Keeping it in the family

Ain’t nepotism grand? I see Nick Francona got taken in the 40th round of the draft. I remember being stunned the first time I heard that baseball had 50 draft rounds - I grew up following football (aka what’s known in America as “soccer”), which doesn’t have any such thing as a draft, and the first draft I ever followed was the NBA’s, which is nowhere near this deep. (Funny how the more socialist Europeans seem to reject the idea of a draft for their pro sports - for better or worse, the English Premier League is more of a free market than MLB.) It’s great to see the names of the lower draft picks - it’s almost like Theo Epstein is using the picks to give a few shout-outs to friends, family (Beau Mills, this means you), and local boys (in the 39th, the Sox took Zak Farkes, a Back Bay kid and the SS at my old college).