2017 MLB Draft

Quake Griffin · Post #81 » by **Quake Griffin** » Tue Jun 13, 2017 1:29 am

Kendall it is

Sent from my iPhone using RealGM Forums

Quake Griffin · Post #82 » by **Quake Griffin** » Tue Jun 13, 2017 1:30 am

Boy do we love Vandy.

Another Wisconsinite too.

Sent from my iPhone using RealGM Forums

Ranma · Post #83 » by **Ranma** » Tue Jun 13, 2017 1:37 am

Read on Twitter

Ranma · Post #84 » by **Ranma** » Tue Jun 13, 2017 1:56 am

Jim Callis, MLB.com (6/12/17)

23. Los Angeles Dodgers: OF Jeren Kendall, Vanderbilt
Callis: I know the industry soured on Kendall a bit because of his strikeout rate at Vanderbilt, but I love this pick at No. 23, and personally, would have taken him in the top 10. Yes, he swings and misses, as evidenced by his 74 whiffs in 261 at-bats, but he has the best tools in the college ranks, and he's been a very productive player at a top program. He has a chance to be a 15-HR, 30-steal guy while playing a quality center field.

Draft: Pick-by-Pick, First-Round Analysis

Justine Perline, Baseball America (6/12/17)

2017 MLB Draft Tracker

Ranma · Post #85 » by **Ranma** » Tue Jun 13, 2017 2:22 am

Keith Law, ESPNinsider.com (6/8/17)

10. Jeren Kendall, OF
School: Vanderbilt

Kendall came into the spring as my No. 1 prospect because he was (is) a college bat with huge tools and plays at a premium program. But despite his power and speed, he has slipped because he strikes out way too often and needs a major swing adjustment in pro ball.

Keith Law's 2017 Big Board: Explosive Pitchers Top Draft List

John Sickels, MinorLeagueBall.com (3/6/17)

Speed and simple athleticism are the key parts of Kendall’s game: he’s a 70-grade runner with excellent instincts; it isn’t hard to imagine him stealing 30-40 bases per year in the majors, assuming he gets on base enough (more on that in a moment). His throwing arm earns 55 or 60 grades depending on the source, and his ability to read the ball makes him perhaps the top defensive outfielder in college baseball. There’s no question about his ability to handle center field at higher levels.
...

In 102 at-bats with wooden bats over two summers in the Cape Cod League, he’s hit just .216/.286/.333 with 10 walks and 35 strikeouts. It’s a small sample of course but it fits into the narrative established by his college BB/K/PA ratios; the slash lines for Vanderbilt look nice, but he’s an aggressive hitter with a high strikeout rate. That could cut into his batting average and OBP at higher levels.

Part of this is simply an aggressive hitting philosophy and part of it is mechanical. In his scouting report Ethan Novak at Lookout Landing points to this video by Baseball Rebellion breaking down Kendall’s swing.

2017 MLB Draft Report: Jeren Kendall, OF, Vanderbilt

Michael Lananna, Baseball America (5/4/17)

“I just love him,” Vandy coach Tim Corbin said. “I think he’s a wonderful kid. Personality is plus. He’s good looking. He’s very easy to be with. Low, low maintenance. He’s comfortable with people. He’s comfortable with himself . . . I just wish he was here longer.”

Where Kendall truly sets himself apart is on a baseball field. There, the differences are far more apparent. Kendall is a unique talent, a potent combination of power and speed in center field. Through 183 at-bats this spring, the junior leadoff hitter is batting .301/.384/.579 with a team-leading 13 home runs and 15 stolen bases in 19 attempts, and those numbers are very much in line with what Kendall has done throughout his career.

Jeren Kendall’s Tools Play from [Panda Emoji] to Outfield

Quake Griffin · Post #86 » by **Quake Griffin** » Tue Jun 13, 2017 2:36 am

Hmmm...

Should we try to get him up ASAP or should we view him as a project and reconstruct his swing???

I dont buy the sabermetric "strike outs don't matter" line of thinking. IIRC we've been trying to help Joc make more contact/ K less.

Sent from my iPhone using RealGM Forums

Ranma · Post #87 » by **Ranma** » Tue Jun 13, 2017 2:59 am

Quake Griffin wrote:Hmmm...

Should we try to get him up ASAP or should we view him as a project and reconstruct his swing???

