Agreed. But its not like it was all pitching all the time they did draft position players - they just were pretty bad at it or they just didnt sign them.
2010: 22 out 55 players drafted were position players (3 out of the first 10 picks) 15 PP players signed vs 20 pitchers signed
2011: 23 out of 55 (2 out of 10) 17 PP signed vs 18 pitchers
2012: 26 out 44 (4 out of 10) 21 PP signed vs 13 pitchers
2013: 18 out 40 (1 out of 10) 14 PP signed vs 15 pitchers
2014: 18 out 41 (5 out of 10) 12 PP signed vs 17 pitchers
2015: 21 out 40 (4 out of 10) 20 PP signed vs 13 pitchers
128 Position players drafted
147 Pitchers drafted
Drafted is interesting to look at but how many they signed matters.
99 Position player signed
96 Pitchers signed
So the focus was on pitchers early on as AA stated but outside of 2013 there was good balance. I also have to keep in mind that that 2012-2015 probably had a lot to do with how their draft board fell.
But over AA's tenure he drafted more pitchers but signed more position players.
So they didnt ignore position player just bad drafting and/or developing position players.
In case anyone was wondering;
I added Shapiro's draft to offer his approach in comparison
Position Player Difference in the Jays drafts from 2010 -2017
2010: 22 out 55 players drafted were position players (3 out of the first 10 picks)
15 PP players signed vs 20 pitchers signed
2011: 23 out of 55 (2 out of 10)
17 PP signed vs 18 pitchers
2012: 26 out 44 (4 out of 10)
21 PP signed vs 13 pitchers
2013: 18 out 40 (1 out of 10)
14 PP signed vs 15 pitchers
2014: 18 out 41 (5 out of 10)
12 PP signed vs 17 pitchers
2015: 21 out 40 (4 out of 10)
20 PP signed vs 13 pitchers
Total AA: PPD: 128 - PD: 147 >>> PPS: 99 round PS: 96
2016: 16 out 40 (5 out of 10)
11 PP signed vs 17 pitchers
2017: 19 out 41 (7 out of 10)
14 PP signed vs 17 pitchers
Total Shapiro: PPD: 35 - PD: 46 >>> PPS: 25 PS: 34
Average Round Position in the Jays drafts from 2010 -2017:
2010: PP Drafted: 27 round - P Drafted: 23 round >>> PP Signed: 24 round P Signed: 17
2011: PPD: 27 round - PD: 22 round >>> PPS: 26 round PS: 24
2012: PPD: 21 round - PD: 17 round >>> PPS: 19 round PS: 13
2013: PPD: 24 round - PD: 17 round >>> PPS: 20 round PS: 14
2014: PPD: 20 round - PD: 20 round >>> PPS: 18 round PS: 20
2015: PPD: 23 round - PD: 18 round >>> PPS: 23 round PS: 14
Average AA: PPD: 24 round - PD: 20 round >>> PPS: 22 round PS: 17
2016: PPD: 20 round - PD: 20 round >>> PPS: 18 round PS: 20
2017: PPD: 17 round - PD: 29 round >>> PPS: 14 round PS: 22
Average Shapiro: PPD: 19 round - PD: 25 round >>> PPS: 16 round PS: 21
I dont have time to break this down further but here are some notes.
Shapiro and AA's regime seem to draft more pitchers than position players. AA had a more balanced approach with signing his draftees. Whereas so far Shapiro has signed more pitchers.
However, this is the key difference. AA's regime used much higher picks on pitchers and looked like he signed more of his higher drafted pitchers. Whereas Shapiro's regime had a more balanced 2016 and then his 2017 draft showed that he used higher picks on position players by a large margin but the funny thing is they once again signed more pitchers than position players.
In otherwords i did all this work to show you very little pattern. Though i think we can come away with the idea that AA's regime either had an emphasis on pitchers (pick them or setting their draft board). Early in Shapiro's regime it appears he might have a high emphasis on position players.
Probably speaks to when they took over. When AA took over they needed pitching in the worst of ways and its the other way around for Shapiro as AA dealt 12 pitchers at the deadline.
I would have done this by average overall pick vs average round but my excel sheet was being difficult.