More fun draft stuff

[gunnarthor]

The last thread was getting a bit long and a bit off topic.

 

mlb.com has their latest mock up - http://m.mlb.com/news/article/180464614

 

Has the Twins picking Matt Manning - "Rumors of a high price tag could push Manning to a team with multiple picks, but if the signability turns out OK, then there's a good chance Manning goes well before this spot."

[gunnarthor]

Callis has a draft inbox with some good stuff including the high risers in the draft.

 

http://m.mlb.com/news/article/180371796/pipeline-inbox-2016-mlb-draft-questions

 

mlb.com will be updating their list and adding another 100 names next week.

 

On the high risers - "Within the first round, California high school right-hander Matt Manning has made the biggest jump, going from the bottom half to a potential top-10 pick. College righties T.J. Zeuch (Pittsburgh) and Justin Dunn (Boston College) and Wisconsin prep shortstop Gavin Lux had played their way into the second round in April, and they've kept getting better and now look like first-rounders. Three more high schoolers -- Nebraska third baseman Cole Stobbe, Georgia outfielder Brandon Marsh and Florida lefty Cole Ragans -- have moved up boards as well, and all figure to go not later than the early second round."

[diehardtwinsfan]

I suspect the high price tag likely means he has someone already lined up to take him.  It's meant to discourage anyone but (guessing here) top 10 or so.  Maybe that's us... who knows.

[Mike Sixel]

I'll continue saying tall pitchers make me nervous.......and their success with Meyer isn't helping me think they can handle Manning. 

[Jeremy Nygaard]

Love the Manning talk. He's solidly in that group the team is considering at 15 for sure.

 

Manning threw for the last time of his season on May 19th and according to someone who was there, Manning was "just fair." Deron has seen him a number of times and this particular time, both the area scout (Strankman) and the scouting supervisor (Sean Johnson) were there.

 

Manning is repped by CAA (who the Twins have a good relationship with) and when I asked about signability the response I got was "he will sign at 15."

 

I planned to save this for the weekend, but you guys are getting too good!

[gunnarthor]

 

I'll continue saying tall pitchers make me nervous.......and their success with Meyer isn't helping me think they can handle Manning. 

I don't disagree but .... man, at 15 that's a pretty nice lottery ticket.  I do like the fact that his father was a pretty good athlete too.  Bloodlines!  And a lot of these HS pitcher are pretty tall - Whitley and Puk are 6'7", Manning and Groome are 6'6", Wentz 6'5".  Athletes are changing.

 

I think I still prefer Dakota Hudson but I don't think he slips to 15.  

[gunnarthor]

And BA has their newest mock up today as well - http://www.baseballamerica.com/draft/mock-draft-4-0/#4WJ8TZ3sI6TBDErL.97

 

"15. TWINS: If Dunn gets this far, the Twins would be in. Their need for power arms pushes them toward a choice between Pittsburgh’s T.J. Zeuch and Mississippi State’s Dakota Hudson, who scuffled a bit Thursday in the SEC tournament but still has big stuff, and he throws a lot of strikes. PICK: Dakota Hudson, rhp"

 

I'd be very happy with that pick.

[markos]

 

And BA has their newest mock up today as well - http://www.baseballamerica.com/draft/mock-draft-4-0/#4WJ8TZ3sI6TBDErL.97

 

"15. TWINS: If Dunn gets this far, the Twins would be in. Their need for power arms pushes them toward a choice between Pittsburgh’s T.J. Zeuch and Mississippi State’s Dakota Hudson, who scuffled a bit Thursday in the SEC tournament but still has big stuff, and he throws a lot of strikes. PICK: Dakota Hudson, rhp"

 

I'd be very happy with that pick.

I'd be fine with the Hudson pick as well. I haven't read anything about Dunn or Zeuch. What do they have going for them? College pop-up guys? This certainly seems to indicate that the Twins are leaning toward the college ranks. Interesting...

 

I also noticed that BA had Zach Burdi taken at #12 to Boston. 

[Jeremy Nygaard]

I didn't get a lot to believe the Twins are in on Zeuch or Dunn when I reached out to the northeast. I'm poking around on Dunn again. Typically at this time of year, I'm scratching guys from my list.. the draft this year, I'm adding. I'll share my theories on Sunday's GatG.

[Hrbowski]

It seems like my favorite (Braxton Garrett) has a high price tag.

[Cory Engelhardt]

Jeremy, if Zack Collins were there at 15, do you get a sense the Twins like his bat, or are they leaning elsewhere?

