2017 MLB Draft

[Quake Griffin]

What happened to Scherff?

Howd he go from being mocked high to one of the publications crapping on him to a 5th rounder?


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[Quake Griffin]

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.

I share your concerns about drafting guys who have TJS histories.

It's one thing to strike gold on a talent like Walker Buehler but the research (IIRC) suggests that someone with TJS will eventually need it again in something like 7 to 12 years or something like that. Given that if they're successful, we would end up controlling the player for over 6 years (years in the minors plus major league control years), that is a setup for problems.

My guess is he thinks he thinks he's getting great value because of the TJS but the risk still should not be pooled that way.

[Ranma]

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

Round 10, Pick 350
Marshall Kasowski, RHP, West Texas A&M

The Division II leader in strikeouts per nine innings (over 15 per nine!) is a Houston transfer that really took off after being allowed to pitch out of the rotation every weekend at West Texas A&M. While several of the division II statistical leaders seemed to lack the stuff that might translate to pro ball (though much consideration was given to Minnesota State RHP Dalton Roach at this spot), Kasowski can reach the mid 90’s with plenty of deception.

Kasowski is a physical right hander that seemingly muscles the ball to home. He’s not particularly fluid, but does have a quick arm and keeps the ball close to his head making it hard to pick up from the plate. Grainy video of his 16-strikeout performance this spring suggests a fringy curveball, while his slot and arm speed suggest a switch to a slider might be more beneficial.

Kasowski might ultimately wind up as a pen arm, albeit one with serious strikeout potential. His physical attributes are hard to find at this stage of the draft and you can live with the rough edges on his delivery and command.

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2017 MLB Draft: Mocking the Dodgers’ First 10 Rounds

[Ranma]

I was definitely interested in drafting Cody's brother, Cole Bellinger, but he was taken in the 15th round by the Padres. I guess I shouldn't be surprised even though Logan White is San Diego's director of pro scouting and special advisor to the GM. It'd make sense that White would also provide input into the amateur side of things as well. White, as we all know, drafted Cody for the Dodgers in the 4th round of the 2013 draft.

Anyway, with regard to Cole, I'm hearing he's more advanced as a pitcher, but I personally like him better as a development project at 2B. He's thought to be inclined to go to college to Grand Canyon University per Jonathan Mayo, who also predicted he'd be draftable in this range. Jim Callis just echoed the sentiment of his college commitment during the MLB.com online draft telecast during intermission. However, White has been known to be persuasive in convincing kids to join the Dodgers organization back in the day, but I'm not sure he'll be involved in such negotiations for the Padres now.

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Spoiler:

[Ranma]

What happened to Scherff?

Howd he go from being mocked high to one of the publications crapping on him to a 5th rounder?

My apologies, Quake, I meant to reply sooner, especially since I wanted to specifically address this, but had to catch up on all the draft stuff and other developments. In fact, I still have to catch up on reading post-draft material.

With regards to the fluctuations in rankings, that seems to be a common occurrence, particularly with the MLB draft. I noticed some of that last year and this year seems to be more pronounced from what I've seen personally. I mean just compare the names listed on the first page of this thread and where they were initially projected to be ranked to the current rankings. Hunter Greene was always on the radar and prospects like D.L. Hall, J.B. Bukauskas, Alex Faedo, Royce Lewis, and Kyle Wright had relatively little movement between now and then. However, then bring up names like J.J. Schwarz, K.J. Harrison and Cole Turney, and you get a much different story where each were thought to be solid first-rounders with Schwarz in discussion for top overall prospect only to end up being drafted significantly, if not drastically, much lower. Even Tanner Houck, Hans Crouse, Hagen Danner, and Mark Vientos had notable movement down the draft boards when they were all initially thought highly of.

There are a multitude of reasons why that is and I'm sure I don't know all of them, but I'll try to cite a few. For one, prospects from cold-weather states aren't seen as often by scouts because of limited play due to weather conditions. Likewise, the kids from those states don't play as often and are thus farther behind in their development compared to the hotbed of talent in states like California, Texas, Florida, and Georgia as prospects in those states can play year-round. It's a matter of exposure.

