RCMBA draft day (Left to right: Bob Fenili, Ken Brand, Joe Jutzi, Mark Gaudiano, Ed Morgans, John Briggs, Joe Reagan, Randy Pritchard, Joe Skovran, Mike Fisher)
It’s February 2nd and at least here in Illinois, the groundhog didn’t see his shadow. So if you believe in the folklore, we won’t have long to wait for spring. Another tell-tale sign of spring is APBA leagues getting ready for their annual drafts. My basic league will be gathering in a couple weeks for our rookie draft. The Boys of Summer have finished their postseason and Shawn Baier has promised that we’ll be starting the drafting process soon.
But what’s this? The Roberto Clemente Memorial Baseball Association has already drafted? No sooner had John Briggs sent me his press release on the event than emails about the RCMBA draft last Saturday were being sent to the Illowa League list.
It wasn’t just idle curiosity that prompted our league’s interest in the RCMBA’s draft. As fellow IAL manager Don Smith says, “Their player pool is similar to the ILLOWA League.” See, every league has different rules on who is eligible to picked. I’ve noticed throughout the years that certain leagues’ draft rules resemble the Illowa’s more than others. RCMBA is one them. The IAL managers may not admit it but I’ll bet they’re perusing through the RCMBA draft, stroking their chin.
A quick snippet from the press release from RCMBA:
“Dowrick informs us that it’s 70 degrees at his house. I tell him what I think of that and that it’s 40 in Lancaster. At exactly noon Chris Uhlhorn joins the Rolz.org room and we are ready for free players. Mark makes it official with Carlos Correa being named pick #1. Then Bryant followed by "Thor", Seager, Sano & the first surprise of the day being my selection of Mike Conforto at #6. Then it’s Lindor, McCullers and yep Randy takes two pitchers as advertised.
On it goes with about 20 minutes per round. Isn’t it fun to be targeting someone in a round and he’s still available when it’s eight picks from your turn. Five to go and still there. Three more and my man is available. One more and then he gets taken right before your pick. Sigh. We got to bonus picks around 2:25PM and at 3:08, Joe Skovran makes Vidal Nuno Mr Irrelevant. That’s 169 selections in 188 minutes! We have to rearrange the draft room chairs and table back to the HIE status and it’s time for trading! I get to land my 2nd round pick of Ty Walker for 1st round Luis Severino. America! What a country.”
Honestly John, it sounds a lot like an Illowa APBA League draft weekend. A great time!!
You can see the full RCMBA draft list here but for the link lazy, here are top ten:
- Carlos Correa
- Kris Bryant
- Noah Syndergaard
- Corey Seager
- Miguel Sano
- Michael Conforto
- Francisco Lindor
- Lance McCullers
- Carlos Rodon
- Luis Severino
Good luck to the RCMBA members this season!!
