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2019 MLB Draft thread, June 3 - 5

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Re: 2019 MLB Draft thread, June 3 - 5 

Post#121 » by I_Like_Dirt » Tue Jun 4, 2019 6:13 pm

dagger wrote:Looks like Williams is ready to sign - presumably if the $$$ are right.

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Shapiro, Atkins and their draft team seem to do a lot of pre-draft work figuring out who will and won't sign. They've done a remarkable job of signing most of their draft picks since joining the Jays and I expect they've got something similar going on here, too. If Manoah went a bit underslot, I suspect they might give Williams a bit of that, not so unlike what they did last year.
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Re: 2019 MLB Draft thread, June 3 - 5 

Post#122 » by dagger » Tue Jun 4, 2019 6:29 pm

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Scouting grades: Hit: 45 | Power: 55 | Run: 40 | Arm: 50 | Field: 45 | Overall: 45

As a junior, Robertson hit an extra-inning home run to give Fatima High (Westphalia) the 2015 Missouri state Class 3 baseball championship, but he otherwise drew little attention at his small-town school. After a modest freshman season at Creighton, he made a run at the Big East Conference triple crown in 2018 and continued to produce in the Cape Cod League during the summer. He has been streakier at the plate this spring, costing him a chance to join Chad McConnell (No. 13 overall in 1992) as the only Blue Jays position players ever selected in the first round.

Omaha's TD Ameritrade Park is one of the toughest places to hit a home run in college baseball, yet it hasn't been able to contain Robertson, whose short, quick left-handed stroke and strength give him some of the best power in the 2019 college crop. He lets his home runs come naturally rather than swinging for the fences, making repeated contact that could allow him to hit for average as well. To do so, scouts believe he'll need to get more upright in his stance like he was in the past before getting too spread out as a junior.

Robertson has below-average speed out of the batter's box but is closer to average once he gets going. He needs to improve his defensive instincts and his arm is merely average, so he could shift from right field at Creighton to left field in pro ball. His all-around profile is similar to that of College World Series hero Trevor Larnach, whom the Twins drafted 20th overall out of Oregon State last June, though Larnach had a more impressive junior season.
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Re: 2019 MLB Draft thread, June 3 - 5 

Post#123 » by phillipmike » Tue Jun 4, 2019 7:02 pm

Tanner Morris | Rank: 104
School: Virginia
Year: Sophomore
Position: SS
Age: 21 DOB: 9/7/1997
Bats: L Throws: R
Height: 6'2"
Weight: 190 lb.
Previously drafted: Never

Scouting grades: Hit: 55 | Power: 45 | Run: 45 | Arm: 50 | Field: 50 | Overall: 45
Morris was a solid prospect who played for former closer Billy Wagner in high school, albeit one who was 19 years old and with a strong commitment to the University of Virginia. After a solid first season as the starting shortstop for the Cavaliers, Morris' All-Star turn in the Cape Cod League raised his profile, and he's continued to hit extremely well as a Draft-eligible sophomore.
Morris has a very good track record for hitting and most scouts believe he'll continue to hit for average at the next level. The left-handed hitter sends a lot of line drives the other way and controls the strike zone extremely well. Virginia's home park is not conducive to power, nor is Morris' current approach, but as he continues to learn how to turn on pitches on the inner half of the plate as well as fills out his 6-foot-2 frame, there could be more pop coming in the future. There's less belief in Morris' ability to play shortstop than there is in his bat. While he has decent hands and enough arm, he's not a runner, with most thinking he'll profile better at second base as a pro.

Virginia has a good track record of producing players with a strong foundation for hitting, with many of them going on to add power as they developed. That's the hope for Morris, who could be a solid offensive-minded second baseman when all is said and done.
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Re: 2019 MLB Draft thread, June 3 - 5 

Post#124 » by Schad » Tue Jun 4, 2019 7:04 pm

Schad wrote:Given that there are more than 2000 players in the pool, that's a pretty meagre list. Step up your game, parents from 1997 - 2002. Prediction: we will draft at least one Hunter and one Tanner, because they comprise at least 15% of the draft pool.