Second, more exposure isn't necessarily a good thing. I've noticed in hockey that top prospects tend to have their consistent excellence judged against them by being nitpicked for not doing anything new while more favorable attention is given to the hot newcomer on the scene. It's kind of like being bored with a steady girlfriend because of the familiarity and having wandering eyes for random hot chicks. The same principle seems to apply to baseball prospects to a lesser extent. The longer scouts look at a player, the more opportunity they have to find points of criticism. People tend to be drawn into the mystery of the unknown despite talent evaluators' love for having as much data and information as possible.

Following up on those points, it could just be a matter of previously unknown or little-seen prospects putting up better numbers with more opportunities to be evaluated. This tends to happen in any sport, but baseball more than any other.

Then, of course, we have the issue of signability. A lot of the high-end baseball prospects will have options as prep players, college juniors and even sophomores in some cases, or community-college players. These type of prospects can either go to college or just return to school to continue their development. They can use that leverage in contract negotiations or try their luck to improve their draft standing in a few years. It doesn't necessarily affect their big-board rankings but it does affect their draftability, which would explain why prospects aren't selected in the range they are projected in such rankings.

Take for instance Schwarz, who has been talked about being the #1 overall pick for a while. His draft standing was affected because he struggled with his hitting only to then be moved off catcher by a better defensive teammate, which further eroded his value even when he started bouncing back offensively. His lack of a position and option to go back to school would explain why he was drafted towards the end of the draft with a team taking a flyer on him in the 38th round, but it doesn't explain his low rankings. Scouts must have seen a big flaw in his mechanics or something. In any case, he's widely expected to return to Florida for his senior season.

Speaking of which, Tristan Beck is expected to return to Stanford per the tweet below. I was also advocating for him but increasingly less so given that he hasn't played much this year due to a minor back injury as well as his tendency to be hurt as a prep player even if those injuries were of the freak variety. He went in the 29th round because teams don't expect him to sign beyond the first 2 rounds.

Brandon McKay could have been the first overall pick but apparently his contract demands were not in line with the Twins' aims of spreading around their draft budget. He only fell to the 4th overall selection slot but was considered the 2nd best talent by most in this draft class. Concerns with signability helped pushed Jeren Kendall down to us, which used to be a typical move for the Yankees and Red Sox to capitalize on with regularity.

Anyway, with regard to Alex Scherff, specifically...I'm not really sure. All I can tell you is that his drop in the rankings seems to be based on concerns that he's no longer thought to be a certain starting pitcher with a possible reliever profile. There's mention of him having weird arm mechanics and a short stride in his delivery, but I'd think the Dodgers' developmental staff would be able to correct that. There's also mention of his lack of projectability, but based on his Twitter photo banner and reports of working himself into excellent shape, the dude is now cut. He was also noted for his arm speed and strength with significantly improved velocity upon his improved conditioning and physical turnaround. Given that, stamina should not be an issue with regard to being either a starter or reliever. Seems like a pure issue of mechanics to me.

Another thing to consider is makeup and coachability, which could explain why there are doubts that he would take to instruction, but I haven't heard anything that would flag that. Maybe his mechanics are so bad that they're irredeemable, but he's still projected in the 50s in the second round. The one thing that is strange is that he has bounced around to different schools every year for his first 3 years as a high-schooler and would have done so again as a senior if not for district regulations, but that was by choice. It's not like he was Seth Romero, who was kicked off his college team multiple times.

Now I was resigned to thinking he was not signable after the third round or so, but the Red Sox took him in the fifth round. That signaled to me that they think there's a decent chance to get him to forgo college. If we've learned anything from the Aroldis Chapman affair, it's that Boston does its due diligence, which also discounts the possibility of character issues on Scherff's part.

The thing that gets me is that Boston has less allotted money to sign their prospects than the Dodgers as the team drafting behind us. Granted they didn't have Jeren Kendall fall into their laps like we did, which would account for a sizable portion of our budget, but there should be a way to make it happen, especially given that almost all of our picks in the first 10 rounds were under-slot value IMO with the exception of Kendall and possibly Morgan Cooper. As I mentioned before, what is further infuriating is that we passed on Scherff in the fifth round for a prospect that is assured to be a relief pitcher based on his profile with limited usage, no less. Maybe the Red Sox took a calculated gamble to try to steal such talent at the risk of a fifth-rounder. If so, the Dodgers should have done the same even though I know the salary value in that selection slot is likely the coveted part of that pick in our endeavors to secure Kendall.

