2021 MLB Draft Thread, July 11-13 - Jays draft RHP Gunnar Hoglund 19th overall

polo007 · Post #61 » by **polo007** » Mon Jul 12, 2021 2:14 am

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polo007 · Post #62 » by **polo007** » Mon Jul 12, 2021 3:03 am

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polo007 · Post #63 » by **polo007** » Mon Jul 12, 2021 3:13 am

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C Court · Post #64 » by **C Court** » Mon Jul 12, 2021 3:26 am

Rod’s son hit .383 and 13 homers in 48 games. Rod Black is from Winnipeg and his son was born in Toronto. Rod called a Blue Jays game vs the Indians the day Tyler was born.

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polo007 · Post #65 » by **polo007** » Mon Jul 12, 2021 4:56 am

Ex-Fivay High pitcher Gunnar Hoglund goes to Blue Jays on Day 1 | Tampa Bay Times/St. Pete Times

Former Fivay High pitcher Gunnar Hoglund was selected 19th overall by the Blue Jays during Sunday’s first round of the amateur draft.

Hoglund initially was drafted 36th overall by the Pirates out of high school in 2018 but chose to go to college at Mississippi. This past season with the Rebels, he had a 2.87 ERA through 11 starts and 62⅔ innings, striking out 96 and walking 17.

But in May, the 6-foot-4, 220-pound junior had Tommy John surgery, which made some experts wonder how far he might drop.

“Whether it’s in high school or college ... teams feel like they can rehabilitate guys,” ESPN’s Jeff Passan said. “Most of them come back better than ever having gone through Tommy John surgery. At the same time, you run the risk when a guy’s arm has been cut, that he’s not going to recover or will have a difficult time doing so."

“It’s why Gunnar Hoglund, for example, went 20th as opposed to fifth or sixth or top 10 like he could have been.”

The approximate pick value for 19th is $3.36 million as opposed to anywhere from $6.18 million to $4.74 million for picks 5-10.

The moment @GunnarHoglund will remember forever #MLBDraft pic.twitter.com/lN2Vv6H8FD
— Toronto Blue Jays ([USER=32362]@BlueJays[/USER]) July 12, 2021

At Fivay, Hoglund had 105 strikeouts and just two walks his senior year, going 7-0, with a 0.27 ERA. He also hit .385 with four home runs. The Tampa Bay Times’ North Suncoast Pitcher of the Year and graduate of Dayspring Academy in Port Richey recorded 310 strikeouts and 30 walks in his prep career.

“What works for Hoglund more than anything is that slider,” ESPN analyst Eduardo Perez said. “It’s a nasty slider. And the velocity, yes it’s there, but having command of that secondary pitch, I think that’s what’s really going to elevate him to a higher level.”

Also from ESPN’s draft analysis: Before the injury, his velocity had ticked up from his first two years in college, sitting 93-96 mph, and all four of his pitches graded out as 55s or higher.

polo007 · Post #66 » by **polo007** » Mon Jul 12, 2021 5:08 am

2021 MLB Draft: First round live tracker, picks by team, grades, analysis, best available prospects and more - The Athletic

Blue Jays draft Ole Miss right-hander Gunnar Hoglund at No. 19

By Keith Law

July 11, 2021 at 9:20 PM EDT

We have our first Tommy John pick of the night -- three guys on my top 100 had undergone the procedure this spring, and the Jays took Ole Miss right-hander Gunnar Hoglund, who could have been a top-10 pick had he stayed healthy all year, because of his above-average stuff and strong feel to pitch. He's more of a command/control guy than a power arm and may lack the plus pitch to be more than a mid-rotation starter, but he attacks hitters, throws strikes, and -- weird to say about a guy currently rehabbing -- looks like he should be able to handle a starter's workload.

polo007 · Post #67 » by **polo007** » Mon Jul 12, 2021 5:11 am

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polo007 · Post #68 » by **polo007** » Mon Jul 12, 2021 6:46 am

Blue Jays discuss their newest draft pick - TSN.ca

With the 19th pick of the 2021 MLB Draft the Blue Jays selected Gunnar Hoglund from Ole Miss. The right-hander was originally expected to drafted inside the top-10, but after blowing out his elbow in May and having Tommy John surgery Toronto was able to pick him up later in the first-round and are rolling the dice on some big talent.