[gunnarthor]

 

I'd be fine with the Hudson pick as well. I haven't read anything about Dunn or Zeuch. What do they have going for them? College pop-up guys? This certainly seems to indicate that the Twins are leaning toward the college ranks. Interesting...

 

I also noticed that BA had Zach Burdi taken at #12 to Boston. 

Yeah, that seemed high.  He and Zeurch (and Dunn) seem to be going up the draft boards pretty fast.  

[Jeremy Nygaard]

Jeremy, if Zack Collins were there at 15, do you get a sense the Twins like his bat, or are they leaning elsewhere?

They like his bat but, from what I was told, are targeting another batch of players.

[d-mac]

I'm always wary of fast rising high school pitchers. Not sure I like Manning.

[d-mac]

Love the Manning talk. He's solidly in that group the team is considering at 15 for sure.

 

Manning threw for the last time of his season on May 19th and according to someone who was there, Manning was "just fair." Deron has seen him a number of times and this particular time, both the area scout (Strankman) and the scouting supervisor (Sean Johnson) were there.

 

Manning is repped by CAA (who the Twins have a good relationship with) and when I asked about signability the response I got was "he will sign at 15."

 

I planned to save this for the weekend, but you guys are getting too good!

Ugh. Sounds like a Twins move. Draft a player because of the relationship with his agent.

[jimbo92107]

 

I'll continue saying tall pitchers make me nervous.......and their success with Meyer isn't helping me think they can handle Manning. 

What makes me nervous is tall pitchers that don't play other sports at a competitive level. You bring me a tall guy that played forward in basketball, I'm fine with that. Or a tall guy that played wide receiver or QB in football, winger in hockey or soccer, etc. Guys that already have excellent balance and coordination don't need remedial work on their body control. 

 

Alex Meyer is a good example. He looks like he needs to learn to do a hand stand, a cartwheel, to stand on one foot with his other leg pointing in any direction, to stand on a balance beam, a tightrope, ballroom dancing, etc. Why? Because he looks awkward on the mound, like he lacks fine control of his balance. That's why his command lacks consistency. He needs to have better control of his whole body. 

 

In contrast, this Manning kid is the son of an NBA basketball player. Think his body control will be better than Meyer's? Um, yup. In fact, from just that one small video clip, I can tell you that Manning's body control right now is far superior to Meyer's. If the Twins are lucky enough to have him available, then absolutely they should grab him. 

[Hrbowski]

 

What makes me nervous is tall pitchers that don't play other sports at a competitive level. You bring me a tall guy that played forward in basketball, I'm fine with that. Or a tall guy that played wide receiver or QB in football, winger in hockey or soccer, etc. Guys that already have excellent balance and coordination don't need remedial work on their body control. 

 

Alex Meyer is a good example. He looks like he needs to learn to do a hand stand, a cartwheel, to stand on one foot with his other leg pointing in any direction, to stand on a balance beam, a tightrope, ballroom dancing, etc. Why? Because he looks awkward on the mound, like he lacks fine control of his balance. That's why his command lacks consistency. He needs to have better control of his whole body. 

 

In contrast, this Manning kid is the son of an NBA basketball player. Think his body control will be better than Meyer's? Um, yup. In fact, from just that one small video clip, I can tell you that Manning's body control right now is far superior to Meyer's. If the Twins are lucky enough to have him available, then absolutely they should grab him. 

I believe Meyer played basketball.

[Jeremy Nygaard]

Ugh. Sounds like a Twins move. Draft a player because of the relationship with his agent.

Seriously? That's what you took from that?

 

There are a ton of questions about his price tag, which I've tried to answer by citing their relationship and their confidence he'll sign.

[biggentleben]

 

Jeremy, if Zack Collins were there at 15, do you get a sense the Twins like his bat, or are they leaning elsewhere?

 

Not Jeremy, but I know that a few teams that have called in on Collins have reported an exorbitant price tag, as in top 5 price tag. That has a lot of teams backing away from him, in spite of a lot of teams believing more and more that he could stick at catcher.

[Jeremy Nygaard]

Love the Manning talk. He's solidly in that group the team is considering at 15 for sure.

 

Manning threw for the last time of his season on May 19th and according to someone who was there, Manning was "just fair." Deron has seen him a number of times and this particular time, both the area scout (Strankman) and the scouting supervisor (Sean Johnson) were there.

 

Manning is repped by CAA (who the Twins have a good relationship with) and when I asked about signability the response I got was "he will sign at 15."

 

I planned to save this for the weekend, but you guys are getting too good!