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Re: 2019 MLB Draft thread, June 3 - 5 

Post#125 » by phillipmike » Tue Jun 4, 2019 7:22 pm

Jaxx Groshans (Jordans' brother) got taken by the Red Sox in the 5th round.
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Re: 2019 MLB Draft thread, June 3 - 5 

Post#126 » by wazabifuzz » Tue Jun 4, 2019 7:30 pm

Drake Fellows is a cool name
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Re: 2019 MLB Draft thread, June 3 - 5 

Post#127 » by Schad » Tue Jun 4, 2019 8:22 pm

7th rounder is our first senior sign, LJ Talley. Seems to be a favourite of scouts...not a loud-tools sort (as you'd expect, from a senior) but a guy who could profile well as a bat-first utility player.
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Re: 2019 MLB Draft thread, June 3 - 5 

Post#128 » by Schad » Tue Jun 4, 2019 9:39 pm

Interesting pick in the 9th round: draft-eligible sophomore Philip Clarke, catcher from Vanderbilt. Likely a tough sign, given that he has the leverage to go back for his junior year, which makes it a bit more surprising that we're taking him in the top 10 rounds, but must feel he's signable.

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Re: 2019 MLB Draft thread, June 3 - 5 

Post#129 » by BigLeagueChew » Tue Jun 4, 2019 9:48 pm

Schad wrote:Interesting pick in the 9th round: draft-eligible sophomore Philip Clarke, catcher from Vanderbilt. Likely a tough sign, given that he has the leverage to go back for his junior year, which makes it a bit more surprising that we're taking him in the top 10 rounds, but must feel he's signable.

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Always enticing to get a left hitting catcher.

https://www.tennessean.com/story/sports/college/vanderbilt/2019/04/18/vanderbilt-baseball-philip-clarke-catcher-tim-corbin/3326002002/
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Re: 2019 MLB Draft thread, June 3 - 5 

Post#130 » by SharoneWright » Tue Jun 4, 2019 10:04 pm

There's 2 scenarios in which Philip Clarke is catching Kendall Williams next year...
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Re: 2019 MLB Draft thread, June 3 - 5 

Post#131 » by Schad » Tue Jun 4, 2019 10:24 pm

Nice balance to our draft. One one hand, we have the Camerons, Dasans and Tanners, names that sound like they belong to young adult baseball players. On the other, we have Alek, Philip and Glenn, who sound like they are more likely to engage in a spirited discussion about interest rates while grabbing a beer after their 2pm Friday round of golf.
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Re: 2019 MLB Draft thread, June 3 - 5 

Post#132 » by SharoneWright » Wed Jun 5, 2019 2:50 am

Anyone with the balls/knowledge to rate this draft so far?

In lieu of either of these, I will accept chutzpa...
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Re: 2019 MLB Draft thread, June 3 - 5 

Post#133 » by Schad » Wed Jun 5, 2019 3:52 am

Looks pretty solid to me. At first blush, pretty light on pitchers (as in, we didn't select any after the first two rounds), but that might come with the territory in a draft that wasn't noted to have a deep crop of pitchers. Dasan Brown's a bit of a departure from our norm; not that we haven't taken some toolsy players under Atkins/Sanders, but that's the highest pick we've spent on a raw athlete type.

Really, there's a bit of something for everyone there. Manoah should move quickly, while Williams will need to grow into his body. Brown's an athletic freak with good bat speed...high ceiling and subterranean floor. Robertson and Morris are solid college performers that have a bit of power projection, and interestingly given some of our past picks (Bichette, Groshans) both get knocked on their stance and swing in a couple places...we seem quite content to take players whose underlying attributes are good in the assumption that their swings can be cleaned up. Clarke's a (presumably sizable) bet on a player that simply hasn't had enough time behind the plate to establish whether he can handle the position well long-term, but prospect watchers seem to like it.

Sadly, we may never again see the halcyon days of 2010 or 2011 where we had a bunch of extra picks and an unlimited draft budget, and were able to throw haymakers with every selection. It seems likely that we'll have a top pick in 2020; given the strength of that draft, I wouldn't at all be adverse to our attempting to swing trades in the offseason for comp rounders to swell our budget. Without extra picks, I'm guessing we don't have the budget for any major shenanigans tomorrow.

