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2019 MLB draft thread


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3 hours ago, OneDog847 said:

CJ Abrams is a 2019 SS/MIF with a 6-2 182 lb. frame from Alpharetta, GA who attends Blessed Trinity Catholic HS. Long and slender athletic build, very projectable physically. Outstanding runner, 6.29 in the sixty, 4.19 on a turn on a triple, runs sub-4.0's home to first with little obvious effort, gliding easy runner. Left handed hitter, efficient load and trigger with a smooth and fluid swing, very good barrel control with loose hands, line drive contact middle of the field to pull side, gap power, going to lead some leagues in triples. Smooth footwork in the middle infield, very quick transfers, lots of athleticism, throws from a lower arm slot, has the tools for shortstop but actions might fit very well at second base. Good student, verbal commitment to Alabama. 

Again, if the Sox interest in this guy is legit than you know that KW is still lurking around the scouting department.  Hostetler's draft philosophy has been college guys with high OBP and advanced hit tools since he took over (Collins, Burger, Sheets, Madrigal). Abrams is a total 180 of that.

 

 

Nick Hostetler came up in the industry with Atlanta and Schierholtz. The model emphasized athletes and power pitching. Draft trends over the past three years have been more of na organizational philosophy than a Nick Hostetler philosophy. 

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7 hours ago, OneDog847 said:

CJ Abrams is a 2019 SS/MIF with a 6-2 182 lb. frame from Alpharetta, GA who attends Blessed Trinity Catholic HS. Long and slender athletic build, very projectable physically. Outstanding runner, 6.29 in the sixty, 4.19 on a turn on a triple, runs sub-4.0's home to first with little obvious effort, gliding easy runner. Left handed hitter, efficient load and trigger with a smooth and fluid swing, very good barrel control with loose hands, line drive contact middle of the field to pull side, gap power, going to lead some leagues in triples. Smooth footwork in the middle infield, very quick transfers, lots of athleticism, throws from a lower arm slot, has the tools for shortstop but actions might fit very well at second base. Good student, verbal commitment to Alabama. 

Again, if the Sox interest in this guy is legit than you know that KW is still lurking around the scouting department.  Hostetler's draft philosophy has been college guys with high OBP and advanced hit tools since he took over (Collins, Burger, Sheets, Madrigal). Abrams is a total 180 of that.

 

 

I haven't heard anything in regards to his power, does he have any?  Does anyone know?  Those speed numbers are crazy fast.  

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15 minutes ago, DirtySox said:

Fangraphs Board has scouting grades on all the top guys.

https://www.fangraphs.com/prospects/the-board/2019-mlb-draft?sort=-1,1&type=2

Kid can fly but the hit tool will need big time development. 

I'm not sure how Witt or Abrams fit the Sox current timeline as both will likely need at least 3-4 years of minor league seasoning. For better or worse, the Sox seem destined to take the best college bat available once again. 

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3 hours ago, OneDog847 said:

Kid can fly but the hit tool will need big time development. 

I'm not sure how Witt or Abrams fit the Sox current timeline as both will likely need at least 3-4 years of minor league seasoning. For better or worse, the Sox seem destined to take the best college bat available once again. 

The hit tool is fine and is probably one of his strong points. The way FG does the current ratings is to kind of have a base case for the level and then put 5 (or rarely 10) above or below that level. For HS hitters, a 25 current hit means its a plus tool because the base for high level prospects is a 20. If its someone who they have questions on the hit, they will have a current 20 and then a below 50 future. For college players the base is a 30 with most being at most 5 above or below that. When you take all of that into consideration you can better understand their ratings. For example, Vaughn only has a 40 current hit which you would think is low, but its actually the best because its two levels (10 total) above the base of 30. It is also reflected in his higher future rating. On the other hand, Bishop and Abrams both have a 25 current hit, but Abrams hit is considered a strength while Bishop's is considered a weakness. That is because Abrams is above the usual for HS guys while Bishop is below the usual for college guys.

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Tired of time line arguments with high schoolers. Sox took 3 college players in 2016, and carter kieboom, a high school pick, made it to the big leagues before all of em. You can't plan on the college player being up there in 3 years any more than a high schooler.

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BA has an article up about how dreadful the pitching is in this draft class.

https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/2019-mlb-draft-stock-watch-its-a-bad-year-to-covet-pitching/
 

Quote

This is a very good year to be drafting at the top of the draft. Just don't pick a pitcher.

The college and high school bats at the top of this year's draft class are one of the better groups in recent years. There is a standout top prospect in Adley Rutschman, a few other college hitters with track records of success and tools and a number of very interesting high school hitters.

Shift over to the pitching class and you struggle to come close to the same comparisons. The college class doesn't have a pitcher who is a clear top-five pick. Nick Lodolo, Alex Manoah, Zack Thompson, Jackson Rutledge and George Kirby are all solid pitching prospects, but they are viewed generally as either back-of-the-rotation starters or pitchers with significant risk to end up as relievers. Lodolo is currently BA's No. 7 prospect and highest-ranked pitcher.

Given a choice between drafting this year's sophomores and this year's college juniors, a wide range of scouts said they would prefer to be picking this year's super sophs.

"I don't know if there is a college pitcher in this class who projects as better than a No. 4 (starting pitcher)," said one crosschecker.

The high school class isn't much better, and it's especially weak in lefties. With this year's pitching class, scouts seem to constantly get a wandering eye, looking at what could have been or what is to come. One scout said he'd prefer the unsigned first-round prep pitching talents from last year's class who went to four-year colleges (J.T. Ginn and Cole Wilcox, as well as Kumar Rocker, a first-round talent who slid because of signability concerns) over the top high school pitchers in this year's class.

