2021 Draft

Sad Sam Jones

Member
SoSH Member
May 5, 2017
2,496
Additionally, all 18 rounds of Angels picks have been pitchers as well
Cleveland used 18 of their 21 picks on college pitchers (1 HS pitcher, 1 HS middle infielder, 1 college OF). It seems like an asinine approach for an organization that produces MLB starters year after year, but drafts & develops a plus hitter once per decade.
 

jon abbey

Shanghai Warrior
Moderator
SoSH Member
Jul 15, 2005
70,731
Cleveland used 18 of their 21 picks on college pitchers (1 HS pitcher, 1 HS middle infielder, 1 college OF). It seems like an asinine approach for an organization that produces MLB starters year after year, but drafts & develops a plus hitter once per decade.
Maybe they’ve decided to just go with it and keep trading pitchers for young hitters, since it seems so easy for them to develop pitchers. For instance, NY is overflowing with promising hitters a year or two away, seems like there could be a match with McKenzie or Plesac for a handful of them (just as one example).
 

burstnbloom

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 12, 2005
2,761
I'm no scout, but I'd have taken chance on Jaden Hill recovering from surgery, with 2nd pick. Second, McDonough looks interesting, but would have been there at 4th pick. I'd have taken another pitcher with 3rd pick, then McDonough with 4th pick. I believe these picks would have better fit in Sox current minor league system depth.
I think Fabian is going to be overslot but I definitely think Hill will be more expensive. He has top 10 upside and if he can go back to school and just show he has a recovering arm, I could see him in the top 15 pretty easily. He's just going to be rehabbing whether he's at LSU or with a team anyway so there isn't a ton of risk for him assuming his surgery went well and early prognosis is good. I don't think the Red Sox could afford both Mayer and Hill, as fun as that would have been.
 

wiltonctsoxfan

New Member
Jul 21, 2005
24
Wilton, CT
I think Fabian is going to be overslot but I definitely think Hill will be more expensive. He has top 10 upside and if he can go back to school and just show he has a recovering arm, I could see him in the top 15 pretty easily. He's just going to be rehabbing whether he's at LSU or with a team anyway so there isn't a ton of risk for him assuming his surgery went well and early prognosis is good. I don't think the Red Sox could afford both Mayer and Hill, as fun as that would have been.
Valid point on budget issues. With 8th pick, Rockies took a HS OF that wasn't ranked in top ten with possible agreement to pay him under slot to then cover over paying Hill.
 

burstnbloom

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 12, 2005
2,761
Valid point on budget issues. With 8th pick, Rockies took a HS OF that wasn't ranked in top ten with possible agreement to pay him under slot to then cover over paying Hill.
His slot value is $1.6 mil. I'd guess they'd give him around $3m (slot 22ish) to sign. For the Red Sox to do that they'd have to take their slot ($1.85m) and find another $1.2 mil somewhere while also paying Mayer at least slot. It doesn't seem possible unless I'm way off on what Hill wants.
 

wade boggs chicken dinner

Member
SoSH Member
Mar 26, 2005
30,502
Valid point on budget issues. With 8th pick, Rockies took a HS OF that wasn't ranked in top ten with possible agreement to pay him under slot to then cover over paying Hill.
The Sox I'm sure had a good idea of what it would have taken to sign Hill and couldn't afford it. Seems like an accountant is as important to have in the draft room as a scout these days.
 

Just a bit outside

Member
SoSH Member
Apr 6, 2011
7,929
Monument, CO
Cleveland used 18 of their 21 picks on college pitchers (1 HS pitcher, 1 HS middle infielder, 1 college OF). It seems like an asinine approach for an organization that produces MLB starters year after year, but drafts & develops a plus hitter once per decade.
Dodgers selected 18 pitchers and Angels selected all college pitchers except one high school pitcher. There must be something out there for multiple teams to go with this strategy.
 

joe dokes

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 18, 2005
30,243
Dodgers selected 18 pitchers and Angels selected all college pitchers except one high school pitcher. There must be something out there for multiple teams to go with this strategy.
I wonder if it's something along the lines of "pitching is so hard to develop that the best way to get several hits is to pick 20 of them at a time."
 