As I've acknowledged, it's more of a personal gripe than a flawed organizational strategy since I'm going against consensus opinion in my valuation of this particular prospect. However, I'm not alone in my assessment given that an MLB.com draft panelist considered him a bordeline first-round talent and the Red Sox think fairly highly of him themselves. It may end up being a minor footnote in this year's draft proceedings, but I'll tell you one thing, if Alex Scherff ends up becoming a stud, you can be sure that I'll be harping on this for years to come.

Sorry for the length of this post as I wanted to be sure I covered why prospects and Scherff himself would fall as well as rant about my utter disappointment with that particular selection. In closing, I found it amusing that after Logan White's Padres drafted Cody Bellinger's brother Cole in the 15th round, the Dodgers ended up selecting White's son with our next-to-last pick in the 39th round as a tribute to the man who brought us not only Cody, but Corey Seager, Julio Urias, and Clayton Kershaw. It shows that we're not above wasting draft picks even if it is of low value at this point. Hopefully, this will turn out similarly to the Dodgers drafting Mike Piazza in the 62nd round in 1988 as a personal favor for Piazza's dad at the behest of Tommy Lasorda, but that is highly doubtful since this looks like a pure token pick.

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[Ranma]

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[Neddy]

What happened to Scherff?

Howd he go from being mocked high to one of the publications crapping on him to a 5th rounder?

My apologies, Quake, I meant to reply sooner, especially since I wanted to specifically address this, but had to catch up on all the draft stuff and other developments. In fact, I still have to catch up on reading post-draft material.

With regards to the fluctuations in rankings, that seems to be a common occurrence, particularly with the MLB draft. I noticed some of that last year and this year seems to be more pronounced from what I've seen personally. I mean just compare the names listed on the first page of this thread and where they were initially projected to be ranked to the current rankings. Hunter Greene was always on the radar and prospects like D.L. Hall, J.B. Bukauskas, Alex Faedo, Royce Lewis, and Kyle Wright had relatively little movement between now and then. However, then bring up names like J.J. Schwarz, K.J. Harrison and Cole Turney, and you get a much different story where each were thought to be solid first-rounders with Schwarz in discussion for top overall prospect only to end up being drafted significantly, if not drastically, much lower. Even Tanner Houck, Hans Crouse, Hagen Danner, and Mark Vientos had notable movement down the draft boards when they were all initially thought highly of.

There are a multitude of reasons why that is and I'm sure I don't know all of them, but I'll try to cite a few. For one, prospects from cold-weather states aren't seen as often by scouts because of limited play due to weather conditions. Likewise, the kids from those states don't play as often and are thus farther behind in their development compared to the hotbed of talent in states like California, Texas, Florida, and Georgia as prospects in those states can play year-round. It's a matter of exposure.

Second, more exposure isn't necessarily a good thing. I've noticed in hockey that top prospects tend to have their consistent excellence judged against them by being nitpicked for not doing anything new while more favorable attention is given to the hot newcomer on the scene. It's kind of like being bored with a steady girlfriend because of the familiarity and having wandering eyes for random hot chicks. The same principle seems to apply to baseball prospects to a lesser extent. The longer scouts look at a player, the more opportunity they have to find points of criticism. People tend to be drawn into the mystery of the unknown despite talent evaluators' love for having as much data and information as possible.

Following up on those points, it could just be a matter of previously unknown or little-seen prospects putting up better numbers with more opportunities to be evaluated. This tends to happen in any sport, but baseball more than any other.

Then, of course, we have the issue of signability. A lot of the high-end baseball prospects will have options as prep players, college juniors and even sophomores in some cases, or community-college players. These type of prospects can either go to college or just return to school to continue their development. They can use that leverage in contract negotiations or try their luck to improve their draft standing in a few years. It doesn't necessarily affect their big-board rankings but it does affect their their draftability, which would explain why prospects aren't selected in the range they are projected in such rankings.

