Regular Show

I can't believe it's already been 20 years since Kerry Wood's insane 20K game. So in honor of that game here are some of those strikeouts against those shitty Astros hitters: http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/1127355/wood4.gif http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/1127335/wood.gif http://cdn3.vox-cdn.com/assets/4414001/Wood-20th-K.gif What a game... I was too young to understand it and was more into the Bulls back then. It's amazing to watch now. Here is the video of all 20K's:

[tweet] [/tweet] [tweet] [/tweet] This is good news. He's another highly rated HS arm and I like him as a target if he's fully healthy. He's got one of the cleanest deliveries in this draft class among pitchers. This sounds weird, but it's almost too clean lol. He has like zero deception and I'm pretty sure hitters see his fastball pretty well. He seems very athletic and has the ideal build for a pitcher. I'm impressed from watching him in a couple videos and I've read a few articles about his competitive nature/good makeup. I guess a full physical and MRI on his arm/shoulder would be necessary for a team to really commit to him at this point with a high draft pick. Here's a video from last year: [bbvideo=853,480] [/bbvideo]

https://2080baseball.com/2018/05/2018-mlb-mock-draft-first-run-shadow/ Another mock draft and we'll be seeing a bunch of these over the next month. This one is okay. They have the Cubs taking Missouri State SS, Jeremy Eierman. I don't see that happening... I could see the Cubs possibly taking a hitter, but I think it would be someone with a higher ceiling like OF Connor Scott. Also, Jeremy Eierman has hit very poorly during his stints in the Cape Cod League. I'm not that high on Eierman, but I do think he stays at SS and might develop into a plus defender there. I just have serious doubts about the bat. This mock draft goes pretty deep. Some of the choices are weird, but it's still early.

But seriously...

Man, I need to get out there sometime. Let me know the next time you decide to go Duke! How does Miguel Amaya look? He's playing today right? They say he's pretty advanced defensively and I wonder how advanced his catching skills are. Like how does his pitcher framing/receiving look like from where you're sitting. It's kinda hard to tell during a game or from a bad angle. Is he good at blocking balls that bounce in the dirt/limiting wild pitches? Does he have a cannon for an arm like Contreras? I think Miguel Amaya will be our #1 ranked prospect by the end of the year so I'm really curious about how he looks in person. Amaya didn't really have many opportunities to show me anything. They didn't try to run on him, seeing as how it was a 10-run game most of the game. He had a single but that was it at the plate. He took some good hacks and was pretty patient. He fought off some pitches. He didn't really drive the ball or anything. He hit one ball hard but it was a routine ground out. I didn't get a good read on his framing because I was right behind the plate. But he looked pretty athletic back there. I thought he did a nice job of receiving. He got low in his crouch and gave a good window for the ump. He looked smooth -- wasn't really stabbing at the ball from what I could see. But I couldn't tell much, other than that he looked pretty natural. Thanks! Yeah, it kind of sucks when you go to a game to watch a highly-rated prospect(s) and they don't really do much or pitch poorly. I'm happy his receiving and actions looked good behind the plate. Were there any scouts or execs there? I know Jed and even Theo would occasionally go to games when they had that awesome group of Baez, Bryant, Soler and Almora. I doubt they go to very many games now.

Man, I need to get out there sometime. Let me know the next time you decide to go Duke! How does Miguel Amaya look? He's playing today right? They say he's pretty advanced defensively and I wonder how advanced his catching skills are. Like how does his pitcher framing/receiving look like from where you're sitting. It's kinda hard to tell during a game or from a bad angle. Is he good at blocking balls that bounce in the dirt/limiting wild pitches? Does he have a cannon for an arm like Contreras? I think Miguel Amaya will be our #1 ranked prospect by the end of the year so I'm really curious about how he looks in person.

Personally, I might take Regular Show's draft prospect analysis over Keith Law's, but Law has some really nice things to say about Rodriguez: I appreciate the kind words, but I think you're much better off with Keith Law's analysis and his sources. I've watched some video of Grayson Rodriguez and he is very impressive. He has one of the longest arm swings or arm actions going back that I've ever seen. It looks weird, but the rest of his delivery is fine. The delivery takes awhile so I could see runners stealing a lot of bases on him. Great fastball and a good breaking ball in the videos I watched. I think he's a fine pitching prospect, but then I listened to him talk during an interview ... and it brought back bad memories. He has a slight Texan accent that reminded me of John Lackey. It isn't that bad, but it sucks when a professional athlete sounds like a redneck.

https://www.baseballamerica.com/rankings/2018-top-500-mlb-draft-prospects/ The updated Top 500 draft prospects list is available now on baseballamerica's website. The reports are super detailed. Highly recommend everyone take a look if you're interested in the draft.

