Valuing the draft (Part 1)   A lot of great research has been
done in the past few years on the draft. I highly recommend
these two series. Also, Nate Silver has done research on the
value of draft picks. It is Silver’s article that is the
inspiration for my first draft article, as I try to estimate the
value a Type A free agent gives away through draft picks.  What
I first did was create a draft database that contained all
players drafted in the first 100 picks from 1990-1997. I only
included players who signed. I recorded the player’s position,
whether he was drafted from college, junior college, or high
school, and the WSAB he produced in his first six years of major
league performance. The use of WSAB is one area that is new in
draft research. The only previous studies that I have seen have
used Baseball Prospectus’ WARP statistic, which is actually
being remade. If you’ve been following my prospect valuation
articles you’ll know that I picked a player’s first six years
because that is how long a team has