Take for instance Schwarz, who has been talked about being the #1 overall pick for a while. His draft standing was affected because he struggled with his hitting only to then be moved off catcher by a better defensive teammate, which further eroded his value even when he started bouncing back offensively. His lack of a position and option to go back to school would explain why he was drafted towards the end of the draft with a team taking a flyer on him in the 38th round, but it doesn't explain his low rankings. Scouts must have seen a big flaw in his mechanics or something. In any case, he's widely expected to return to Florida for his senior season.

Speaking of which, Tristan Beck is expected to return to Stanford per the tweet below. I was also advocating for him but increasingly less so given that he hasn't played much this year due to a minor back injury as well as his tendency to be hurt as a prep player even if those injuries were of the freak variety. He went in the 29th round because teams don't expect him to sign beyond the first 2 rounds.

Brandon McKay could have been the first overall pick but apparently his contract demands were not in line with the Twins' aims of spreading around their draft budget. He only fell to the 4th overall selection slot but was considered the 2nd best talent talent by most in this draft class. Concerns with signability helped pushed Jeren Kendall down to us, which used to be a typical move for the Yankees and Red Sox to capitalize on with regularity.

Anyway, with regard to Alex Scherff, specifically...I'm not really sure. All I can tell you is that his drop in the rankings seems to be based on concerns that he's no longer thought to be a certain starting pitcher with a possible reliever profile. There's mention of him having weird arm mechanics and a short stride in his delivery, but I'd think the Dodgers' developmental staff would be able to correct that. There's also mention of his lack of projectability, but based on his Twitter photo banner and reports of working himself into excellent shape, the dude is now cut. He was also noted for his arm speed and strength with significantly improved velocity upon his improved conditioning and physical turnaround. Given that, stamina should not be an issue with regard to being either a starter or reliever. Seems like a pure issue of mechanics to me.

Another thing to consider is makeup and coachability, which could explain why there are doubts that he would take to instruction, but I haven't heard anything that would flag that. Maybe his mechanics are so bad that they're irredeemable, but he's still projected in the 50s in the second round. The one thing that is strange is that he has bounced around to different schools every year as a high-schooler and would have done so again as a senior if not for district regulations, but that was by choice. It's not like he was Seth Romero, who was kicked off his college team multiple times.

Now I was resigned to thinking he was not signable after the third round or so, but the Red Sox took him in the fifth round. That signaled to me that they think there's a decent chance to get him to forgo college. If we've learned anything from the Aroldis Chapman affair, it's that Boston does its due diligence, which also discounts the possibility of character issues on Scherff's part.

The thing that gets me is that Boston has less allotted money to sign their prospects than the Dodgers as the team drafting behind us. Granted they didn't have Jeren Kendall fall into their laps like we did, which would account for a sizable portion of our budget,
but there should be a way to make it happen, especially given that almost all of our picks in the first 10 rounds were under-slot value IMO with the exception of Kendall and possibly Morgan Cooper. As I mentioned before, what is further infuriating is that we passed on Scherff in the fifth round for a prospect that is assured to be a relief pitcher based on his profile with limited usage, no less. Maybe the Red Sox took a calculated gamble to try to steal such talent at the risk of a fifth-rounder. If so, the Dodgers should have done the same even though I know the salary value in that selection slot is likely the coveted part of that pick in our endeavors to secure Kendall.

As I've acknowledged, it's more of a personal gripe than a flawed organizational strategy since I'm going against consensus opinion in my valuation of this particular prospect. However, I'm not alone in my assessment given that an MLB.com draft panelist considered him a bordeline first-round talent and the Red Sox think fairly highly of him themselves. It may end up being a minor footnote in this year's draft proceedings, but I'll tell you one thing, if Alex Scherff ends up becoming a stud, you can be sure that I'll be harping on this for years to come.