There are still some college guys who are curiously still undrafted. FG had Carter Bins at 84, MLB at 134; he's a junior, so doesn't really have monetary leverage, and it's odd that he has fallen out of the top ten rounds. Canadian Edouard Julien is another...he got reclassified as 2019-eligible very late in the game (back in March), and he perhaps might be ticketed for another year in college as a draft-eligible sophomore (and a very young one at that; he's barely 20), but he had a monstrous freshman year that had him getting talked up as a potential top pick before backsliding this season owing to his love of swinging at pitches he shouldn't, so he is someone that a team might take a flier on early Wednesday and see whether he'll sign a low/mid six-figure deal, because he has pretty loud power.
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Re: 2019 MLB Draft thread, June 3 - 5 

Post#134 » by polo007 » Wed Jun 5, 2019 6:31 am

What Keith Law liked (and didn't) on MLB draft Day 1 for all 30 teams

The Blue Jays benefited from those picks by landing Manoah, whom I had as the best pitcher in the entire draft class. He is a four-pitch right-hander who attacks hitters in the zone and throws a ton of strikes. That's easily one of my favorite picks of the night. They also took a projection right-hander in Kendall Williams in the second round. Williams is 6-foot-6 with velocity and good breaking stuff and in need of some delivery help, but he is a great complement to the advanced college arm in Manoah.
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Re: 2019 MLB Draft thread, June 3 - 5 

Post#135 » by Black Watch » Wed Jun 5, 2019 7:08 am

SharoneWright wrote:Anyone with the balls/knowledge to rate this draft so far?

In lieu of either of these, I will accept chutzpa...

It took a lot of chutzpah from Shapiro to sign off on drafting pitchers with our first two picks.

In today's game it's becoming easier to build a pitcher—and every FO knows this—especially with advancement in pitch design, velocity improvement. Pitching science is definitely ahead of hitting science. There are so many examples around baseball of poor pitchers turning into quality, competent pitchers—they change organizations, add a cutter, and improve their velocity (e.g. Martin Perez for the Twins this year).

Plus there's no such thing as a pitching prospect. First, you have the injury risk. Second, the change in usage patterns (last year only 13 pitchers threw 200 innings or more) has drastically reduced the value of a SP. With your top draft picks, you're hoping to get a 'franchise cornerstone,' someone who's going to be the star of your team, and starting pitchers just don't fill that role anymore. The jobs of Starter and Reliever are blending together at this point. The fact that only 3 HS pitchers were selected in the first round this year—the fewest since 2008—is a real trend going forward.

That said, Manoah, a college pitcher, is a safer bet than HS pitchers, and I do like Kendall Williams and look forward to his development, but to draft them both with our first two picks was very surprising.
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Re: 2019 MLB Draft thread, June 3 - 5 

Post#136 » by Black Watch » Wed Jun 5, 2019 7:13 am

Schad wrote:It seems likely that we'll have a top pick in 2020; given the strength of that draft, I wouldn't at all be adverse to our attempting to swing trades in the offseason for comp rounders to swell our budget.

Not adverse at all, in fact we should all hope that's exactly what they do.
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Re: 2019 MLB Draft thread, June 3 - 5 

Post#137 » by phillipmike » Wed Jun 5, 2019 1:17 pm

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Re: 2019 MLB Draft thread, June 3 - 5 

Post#138 » by Supermann98 » Wed Jun 5, 2019 1:31 pm

phillipmike wrote:Jaxx Groshans (Jordans' brother) got taken by the Red Sox in the 5th round.

Jaxx - this guys dad played too much Mortal Kombat growing up
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Re: 2019 MLB Draft thread, June 3 - 5 

Post#139 » by SharoneWright » Wed Jun 5, 2019 4:50 pm

>Frick! We frickin' missed out on Frick!

>Chicks dig the longball, and Ryan Reynolds!
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Re: 2019 MLB Draft thread, June 3 - 5 

Post#140 » by Cyrus » Wed Jun 5, 2019 5:02 pm

Why do not let MLB teams trade picks? I know they have started allowing teams to trade competitive balance picks, but why isn't allowed or is it just mlb teams are averse to trading picks.

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