Article: Twins Draft Preview: Mock Draft v.2.0

[jimbo92107]

Not a huge fan of Nola, given his delivery and the strain it puts on his elbow. I'd rather have Gordon.

 

I disagree. Aaron Nola's delivery transfers power correctly in sequence from push, then turn, then flip. His flip is out front of his right shoulder, so there is no strain to his rotator cuff and little strain in his elbow. He is generating velocity from a rhythmic progression from drive leg to torso to arm, much like the MLB pitcher he most resembles, Jared Weaver. It's a very arm-friendly motion because the majority of the power isn't coming from his arm.

 

My only worry about Nola is holding runners. His delivery seems a bit leisurely, which may allow fast guys to steal his lunch money. Nola may need to vary the timing of his set to keep runners from getting a big jump.

[tobi0040]

IIRC, when Nolan Ryan was first promoted to the Mets (age 19 I think!!), he was considered: raw, wild, only has a fastball, and in general dismissed. I would be more afraid of missing out on the next Nolan Ryan than on the next Brad Radke.

 

My thoughts exactly. Based on draft position, these guys all I am guessing had questionable command or secondary offerings (or both):

 

Roger Clemens (drafted while in college, 19th overall)

Randy Johnson (drafted while in college, 2nd round)

Nolan Ryan (drafted out of high school, 12th round)

 

Even if you only have a 5% chance at one of these guys, a light version would still be a huge catch and reward the pick

[cmb0252]

BA's new mock draft:

 

http://www.baseballamerica.com/draft/mock-draft-4-separating-fact-from-fiction/

[InfraRen]

BA's new mock draft:

 

http://www.baseballamerica.com/draft/mock-draft-4-separating-fact-from-fiction/

 

Interesting. Newcomb higher ceiling than Nola I'd wager.

 

I also heard Jim Callis recently on a podcast say that the Nola/Twins hype is a bit overblown, doesn't think he's that high on their list.

 

All signs point to Gordon, and I'm more than OK with that.

[DocBauer]

Am I the only one still in on Turner?

 

A possible steal due to a good but not great season who was supposed to be a top 3 pick who could slide to us now. Older, more experienced and closer to the majors than Gordon and with more speed.

 

Anyone?

[twinsfanstreif]

Am I the only one still in on Turner?

 

A possible steal due to a good but not great season who was supposed to be a top 3 pick who could slide to us now. Older, more experienced and closer to the majors than Gordon and with more speed.

 

Anyone?

 

I still like Turner too but his swing mechanics are funky and turn a lot of scouts off, sometimes funky mechanics work out (hunter pence, Gary Sheffield, Kevin Youkilis) but often times they do not, that's his main problem right now and I don't think we'd take that gamble at #5

[DocBauer]

I confess, I haven't heard anything about questionable mechanics. Perhaps I've missed that somewhere.

 

Obviously, the teams picking ahead of us will help determine what we end up doing, but I'm having a real tough time coming up with what I think, in my meaningless opinion, we should do.

 

In past seasons the answer seemed obvious, pick the best pitching prospect available. If he could be a fast rising college pitcher, all the better. (Though that doesn't always work either)

 

Depth, competition, trade value, a young mover to rise up and take the place of a traded, fading or lost ML pitcher is always good. So you truly can never have enough pitching.

 

And I love the idea of Jackson if he falls to us, and truly can be a quality C. Haven't read anything that says he can't. Only read comments as to moving him to the OF to speed his process to the ML level. But one thing the Twins definitely have proven over the years is patience. But not sure he'll even be an option at #5.

 

There just doesn't seem to be a LHer that is a better prospect than Nola from the right side. That leaves Gordon and maybe Turner. Wish I could read something about potential that could make me more excited about Gordon's potential.

[diehardtwinsfan]

Am I the only one still in on Turner?

 

A possible steal due to a good but not great season who was supposed to be a top 3 pick who could slide to us now. Older, more experienced and closer to the majors than Gordon and with more speed.

 

Anyone?

 

I'd rather have Gordon at 5 than Turner. Both look to stick and there's far more upside in Gordon's bat than Turner's. That's my 2 cents. If Turner fell to round 2, that would be different, but I'm highly doubting that.

[blairpaul715]

Gibson had 7 starts in A+ before being moved up to AA, Garza had 8 and Slowey had 14. All three were promoted in the same year they debuted.

 

Maybe a reliever debuted in AA but my guess is that the Twins, and most teams, give college guys a tune up in A+ first. Appel, Gray, Gausman, Zimmer - all recent college picks - all started at A+ or lower. (Some started in rookie ball).

 

Maybe I am reading this wrong, but Garza had 22 minor league starts before promotion to AA............Slowey had 31 appearances and 23 minor league starts.

[gunnarthor]

Maybe I am reading this wrong, but Garza had 22 minor league starts before promotion to AA............Slowey had 31 appearances and 23 minor league starts.

Yep, you're right. I was looking at fangraphs and it looks like the only list minor league numbers since 2006.