McAdam: New Red Sox scouting director Paul Toboni gets ready for a draft like no other

As he gets ready to oversee his first amateur draft, Red Sox scouting director Paul Toboni could be forgiven for experiencing some nervousness. That goes double now for a draft that is unlike any other in the 55-year history of the event.

Thanks to the coronavirus pandemic which has shut down the game at every level, this year's draft, set for June 10-11, will be cut from 40 rounds to five and will be conducted without the benefit of watching most high school and college players in game settings this spring.

"From the standpoint that we were only able to scout four college weekends and the high school kids, many of whom we didn't see in their spring seasons, it's difficult and there's just probably a lot more uncertainty than there would be in a normal spring,'' acknowledged Toboni, in a Zoom call with reporters. ''Then, in terms of communication with our staff and not being able to meet in person, it's just been different. But our approach, by-and-large, really hasn't changed that much.

"While daunting at the start,  it's actually been fine and I think as a group, we've handled it really well.''



Making this draft even more challenging is that the Sox will be without their second-round pick. The pick was taken away for the team's sign-stealing activity during the 2018 season. But Toboni doesn't see the absence of a second-round pick influencing what the team does with its first-round selection.

"It doesn't change our approach,'' said Toboni. "The bottom line is you come to an expectative value of both, so your approach doesn't really change as long as you're comfortable with how you arrived at that value. I would say the things that do prompt some change are behaviors of other clubs, maybe. So if other clubs become more risk-averse, or throw themselves into the risk of a high school player, it creates different opportunities.

"I would say the second piece to it is the behavior of the players. If we get to a certain spot where they're willing to take maybe less money because it's not a setting with 40 rounds and they can't get paid $100,000 in the 15th round -- trying to prepare for that is challenging, but it's also necessary.''

Players are reaching the big leagues sooner than ever before, but Toboni said it would be a misstep for the Red Sox to draft for more immediate need. Now, as always, the philosophy will be guided by selecting the best player available, regardless of short-term needs.

"We don't want to make a short-sighted decision at the expense of maybe passing up on a really good player that could have impact years and years down the line,'' he said. "Once again, it goes back to how we value players. If the best reliever in the draft is available for us and he's probably one of the quickest players to the big leagues...if we find that player in a round where we're comfortable taking him and he's at the top of our list, then we're taking him.

"But are you going to put some premium on those players? I don't envision that happening.''

If there's a benefit to the much shorter draft, it's that it allows organizations to more narrowly focus on a smaller pool of potential picks.

"We can dive into each of these players for a longer period of time,'' Toboni noted.

Another novelty to this year's draft is allowing teams to sign as many players as they wish for $20,000 after the five rounds are complete.

"What we've done is just try our best to just get to know the player,'' said Toboni, "and find out what does that pool of players look like, with a couple of different variables baked in: How good are they? How much do we value them? How willing are they to sign for $20,000? And how likely is it that they pick the Red Sox?

"Trying to properly gameplan is challenging because it's tough to predict who's going to get drafted. What we can control is, outworking other teams and making a big pitch on the Red Sox' behalf.''

From a geographical standpoint, the Red Sox may be at something of a disadvantage since New England is not the hotbed of high school or college baseball that, say, Florida, Texas or California might be. Naturally, with all bonuses being equal after the fifth round, players might be inclined to sign with teams near to their home. But the Sox do have a possible edge beyond geography because the team has a nationally-known brand and high profile.

"I think it really helps,'' Toboni said. "It doesn't hurt. Just placing myself in the shoes of a 21-year-old kid, when I was 21 years old, I grew up in the Bay Area as a Giants fan and if I was signing for $20K, they probably would have a huge advantage over other clubs. But I will say although I wasn't necessarily a Red Sox fan at that point in my life, they probably would have been No. 2 because of the brand and seeing the Green Monster on Sunday Night Baseball would have had a huge impact on me.

"I might be thinking a little bit too much optimistically there, but I do think it does play a really big part.''

If the Sox can't rely solely on the Red Sox brand, there are other factors that could help them separate from other franchises.

"I think we'll hit on a number of things -- the history of the organization, the tradition, how we develop players, the family culture we have, our facilities and the amount of money we put into strength and conditioning and technology in getting our players better,'' said Toboni. "Any insight we can give to players on why we might be developing them different than other organizations will help.''