When Dodgers President and CEO Stan Kasten hired Andrew Friedman to become the Dodgers new (and first) President of Baseball Operations, he did so for a variety of reasons – the least of which was to remove himself from the day-to-day baseball operations so that he could focus more on the day-to-day overall operations of the 132-year-old franchise. But without question, the primary reason Kasten brought Friedman on board was to overhaul the Dodgers front office that would, in turn, bring new players into the organization with hopes of assembling championship-caliber teams now and in the future.

Among the first and most significant moves made by Friedman were replacing Ned Colletti with analytics guru Farhan Zaidi as the Dodgers new General Manager and the additions of Billy Gasparino and Gabe Kapler as the new Director of Amateur Scouting and Director of Player Development respectively. Additionally, the Dodgers beefed up their domestic and international scouting staffs with one focus in mind – to return the Dodgers to the very top of minor league player development – a title that they once held for decades.

As most baseball fans know, a huge part of player development begins long before the first team workout of each new season; it begins with the MLB Draft held each June. It is here that future championship teams are made and it all boils down to making the right draft pick at the right time.

In it’s current format, the annual drafting order is determined by how each organization’s major league team finished the previous season, and as FoxSports.com’s Dave Cameron recently put it: “Winning teams don’t get high draft picks.” And while Cameron’s quote might suggest that the Dodgers have had a ‘winning team’ almost every year since the MLB First Year Player Draft began in 1965, they have only three World Series trophies to show for it and none in the last 26 years. During this time the Dodgers have had zero number-one overall draft picks. In fact, in its 50 years of existence, the Dodgers have had a top-10 first-round draft pick only 11 times and a top-three selection only once – Darren Dreifort in 1993 as the second overall pick.

Hall of Fame manager Tommy Lasorda and Dodgers great Charlie Hough with 2014 first-round (22nd overall) draft pick Grant Holmes. (Photo credit – Tomasso DeRosa)

The point here is that under the current drafting system, unless the Dodgers finish dead last in all of baseball in any one season (which is highly unlikely), they will never have a first overall draft pick. What this means is that regardless of where the Dodgers finish in the previous season, their very future lies in the hands of their scouting department to make the absolute best draft selections regardless of their drafting order.

On Monday, the San Diego Padres officially signed right-hander James Shields – one of the most highly-coveted free agent starting pitchers on the market this off-season. In doing so and as pointed out by Eric Stephen of True Blue LA, the Dodgers moved up a spot in the 2015 MLB First Year Player Draft. Stephen points out that at the conclusion of the 2014 season, the Dodgers held the number 28 overall spot in the upcoming draft. (Did I mention that winning teams don’t get high draft picks?). But because none of the eligible free agents accepted a qualifying offer from their previous team (including James Shields), the Dodgers will now have the 24th overall pick on June 8.

Is a first-round / 24th overall draft pick worth getting excited about? Yes and no. Yes in that quite a few first-rounders eventually make it to the big leagues – either through their original drafting team or by teams that subsequently acquired them via trades – something that Farhan Zaidi absolutely excels at doing. No in that most of the best players in the game were not first-round draft picks.

The key, of course, is having a skilled scouting staff that can find often overlooked gold nuggets among the tens of thousands of high school and college baseball players from across the country long before the annual MLB Draft.

It’s time to start mining for gold, boys.
(Image courtesy of WildernessUtah.com)

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Draft Notes:

• Per Eric Stephen, the Dodgers’ second-round pick will be 67th overall. In the third-round, which is after six competitive balance Round B picks, the Dodgers will pick 101st. The Dodgers in round four will pick 131st overall, with each subsequent selection 30 picks later.
• Dodgers top outfield prospect Joc Pederson was selected by the Dodgers in the 11th-round of the 2010 First Year Player Draft out of Palo Alto High School in California – a gold nugget indeed and proof of what a good scouting staff can do.

Joc Pederson was the 352nd overall pick in the 2010 draft and will most likely be the Dodgers Opening Day center fielder on April 6. (Ron Cervenka – ThinkBlueLA.com)

• Former Dodgers right-hander Chad Billingsley was selected 24th overall in the 2003 First Year Player Draft. One year later left-hander Scott Elbert was selected 24th overall by the Dodgers.
• Last year the Dodgers selected 18-year-old right-hander Grant Holmes in the first round. He was the 22nd overall pick of the 2014 First Year Player Draft.