After being reassured that Manning was in play and signable at 15, I just received the word that Twins "slot won't get Manning done." That fits with the most recent national stuff... my honest guess - and I'm changing my mock to match - is that Padres are going to get Quantrill and Manning.

[gunnarthor]

It looks like BA updated their top 300 - http://www.baseballamerica.com/draft-preview/?

 

Looks like a few players have jumped up - Trammel, for instance.  Dakota Hudson (my hope) is sitting at 14.  

[nytwinsfan]

 

It looks like BA updated their top 300 - http://www.baseballamerica.com/draft-preview/?

 

Looks like a few players have jumped up - Trammel, for instance.  Dakota Hudson (my hope) is sitting at 14.  

This is absed on talent, not a mock, correct?

[gunnarthor]

 

This is absed on talent, not a mock, correct?

Yep.  And really, a lot of the guys in the 10-35 range have been going all over the place in mocks.  I think this should be a fun draft.  If we could nab a guy like Dakota Hudson at 15 and Sean Murphy, Logan Ice or Cooper Johnson (catchers) at 56, I'd be pretty happy.  (As an aside, Logan Ice is the coolest name ever).  

[nytwinsfan]

 

Yep.  And really, a lot of the guys in the 10-35 range have been going all over the place in mocks.  I think this should be a fun draft.  If we could nab a guy like Dakota Hudson at 15 and Sean Murphy, Logan Ice or Cooper Johnson (catchers) at 56, I'd be pretty happy.  (As an aside, Logan Ice is the coolest name ever).  

Why not Ben Rortvedt? Too expensive? I've seen accounts saying he has the most upside for any defensive-capable catcher in this draft. I'm tired of catchers that either have defensive upside or offensive upside, but not both. Rortvedt has both, even if the odds of both showing up are probably relatively small.

 

See here: https://baseballdraftreport.com/tag/ben-rortvedt/

 

 

Ben Rortvedt has first round catcher tools; his defensive upside isn’t quite as high as Cooper Johnson’s – it’s close, but Johnson is in a league of his own – but his offensive edge more than makes up the difference. I’d say Rortvedt is the best bet of this group to be first off the board.

 

[gunnarthor]

 

Why not Ben Rortvedt? Too expensive? I've seen accounts saying he has the most upside for any defensive-capable catcher in this draft. I'm tired of catchers that either have defensive upside or offensive upside, but not both. Rortvedt has both, even if the odds of both showing up are probably relatively small.

Yeah, he'd be good, too.  

[operation mindcrime]

I very much like the draft. I'm glad that it's only a week away. I hope we get a future all star or hall of famer. I also hope we sign Lazarito on July 2nd!

[gunnarthor]

mlbpipeline did a bunch of updates today.

 

First, a new mock which has the Twins taking a HS bat!  "15. Twins: Alex Kirilloff, OF, Plum HS (Pittsburgh).  Another team that covets Garrett, Minnesota likely will wind up opting for a hitter over a college arm. Kirilloff projects as the best bat available if the Draft plays out this way."  Interesting.  I hadn't seen the Twins linked to a HS bat before but Callis is plugged in pretty well.  

 

mlbpipeline also updated their top 200 for draft day - http://m.mlb.com/prospects/2016?list=draft

 

 

[gunnarthor]

Not sure where else to put this but Callis did a re-draft of the 2011 draft.  This draft was somewhat famous b/c 1) it was supposed to be loaded 2) the Rays had 10 picks in the first round, a draft record.  They kind of screwed it up.  Twins didn't do much better - they picked Michael, Boyd and Harrison.  Boyd's out of baseball and the other two are in AA.

 

http://m.mlb.com/news/article/182532366/fernandez-a-pirate-redrafting-the-2011-picks

 

It's interesting to see some of the big busts - Bubba Starling - and a reminder that some pretty good players slip.

[Bob Sacamento]

 

Why not Ben Rortvedt? Too expensive? I've seen accounts saying he has the most upside for any defensive-capable catcher in this draft. I'm tired of catchers that either have defensive upside or offensive upside, but not both. Rortvedt has both, even if the odds of both showing up are probably relatively small.

 

See here: https://baseballdraftreport.com/tag/ben-rortvedt/

At #15 that's a stretch, he has all the tools that's for sure, kids got forearms like popeye, the rest of him is compact and very muscular and thick lower half. 

 

[diehardtwinsfan]

I'd be fine wit Rortvedt in the 1st round if he has already agreed to a significantly underslot deal, but I think he's more second round material and that is a guy I'll be watching closely in round 2.