Sorry for the length of this post as I wanted to be sure I covered why prospects and Scherff himself would fall as well as rant about my utter disappointment with that particular selection. In closing, I found it amusing that after Logan White's Padres drafted Cody Bellinger's brother Cole in the 15th round, the Dodgers ended up selecting White's son with our next-to-last pick in the 39th round as a tribute to the man who brought us not only Cody, but Corey Seager, Julio Urias, and Clayton Kershaw. It shows that we're not above wasting draft picks even if it is of low value at this point. Hopefully, this will turn out similarly to the Dodgers drafting Mike Piazza in the 62nd round in 1988 as a personal favor for Piazza's dad at the behest of Tommy Lasorda, but that is highly doubtful since this looks like a pure token pick.

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wow what a lengthy post! it shows the depth of knowledge Ranma shows. but to add my little cheap 2 cent to this profoundly deep post, is that baseball talent assessment has been much behind of that of basketball and football when it comes to draft. this is because the inherent nature of subjectivity that comes with how we evaluate baseball players. some look as imposing as they come and have the stats to back it up in amateur ranks, but fail to repeat their success in pros, like billy beane did while being a met. we as dodger fans also had guys like Billy Ashley who can hit balls out of stadium on consistent basis in batting practice but can't break .200 BA in real game situations. baseball is so dependent on confidence as well as simple skill sets. we can have junk ball pitchers have 20 year career like Jamie Moyer, and we can have dynamite talent like rick ankiel flop like a house of international pancake's cheap order. it is what it is. who could have guessed that Darren Driefort would have such crappy career? or Luke Hochiver for that matter? how many of us rejoiced that we were able to not only draft but sign Zach Lee to a contract? I sure can say I was one of the fools for Zach. there really is little pool of talent evaluators in baseball who can pick out the sure things, aside from Mike Brito, there aren't too many who can predict.

[Ranma]

wow what a lengthy post! it shows the depth of knowledge Ranma shows. but to add my little cheap 2 cent to this profoundly deep post, is that baseball talent assessment has been much behind of that of basketball and football when it comes to draft. this is because the inherent nature of subjectivity that comes with how we evaluate baseball players. some look as imposing as they come and have the stats to back it up in amateur ranks, but fail to repeat their success in pros, like billy beane did while being a met. we as dodger fans also had guys like Billy Ashley who can hit balls out of stadium on consistent basis in batting practice but can't break .200 BA in real game situations. baseball is so dependent on confidence as well as simple skill sets. we can have junk ball pitchers have 20 year career like Jamie Moyer, and we can have dynamite talent like rick ankiel flop like a house of international pancake's cheap order. it is what it is. who could have guessed that Darren Driefort would have such crappy career? or Luke Hochiver for that matter? how many of us rejoiced that we were able to not only draft but sign Zach Lee to a contract? I sure can say I was one of the fools for Zach. there really is little pool of talent evaluators in baseball who can pick out the sure things, aside from Mike Brito, there aren't too many who can predict.

Thanks, Neddy, but you're more of an expert than me. My rambling rant was mostly anecdotal and observational without hard data and research cited, which I know you tend to include in your assertions. In any case, Quake has tried to get me to be less critical of Billy Gasparino's approach and I have been giving him a hard time. I just want to mix our approach of Gasparino's in finding value in the later rounds with Logan White's gambles of toolsy BPAs in the first and some early rounds along with our continued use of Moneyball-analytics to find fits within our developmental pipeline. White, after all, secured us the likes of Seager, Bellinger, and Kershaw through the draft.

You make a great point about how the draft is basically a guessing game albeit an educated one, which is why we need to look into character and makeup along with physical tools and clean mechanics. You certainly cite some fitting examples. I thought Ankiel was a sure thing as a prospect. I loved having Dreifort even though he was a better closer than starter, but he was way overpaid and misused. I thought Hochevar was going to be solid but I was not in love with his profile. Don't get me wrong, he wasn't Kyle Funkhouser and I was certainly upset when he reneged on us, but that ended up helping to direct Clayton Kershaw to us, which obviously is a godsend. Lee was such a shocker because everyone expected McCourt to go cheap again so I think we were more excited that we spent money to sign a notable prospect than anything. Still, his makeup and athletic profile did seem to suggest that he'd be a solid starter eventually, which hasn't nearly been the case.

