It's fitting that on
St. Patrick's Day we look back at one of the 'luckiest' days in recent Red Sox history: the
2011 MLB June Draft. Now, clearly it was more than just pure luck that netted the multitude of quality players in that one draft. Still, check out the haul in
just the first round:
Matt Barnes (#19),
Blake Swihart (#26),
Henry Owens (#36), and
Jackie Bradley, Jr. (#40). Way down in the
fifth round they nabbed a high-school kid out of Tennessee named
Mookie Betts (#172). Then, even
further down the line in the
ninth round, Boston selected Kent State's
Travis Shaw (#292). So, five or six players likely to go North with the club were taken during that fateful draft in June of 2011. A pretty impressive accomplishment for
Theo Epstein in his final year as Red Sox General Manager.