I dont buy the sabermetric "strike outs don't matter" line of thinking. IIRC we've been trying to help Joc make more contact/ K less.

As a collegiate position player, he's close to being a Major-League contributor. His speed already plays with professional baserunning instruction. Likewise, his defensive instincts just need to be fine-tuned and is practically MLB-ready. While his power still has projection left, his batting approach looks to be the only thing holding him back.

I'd treat him as a bit of a project but if and when he displays some sustainable consistency in production at the plate, I'd put him immediately in the mix to replace Joc Pederson in CF. The kid's upside and projection is that good. He's got good makeup and is coachable from what I can tell, so I think he'll do well with our developmental instruction.

I wouldn't be in a rush to fast-track him but I think he's capable of contributing to a big-league club sooner rather than later, so it's really up to him to fix his swing-and-miss issues. I'd make a point to compare his production to Pederson's, especially since Joc continues to tweak his swing himself.

I consider Jeren Kendall to alreay be among the Dodgers' top 3 prospects ahead of both Alex Verdugo and Willie Calhoun with the graduation of both Cody Bellinger and Julio Urias. Verdugo is the more advanced hitter right now in the system, but Kendall's upside is much higher with only 1 of his 5 tools (hitting) currently holding him back.

Ranma · Post #88 » by **Ranma** » Tue Jun 13, 2017 3:09 am

With our 62nd overall selection slot coming up, I'd target the following prospects as prioritized below:

1) RHP - Alex Scherff
2) RHP - Tristan Beck
3) 3B - Mark Vientos (selected by Mets 59th overall)

Ranma · Post #89 » by **Ranma** » Tue Jun 13, 2017 3:40 am

Read on Twitter

Keith Law, ESPNinsider.com (6/8/17)

48. Morgan Cooper, RHP
School: Texas

Cooper missed 2015 after Tommy John surgery and is now a fourth-year junior, with strong results this season and big downhill plane on a 93-95 mph fastball.

Keith Law's 2017 Big Board: Explosive Pitchers Top Draft List

John Sickels, MinorLeagueBall.com (6/11/17)

STRENGTHS

Coming back for his junior season was the right thing to do, as Cooper’s stock has soared this spring. He has a stereotypical “big guy from Texas” fastball at 91-96 MPH, and he commands the fastball well.

He’s not just a fastball pitcher, able to mix in a curve, cutter/slider, and change-up. The curveball was his best pitch as a freshman but since the injury he’s done good work developing his other two pitches, giving him four quality options. He usually throws strikes and has the complete arsenal needed to start in the majors. His makeup is also considered a strong positive.

WEAKNESSES

Although his mechanics are consistent the heat isn’t exactly “easy” and his radar gun readings sometimes decline as a game progresses, although his full quiver of secondaries helps compensate. His command is occasionally erratic and will need to firm up at the highest levels. The redshirt season makes him an “old” junior at age 22.

2017 MLB Draft Profile: Morgan Cooper, RHP, University of Texas

Quake Griffin · Post #90 » by **Quake Griffin** » Tue Jun 13, 2017 1:46 pm

Ranma so far for 1st rounders:

Buehler
Lux
Kendall
Smith
Sheffield

Are you going to let Gasparino out run his San Diego days or not?
TONS OF upside there.

Only haggle I'm seeing is Lux over Delvin (which I share some concerns about if I'm being absolutely honest at my core) and even then, I'm watching both to see if Delvin is the hare to Lux's tortoise.

Ranma · Post #91 » by **Ranma** » Tue Jun 13, 2017 5:05 pm

Jonathan Mayo, MLB.com (6/13/17)

The pendulum did swing the other way in the second round, with 19 of the 30 picks coming from the high school ranks. Add in the five prepsters in the two Competitive Balance Rounds and that means 36 of the 75 picks on Monday night were high school players.