[Ranma]

Jim Callis is really high on the Dodgers' selection of Jeren Kendall as his favorite pick of the draft calling it a "tremendous value". However, he also noted during the 6/16/17: 2017 MLB Draft Recap podcast for MLB Pipeline that he was surprised that Alex Scherff was taken in the fifth round as he considered him a first-round arm calling him an absolute steal at that selection slot. He mentions his impressive fastball and advanced changeup while noting concerns about his lack of feel for spin, unpolished delivery, and makeup question marks since his dad was the one who directed him to change high schools every year.

In the same podcast, Jonathan Mayo noted that the Dodgers made a high-upside pick in James Marinan in the fourth round as a prep pitcher who continued to perform after "popping up" on scouts' radars. Unlike my initial projection, Mayo figures he will be an over-slot signing that he feels slipped down the draft board as a second-round-worthy talent.


Eric Longenhagen, FanGraphs.com (6/13/17)

Los Angeles Dodgers

Round 1, Pick 23 — Jeren Kendall, CF, Vanderbilt (16)
Round 2, Pick 62 — Morgan Cooper, RHP, Texas (76)

Thoughts
Getting a college performer with Kendall’s tools, even if the profile is incomplete, all the way down at pick 23 surprised me. Cooper was underdrafted if he can stay healthy. The Dodgers are starting to get a reputation for selecting pitchers who have fallen due to injury.

Day 1 Draft Recap, National League


Dave Perkin (retired MLB scout), Sports Illustrated (6/12/17)

MLB Draft Live Tracker: Twins Select Royce Lewis with First Overall Pick


Eye on Baseball Staff, CBSsports.com (6/13/17)

23 - Dodgers

The Pick: OF Jeren Kendall, Vanderbilt. Kendall is a burner, one blessed with well-above-average foot speed that he puts to good use in center field and on the basepaths. At the plate, Kendall has more power than you'd expect, and he homered 15 times during the regular season. Given his experience against high-level competition, and his potential for five average or better tools, don't be surprised when he goes early in the first round.

2017 MLB First-Year Player Draft: First-round Complete Results Tracker


Jim Callis, MLB.com (6/13/17)

2. Jeren Kendall, OF, Vanderbilt (Dodgers, No. 23)
Though his 25 percent strikeout rate depressed his stock, he still had the best all-around tools in the college class and performed well for three years at one of college baseball's top programs. Even if Kendall doesn't hit for a high average, he still can be a 15-homer, 30-steal guy who chases down everything in center field.

3 Best Values, 3 Surprises on Day 1 of Draft


Jim Callis, MLB.com (6/14/17)

3. Dodgers
After getting the biggest first-round steal with Jeren Kendall at No. 23 on Monday, Los Angeles continued to do well on Tuesday. Florida high school right-hander James Marinan's (fourth round, No. 65) fastball jumped about 5 mph to 92-96 this spring, and he also shows flashes of a quality slider. Houston catcher Connor Wong (third, No. 112) is extremely athletic for his position and can play almost anywhere on the diamond. Utah's Riley Ottesen (fifth, No. 107) and Kentucky's Zach Pop (seventh, No. 95) are college righty relievers whose fastballs can climb into the upper 90s and whose sliders can reach the upper 80s. Evansville righty Connor Strain (ninth, unranked) is a fifth-year senior with a turbo sinker.

5 Teams Who Did Well on Day 2 of 2017 Draft


Jim Callis, MLB.com (6/16/17)

But to me, the best value, I will continue to back Jeren Kendall from Vanderbilt. I know the 25-percent strikeout rate scared some teams off. But to me, I still thought he deserved to go 6-10. The tools are that good. Even if he doesn't hit for a high average, he's gonna have some power, he's gonna steal a bunch of bases, he's gonna play a quality center field. He's been productive on the U.S. Collegiate National Team, he's been productive on some very good Vanderbilt teams. So I thought the Dodgers getting Jeren Kendall with the 23rd overall pick, that was my favorite pick of the Draft. I just thought that was tremendous value right there.

Best Draft Picks of the First 5 Rounds

[Ranma]

Ken Gurnick, MLB.com (6/13/17)

"Ellsbury didn't have his present power, I could see how he would make that comparison," said Gasparino. "We would love it if that's the end result."
...