Sin Duda

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 16, 2005
818
(B)Austin Texas
Dodgers selected 18 pitchers and Angels selected all college pitchers except one high school pitcher. There must be something out there for multiple teams to go with this strategy.
But why did the Angels skip Kumar Rocker?!? He was available at 9 (he went 10th to the Mets). I would have been good if the Sox took him at 4.

The Score had this to say: On the topic of Rocker, why didn't the Angels take him? Almost every team before the Mets have a plausible excuse for avoiding the hurler (though the Royals' selection of prep lefty Frank Mozzicato is a bit of a head-scratcher), but not the Halos.

Sam Bachman, the pitcher L.A. went with at ninth overall, is also quite good, striking out a whopping 93 hitters over 59 2/3 innings as a junior this past year. The problem is, he's been held to 159 innings over the past three seasons total and had a WHIP higher than 1.30 and ERA higher than 3.40 over the last two.

Meanwhile, Rocker has thrown 77 more innings against better competition, never had an ERA over 3.30, and never had a WHIP higher than 1.10. MLB teams don't and shouldn't draft for immediate need, but a pitcher who could help the major-league team in relatively short order was within their grasps, and they let the Mets get him instead.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.thescore.com/mlb/news/2180593/amp
 

saintnick912

GINO!
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Oct 30, 2004
4,968
Somerville, MA
are they really doing complete rounds in under 10 minutes?
Reminds me of the old drafts before they made it into a TV spectacle. The whole thing from the first pick on would be a conference call. Each team had a rep, when they were up they would announce a name/school/position then on to the next. I listened to the whole 50 rounds a couple of times in the background.
 

Red(s)HawksFan

Member
SoSH Member
Jan 23, 2009
20,676
Maine
But why did the Angels skip Kumar Rocker?!? He was available at 9 (he went 10th to the Mets). I would have been good if the Sox took him at 4.

The Score had this to say: On the topic of Rocker, why didn't the Angels take him? Almost every team before the Mets have a plausible excuse for avoiding the hurler (though the Royals' selection of prep lefty Frank Mozzicato is a bit of a head-scratcher), but not the Halos.

Sam Bachman, the pitcher L.A. went with at ninth overall, is also quite good, striking out a whopping 93 hitters over 59 2/3 innings as a junior this past year. The problem is, he's been held to 159 innings over the past three seasons total and had a WHIP higher than 1.30 and ERA higher than 3.40 over the last two.

Meanwhile, Rocker has thrown 77 more innings against better competition, never had an ERA over 3.30, and never had a WHIP higher than 1.10. MLB teams don't and shouldn't draft for immediate need, but a pitcher who could help the major-league team in relatively short order was within their grasps, and they let the Mets get him instead.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.thescore.com/mlb/news/2180593/amp
I'm not sure why being "held" to 159 innings is a bad thing. He pitched for a smaller northern program that had to play a lot more double headers, primarily for weather reasons, so he had fewer opportunities to pitch in general. Not to mention he didn't have the post-season opportunities that Rocker did to pad the innings total.

Bachman has electric stuff, including a sinker that's been clocked at 101. The Angels probably liked his raw tools and thought that some of those stat things (WHIP/ERA) were something that can be improved on by professional coaching/training and professional teammates behind him.

Or maybe I'm defensive about the highest drafted player out of my alma mater in 47 years (and that pick was in a January secondary draft that is no longer held). :)
 

burstnbloom

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 12, 2005
2,761
But why did the Angels skip Kumar Rocker?!? He was available at 9 (he went 10th to the Mets). I would have been good if the Sox took him at 4.

