2021 Draft News & Speculation

[bkox]

I'd rather not take a guy whose likely to have to play 1B, unless we are very confident the DH will be part of the next collective bargaining agreement.

I tend to agree.. but will also say these things have a way of working themselves out. Bull and Burrell were both drafted as 1st basemen and went to the OF. Thome blocked Howard for a bit but eventually was traded.

Even a college 1st baseman is likely going to spend at least 3 years in the minors. At that point Hoskins is already 31 and in the last year before his free agency. Bohm hasnt shown consistent enough hitting to be a 1st baseman IMO. Not saying he wont. Also no saying his defense there will be any better.

[zambonir]

Sorry, read to fast and butchered that. How long will JT catch. Bob Boone caught to a ripe old age.

Haha. I'm just assuming JT won't be on the Phillies by 2024 or mid-2025, let alone re-upping, and who knows if Painter will be in the majors even by 2025. Was more a comment on how long the road is for a HS draftee. Even Moniak, if he is on the team next year, won't play with anyone who was on the Phillies the year he was drafted, other than Nola (assuming Neris is gone).

It just highlights how Dombrowski has three different jobs, and it's not easy to do all three at once (and the Phillies certainly havent been good at it). Now, the short-term future and the long-term future).

And I think the DH is a fait accompli.

[Squire]

1. Pirates - Anthony Solometo
2. Rangers - Aaron Savala
3. Tigers - Izaac Pacheco
4. Red Sox - Jud Fabian
5. Orioles - Connor Norby
6. DBacks - Ryan Bliss
7. Royals - Ben Kudrna

[Purduke]

Surprised the Taylor Clemson kid wasn't in there. I would have guessed KC.

[Squire]

Me too. Royals and Orioles saved a bunch of money in the first and then didn't really spend it in the 2nd.

[Patchmk88]

As a Louisville fan, I’ve watched Binelas a lot. Think we may be able to get him in the third round. He’s a streaky hitter but when he’s on he’s hard to get out. Decent enough at third base too. Better than Bohm.

[Purduke]

Well, you got another one in Wilson. I'm just glad it wasn't Franklin. I don't get the excitement other than his athleticism. The series against Nebraska and the one they lost to NCSt he just seemed overmatched at the plate.

I guess that having Lonnie White last until 2s is about as good as I could hope for. Afraid he won't see State College and if Franklin (James) is ever going to beat the Buckeyes he needs all the athletes he can find in the state. Too bad.

[andyb]

A little annoyed that MLB Network switched to all star game fluff interviews and sent draft coverage to the MLB.com site.

If MLB wants people to watch televised draft coverage they kind of need to cover that draft on actual TV.

[LoneStarPhan]

I was also surprised that the baseball draft reverts back to non-coverage after the first round. Once again, baseball comes in well behind the NFL, NBA, and even the NHL in draft excitement for the average sports fan.

[bkox]

Its live on Mlb. com https://www.mlb.com/draft/2021

[andyb]

I did switch to that. Just a little more annoying with the pre-roll ads, etc.

[Squire]

Our belief that the Marlins were going to have to punt on the rest of their draft after yesterday has turned out to be just wrong. One College senior and everyone ranked relatively appropriate to their picks.

[Purduke]

I thought the Pirates had an interesting draft with Solomato (not a fan), Lonnie White and Bubba Chandler in 2, 2S and 3 after Henry Davis. Must have had a heck of a contract with Davis to fund 3 underslots. The Vt kid sounds like a nice gamble play too.

[andyb]

MLB TV alludes to Kumar Rocker signing for $6 million against a $4.74 million slot.

[Squire]

Luca Tresh is an odd guy to not have been drafted today.

[Squire]

Other Draft Comments:
1. Remember when the Braves were a big HS drafting team? That really has shifted in the last couple of years. Didn't take a HS guy until the 7th and 8th rounds.
2. I started out hating Detroit's draft (taking a HS RHP at 3) but then they got Madden and Pacheco and Dylan Smith so they ended up doing pretty well.
3. I didn't like San Diego's draft but I almost never like their drafts.
4. Pittsburgh did great (though I am more skeptical of most regarding picking guys with football player options).
5. Baltimore and Kansas City seemingly went underslot with their first picks but then didn't seem to obviously spend the savings on anything that highly rated (then again we gave overslot deals to Jojo Romero and Cole Irvin in 2016).
6. Sadly, I thought the Mets and Marlins did really well for themselves. I like our draft better than the Nationals and the Braves.
7. While I know you should never "draft for need" I don't really get Tampa's strategy. Tampa has Wander Franco, Vidal Brujan, Xavier Edwards, Taylor Walls and Greg Jones in its system and then spent 3 of their first 4 picks on middle infielders.

[fish]

1. Baltimore and Kansas City seemingly went underslot with their first picks but then didn't seem to obviously spend the savings on anything that highly rated (then again we gave overslot deals to Jojo Romero and Cole Irvin in 2016).

I'm not a big fan of what the Orioles have been doing the last 2 years by drafting on what seems to be an analytics model. Mike Elias is either a genius or a Klentak- time will tell.

[Purduke]

One long shot bat that interests me today would be Charlie Welch, C, JR, Arkansas. He caught my eye in the two regional rounds that Arkansas was involved in. Couple stats that stood out were his being 8-11 as a pinch hitter in SEC play this year, including a PH walk-off hit to beat FL for the SEC title this year and a 8th inning HR3 winner to beat Nebraska in the deciding 3rd game. He finnally started as the DH in the Super Regional against NCSt and went 5-11 with 4 XB hits (2 HR) and 7 RBI and 3BB in the three games, with RBI+ in all 3 games. 820 Slg% for the year was 250+ pts higher than anyone on #1 Arkansas team, which had 7 kids drafted yesterday.

Not on any Top 500 lists that I saw, he apparently always wanted to play at Arkansas but they didn't want him coming out of HS. He seemed to have pretty good popup and arm strength ratings coming out of a Clearwater HS. South Carolina commit seems to have turned into a bit of a workout warrior after decommiting from SCar when their staff was canned, Pepperdine, 2Y SC college then he took a scholarship last year at Arkansas even though they had 2 C in front of him.

Hits from a little crouch but was really swinging and driving at the end of the year IMHO. My guess is he returns to Little Rock and tries to upgrade his stock, but he's a good story of persistance.

[bkox]

Dodgers went with a pitcher in rounds 1-15. Angels have went with a pitcher in 1-16 thus far

[Squire]

That's crazy. Dodgers broke the streak in 16 but the Angels are still all pitchers through 18