Normally, there's at least one pitcher in consideration for the No. 1 overall pick. This year, teams picking at No. 3, 4 or 5 struggle to have an arm to consider. Baseball America has been ranking draft classes since 1981. This is the first time we have ever ranked a draft class without one pitcher ranked in our pre-draft top five.

 

Edited by DirtySox
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so...ugh. Walker obviously can make me eat my words, but in terms of planning, not taking a HS pitcher in round two last year was so dumb.

But anyway, I still like Walston in round 2.

I have to wonder, is Leiters kid worth the 4 mill tag then? seems like he's destined for college.

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I started looking at some of the college bats that might be around the White Sox 2nd pick range. UNC-Wilmington's Greg Jones seems particularly interesting. He's a draft eligible sophomore. Fangraphs has him ranked 38th. BA has him 64. Pipeline at 48. Seems to fit the White Sox mold. College player, toolsy. Is walking much more than he's striking out this season and shaved about 10% off his K rate. Some scouting reports below. Currently plays SS, but sounds like CF would be a natural and better fit.

BA:

Quote

Notes:
Ht: 5-11 | Wt: 170 | B-T: B-R 
Commit/Drafted: Orioles '17 (17) 
Scouting Report: Jones has elite speed and his game is built around it both offensively and defensively. He is a switch hitter and is at his best when he stays back and sprays line drives to all fields. He has more power as a righthanded hitter and while he’ll probably always have below-average pop, he has room to fill out his 6-foot-1, 180-pound frame and, when he does, he should start driving the ball with more authority. He is aggressive at the plate and there are concerns about how much he swings and misses. Jones has mostly played shortstop but this summer also saw time in center field. Observers preferred him in center field, where he runs down balls with ease and has a plus arm. His hands and infield actions will need work if he is to stay at shortstop. Even with some concerns about the rough edges of his game, Jones’ raw tools remain exciting.

FG:

Quote

TLDR

Draft eligible sophomore was an athlete-to-watch in high school, still is somewhat unrefined but has huge tools: 7 speed, power from both sides, fits somewhere up the middle.

MLB Pipeline:

Quote

Jones might have gone in the first two rounds of the 2017 Draft had he been signable away from a UNC Wilmington commitment, and he should go in the same area this June as the best sophomore-eligible prospect at a four-year college. He's the fastest premium prospect in the college ranks and has the tools and upside to become the first Seahawk ever selected in the first round. To go that high, he'll have to answer questions about his instincts and effort that date back to high school.

Jones has true top-of-the-scale speed and basestealing acumen. He creates havoc when he gets on base and is doing a better job of doing so in 2019, making more consistent contact while posting one of the higher walk rates in NCAA Division I. A switch-hitter with some bat speed and strength, he shows average raw power from both sides of the plate during batting practice but has yet to translate it into home run production.

Though Jones has solid arm strength to go with his blazing speed, there's skepticism about his ability to remain at shortstop. He doesn't react as quickly as expected at short and doesn't throw well from different angles. Many scouts project him to wind up in center field, where his tools would fit well.

 

Edited by DirtySox
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from Kiley's Chat:

Time Baby

12:30

Is Greg Jones a possibility for the Sox at #45?

Kiley McDaniel

12:30

yeah, if they take Vaughn at 3, I could see them going for more upside with the 2nd pick

And Jones may get there

++++

Greg Jones:

"Draft eligible sophomore was an athlete-to-watch in high school, still is somewhat unrefined but has huge tools: 7 speed, power from both sides, fits somewhere up the middle."

SS, UNC-Wilmington

http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/profile.asp?ID=209973

Turned 21 in March

Slashing .331/.486/.512 with a 18% walk rate and 13% k rate

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I appreciate who ever asked the Greg Jones question lol. As evidenced by my post previously, he's one of the more interesting college bats out there that fits the second round pick range.

Edited by DirtySox
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Jeff
12:14
Any new buzz in the top 10?
 
Kiley McDaniel
12:15
the projected picks in the top 10 will mostly stay the same, but lots of machinations are becoming clearer, about who has been seen where, what the likely choice is between at each pick and one club in the top 10 that looks like they're gonna do something you guys wouldn't expect

I have a bad feeling about this

Edited by GenericUserName
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Tim
1:13
You mentioned Abrams probably needs some tweaks to reach his hit tool ceiling. Are those tweaks sort of known by the whole community and accepted as things that can be changed, or do teams realize something is off but might not be sure what exactly or how to fix it?
 
Kiley McDaniel
1:14
It's more evolution than tweaks, really. He has pretty new raw power and would be well-served to see if he can find an approach that incorporates that more. His best approach could be 6 hit, 4 power, which is kinda what he's doing now. And there's little stuff that every 18 year old needs to get more consistent about mechanically but often need to face 90+ everyday to actually do it
 
Snooker
1:15
I know last year you guys had the Tigers taking Meadows in the 2nd round in part because you saw Al Avila at one of his games...don't suppose you've had similar run-ins this year?
 
Kiley McDaniel
1:16
Oh yeah we've had a lot, that's lots of the dope in the mock and why I'm going to Abrams again today even though I went last week. Like a GM rarely goes to a game for no reason, although there's at least one instance where I saw a GM at a game and I was told the GM went there specifically to be seen as a smokescreen...which is very NFL Draft of him.
We don't have as much nonsense floated to the media or going to games just to be seen in baseball but I for one welcome some showmanship

 

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Was it @ChiliIrishHammock24 who is the big Drey fan?

Quote

Larry Legend

1:04

I saw Drey Jameson last week.  He's super tiny but his sh*t is live.

Kiley McDaniel

1:04

three pitches dartin all over the place brah

Also, I didn't know Drey was a small dude. I have a soft spot for short/small pitchers. I was the Marcus Stroman cheerleader for the 2012 draft.

Edited by DirtySox
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