"He's a pretty explosive player, some people use the five-tool word -- speed, power, defense for center field," said Gasparino. "He has a pretty accomplished track record, played on Team USA, a Vanderbilt program that we know well. It added up to a lot of positives."
...

"Every player has a development piece, sometimes more than one," he said. "It's definitely an area of improvement. When he puts the ball in play, there's a premium of speed and power. If we can raise the contact rate up, he can be a very productive Major Leaguer."

Dodgers Select Vandy OF with No. 23 Pick


Ken Gurnick, MLB.com (6/13/17)

The Dodgers believe University of Texas right-handed pitcher Morgan Cooper, taken with their 62nd overall pick in the second round of Monday's 2017 Major League Draft, can be fast-tracked.

"I hope so," said scouting director Billy Gasparino. "Given his experience at the University of Texas, we definitely expect him to hit the ground running. The difference with him is that most of his stuff is present, so we're not waiting for a pitch to come, or to work on the delivery. We think a lot of it is in place."
...

"He has an active fastball and two breaking balls now that we think are potential plus pitches. We like the package a lot," said Gasparino. "He has a lot of starter qualities and we feel confident he'll be a starter."

Dodgers Take RHP Cooper with Pick No. 62


Cary Osborne, DodgerInsider.com (6/12/17)

Dodgers director of amateur scouting Billy Gasparino said the Dodgers considered drafting Cooper in 2016, but signability was an issue.

“He’s what you would expect out of a Texas right-handed pitcher — big, strong, 6–5, 220 pounds, really competitive,” Gasparino said. “We like his mean streak on the mound, the mid-90s fastball, two breaking balls right now that we feel are potential plus pitches. We like the physical package a lot with Morgan, and he seemed like he was really trending up and coming into his own.”

Dodgers Go with Texas RHP Cooper to Wrap Day 1 of 2017 Draft


Ken Gurnick, MLB.com (6/14/17)

"He was one of our favorite pitchers this year, in terms of his performance," said Dodgers amateur scouting director Billy Gasparino. "It was Division II, but I think he had the highest performance we've seen in the last 10 years. He has a unique deception to how he throws the baseball. He has an overhand motion that gives the fastball a lot of rise and creates deception on his secondary pitches. A lot of our guys [compared] him to Josh Collmenter."

Gasparino said Kasowski's performance erased all doubts about any lingering effects from the 2015 auto accident, in which Kasowksi was rear-ended by a car estimated to be traveling 100 mph and was knocked into a second head-on collision. His 2016 season was cut short by related gall bladder surgery.

But Gasparino has never shied away from drafting players with physical risks, and he did it again this year.

Dodgers Look Past Injuries, Toward Ceiling in Draft


Ken Gurnick, MLB.com (6/14/17)

They took five shortstops, including their top pick on Wednesday, 11th-rounder Jacob Amaya from South Hills High School in Covina, Calif.

"With the lack of quantity in the market, the skill player is hard to find, and we spent a lot of time scouting Amaya and are excited for the chance to sign him," said Gasparino. "We think he's really good value for that spot. Offensively and defensively, he's pretty even across the board, a really good player on both sides. We were pleasantly surprised with the way he plays shortstop, with a live body, he's got more power than you'd think for somebody his size (5-foot-10, 165 pounds)."

Dodgers Draft with Focus on College Arms


Rowan Kavner, MLB.com (6/13/17)

Gasparino compared Wong, who led the American Athletic Conference with 61 runs and 26 stolen bases, to Dodger catcher Austin Barnes.

“I think he’s a smaller, athletic catcher,” Gasparino said of Wong (5–11, 180 pounds). “We think he’s got a plus-arm. He’s got a pretty good track record of hitting. Again, guys we think have abilities on both sides of the ball, Wong fits that bill.”
...

During his senior season, Marinan pitched two complete-game shutouts and went 8–1 with a 0.84 ERA while striking out 66 batters in 50 innings.

He’s the exact type of pitcher with “power stuff” that Gasparino referred to. MLB.com gave his fastball a grade of 60 and rated his curveball, control and overall grade a 50.

“He was a guy we targeted throughout the draft as a chance to be a premium high school starter,” Gasparino said. “We like his delivery. We like his arm action. We think he’s trending up. So, we put him in the same kind of class as Dustin May or A.J. Alexy from the last couple of years. We’re hoping he’s that kind of talent range.”
...

