Looking ahead to the 2018 draft

California_Dreamin 2017-10-04 17:37:46 UTC #376

Its Combs by the way, I misspelled it and haven't figured out how to correct spelling mistakes after sending.

fish 2017-10-04 19:03:40 UTC #377

California_Dreamin:

allentown..this is precisely why I don't want Singer, I believe the Singer we are seeing in college is unlikely to be the same Singer once his college coach is done riding him this year, trying to win another college WS. Too many Brad Brink's, Tyler Green's and Pat Coombs for my taste, all three overused in college and simply a shadow of their former selves by the time they put on Phillie jerseys.

Heck, I recall that Green pitched a WS game where he went an unbelievable 13 innings and that was AFTER he had been drafted by the Phils, I believe. So sad, because Green was very talented, had some success with the Phils but didn't last long because of arm problems.

Brink? What a tragic thing, he was overused at USC terribly and by the time he reported to the Phils minor league club many scouts were already saying, "who is this guy?"

I want no part of a ace on a team trying to win a college WS with the first pick, none whatsoever. I hope the Tigers or Giants pick him so the Phils aren't tempted to.

I'm not banging a drum and insisting that they draft Singer 9 months before the draft is held, but you kind of blew past some details here. The most innings any of Brad Brink, Tyler Green or Pat Combs pitched in their draft year was 125 innings, so they weren't ridden particularly hard by their coaches. If you want to get into that these guys were worn down by 'extra' pitching on the cape and Team USA, I can buy that.

Singer pitched as a reliever his freshman year, pitched like 120 innings this year, and was given the summer off. Hardly being overused.

Tyler Green struck out 14 against Creighton, he pitched 9 innings. The Phil's scouting and player development during that era was hardly a successful group to be able to point a finger at their college coaches for being the reason these guys didn't make it.

Pitchers as a whole are a gamble. There is an inherent risk factor. All things being equal, take the position player. But when all things are not equal, you have to take a shot at the elite arms. 'Never draft a high school pitcher' #1 and you never get a Kershaw, Bumgarner, Carpenter, or Halladay. 'Never draft a college ace' and you never get a Price, Cole, or Lincecum.

California_Dreamin 2017-10-04 19:57:59 UTC #378

Then Green threw X number of pitches in that WS game, the equivalent of a normal 13 inning game because I remember so many Phillie phans at the time suggesting he was being abused. I also know Brink was because they talked about it at length here in SoCal and that he was already damaged goods when he reported to the Phillies.

Look, I am prepared to see how Singer is used this year but my view does not change....there are two types of players I am simply wary of as top Phillie draft picks...toolsy HS outfielders [see Golson, Taylor, Jackson, Greene] and ace collegiate hurlers on WS bound teams. College coaches for the most part couldn't care less about the hurlers future. they want to win championships and given that Florida State has a chance at a repeat, I am particularly leery.

Florida_Sunshine 2017-10-04 20:20:56 UTC #379

CD, it's Florida! FSU is the Seminoles, located in Tallahassee. Gators are in Gainesville.

julio 2017-10-04 20:26:11 UTC #380

It's a relatively simple, though multi-step process.

You click on the little grey black! "pencil" icon at the bottom of your post.
You make the edit.
You save the edit.

julio 2017-10-05 18:05:29 UTC #381

6 posts were split to a new topic: Interface tweaks/cleanup

California_Dreamin 2017-10-04 20:43:28 UTC #382

Florida...oh heck, I know it was from another Sunshine state, just forgot the part of the state the sun was shining on. Thanks for the clarification.

Dirk41 2017-10-04 23:38:40 UTC #384

Seems like everyone is compared to Yelich nowadays. Who was Yelich compared to when he came out???

Philsmania 2017-10-05 19:04:54 UTC #385

You would think Yelich was Mike Trout the way people talk about him.

allentown 2017-10-09 15:29:48 UTC #386

BA out with their first mock of the 2018 first round.

We take Turang.

Next two picks are also H.S.

The guy projected 5th is a 3B. Then a college pitcher at 6.t

They'll rearrange a lot. It is still interesting to see who is ranked highly this early, because a lot of the fast risers will turn out to be busts. We've drafted a few of them over the years, most notably Jackson and most recently LGJ. I don't trust the guys who 'emerge' in their draft years with a high first round pick.

bigegypt0417 2017-10-09 15:36:55 UTC #387

Having Yelich in your line-up on a daily basis would be great. His numbers aren't spectacular but he does almost everything well.

282/369/432 is not a bad slash line.

julio 2017-10-09 16:10:24 UTC #388

Yes, I would think so. I have to wonder why they bother with a mock draft so far in advance of the real thing - before an entire season of NCAA and HS baseball, that will substantially alter clubs' information bases.

I suppose the reason is that BA wants readers, wants internet hits, wants "clicks." (Feeling rather cynical and annoyed at a lot of what goes on today, i'm afraid.)

DougLindsay 2017-10-09 16:54:09 UTC #389

I enjoyed reading it. Gives readers an idea who to keep an eye on over the next 8 months.

julio 2017-10-09 16:57:49 UTC #390

Fair enough. I'd probably be just as happy with just a list, without the artificial trappings of a "draft," but peoples' preferences vary.

teabag259 2017-11-22 20:48:24 UTC #391

Pass on Turang. He looks like Dansby Swanson lite.

andyb 2017-12-05 16:51:35 UTC #392

MLB.com top 50
http://m.mlb.com/prospects/2018/?list=draft

Not a mock, but Matthew Liberatore does seem like the type of HS pitcher the Phillies would look at. A little bit of Cole Hamels in his toolset.

fish 2017-12-05 20:27:04 UTC #393

I was initially not so hot on Liberatore, but his curve is ridiculously sharp. Present stuff is good, body is projectable, and delivery looks pretty good. A little more velo to the curve and it has a chance to approach Kershaw good. I love most all of the top 6 - Singer, Hankins, Liberatore, Gorman, DeSedas...its going to be a fun spring.

Austinfan 2017-12-05 21:55:13 UTC #394

We should get two very good picks with the decline in comp picks between rd 1 and rd 2.
I expect some trades for allocations again and another solid LA campaign.
And one or two veterans traded for prospects.
All in all, one more prime year of adding talent.

kmc1019 2018-01-12 16:28:06 UTC #395

Baseball America with an updated Top 200 out today:

Lists college LHP Shane McClanahan as #3 prospect at this stage.

After (I know this is not a consensus) poor performance by Moniak and mediocre (compared to other polished college bats) by Haseley, I am hoping the Phils find someone who can start strong and have a quick path to the bigs. McClanahan or HS LHP Matt Liberatore would additionally help organizational (OK, MLB-wide) weakness of high-end lefty starter.

bigegypt0417 2018-01-12 16:40:43 UTC #396

choosing players because of how fast you think they can get to the majors is why we picked Haseley. I think it's dangerous to choose speed to majors over talent.