Here's the second part of my interview with Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic. This section focuses on the Diamondbacks minor league system and how much buzz it creates in the desert.
5) The Diamondbacks have traded away a lot of prospects over the last few years, greatly weakening the farm system. Is that a trend that is likely to continue, or will we see Arizona make a renewed effort to develop their own talent?
Nick Piecoro: The biggest knock on the organization in the Josh Byrnes era, for me, has been their poor drafts. In 2006, they got Max Scherzer and Brett Anderson but little else, although those two alone make it a pretty decent draft. The 2007 draft outside of Jarrod Parker was pretty bad and their 2008 returns aren’t impressive, although it’s too soon to really render a strong opinion on that one.
They put a ton of resources into the 2009 draft, in which they had a slew of extra picks, and the early returns are very strong. Key word there is early. We won’t know for a while how that draft pans out, but they have a lot riding on those players and are going to need several of them to turn into prospects if they have any hope of revitalizing the system.
6) Do prospects in South Bend (and other minor league stops) get a lot of hype in Arizona? How much excitement does a name like Jarrod Parker or A.J. Pollock generate in the desert?
NP: Not a lot. There are some diehards who follow the minor leagues pretty closely, but I don’t get the sense that it’s huge news. My theory is, if something is important to Josh Byrnes and the rest of the front office, it should be important in my coverage. As such, I cover the minor leagues fairly heavily during the season. Certainly more fans know who Parker is because he has been talked about quite a bit, but I’d guess that most fans in Arizona have no idea who A.J. Pollock is.
7) As a follow up: What, if anything, have you heard about some '09 Silver Hawks stars? (A few to consider: Pollock, Krauss, Navarro, Marte, Wheeler, Hose, Miley, Cook)
Like I said, I follow it pretty closely and I know there is a lot more hope for that crop of players – and for the guys who are going to be in South Bend in 2010 – than there probably has been for the last couple of years. Wheeler had a tremendous debut and looks like a great pick, and Cook looks like a pretty good late-round pick from 2008. Krauss had a pretty nice debut cut short by an ankle injury, but he’s supposed to be ready to go for spring training. Pollock didn’t hit much, but I haven’t heard any concerns about his future.
8) Any names that I missed that are generating a lot of buzz? Are there players from Missoula or Yakima that we should be watching out for here in South Bend next season?
Because the Diamondbacks had eight of the top 95 picks in the country last year, there are a lot of names to watch for next season and it will be interesting to see how the club deploys them. For example, both Bobby Borchering (No. 16 overall) and Matt Davidson (No. 35) were third basemen as amateurs and played the position in their pro debuts in Missoula and Yakima, respectively. Will the Diamondbacks move Davidson to first permanently or have them split time at those positions in South Bend? And what will become of Matt Helm, a seventh-round pick who signed for $500,000 and also has been called a third baseman?
Aside from those three, outfielder Keon Broxton, second baseman David Nick, shortstop Chris Owings and right-hander Scottie Allen all look like candidates for South Bend and all should be fun to follow.
Again, I'd like to thank Nick Piecoro for taking the time to answer these questions. People who follow the major league clubs daily from an outside perspective often have the most honest and unbiased opinions. I encourage you to check out Nick's blog at http://www.azcentral.com/members/Blog/NickPiecoro/Page0.
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