfielder from Westlake High in Westlake Village, California enjoys following in his father’s footsteps. Cutter is described as speedy, hard-nosed and hyperactive… sound familiar?

Many expected Cutter, a .467 hitter in his senior season, to go in the first round but he slipped to the late second round and he could have opted to go to UCLA where he received a scholarship instead of signing with the Brewers and increase his value. However, Cutter signed Tuesday and is likely to bring the “tough as nails” Dykstra attitude to the Milwaukee outfield in the next couple of years.

Never underestimate Cutter, if anyone would have told you that his father Lenny would retire from baseball and become a Wall Street wizard, you would have called them crazy.

Ryan Mantle / 19 ^th Round – San Francisco Giants

The third cousin of Yankee great Mickey Mantle has already signed a contract with the Giants and is expected to be in action by next week. Ryan was a four-time all-conference player at Missouri State and hit .298 with four home runs and 30 RBI in 56 games in his last season there.

The Giants hope that there will be a connection between Mickey and Ryan that plays out on the field. Mickey played in 12 World Series, 15 All-Star games, won three MVPs, hit 536 homers and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1974 before Ryan was even born.

One thing is for sure, for the first few seasons, some might think Ryan’s first name is actually Ryan-a-third-cousin-of-Mickey as most stories that run about the Missouri State product have started.

Tyler Thompson / 42 ^nd Round – San Francisco Giants

Some draft projections had Tyler (brother of Logan mentioned earlier) taken as early as the fifth round but he slipped because most teams were concerned that the highly talented outfielder would not be willing to sign. Despite his big high school numbers – he hit .452 with six homers at Jupiter HS – Tyler signed a letter of intent to join the Florida Gators and most teams expect him to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a Gator.

If he does not and instead signs with the Giants, Tyler would also follow in his father’s footsteps by joining the team his father played for. Although if father Robby’s path to the Majors is any indication, Tyler will go to college and re-enter the draft – Robby was drafted four times before finally signing a Major League contract after being drafted by the San Francisco Giants in 1983.

BENCH

Jeremy Barfield / 8 ^th Round – Oakland Athletics

Son of former Major Leaguer Jesse and brother of current Major Leaguer Josh, Jeremy Barfield was selected in 2006 by the New York Mets. Jeremy, the outfielder from San Jacinto (TX) Junior College, moved up one round after opting to go to junior college from high school instead of directly into professional baseball. Barfield has already inked a deal with the Athletics.

Zachary Dascenzo / 41 ^st Round – San Diego Padres

Father Doug could soon be managing his son Zachary who was a late round selection by the San Diego Padres. Doug, a former Major League outfielder who spent most of his career with the Chicago Cubs, is now the manager of the Class A Fort Wayne Wizards which could be one of the first stops for Zachary if he signs with the team. Dascenzo, a Laurel Highlands High School senior in Uniontown, PA, could go to college or go pro and possibly end up as a catcher under the guidance of his father Doug.

Mike Konstanty / 39 ^th Round – Cincinnati Reds

The Reds selected the 6’ 4” first baseman from the University of Albany who is known for a different reason than his grandfather Jim. While Jim was known mostly as a reliever in his Major League career that started with the Reds and was mostly played out in Philadelphia, Mike holds the University of Albany’s single-season record for home runs with 13.

Patrick Palmeiro / 22 ^nd Round – Pittsburgh Pirates

Patrick is the son of Rafael Palmeiro who is more often associated with steroids or Viagra than baseball these days. The third baseman from Heritage High School in Texas could go to college instead of signing with the Pirates.

Kemer Quirk / 40 ^th Round – Colorado Rockies

Kemer is not the only one with family ties currently involved with the team that drafted him. There’s a chance that Kemer’s father, Jamie, knew that his son was drafted before Kemer did since he is the manager bench coach (thanks Bob J. for pointing out my mistake) of the Colorado Rockies. Quirk, an outfielder at Rockhurst High School in Kansas City where his father played most of Major League career, could return to amateur ball and play at the collegiate level.

Devaris Strange-Gordon / 4 ^th Round – Los Angeles Dodgers

Tom Gordon has been in baseball so long that his son was drafted in the most recent Major League draft. Devaris is a shortstop who most recently attended Seminole Community College to become draft eligible but was academically ineligible to play this past season. In his senior year in high school, Strange-Gordon hit .373 and led the team with 10 steals.

PITCHERS

Jack Armstrong Jr. / 36 ^th Round – Texas Rangers

The Thompson twins are not the only Jupiter High School team members to be potential next generation Major Leaguers. Enter Jack Armstrong Jr. – son of former Major Leaguer Jack Armstrong – who is expected to go to Vanderbilt despite being selected by the Rangers in the 36 ^th Round. The prom king at Jupiter is 6’ 7” and has a fastball in the mid-90s but never really reached his true potential due to his time with the Jupiter basketball team as they went deep in the playoffs.

Many teams also stayed away from Armstrong because they expected him to be tough to convince to sign to play in the pros instead of going to college. If Junior does return to amateur ball and re-enters the draft in the next few years, he will do the same thing that his father did when he did not sign with the San Francisco Giants as a third round selection in 1986, and instead returned to the draft in 1987 and was selected in the first round by the Cincinnati Reds.

