2015 Draft Discussion

[Guest]

Callis and Mayo took a stab at an early mock top 10: http://m.mlb.com/news/article/103053582/callis-mayo-make-early-choices-for-top-10-2015-draft-picks

 

9. Cubs

Callis: Allard. Like Aiken, he's a Southern California native who ranks as the best high school pitcher in his Draft class. His lack of size will prevent him from going as high as Aiken did, but Allard has similar stuff and will be a nice fit for the pitching-needy Cubs.

 

Mayo: Kyle Cody, RHP, Kentucky. My "reach" pick, as he's ranked No. 19, but he's the type of college arm who could move up boards with a strong junior season. At 6-foot-7, 245 pounds, he's a future workhorse, with more than enough stuff to start. The Cubs' glut of position players and dearth of pitching prospects has been well-documented.

 

And Callis has a preview of the quality of the draft: http://m.mlb.com/news/article/103097880/high-school-shortstop-brendan-rodgers-at-head-of-2015-draft-class

 

Rodgers, Matuella and Aiken have separated themselves from the rest of the Draft pack heading into 2015. While they're all attractive, none is a slam-dunk No. 1 overall pick like Carlos Rodon appeared to be a year ago at this time. Rodon wound up going third to the White Sox, behind Aiken and Tyler Kolek (Marlins).

 

"This is a really hard Draft so far," an American League scouting director said. "I've spent a lot of time looking at it and there aren't any no-brainers. There are no Carlos Rodons sitting here in this Draft.

 

 

"I really like Rodgers, but when you really get down to the tools, he's not the plus runner that usually goes along with a shortstop. Aiken is a wild card. Matuella sticks out as somebody we're supposed to like, but we don't have the documentation we have on other guys. We haven't had that many looks at him and it's almost like he's a northern high school kid who came out of the blue."

 

Rodgers aside, pitching should dominate the top of the Draft. There are plenty of left-handers and right-handers as well as collegians and high schoolers, and pitchers occupy seven of the first eight spots and 10 of the first 13 on MLBPipeline.com's Top 50. The Draft record for pitchers in a first round is 20, a number reached in 2001 and '14, and that mark will be challenged.

[davell]

http://www.fangraphs.com/community/the-cubs-the-red-sox-and-a-blank-check/

 

Reasons for us and the Red Sox to blow past our budget here too.

[Cubswin11]

http://www.fangraphs.com/community/the-cubs-the-red-sox-and-a-blank-check/

 

Reasons for us and the Red Sox to blow past our budget here too.

I like this very much, please do it

[Hairyducked Idiot]

http://www.fangraphs.com/community/the-cubs-the-red-sox-and-a-blank-check/

 

Reasons for us and the Red Sox to blow past our budget here too.

 

Meh. It feels like people want a loophole like this to be there so badly, but I'm just not sure the talent you get in year 1 is all that much more impressive than the talent you get for playing it straight.

[Him]

http://www.fangraphs.com/community/the-cubs-the-red-sox-and-a-blank-check/

 

Reasons for us and the Red Sox to blow past our budget here too.

 

Meh. It feels like people want a loophole like this to be there so badly, but I'm just not sure the talent you get in year 1 is all that much more impressive than the talent you get for playing it straight.

 

Better to get the talent ASAP. Start developing them all in year 1 instead of half in year 1 and half in year 2.

[ctcf]

Figured I'd leave this here. Seems kinda cool to me:

 

LSU Baseball @LSUbaseball

All 56 LSU Baseball games will either be televised or on a digital platform this season!

[jersey cubs fan]

Peter Gammons ‏@pgammo 10m10 minutes ago

NCAA Coaches and MLB officials met Monday, general agreement on a July 1 draft and July 15 signing deadline

[Guest]

Peter Gammons ‏@pgammo 10m10 minutes ago

NCAA Coaches and MLB officials met Monday, general agreement on a July 1 draft and July 15 signing deadline

If it's the same calendar year I love it.

[Guest]

Cameron alluded to this on Twitter, but this seems like the perfect thing to put in the 2 days after the all-star game. That's upwards of 2 more weeks without draftees in short season ball though.

[craig]

I don't see the advantage here.

 

1. It shrinks the signing timeline to two weeks. That seems rather brief, given that management have a lot of draftees that they need to work with.

2. A two-week window doesn't seem a lot of time to get all the physicals done.

3. A two-week window doesn't seem a lot of time to work out contingency signings. You kinda need your high-round guys signed before you can sign later guys, in order to access the overage money, and in order to know what you've got to work with assuming some sign sub-slot.

4. I don't think it's good for the scouting community. I can recall the Dempster trade summer, Randy Bush saying things would pick up after the draft, but that everybody and all the scouts had been so busy with draft stuff that there was no time for trades or for scouting pros. If you bump the draft back to July, then the scouts may be all engaged scouting amateurs for so long that there's isn't much time for scouting trade-deadline minor-leaguers.

5. It shortens the amount of season within which signed prospects can play.

[Guest]

The talk is to add a medical/psych combine prior to the draft so that everyone will have the same info.

 

The minor league teams don't like the idea too much.

[Cubswin11]

The talk is to add a medical/psych combine prior to the draft so that everyone will have the same info.

 

The minor league teams don't like the idea too much.

I like that

[craig]

The talk is to add a medical/psych combine prior to the draft so that everyone will have the same info.

 

The minor league teams don't like the idea too much.

 

That would help a lot, and would streamline getting everything done during a compressed signing period, plus avoid anything like this awkward Aiken deal. Cubs have had at least one failed physical within the last several years, (DeLeon), so while it's uncommon it's not so rare that doing physicals altogether would be unnecessary.

