The Mumbai Cobras, perhaps the most consistently successful franchise in the history of the WBA, entered its first rebuild a couple of off-seasons ago. Prior to that, Mumbai had perhaps the most star-studded roster in the IBL and one of the lowest farm system scores in WBA history. This was management's plan. The Cobras had acquired one big name after another while emptying out its farm system, trading away nearly all of its first three rounds' draft picks for several years in a row, and frequently going into the red financially.
With salary expectations skyrocketing around the WBA two summers ago, the Cobras decided that after a decade and a half of competitive fire, it was time to tear down and start over. In a flurry of activity, the Cobras lost almost their entire starting roster, which had been less than an inning away from an IBL championship series. Gone from the Cobras were star talents such as Huerta, Dhurvasula, Dwijen, Zote, Karpat, Gutierrez, Vilardeb, and Virendra. Mumbai fans were teased for a few hours when a trade for Isko Fflunker was completed, but he was traded to London almost immediately. In exchange, the Cobras acquired a boatload of draft picks and young players.
This past season, Mumbai fielded arguably one of the worst teams in WBA history. Its
team ERA was 5.56, a run worse than anybody else in the IBL. Coupled with an offense that barely scraped together 3 runs a game in the home run friendly confines of Cobra Park, it is no surprise that the Cobras finished 49-107 with a historic negative run differential.
The good news is that the rebuild is going as planned. The Cobras have,
by far, the best farm system in the world. It scores 346 in the farm system rankings. The next highest score in the IBL is 266, and the highest score in the ABL is 275. Mumbai has one-fifth of the IBL's top 100 prospects. And this already formidable farm system is going to be bolstered even further by the massive draft haul Mumbai just brought in. Though there is still a losing season or two in store, the long-term future in looks brighter than an Indian summer day.
For Mumbai fans that have trouble seeing past the current doom-and-gloom, the WBA Times brings a preview of just some of the future stars that are expected to shine in the Mumbai minors this season [IBL prospect rank in brackets for current prospects, round and pick in brackets for newly drafted players]. There is no doubt in the Mumbai front office that many of the IBL's future future batting champions, home run champions, stolen base champions, strikeout leaders, silver sluggers, and gold glovers are in this list. Part 1 of this list includes hitters, and Part 2 will include pitchers.
OF Vlastislav Katz [9],
OF Álex Pérez [11],
OF Derek Robertshaw [39],
OF Jean Picot [68] - Power, speed, glove. This list has it all. Katz is the only player in this story to have made his Mumbai debut, getting a cup of coffee last year due to impending minor league free agency (he's surely back in the minors to start the season for totally not service-time related reasons). The
lowestranked of these prospects has hit 65 home runs in the minors the past two seasons which is a testament to the overall depth on this list. And it gets better: perhaps the best of all Mumbai outfield prospects,
a true five-tool stud with no weaknesses [1.1], is on his way.
2B/3B Gerardo Talenti [20], ,
3B Hellraiser Archer [23], ,
3B William Cranidge [27],
SS Ross Iddon [46],
SS Gauradas Chhavvi [49] - Power from every position has always been the Mumbai philosophy, and its clearly shown on this list. However, it's worth noting that Chhavvi might be greatest fielding prospect in IBL history, and his glove has been major-league ready since, oh, about age 8.
C Fu Tsao [79],
C Aghecher Mpasa [80] - In a league starved of catching prospects, Mumbai has two of the better ones. Both bring strong arms and pitch framing skills along with plus bats.
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