Mike Cisco / 36 ^th Round – Philadelphia Phillies

Grandfather Galen might have put in a good word for Mike Cisco with the Phillies – he was the pitching coach for the Phillies from 1997 to 2000. At the University of South Carolina, Cisco was 6-3 with two saves in his junior year in 2008 and has already signed a contract with the Phillies.

The 6’ 0” righty would follow in his grandfather’s footsteps if he makes it to the Major League level. Grandpa Galen played seven seasons in the Majors with the Boston Red Sox, Kansas City Royals and New York Mets.

Casey Coleman / 15 ^th Round – Chicago Cubs

Casey is a third generation player. His grandfather Joe was a pitcher for the Philadelphia Athletics, Baltimore Orioles and Detroit Tigers from 1942 to 1955 (although he missed 1943 to 1945 to serve in the Military). His father Joe was a two-time 20-game winner with the Tigers and also pitched for the Washington Senators, Chicago Cubs, Oakland Athletics, Toronto Blue Jays, San Francisco Giants and Pittsburgh Pirates in his 15 seasons in the Majors.

Casey (also listed as Joseph on some draft recaps) is a junior at Florida Gulf Coast University but is leaning toward making the leap to the professional level and signing with the Cubs.

Luke Greinke / 12 ^th Round – New York Yankees

While it would not quite be the Peyton-Eli match-up of Major League Baseball, there could come a day when we see Greinke vs. Greinke in the Major Leagues. Brother Zack is one of the top pitchers and former first round pick of the Kansas City Royals. Zack is only 23 so if Luke makes it to the Major League level, there is a good chance that the two would play in the league at the same time. As a possible future Yankee, Luke already has the upper hand – Zack is 2-3 with a 6.25 ERA against the Yankees.

Luke is a two-way player at Auburn University and has played the outfield and been used as a DH in addition to pitching. He hit two homers in 35 at-bats in 2008 and went 4-4 with a 4.64 ERA.

Kyle Hurst / 36 ^th Round – Los Angeles Angels

The 6’ 4” sophomore from South Mountain Community College in Arizona is also the son of former Major League pitcher Bruce Hurst. His father won 145 games in his 15-year career and went 2-0 as a member of the Red Sox in the 1986 World Series.

Kyle could return to college where he was 7-3 in 2008 and his team went to the Final Four of the NJCAA Region 1 Division 1 Championship.

Kyle Long / 23 ^rd Round – Chicago White Sox

Kyle doesn’t have a baseball connection but his father is NFL Hall of Famer Howie Long. Kyle is a two-sport star and has signed a letter of intent to attend Florida State, and the 6’ 7”280-pound pitcher/offensive lineman could go to college and continue his two-sport amateur career.

However, Kyle was signed to a baseball scholarship by the Seminoles and could also find his way to the Major Leagues with his bat. The high school senior throws in the mid-90s, hits for power and runs 60 yards in under seven seconds.

Jesse Orosco / 38 ^th Round – Arizona Diamondbacks

Grossmont College product Jesse Orosco is also the son of former Major League reliever Jesse Orosco. His father holds the Major League record for appearances with 1,252 in 24 years in the Major League.

Son Jesse pitched in only seven games with Grossmont in 2008 and is expected to jump to the professional level.

Matthew Robertson / 49 ^th Round – Detroit Tigers

Like Luke and Zack Greinke, 49 ^th Round pick Matthew and current Major Leaguer Nate could also play in the Major Leagues someday. With Matthew being drafted by Nate’s current team, there is an outside shot that Nate and Matthew could be members of the same pitching staff someday.

The Tigers drafted Matthew for the second consecutive season – they drafted him in the 42 ^nd round in 2007. Nate is 30 and was drafted three times before making the leap to the Major Leagues but it would be a fun story if these two were both on the same Major League team someday.

Jonathan Runnels / 29 ^th Round – Los Angeles Dodgers

Jonathan’s grandfather Pete was known for his bat but the 29 ^th round pick of the Dodgers is known for his arm. The left-handed starter/reliever/closer who was drafted for the third time is described on his player profile page on the Rice Owls website as “quiet and crafty.”

As a senior, the Dodgers should be able to sign the grandson of Pete, who was a three-time All-Star and hit .291 in his 14 seasons in the Major League.

Daniel Schlereth / 1 ^st Round – Arizona Diamondbacks

Daniel, son of former NFL player Mark Schlereth, is one of the most unusual stories of the 2008 draft. Picked in the first round by the Arizona Diamondbacks, Daniel told reporters he expected to be pitching at the Major League level by September.

A day after he was drafted, Schlereth missed Friday’s Super Regional game due to an oblique strain. Daniel had already been discussed as an injury risk – he underwent Tommy John surgery in 2004. Daniel previously declined to sign with the Oakland Athletics after they drafted him in the eighth round of the 2007 draft.

The University of Arizona junior made 34 relief appearances with the Wildcats and went 2-0 with a 1.81 ERA with 76 strikeouts in 54 2/3 innings.

Riley Welch / 34 ^th Round – Oakland Athletics

The Oakland Athletics went after the son of the last pitcher to win more than 25 games in a season when they picked up Riley Welch in the 34 ^th round. His father Bob won 27 games in 1990 while pitching for the same Athletics that drafted his son Riley.

Riley went 4-1 with two saves in his senior year at Desert Mountain High School in Arizona and could go to college instead of signing with the Athletics and was not one of the first 16 players the Athletics have already signed.