Yeah, I agree with you. I think we're in agreement on our draft philosophy. Kumar Rocker is too risky and HS pitchers in general are just way too risky for that kind of strategy. Personally, my favorite HS pitcher in this draft class is Carter Stewart and I still wouldn't offer him more than $3-3.5 mil. I do believe one of these talented HS arms is going to develop into a legit ace/#1 starter, but I have no clue who he is.

So Miguel Amaya is doing this well with the bat and is so young with great tools and he could only be a 50 FV by the end of the year? Seriously? http://p1.pstatp.com/large/2ee30001b5a77ca32781

I agree that if Rocker's asking price is $5 million I'd pass if I were the Cubs. I disagree about the concept of not wanting to give any single pitcher 2/3 of some hypothetical draft pool. I think in super rare cases I might be willing to do it for exceptional top college pitching prospects. I think I might be willing to do it in certain rare cases -- Strasburg, Price or even Mark Prior. I think Theo and Jed and Maddon would've handled Prior in a much better way and limit his workload early on. Honestly, those kind of pitching prospects are so rare and they usually go #1/#2 so giving 2/3 of your draft budget might not even cut it. There is NO pitching prospect like that in this draft. Casey Mize and Kumar Rocker aren't in the same class as Strasburg, Price and Prior. I agree with you Davell, but in theory I might be willing to do it for the right top pitching prospect that comes along once or twice every decade. Edit: So I just checked the draft pool for this year's draft. The Tigers have the #1 pick and the slot value for that pick is $8,096,300 and the Tigers overall pool amount is $12,414,800. Some quick easy math: $8.1/$12.415 = ~66% or 2/3's of the Tiger's draft budget. So a Strasburg-type talent would already be getting close to that percentage from the team selecting #1 overall. Well, there goes that theory...

I've never actually seen someone punch themselves in the face. Like I remember watching it during Fight Club, but no way could someone do it in real life. Well, I think Ken Giles just punched himself (or tried to) and I think he's angry lol... [tweet] [/tweet]

So I just came across this story and it seems like it's worthy of getting it's own thread. Ichiro is done playing this season and will transition into a special assistant role with the Mariners. This situation kind of reminds me of what happened with Kerry Wood and the Cubs, but Ichiro isn't officially retiring however... My guess is he'll continue playing in Japan next year. Maybe he'll rejoin the Orix Blue Wave (now known as Orix buffaloes). Well, good luck in whatever you decide to do next Ichiro! http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/23395195/ichiro-suzuki-joins-seattle-mariners-front-office-rest-2018-season http://mlb.mlb.com/images/1/6/2/183907162/061316_mia_ichiro_fan_med_wuelybjt.gif http://projects.seattletimes.com/2016/sports/ichiro-top-9-moments/assets/ichiro7.gif

Weird that Keith Law has Brady Singer going second.. I didn't think he was that highly thought of after his slow start. This mock draft is pretty good overall. I'm surprised Cole Winn and Kumar Rocker went so low, but MLB teams want to minimize risk so I get why those talented HS arms fell. I also get why Ethan Hankins fell with his shoulder injury scaring some teams. J.T. Ginn is another super talented HS arm, but I'm surprised Keith Law has him going in the first round. If you don’t mind, where did Winn and Rocker go? And Connor Scott, who is probably my favorite prep bat who might be around the Cubs pick? 21. Brewers - Ethan Hankins 22. Rockies - Kumar Rocker 23. Yankees - Cole Winn 24. Cubs - Grayson Rodriguez (so three of my favorite pitchers went right before the Cubs pick in this mock draft :? ) 29. Indians - Conner Scott (also interested in Thomas, according to Law) -- I like Conner Scott too and wouldn't mind the Cubs taking him. 30. Dodgers - Alek Thomas (also interested in Scott, according to Law)

Weird that Keith Law has Brady Singer going second.. I didn't think he was that highly thought of after his slow start. This mock draft is pretty good overall. I'm surprised Cole Winn and Kumar Rocker went so low, but MLB teams want to minimize risk so I get why those talented HS arms fell. I also get why Ethan Hankins fell with his shoulder injury scaring some teams. J.T. Ginn is another super talented HS arm, but I'm surprised Keith Law has him going in the first round.

And the Mariners blew it lol. What a game from Paxton. He looked incredible. I wonder if they'll ever make him available before he becomes a FA in a few years. I believe he becomes a FA in 2020.

