Regular Show

Keith Law, I appreciate your stuff, and I know you won't read this.... But, DavidJohn Herz is actually a lefty, not a righty! Big difference in terms of pro career track, I think! It's gotta be tough for these media guys, trying to act informed about hundreds of draftees, many of whom they've never seen at all or if so perhaps for one brief appearance. And to be whipping off zillions of post-draft writeups and stuff in very short order with no edit-time. But it may also speak to how little they may know, and how modestly valuable their input is. Herz with his weird sometimes cross-fire delivery, that might not work well for arm health or consistency. But if he can throw strikes with it, he might project very favorably as a situational lefty reliever, even if the rotation is too much for him. Hopefully he'll make it as even more than a situational lefty reliever, but it's not the worst outcome. Yeah, so Keith Law knows DJ Herz is a lefty. Just a typo and a mistake is what I think happened. It's a very large recap for every team in MLB so mistakes are bound to happen. Keith Law talks to plenty of scouts and ppl in the industry and his input is valuable. I don't always agree with his take on prospects and he's reluctant to admit when he's wrong, but he knows his stuff. Herz definitely has a weird funky delivery and I get why scouts say he'll probably end up being a reliever. Maybe the Cubs' coaches and player development staff can correct that without a loss of stuff. The crossfire delivery makes a pitcher more deceptive and harder to face for same side hitters. Maybe the upside for DJ Herz is like a poor man's Chris Sale?

[tweet] [/tweet] Wow. I haven't heard "argy-bargy" for a long time lol. Go to the 1:20 mark in the clip.

I really need to remind myself to be disciplined and ignore posters who frustrate the hell out of me... [tweet] [/tweet] They chose Ethan Hearn, which seems like a weird choice to me. The more I read about him the less I like the pick. I don't think this was a good selection and HS catchers are a super dangerous demographic and have a high bust rate. Then again, it was a 6th round pick. Just depends on how much the Cubs go overslot to sign him.

[tweet] [/tweet][tweet] [/tweet][tweet] [/tweet] This is glorious and the comments are exactly what you'd expect from the BFIB lol.

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That stat is horsefeathering amazing... Thank you Cole for so thoroughly dominating the redbirds!

[tweet] [/tweet]Overall line in the minors: .287/.372/.580 (.952 OPS combined between AA and AAA)

[tweet] [/tweet][tweet]https://twitter.com/cubsguy20/status/1136650267942895617[/tweet] This is the only video I can find of him pitching. Not a great angle, but I can kinda see the throwing across the body issue mentioned in scouting reports and he throws slightly crossfire towards home plate. It's hard to break it down without better quality and a better angle and pitch velos. Here it is: [bbvideo=853,480] [/bbvideo]

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[tweet] [/tweet][tweet] [/tweet]I keep reading his best secondary pitch is a changeup (which is awesome). It always seems like it's harder to teach a pitcher how to throw a good changeup vs. teaching them how to throw a good slider/cutter. A good delivery from the little I've seen. The fastball has some good movement already. Solid frame (6'2" & 170 lbs.) and it looks like he can add some more muscle. I can't wait to talk to a local scout who's seen him on the mound.

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Speaking of, is he still not doing any baseball activities or is he down in Arizona or something? I haven't seen much news about him since they (finally) determined he had a fracture. I just remain impressed that a guy picked in the 20's w/ not much more than 150 pro PA's is climbing prospect rankings. It's nice to have someone with perhaps some decent perceived trade value in the near future, in case it's needed to make a move. It's not surprising; top prospects at the top of these lists graduate like Vlad Jr. and Fernando Tatis Jr. and some prospects trend down or underperform. Nico was hitting at AA before he got hurt, reports were excellent in ST and in the AFL and he has real legit tools and great hand-eye coordination. We also have plenty of prospects with "decent perceived trade value" in our system. Teams like Márquez and Amaya and have asked the Cubs about including them in prospective trades. That doesn't mean we have a great farm system (it's slowly improving), but we do have prospects with real trade value.

[tweet] [/tweet] Waiting for Raisin to make a 2020 MLB Draft Thread because there is a lot of relevant info on that (and later draft classes) in here. The Cubs definitely had an interesting strategy this year and were clearly targeting pitchers. Not sure if that was wise (considering the quality of pitching in this draft), but I like most of the pitchers the Cubs targeted. We'll see how this strategy works out in a couple years.

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[tweet] [/tweet]Short recap for the Cubs' draft picks 1-10. It's only 2 minutes long. Interesting stuff on Schlaffer. Kiley says Strumpf can be an everyday guy with some swing tweaks.

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I don't love it, but hey, no loss of draft picks and it's not my money (horsefeathers the Ricketts). I also don't know who we could sign this offseason to be the closer for like 2/$30 mil that would be better.

[tweet] [/tweet] CarGo is saying all the right things and endearing himself well.

From the latest Klaw chat: Totally agree on changing that and letting players leave after their freshman or sophomore year if they feel they're ready. I'm noticing some top prospects (like Carter Stewart) going the JC route so they can re-enter the draft the following year. It's unfair that top prospects waste some of their top earning years down the road by staying in college for 2/3 years.

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[tweet] [/tweet][tweet] [/tweet][tweet] [/tweet]I don't know why anyone would think this guy is an underslot deal... Yeah, he did go in the 9th round, but HS pitchers usually sign slot or overslot deals. The kid has some talent and I honestly have no clue how much it'll take to sign him, but it won't be at slot value at #282 ($149,800).