The June Amateur Free Agent Draft, described by many front office executives as the most important day of the year, has come and gone. While it’s far too early to determine which teams did the best job and which teams did the worst, I’m going to identify seven teams that I feel stand out from the rest.

Arizona Diamondbacks

After taking numerous impact bats over the past several years, including last year’s number one overall pick Justin Upton, as well as Stephen Drew, Conor Jackson and Carlos Quentin, the Diamondbacks wisely focused their attention this year to pitching. They employed a very patient approach allowing some of the more polished arms to fall to them, taking three proven college pitchers in Max Scherzer, Brooks Browns and Dallas Buck, as well as arguably the most polished high school pitcher in Brett Anderson. After those arms they took a solid corner outfield bat in USC’s Cyle Hankerd, a very good value pick in the third round. If even one of those pitchers can move quickly to complement current ace Brandon Webb and the surging bats as listed above, the D-Backs may once again be the team to beat in the National League West.

Sleeper: Danny Perales, OF, USC, a 22^nd round pick, has the tools to develop into a solid fourth outfielder.

Atlanta Braves

Surprise, surprise, the Braves on paper had another strong draft. No team develops players from within like the Braves do, and they continued to add intriguing talent on draft day. They started by taking a player close to home, as they always do, by selecting Aflac All-American player of the year Cody Johnson. They followed that pick with another Aflac All-American, Cory Rasmus, and added two polished prep lefties with fresh, live arms in Steve Evarts and Jeff Locke. They also drafted arguably the best junior college positional prospect in shortstop Chase Fontaine in round two.

Sleeper: Josh Morris, 1B, Georgia, a 12^th round pick has big-time power and could develop into the slugging first baseman the Braves haven’t had since Fred McGriff.

Baltimore Orioles

The Orioles have placed a stronger emphasis on player development over the past several seasons, and that starts on draft day. Like the Braves, the Orioles like to scour their backyard and made New Jersey native and Aflac All-American Billy Rowell their first-round pick. Rowell was considered by most to be the best prep hitter available this year, and he instantly gives the O’s a big bat in their system to complement their pitching depth. Pedro Beato, who was considered the best juco player that many thought would sign with the Mets as a draft and follow candidate, was their next pick, followed by another Aflac All-American, shortstop Ryan Adams, and a surging prep lefty in Zach Britton. Clemon righty Jason Berken was a very good pick for value in the sixth round.

Sleeper: Brent Allar, RHP, Texas Christian, a 14^th round pick has a live arm and a strong frame.

Boston Red Sox

I should note that the Red Sox had three extra first-round picks to play with due to free agent compensation, so their draft looks good simply by the number of early picks they had. Five-tool outfielder Jason Place was their first pick. They selected numerous proven, productive college players (not surprising) in the top six rounds, including Wichita State lefty Kris Johnson, San Diego State righty Justin Masterson, Creighton third baseman Zach Daeges and a pair of NC State players, Aaron Bates and Jon Still. They also mixed in a few high ceiling prep players in RHP Caleb Clay, LHP Brandon Belt and outfielder Ryan Kalish.

Sleeper: Neither players are sleepers, but both Matt LaPorta (14^th round) and Lars Anderson (18^th round) fell much farther than they should have based on talent alone. Both players were among the best power hitters available going into draft day, and if the Red Sox can manage to sign at least one of them, they will have a prospect of tremendous value.

Cleveland Indians

I always like the way the Indians draft, as they always manage to take some of my personal favorite draft-eligible prospects. This year that includes two well-rounded college arms in UCLA LHP David Huff and Hawaii RHP Steven Wright. They followed those two picks with two incredibly polished hitters in Rice infielder Josh Rodriguez and Georgia Tech third baseman Wes Hodges. Throw in two live prep arms in Ryan Morris and Chris Archer, Aflac All-American Robbie Alcombrack (the Aflac Home Run Derby Champion who reportedly put on a power display for the Indians in a private workout) and a member of last summer’s Team USA squad, infielder Adam Davis.

Sleeper: The Indians nabbed a pair of powerful college left-handed pitchers that may project well in the bullpen in Boston College’s Matt Meyer (15^th round) and Minnesota’s John Gaub (21^st round).

Philadelphia Phillies

The Phillies draft stands out to me just because they got an incredible steal in first-rounder Kyle Drabek, whose talent was clouded by reports of makeup and character issues. I personally felt those issues were overblown, and Drabek should make the Phillies look incredibly smart for taking him 18^th overall. Surging prep infielder Adrian Cardenas was their supplemental pick in the first round, while Long Beach State righty Drew Carpenter and Arizona shortstop Jason Donald were the next two picks. All of these players are long on upside, and immediately give the Phillies four exciting prospects to follow.

Sleeper: Riley Cooper, OF, Clearwater, FL, 15^th round, has tremendous tools, turning a lot of heads at last year’s Perfect Game National Showcase. Cooper may take his football skills to Florida, but if the Phillies open up their pocketbook and sign him away from that commitment, add another player with considerable upside to their system from this year’s draft.

Washington Nationals

The Nationals draft doesn’t really stand out to me like the other teams listed here do, but I think their effort was solid. Chris Marrero was one of the best prep hitters available, while Colton Willems was one of the best prep pitchers. Sean Black is a rising prep righty, while Stephen Englund and Steve King are a couple of prep infielders that have very good tools. Englund in particular has exciting bat speed that could allow him to become a very productive hitter at the next level. Zech Zinicola could move quickly as a power reliever, and could be setting up games for Chad Cordero in the not-so-distant future.

Sleeper: Dustin Dickerson, 3B, Henrietta, TX, 15^th round, has exciting offensive upside, although he was expected to go much higher than the 15^th round, so it may be difficult to sign him.

The thoughts and opinions listed here do not necessarily reflect those of Perfect Game USA. Patrick Ebert is affiliated with both Perfect Game USA and Brewerfan.net, and can be contacted via email at pebert@brewerfan.net.