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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