“Ottesen is up to 98 (mph) with plus-secondary stuff,” Gasparino said. “He’s a guy who went on a mission and missed two years of college baseball and came back, so we thought he was a little undervalued because his stuff grades out as high-end Major League quality. We’re hoping we can just help the command, get him to repeat a little better, help his delivery.”

After Wong, Marinan Highlights Bevy of Pitcher Picks on Day 2


Cary Osborne, MLB.com (6/14/17)

Their first pick on Day 3 was prep shortstop and Cal State Fullerton commit Jacob Amaya from South Hills High in West Covina.

“We just think he’s a really good player,” said Dodgers director of amateur scouting Billy Gasparino. “Ability to play short, we like his bat, played on a successful team. We think he’s tough. We think he’s competitive. Really excited to have a shot at signing him.”

Gasparino said the following pick at round 12, University of Utah junior right-hander/outfielder Andre Jackson, also stood out on Day 3. Jackson redshirted in 2017 recovering from Tommy John surgery. He has just 20 2/3 collegiate innings to speak of (and a 6.53 ERA), but he’s been on the radar for a couple of years. In 2014, he was a 32nd round pick of the Texas Rangers.

“We think he switches over to being a full-time pitcher,” Gasparino said. “He’s almost through his Tommy John rehab. We really think he’s an exciting talent on the mound.”

The Dodgers selected Boston College junior outfielder Donovan Casey in the 20th round. Casey was ranked №128 by MLB.com coming into the draft. Casey is considered one of the better runners in the draft and hit .286/.370/.362 with 12 stolen bases in 2017. But he also pitched in 23 games as Boston College’s closer this past season.

“He wants to go hit, and we would give him every chance to go do that and use the pitching as a backup plan,” Gasparino said. “He is 95 (mph) off the mound with a good arm. But in the outfield it’s run, it’s throw, it’s power.”

Dodgers Go More to the College Side in 2017 First-Year Player Draft

[Quake Griffin]

Wonder if Amaya is interested in signing at that slot. I'm pretty sure a Southern California kid won't sneeze at the opportunity to play at Fullerton.

Maybe if we got over slot value some?


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[Quake Griffin]

Glad to see Gasparino indicate that getting Kendall's contact rate up is important.

I don't want a team that thinks coming out of your shoes swinging is fine as long as you have pop and can get walks.

It looks like we have a real chance to develop a stud here. I dont want to settle for Joc 2.0. Joc's a fine player and a decent pick but I hope you get my point.


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[Neddy]

Glad to see Gasparino indicate that getting Kendall's contact rate up is important.

I don't want a team that thinks coming out of your shoes swinging is fine as long as you have pop and can get walks.

It looks like we have a real chance to develop a stud here. I dont want to settle for Joc 2.0. Joc's a fine player and a decent pick but I hope you get my point.


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I immediately had the grinning face of Adam Dunn pop up in my head with this line, lol.

[Ranma]

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[Quake Griffin]

Anybody else signed?


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[Ranma]

Anybody else signed?

Nothing new to report on the Dodgers' top 3 picks of Jeren Kendall, Morgan Cooper, and Connor Wong. It's obviously imperative that we secure Kendall but Cooper should also be signed to make it a good draft given the slot he was selected at. Despite being a third-round selection who was picked where he was generally ranked, if not later, Wong is not really a significant concern given our current depth of catching prospects.

It could be that the organization is trying to get him to sign for under-slot money, but Wong himself may be reluctant to do that given the confidence in his ability and established rankings. Personally, I think he should get less money, otherwise we should have rolled the dice on Alex Scherff there despite his anticipated demands for over-slot money at this selection slot. I also think Cooper should sign for under-slot value given his extensive injury concerns despite his talent.

We've already signed a lot of our picks with a couple being at the absolute bare minimum ($1,500) to presumably shift funds toward Kendall's offer. However, some of the bonuses of our signings have yet to be reported. Significantly, James Marinan is already in the fold but he was given more money than his slot value as a fourth-round pick, which actually makes sense.

[Ranma]

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