[Guest]

This is a really interesting article about the decline in college bats going at the top of the draft, as well as a look at some of the current top college bats: http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=25467

 

In particular I had never thought about the unintended consequence of the BBCOR bats leading players to change their swings.

[Bilbo161]

This is a really interesting article about the decline in college bats going at the top of the draft, as well as a look at some of the current top college bats: http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=25467

 

In particular I had never thought about the unintended consequence of the BBCOR bats leading players to change their swings.

 

I hadn't thought about that before.

 

Sometimes it seems that the ability to make consistent contact is the one skill guys don't have when they get to the major leagues. The landscape is littered with guys with power that just couldn't keep from striking out. I'm just wondering if developing contact skills first might be a good thing?

I can imagine that it makes the scout's job much harder because power would have to be projected instead of apparent.

[Guest]

This is a really interesting article about the decline in college bats going at the top of the draft, as well as a look at some of the current top college bats: http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=25467

 

In particular I had never thought about the unintended consequence of the BBCOR bats leading players to change their swings.

 

I hadn't thought about that before.

 

Sometimes it seems that the ability to make consistent contact is the one skill guys don't have when they get to the major leagues. The landscape is littered with guys with power that just couldn't keep from striking out. I'm just wondering if developing contact skills first might be a good thing?

I can imagine that it makes the scout's job much harder because power would have to be projected instead of apparent.

Not only that, but swings will need to be re-tooled. I think that is something that is very hard to do.

[Guest]

I love that they actually have a name for the "Stanford swing."

[Guest]

@aaronfitt: A little #mlbdraft news: @VandyBaseball's Walker Buehler will not start in Week 1 due to elbow soreness. Chance he could relieve—day to day.

[Bilbo161]

@aaronfitt: A little #mlbdraft news: @VandyBaseball's Walker Buehler will not start in Week 1 due to elbow soreness. Chance he could relieve—day to day.

I saw that. The wording seemed funny to me. Is there really some sort of elbow soreness that is advisable to pitch through, even in relief?

[Guest]

@keithlaw: Heard ex-closer Dillon Tate has been 94-96 today as a starter for UCSB, touching 98

 

@FPilierePG: Heard Dillon Tate didn't throw one fastball below 94 mph today. Consistently hit 97, 98, showed + off speed in front of upwards of 45 scouts

[Tedward]

KLaw just saw Kyle Funkhouser, said he's got a shot at being a top 10 pick. He was 90-94 Friday against Alabama st with his FB through 7. Control good, command below average. Also showed 3 separate off speed pitches but didn't throw them as much since FB was working well. Said his delivery is crude, but is optimistic it could be tweaked with pro instruction. 6'3" 225. Klaw thinks he's a slam dunk to go top 20 if he continues to progress

[Guest]

@johnmanuelba: Scouts in NC being informed that #Duke RHP Michael Matuella will not pitch this weekend due to forearm tightness #mlbdraft

 

@johnmanuelba: It's very cold here today and expected to be in the low 40s tomorrow, when #Duke is scheduled to play. I can see why you'd be careful

 

@johnmanuelba: That said, medical issues/lack of track record are the red flags for Matuella; not helping his draft "stock" to miss a start. But it's early

 

@johnmanuelba: Scouts also praising Duke coaching staff for communicating well with industry all fall and this spring re: Matuella

[Bilbo161]

Really like Kirby's weekly take on his top ten college performances with a eye toward the '15 draft. http://throughthefencebaseball.com/2015-mlb-draft-10-college-players-rise-week-2/44848.

Dillon Tate, Ian Happ, and Phil Bickford caught his eye among others. And who is this midshipman?

 

Luke Gillingham, LHP, Navy

With all of the stud arms in this year’s class, no one has been better — at least statistically — than Gillingham, a 6’-3” southpaw for Navy. His first two starts of the season are as follows:

 

7 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 16 K/0 BB

7 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 14 K/1 BB

 

Those are silly numbers and have earned him back-to-back Louisville Slugger National Player of the Week honors. There isn’t a lot of scouting info on him but that should change very quickly. As a sophomore, he had 59 K/21 BB over 67.2 innings.

 

 

Read more at http://throughthefencebaseball.com/2015-mlb-draft-10-college-players-rise-week-2/44848#iCJpzsbLovEgD7Tj.99

[RammyFanny]

This is probably the year we take a pitcher, but Dansby Swanson is really good, off to a huge start, and just sounds like a prototypical Theo guy regarding makeup.

[Bilbo161]

This is probably the year we take a pitcher, but Dansby Swanson is really good, off to a huge start, and just sounds like a prototypical Theo guy regarding makeup.

 

Yea Kirby had a note on Swanson after week 1

Dansby Swanson, SS, Vanderbilt

Swanson is considered the best shortstop prospect in the 2015 MLB draft. He has all the tools defensively to stick there and profiles to a top of the order hitter with an advanced approach and above-average speed. After hitting .333/.410/.475 over 72 games as a sophomore with 22 stolen bases, the 6’-0”, right-hander opened his junior season right where he left off. In a three-game series against Santa Clara, he went 6-for-14 with a double, triple, stolen base and two walks as the ’Dores took the series 2-1. Vanderbilt is going to be well represented in the first round of the draft, and Swanson could possibly be the first of the bunch selected.

 

 

Read more at http://throughthefencebaseball.com/2015-mlb-draft-10-college-players-rise-week-1/44817#w3mRVDyt3wFCD2RP.99

 

He does fit the bill. Up the middle player, good make-up, able to control the plate.