Checking in on the Tampa Bay Rays 2009 Draft Class: The Batters

With the signing deadline occurring Monday at midnight, it's a decent time to see what the Rays latest draft class is doing. Unfortunately most of the sexy positional players selected have yet to play, but that doesn't stop us from checking in on the ones who have. I can't stress not reading too much into these numbers enough, but I know someone will.  Also, please note that I used wRAA instead of raw wOBA because the leagues vary by average wOBA. .350 in Princeton isn't as impressive as .350 in Durham, but the caveat is that 100 PA of .350 wOBA isn't as valuable as 200 PA of .350 wOBA.

Let's hit on theinteresting names.

• Ryan Wiegand is a first baseman from Gonzaga. Despite his 6'4" stature and position, Wiegand wasn't much of a slugger. In fact, he's hit three home runs as a professional, which is half his total from his senior year. He did hit a ton of doubles in college, so there is some power there, just not what you would expect. So far, he's boasting a 0.89 BB/K ratio, but he's only in Princeton.
• Tyler Bortnick is a shortstop-turned-second baseman-turned-shortstop-once-more. Not too often do you see a college second baseman playing shortstop as a professional, but here we are. He's hitting quite well early on.
• Cody Rogers is the youngest American born player who has played thus far. He's a JUCO selection who was a Texas A&M commit. To date he's played quite a bit in center field, which raises his stock, while his power and speed display is pretty impressive as well. He's struggling with strikeouts in rookie ball, which is never good, but he's got some tools if he can patch the plate approach together. He wears the Princeton uni well.
  
• I know very little about David Wendt besides his college (Dowling, a New York school), his round selected (50), and his height (6'5"). Oh, and he catches.  I know what you're thinking "A 6'5" catcher? Isn't Joe Mauer only 6'4"?" Yes, yes he is. I queried the database and found that Don Gile is the only 6'5"+ catcher to play in at least 10 major league games through 2008. Some other names amongst the tallest besides the aforementioned Mauer: Sandy Alomar, Dale Murphy (yes, that one), and Bruce Bochy.  There's always Matt Wieters too.
• Rough go so far for Alexander Diaz. You'll note his age and level - the Gulf Coast League team - still he's someone to watch. Diaz is a pure hitter and has some untapped power potential. He's from the Puerto Rico Baseball Academy.
• Everyone's favorite college senior, Brett Nommensen, isn't doing hotly either.