bmags

Maybe we find something with some cold weather state prep players having more room to blow up than others, so guessing he's expensive but Dax Whitney would be my favorite. It's not because of his height at all.

I really don't think this is true. I think with a top 5 pick Shirley and the sox would have really loved a strong up the middle talent, but they didn't exist in this draft, so you had to hope that some hitters that were already trending toward first base were not just a product of juiced balls, or were constantly injured, or were from a state that never produces talent, could fit the bill. Not surprised they just went after a guy that had some obvious ability in the mlb.

ok, but this was not a strong draft and he went 5th, so no I do not think he'd be 1-1 consideration in a "typical" draft as this was atypical for how weak it was. Hell...a second baseman went 1st overall.

Gosh these k rates on the remaining top college hitters are insane.

I like Smith, but if he wasn’t 1-1 this year there is no other year he’d be close.

I think there should be a hell of a lot more pressure on Marco Paddy than Shirley. Shirley has shown he can bring in an all stars and top 20 prospects without spending $60 million to acquire them. Meanwhile Paddy has all but retired when we need international to supplement so badly.

With their fifth overall pick, Sox selected Hagen Smith, LHP out of Arkansas over power hitter Jac Caglianone and others. Smith was a board favorite after dominating an OSU team that featured first overall pick Travis Bazzana. They then drafted a prep SS Caleb Bonemer before finishing the night with prep lefty Blake Larsen out of IMG academy. Caleb Bonemer was Baseball Americas 36th rated prospect. He made a name for himself by putting on a show turning on velocity for home runs in the summer showcase last year.

I’ll take it.

How many have we taken like him?

I’m not sure I see the idea that picking smith is more of the same. Getting a corner guy I could see it. I’m not sure why this is in that narrative.

Didn’t baseball America have a whole thing about how the restricted innings in the minors have done nothing productive for preventing injuries?

I don’t think I believe BPA exists in the mlb draft. Sometimes it does, but mostly at like 1-1 only.

I think in this draft finding major leaguers will be impressive, just my opinion. Makes profile risk a secondary consideration.

I didn’t trust this draft to bring in the talent so, sure. He’s got talent, also just feels like I can see “Sox s%*# down smith in spring training with forearm soreness”. I would have preferred the offensive players just with the somewhat more loaded prep pitchers. But just not a good draft for profiles. That said with potentially trading crochet I have no clue why Getz was targeting pitching with his Cease return. Makes no sense (its because he is stupid)

?‍↕️

They should just make him DH then. Can’t risk any time not dedicated to “the bat”.

I’d be apoplectic if they drafted Kurtz though lol

I’m not sure I really care much anymore. I don’t ever want to draft a 1b top ten again, but when the alternative profiles are Mississippi prep talent, soft injury riddled second baseman, or TJS pitcher, it’s not like you are veering into safer territories. when you look at previous “bad” drafts, there is no safety anywhere, it can be an entire first round of only 1-2 major leaguers. At least Cags has 2 plus tools. Griffin is high upside. I still hope Condon falls.

Last year when we drafted Gonzalez people immediately started calling him madrigal lol

sorry that was wRC+.

Is Montana bad

There isn't going to be a low risk profile in this group.

I disagree with the panic selling on Robert. Robert does get injured a lot. Guess what - he's in good company with center fielders. But even with his approach, he's special for a true center fielder. Since 2021, he's 5th in wRC+, so I'm including his up and down years. 1st - Aaron Judge, who has only played 15% of that time in CF. 2nd - Mike Trout, who has played 80 less games than Robert and is questionably a plus CF now 3rd - Brandon Nimmo - now a LFer, not as plus a defender as Robert 4th - Byron Buxton - has played 42 less games than Robert, losing strength as a fielder That is the company Robert is in. And he's still comfortably a strong CF defender. After him. Bryan Reynolds - healthier, also mostly LF, not a great defender. Julio Rodriguez - at Roberts level offensively, hasn't been what he was since rookie year offensively. After that you continue to see marginal CF defenders or worse offensive players. Robert - warts and all - is in special company with others who have similar weaknesses.

“He asks questions! How much worse can it get?”