Lateral Quicks · Post #69 » by **Lateral Quicks** » Mon Jul 12, 2021 11:54 am

I have mixed feelings on Hoglund. On the one hand it makes sense to take a more advanced, polished prospect in the hopes they can contribute earlier rather than later in the Vlad/Bo era. And we certainly need pitching. On the other hand, taking injured players is always a gamble, and he'll be 22 before he throws a pitch in professional baseball. The last thing we need is another Merryweather with dynamite stuff but can't stay healthy.

You've got to hope they did their due diligence on his rehab. From the limited footage I've seen, I really like his delivery and the slider looks nasty. I certainly see the upside.

polo007 · Post #70 » by **polo007** » Mon Jul 12, 2021 2:48 pm

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Parataxis · Post #71 » by **Parataxis** » Mon Jul 12, 2021 3:52 pm

polo007 wrote:

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I hope that his dream is to play for the BlueJays, and not to try to be the first person to get drafted in the first round three times.

Post #72 » by **Schad** » Mon Jul 12, 2021 3:55 pm

Oh, Hoglund is going to be a super-easy sign. Not necessarily a significantly below-slot one, because of his pedigree, but there's no chance he goes back to school for a senior season where he'd miss most of the year.

Brinbe · Post #73 » by **Brinbe** » Mon Jul 12, 2021 4:04 pm

If he those 55s become 60s, especially that slider, you have a hell of a pitcher there... Our future rotation is rounding into shape quite nicely.

rapstarter · Post #74 » by **rapstarter** » Mon Jul 12, 2021 4:26 pm

T-d0t wrote:With a name like that, he has to be good right?

Sounds like an NFL special-teamer who gets cut after a couple of seasons.

Parataxis · Post #75 » by **Parataxis** » Mon Jul 12, 2021 4:30 pm

Schad wrote:Oh, Hoglund is going to be a super-easy sign. Not necessarily a significantly below-slot one, because of his pedigree, but there's no chance he goes back to school for a senior season where he'd miss most of the year.

I really hope so. That's the sense I was getting, but I just had a bit of a worry that he might want to in hopes of getting up to the top 10 after he's healthy and making a couple million more in signing bonus. (Or insisting that he wants that overslot now)

Post #76 » by **Schad** » Mon Jul 12, 2021 4:58 pm

Parataxis wrote:I really hope so. That's the sense I was getting, but I just had a bit of a worry that he might want to in hopes of getting up to the top 10 after he's healthy and making a couple million more in signing bonus. (Or insisting that he wants that overslot now)

Even if he gets drafted top 10 next year (which would be extremely difficult given that he'd miss most/all of 2022), he likely earns even less. Seniors just have no leverage.

And the slider is definitely the selling point here. In a league where everyone throws 95 but mistakes get crushed, there's logic to a pitcher who has elite command of a good breaking ball whose shape should play against lefties and righties, paired with a good-enough fastball/changeup that he can locate.

He was also a strikeout pitcher in college (his K rate exceeded Kumar Rocker's in 2021 before he got injured), so this isn't a TJ Zeuch situation. He's got weapons.

agkagk · Post #77 » by **agkagk** » Mon Jul 12, 2021 5:04 pm

any canadian content so far in the draft?

Wally West · Post #78 » by **Wally West** » Mon Jul 12, 2021 5:07 pm

C Court wrote:Rod’s son hit .383 and 13 homers in 48 games. Rod Black is from Winnipeg and his son was born in Toronto. Rod called a Blue Jays game vs the Indians the day Tyler was born.

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ROD BLACK!

SharoneWright · Post #79 » by **SharoneWright** » Mon Jul 12, 2021 5:13 pm

Lightning round! This seems faster than usual, even for Day 2…

Post #80 » by **Schad** » Mon Jul 12, 2021 5:16 pm

With the rest of the draft: it's likely going to be very college-heavy, by necessity. The downside of losing our 2nd rounder is that our bonus pool is really small, which means that we don't have much room to maneuver unless we go Full 2013 Anthopolous*, and even then we really wouldn't have a large amount of cash to throw around.

*The 2013 draft remains hilarious not just because AA tried to punt a bunch of picks on seriously under-slot players to open up our bonus pool, but because those under-slot picks have vastly outperformed the tough HS signs we got as a result. We failed to tempt Phil Bickford (who is now doing okay as a reliever after being waived by the Brewers) with the extra money, Jake Brentz bounced around the minors for years before debuting this year as a still control-free reliever, and Rowdy Tellez can't consistently make contact. Meanwhile, Matt Boyd (6th rounder, signed for $75k versus $250k slot) has been the most productive member of the class, followed by Kendall Graveman (8th rounder, signed for $5k versus $157k slot) who went from being a mediocre starter to a fireballing closer. Baseball's strange, man.