That means there is plenty of high-upside prep talent still on the board for Day 2 of the Draft today. Live pick-by-pick coverage of Rounds 3-10 can be found on MLB.com, starting with a half-hour preview show at 12:30 p.m. ET. Here are the top 10 players -- including eight prep players -- left from the Top 200 Draft prospects list:

29. Blayne Enlow, RHP, St. Amant (La.) HS
30. Nick Allen, SS, Parker (Calif.) HS
39. Tanner Burns, RHP, Decatur (Ala.) HS
45. Jacob Heatherly, LHP, Cullman (Ala.) HS
48. Evan Skoug, C, TCU
52. Alex Scherff, RHP, Colleyville Heritage (Texas) HS
53. Tristan Beck, RHP, Stanford
54. Garrett Mitchell, OF, Orange Lutheran (Calif.) HS
55. Daniel Cabrera, LHP, Parkview Baptist (La.) HS
56. Jacob Pearson, OF, West Monroe (La.) HS

Chosen Ones Go Day 1; Draft Resumes Today

Ranma · Post #92 » by **Ranma** » Tue Jun 13, 2017 5:48 pm

Quake Griffin wrote:Ranma so far for 1st rounders:

Buehler
Lux
Kendall
Smith
Sheffield

Are you going to let Gasparino out run his San Diego days or not?
TONS OF upside there.

Only haggle I'm seeing is Lux over Delvin (which I share some concerns about if I'm being absolutely honest at my core) and even then, I'm watching both to see if Delvin is the hare to Lux's tortoise.

I'm not going to lie. Despite my cold feet in favor of Bubba Thompson, Jeren Kendall is the type of exciting talent that makes our draft. Even in the unlikely event that he busts, it is a risk worth taking to get this type of talent into our developmental pipeline, especially in light of our track record of cultivating young talent. For the sake of comparison, Kendall is better off with the Dodgers than Jo Adell with the Angels. Adell has the potential to be the best player in the draft and could possess the self-determination of Mike Trout to make himself into a stud on his own, but with all things being equal, you'd have to think that between these two high-ceiling, 5-tool players, Kendall has a better likelihood of reaching his full potential, especially as a more polished collegian than a raw prep player.

Remember, I was critical of Billy Gasparino's conservative first-round picks and coincidentally enough there were reports that mentioned that the Dodgers would focus more on upside in going with best player available. Well, he certainly followed through yesterday. As long as we continue with this approach with our early picks along with what he and the scouts have been doing with the later picks, you're not going to get many complaints from me.

Having said that, I'm upset with us passing on prep RHP Alex Scherff for college RHP Morgan Cooper. It's not that I hate Cooper as a prospect as he has stuff and good size, but is coming off TJS surgery and projected to have the upside of a #3 starter. He's also had stamina issues but that should improve with professional training.

It's no secret that I've been advocating for both Tristan Beck and Scherff, especially Scherff in this instance. With question marks about Beck, I probably wouldn't have issue with Cooper going over Beck but I'm still bothered by passing over Scherff for Cooper. Admittedly, it's not really an egregious selection as an overdraft since rankings had Cooper placed in the mid-40s or mid-90s on big boards while Scherff is generally in the low-to-late 50s.

This is admittedly a personal bias since, according to Gasparino, the Dodgers had considered Cooper in a previous draft. I just think Scherff has higher upside but the risk is his mechanics with concerns that he could be more of a relief pitcher than starter. I obviously see him as a starter with a higher ceiling and wanted to roll the dice on him given his rankings and talk about how lacking in depth and top-end talent this draft class is.

Like I said, I'm going to acknowledge that it's a personal gripe instead of faulty organizational approach. The other thing that bothers me is that Gasparino is so unafraid of prospects with Tommy-John surgery that he seems to favor those who've had it over those who haven't but may be at risk for it later. That's a debatable approach. It's one thing to be unafraid of going after high-upside prospects with TJS and another to seemingly seeking them out.

Maybe Cooper surprises and goes beyond projections, but I'm disappointed we didn't take the chance on my personal favorite Scherff. At this point, both Scherff and Beck may not be signable since both have the option to either go or return to college. Even if we didn't select either of my personal favorites, there were still first-round-worthy talent in undersized SS Nick Allen, who's already better than Gavin Lux at that position, and RHP Hans Crouse, a power arm out of the California prep scene.

Ranma · Post #93 » by **Ranma** » Tue Jun 13, 2017 6:52 pm

I mentioned before that this draft class seemed to have an abundance of catchers albeit of the backup variety, but I'm also hearing there are a lot of speedsters as well. In fact, I had a couple of speedy outfielders in mind that I can't recall their names right now. In any case, I actually had my eye on Wong for this draft slot. He's versatile in the mold of Will Smith and Austin Barnes but likely with a lower ceiling. There are probably more talented prospects available but I can't say that I don't like this pick.

