CaliforniaRaisin

I mean you've heard of Mark Appel right? He was taken #1 right ahead of KB lol. I'm not that high on Mickey Moniak, but he should reach the big leagues. He might end up being their version of Albert Almora. Appel at least hung onto lists for several seasons. Agreed on the comp. Aiken has had a precipitous fall too. Struggling to hit 90 in A-ball.

He's ranked 164th in BA's current top 300 draft list. That's potential top 5 round territory.

Shae Simmons seems like an intriguing reliever option especially since he can be stashed at AAA:

I'm not biased and I agree.

Badler had basically the same article a year ago. The thought of scouting 12-year olds feels icky.

Yes. See what sticks and try to find the next Brandon Morrow this way.

No new players were linked to the Cubs in either his shortstop article or his pitcher article. That said, some of the players he mentioned weren't linked to any teams: Osiel Rodriguez, RHP, Cuba Sandy Gaston, RHP, Cuba - possibly could sign with the Marlins but not linked to any teams Jerming Rosario, RHP, Dominican Republic Rainer Polonius, SS, Curacao Ryson Polonius, SS, Curacao Badler said Osiel Rodriguez and Richard Gallardo (the pitcher linked to the Cubs) were the most impressive pitchers at the MLB Showcase last week. Annoyingly, Badler mentioned bonus amounts for many of the pitchers in his article but not Gallardo. Only one pitcher Badler mentioned is currently expected to get a 7-figure bonus (Dominican RHP Starlyn Castillo to the Phillies). Thanks man. We've got the SS and Gallardo as the only names known at this point. I'd love to see us add one other big bonus pitcher and spend the rest on hitting(if there's anything left) If I had to guess, they probably have about $2 million tied up with Gallardo and the SS Rafael Morel. With the hard IFA caps in the new CBA, it's tougher to sign multiple top IFAs so it would be a pleasant surprise if they could still get Osiel Rodriguez and end up signing the top two pitchers in this class. You get the top two pitchers in the class and you have a better chance that one will be a healthy top 100 prospect by AA ball. That said, I'm guessing they're already linked to a few mid-6 figure guys and might not have enough money for a guy like Rodriguez who basically is a pop up guy.

The Angels broadcasters should talk more about Quintana's .500 record.

No new players were linked to the Cubs in either his shortstop article or his pitcher article. That said, some of the players he mentioned weren't linked to any teams: Osiel Rodriguez, RHP, Cuba Sandy Gaston, RHP, Cuba - possibly could sign with the Marlins but not linked to any teams Jerming Rosario, RHP, Dominican Republic Rainer Polonius, SS, Curacao Ryson Polonius, SS, Curacao Badler said Osiel Rodriguez and Richard Gallardo (the pitcher linked to the Cubs) were the most impressive pitchers at the MLB Showcase last week. Annoyingly, Badler mentioned bonus amounts for many of the pitchers in his article but not Gallardo. Only one pitcher Badler mentioned is currently expected to get a 7-figure bonus (Dominican RHP Starlyn Castillo to the Phillies).

On that note, BA's first draft tracker: https://www.baseballamerica.com/draft/2018-draft-tracker-swaggerty-denaburg-larnach-helping/#RDfm6CjDQAZCzfqP.97 Stock Rising: Travis Swaggerty | OF | South Alabama Mason Denaburg | RHP | Merritt Island (Fla.) High Carter Stewart | RHP | Eau Gallie High, Melbourne, Fla. Trevor Larnach | OF | Oregon State Stock Falling: Nander De Sedas | SS | Montverde (Fla.) Academy Jeremy Eierman | SS | Missouri State On the Mend: Nick Madrigal | 2B | Oregon State Ethan Hankins | RHP | Forsyth Central High, Cumming, Ga. Slade Cecconi | RHP | Trinity Prep High, Winter Park, Fla.

Yeah, in his second start of the year. There are a lot of well regarded prep arms so maybe one gets lost in the shuffle or has serious injury, but I just have a hard time seeing any of Hankins, Liberatore, Stewart or Denaburg (or even Rocker) falling to 24. Agreed, the range for that kind of HS arm talent has been like picks 6-19 give or take. This is definitely not a group of players I would bank on being there at 24. Best case there is signability concerns and teams putting their money in college bats, though Rocker's maybe got a shot if he doesn't do anything too exciting this spring. The player I like that might actually be there at 24 is Greyson Jenista. Travis Swaggerty probably is that guy for me but he too apparently has a lot of helium.