Just so we are on the same page, has there been an updated scouting report on Hjelle that has him gaining velocity? I've only seen 1 game of his and he was 90-92, and was around 90 much more frequently in the 4th and 5th. The reports I've read have him in that same range. I didn't see one plus secondary pitch, although I've seen reports that he has flashed a plus curve. The changeup is average. I will agree that the command is really good though. He's a strikethrower. But he doesn't miss any bats. K/9 under 8 this year in college is a huge red flag for me. It's a testament to his mediocre stuff if he can't even get collegiate players to swing and miss. You have to be 100% sure that Hjelle is going to be able to gain several ticks on the fastball and that he gets consistency with the curve and change. Just because a guy is tall and has a frame to add on to, doesn't mean the velo with increase. People always kept waiting for Chris Volstad, Jon Rauch and Mark Hendrickson to bump up their velos, but it never happened. Volstad is actually the guy that comes to mind when I see Hjelle. Maybe Chris Young on the high side. Neither are ideal, although early career Chris Young had a season or two that were solid. Keith Law mentioned how it's possible he could add some more velo down the road. Not a certainty by any means. The scouting reports are all the same, but the reports on the curveball vary. I think it's a plus pitch and I think the changeup is average right now. Chris Young is a good comp. I was thinking of Doug Fister myself. I guess I'm the high guy on Hjelle. We'll see how he develops in the next couple years.

Not sure how good a mock is when it has Singer at #2 overall but anyways, here are some other names that have been mentioned around here: Triston Casas at 13, Jonathan India at 14, Cole Winn at 15, Ethan Hankins at 18, Trevor Larnach at 21, Ryan Weathers at 22, Kumar Rocker at 23, Noah Naylor at 25 and Connor Scott at 28. Pass. I don't want anything to do with Hjelle in the 1st. Solid, but not great stuff. Solid, but not great collegiate production. He's absurdly tall so all sorts of things could happen to his mechanics (even though he repeats them fine right now). At this point I'm over taking college pitchers in the 1st round that need things to fall right just so they can be a BOR starter. I'm going to have to disagree respectfully. I know Hjelle isn't a sexy pick, but I think he has a really high floor and a significant upside if he adds more velocity. I'm no scout, but I think he can get stronger and throw a couple ticks harder than he is currently throwing. His command looks really good in every video and highlight and game I've seen -- I really doubt his mechanics will just fall apart. I do believe there are HS pitching prospects with higher upsides and better stuff in this draft, and probably one of them will be available to the Cubs. I would probably want them to target someone with a really high upside over a safe college pitcher with a high floor, but I also really like Sean Hjelle. I understand where you're coming from... I know if Hjelle threw harder there's no way he'd fall to the Cubs. I feel like this sometimes when debating the merits of Sean Hjelle:

I believe Bauer was the one who said that pitchers that use pine tar can get a few hundred extra RPM/higher spin rate in an ESPN article. He claimed pine tar gives a significant advantage to pitchers and not just a better grip on the ball to improve control. I think maybe this is what he is insinuating with the Astros pitchers?

[tweet] [/tweet] Damn. I don't think the Cubs will have a chance at drafting Cole Winn now. This draft is so loaded I'm not too worried about a really good player being available at #24, but I'm starting to make a preferred list in my mind. Sidenote: This draft class is reminding me of the 2011 draft where the late Jose Fernandez went in the teens. He was arguably the most talented pitcher in that draft, and I feel like the same thing might happen in this draft. I think it's almost impossible to differentiate the top pitching prospects with the notable exception of Casey Mize. However, if Mize gets hurt or his stuff backs up even a little bit then you can make the case for another pitcher.

Some more draft info from Klaw Chat:

[tweet]https://twitter.com/keithlaw/status/990417162497077248[/tweet] I would imagine Pablo Sandoval being among the last position players a (good) manager would choose to pitch, but hey it worked somehow.

So I don't have a subscription for BA. Do you think you could post the Top-5 in their mock draft? I understand posting the whole thing would be wrong. Honestly, I just want to know where they have Carter Stewart, Alec Bohm and Kumar Rocker going. #1 Casey Mize #2 Joey Bart #3 Alec Bohm #4 Madrigal #5 Liberatore #7 Carter Stewart #8 Kumar Rocker Thanks! Joey Bart going second is very surprising. Everyone else you listed is right where I thought they should go. I can't wait till they do a full mock draft to see who they have the Cubs taking. I definitely think the Cubs are taking a pitcher.

So I don't have a subscription for BA. Do you think you could post the Top-5 in their mock draft? I understand posting the whole thing would be wrong. Honestly, I just want to know where they have Carter Stewart, Alec Bohm and Kumar Rocker going.

Dude, I'm not one to judge or criticize or be a grammar Nazi, but this is like the third time you've called Alec Bohm ... Alec Brohm. Not a big deal, and I didn't say anything the first or second time but that's not how you spell his name lol.