Read on Twitter

Ranma · Post #94 » by **Ranma** » Tue Jun 13, 2017 7:35 pm

Both Callis and Mayo like the Marinan pick and the kid seems to be a late-riser similar to Mitchell White last year but not as polished despite a potentially better fastball. Talk of him having a feel for spin, which is big for this organization, has him more like Dustin May as a prospect. Seems like a good value at this draft slot.

Read on Twitter

Keith Law, ESPNinsider.com (6/8/17)

56. James Marinan, RHP
School: Park Vista Community HS, Boynton Beach, Florida

Marinan has come on over the spring, occasionally touching the mid-90s but pitching at 88-92 mph with a good curveball and a very projectable frame.

Keith Law's 2017 Big Board: Explosive Pitchers Top Draft List

Ranma · Post #95 » by **Ranma** » Tue Jun 13, 2017 7:59 pm

Now I'm royally pissed! I was resigned to Alex Scherff being unsignable only to see the Red Sox take him right after the Dodgers select a projected relief pitcher in the 5th round. :curse:

I understand that we'll have to take money from our lower draft slots to sign Jeren Kendall and that Scherff will likely be an over-slot signing for Boston, but this would have been a fantastic draft if we could have gotten both into the fold of the Dodgers organization. We should have found a way to make this happen.

Hudson Belinsky likes him and a MLB.com studio panelist thought that he was a borderline-first-round talent while Riley Otteson was ranked 107th for MLB Pipeline and 204th for Baseball America. Hell, I like him a lot more than Marinan and Wong combined. :banghead:

No offense to Otteson, who went on a Mormon mission in Japan, but I absolutely hate this pick.

Read on Twitter

Keith Law, ESPNinsider.com (6/8/17)

55. Alex Scherff, RHP
School: Colleyville (Texas) Heritage HS

Scherff is 91-94 mph with some late life, can spin a good curveball and has a changeup now. So the arsenal is there for him to start, but the short stride in his delivery is a potential risk factor for him to end up in the bullpen.

Keith Law's 2017 Big Board: Explosive Pitchers Top Draft List

Ranma · Post #96 » by **Ranma** » Tue Jun 13, 2017 8:16 pm

Ranked 249th by Baseball America.

Read on Twitter

MLB.com (6/13/17)

Montgomerie threw very well in the Cape Cod League last summer, leading his team to the championship with a 1.70 ERA in 26 1/3 regular-season innings. The fastball is there -- he gets a lot of swings and misses with a heater that touches 94 mph -- but he lacks command, and his breaking stuff is fringy, especially a slurvy breaking ball he needs to control better.

Draft Tracker: 6th Round

David Hood, TrueBlueLA.com (6/12/17)

Round 7, Pick 220
Wills Montgomerie, RHP, UCONN

Like Netzer, I could have easily taken Montgomerie earlier as one of my targeted prospects. Montgomerie placed 17th on the NCAA strikeouts per nine inning list with 11.69 and reportedly has a high spin rate on his fastball.

Beyond the numbers, Montgomerie is a well built right hander that can pitch in the mid 90’s with his fastball. He also has a loopier slider that will flash above average with tighter spin. He doesn’t exhibit as good of control as the pitchers I’ve selected ahead of him, but even as an older junior prospect Montgomerie still has upside.

Montgomerie will continue to work as a starter, though he also has potential as a two pitch late inning reliever. Given the durable build and swing and miss stuff, the hope is that Montgomerie can develop into a first division caliber number three starter.

Watch on YouTube

2017 MLB Draft: Mocking the Dodgers’ First 10 Rounds

Ranma · Post #97 » by **Ranma** » Tue Jun 13, 2017 9:09 pm

Another projected relief arm with a high-velocity fastball but one lacking in control.

Read on Twitter

Ranma · Post #98 » by **Ranma** » Tue Jun 13, 2017 9:26 pm

Ranked 480th by Baseball America.

Read on Twitter

Ranma · Post #99 » by **Ranma** » Tue Jun 13, 2017 10:07 pm

Jim Callis calls him an intriguing pitcher who induces a lot of ground balls. Seems like a competitor who had forgone Tommy-John surgery in order to finish his remaining season of eligibility. No surprise for a Gasparino pick as it looks very likely that he'll get TJS upon signing with the Dodgers.

Read on Twitter

Ranma · Post #100 » by **Ranma** » Tue Jun 13, 2017 10:38 pm

Read on Twitter