FYI, he's getting top 5 pick buzz following that start, per Kiley McDaniel at Fangraphs.

Yeah, in his second start of the year. There are a lot of well regarded prep arms so maybe one gets lost in the shuffle or has serious injury, but I just have a hard time seeing any of Hankins, Liberatore, Stewart or Denaburg (or even Rocker) falling to 24.

this is my favorite [tweet] [/tweet] This is especially amusing considering the WSJ story out today: https://twitter.com/jareddiamond/status/969251954017931264?s=21

Ah, when I skimmed thru, I didn't notice he had just also posted the 5 best hitters. That definitely changes things, as his comment wasn't necessarily meant for the pitchers. I agree that they don't typically get as much. And I'd amend my initial thinking on Gallardo. I'd still bet Rodriguez gets well over that though. Every team has at least 4.75 mill now to spend. I'd guess the players see their bonuses go up a bit anyway, just because of that. FYI, I don't think anyone who gets paid to do this has said Rodriguez is a top 100 prospect. I surmised as much just reading the glowing write-ups for him. At the end of the day, he's a 16-year old pitcher, so immediately being a top 100 prospect will be tough. That said, he is the best pitching prospect in this class and showed up late, so I think he'll easily clear $2 million. I've added the the teams linked to these guys. No idea on Azuaje, the Cuban pitchers or Rosario. Looks like Calzadilla is linked to the Diamondbacks. 12:49 Kiley McDaniel: Those hitters: Diego Cartaya, C, VZ Dodgers Noelvi Marte, SS, DR Mariners Marco Luciano, SS, DR Giants Orelvis Martinez, SS, DR Blue Jays, likely the biggest non-Cuban bonus there’s a bunch of candidates for the 5th spot, but I’ll go with the guy that ran a 6.37 in the 60: Alexeis Azuaje, SS, DR 12:50 Kiley McDaniel: Best Arms: Osiel Rodriguez, RHP, Cuba Richard Gallardo, RHP, VZ Cubs Sandy Gaston, RHP, Cuba Abraham Calzadilla, RHP, VZ Diamondbacks you can either take projection with Jerming Rosario, RHP, DR or now velo with Starlyn Castillo, RHP, DR Phillies 12:51 Kiley McDaniel: I would assume/already know all of those players get $500K on July 2nd or soon thereafter 12:51 Kiley McDaniel: and there’s more than a couple millionaires in there, probably a few over $2M. A couple top guys weren’t at the event, but not that many. Alexeis Azuaje is connected to the Phillies.

There's a prep draft prospect whose name is Owen Sharts.

The Cubs never had a realistic chance of drafting Liberatore (as long as he remains healthy). He has arguably the highest ceiling for any HS pitcher in this year's draft. Yeah. Even if he didn't get this bump in velocity now, teams were projecting it would happen and combined with his athleticism and curve, would've drafted him early as long as he stayed healthy.

Peanut and its not even close.

Sounds like A-ball Gameday data. Between my recollection of that and my recollection of 2017 Cubs Justin Wilson, I didn't trust the 5 total strikes outing.

Without throwing a ball. Not gonna lie, wasn't sure I could trust Gameday that he had a 5-pitch inning with no balls thrown.

Justin Wilson threw a 1-2-3 inning.

Yeah it’s ST and his first start so stats are mostly meaningless but that’s a rough debut for a guy who sucked last time he was in MLB and hasn’t pitched in MLB in years. I do think the Cardinals' rotation has the chance to implode if Mikolas sucks and Wainwright continues to struggle. Wacha has had problems staying healthy. I think the Cubs have a much stronger rotation now. We should make a thread or poll for when we think MM will get fired lol. I'll say right around early August after the trade deadline. Their other problem is they'll be relying on some combination of rookie/second year pitchers (Weaver, Flaherty, Reyes) who might have to throw career highs in innings and could easily wear out.

I like that, though I'd have preferred Christian Kirk who went one pick after Moore in that mock.