Draft philosophies: National League

The first round of the 2010 MLB draft is quite close -- June 7, to be exact -- so we thought, like we did last year, that we'd take a look at organizational philosophies. We broke it up into two pages; the one below focuses on the National League.

These philosophies are not exact, because this season there are six first-year scouting directors, so some things may shift up. The blurbs are a generally good indicator of what organizations tend to do with regard to prep versus college, hitters versus pitchers, and more.

Essential resources as you read this: the 2010 MLB draft order, Keith Law's first mock draft, the most recent top 100 draftable prospects list, and the collection of draftee player cards. You can find all those resources in the sidebar on the right as well.

On to the NL team philosophies:

Arizona Diamondbacks:
Scouting director: Tom Allison
Allison is in Year 4 with the Diamondbacks, having previously worked under San Francisco Giants scouting director John Barr and current Seattle Mariners GM Jack Zduriencik with the New York Mets. Arizona produced a solid draft in Allison's first year, 2007, and again last summer when the D-backs selected three high school infielders, a college outfielder and a college pitcher in the top 50. There's no real trend with Allison and the Diamondbacks, who drafted three college pitchers at the top of their draft two years ago, although they had leaned heavily toward pitching until last June.

Atlanta Braves:
Scouting director: Tony DeMacio
After a history of success with prep players -- just four of the Braves' 20 first- or compensatory-round picks in the last 10 years were college players -- Atlanta has a new scouting director, which could mean a change in the way the organization values talent. DeMacio, however, spent five years as the scouting director in Baltimore -- where he showed no tendencies between positions or prep versus college. They don't pick until the comp round, which truly leaves it wide-open.

We gave you the first two teams for free. For the rest of the National League, you must be an ESPN Insider.

• Recommend0
• Tweet0
• Email
• Subscribe