The Score had this to say: On the topic of Rocker, why didn't the Angels take him? Almost every team before the Mets have a plausible excuse for avoiding the hurler (though the Royals' selection of prep lefty Frank Mozzicato is a bit of a head-scratcher), but not the Halos.

Sam Bachman, the pitcher L.A. went with at ninth overall, is also quite good, striking out a whopping 93 hitters over 59 2/3 innings as a junior this past year. The problem is, he's been held to 159 innings over the past three seasons total and had a WHIP higher than 1.30 and ERA higher than 3.40 over the last two.

Meanwhile, Rocker has thrown 77 more innings against better competition, never had an ERA over 3.30, and never had a WHIP higher than 1.10. MLB teams don't and shouldn't draft for immediate need, but a pitcher who could help the major-league team in relatively short order was within their grasps, and they let the Mets get him instead.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.thescore.com/mlb/news/2180593/amp
There were a lot of reports from the usual publications that teams were worried about Rocker getting swing and miss with his fastball at the MLB level. I'm not a scout or a professional talent evaluator but I love Kumar and think he's going to prove a lot of people wrong. It's pretty clear, though, that Bachman won't have the same issues. His fastball is electric. They probably felt the package (stuff/talent/contract demands/projectability) were better with Bachman. It remains to be seen if they were right or wrong.
 

Cumberland Blues

Moderator
Moderator
SoSH Member
Sep 9, 2001
5,193
A Vermont HS P Owen Kellington was just picked with the first pick in the 4th round to Pittsburgh.
U-32 represent! This is really surprising, and really awesome. Owen destroyed the state of Vermont this year, but I didn’t ever think he’d go that high. No chance he goes to UConn now.
I ran into my son’s little league coach this weekend, whose older son was on that state championship team this year, and he thought Kellington would go in the second round. I’m still extremely impressed with his slot, and glad he is with my NL team.
Yeah, this is a pretty big deal for Vermont baseball, it's been forever since a VT kid went this early (if ever...I think Tyler Pelland was like a 7th rounder 20 years ago and we had a couple guys in the 13th/14th a few years ago). I watched Owen play in the state championship game - he can hit too (tho is clearly a pitcher in the pros) - he hit a BOMB out of Centennial in that game - and when he came into pitch the last few innings everyone knew the game was over. That Spaulding team is pretty loaded by VT standards, and they only put two balls in play I think.

Owen works out at the place my kid takes lessons - we've run into him and his dad a bunch the last couple years...I really hope his dad smiled on draft day - I've seen the dude a couple times a month for the past two years and have never seen that man smile.
 

RedOctober3829

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 19, 2005
55,299
deep inside Guido territory
Yeah, this is a pretty big deal for Vermont baseball, it's been forever since a VT kid went this early (if ever...I think Tyler Pelland was like a 7th rounder 20 years ago and we had a couple guys in the 13th/14th a few years ago). I watched Owen play in the state championship game - he can hit too (tho is clearly a pitcher in the pros) - he hit a BOMB out of Centennial in that game - and when he came into pitch the last few innings everyone knew the game was over. That Spaulding team is pretty loaded by VT standards, and they only put two balls in play I think.

Owen works out at the place my kid takes lessons - we've run into him and his dad a bunch the last couple years...I really hope his dad smiled on draft day - I've seen the dude a couple times a month for the past two years and have never seen that man smile.
It’s pretty much a given he signs right? He’s a UConn commit.
 

Cumberland Blues

Moderator
Moderator
SoSH Member
Sep 9, 2001
5,193
I think so...slot is ~$570K - that's plenty more than a UCONN education. I gotta believe they had a number in mind and communicated that to teams. PIT can't afford to squander the pool money (or the year of development on the pick), so I imagine they had a pretty good understanding of what it would take to keep him from UCONN.
 

StuckOnYouk

Member
SoSH Member
Jun 26, 2006
3,538
CT
He said on TV up their that he hasn't 100% made up his mind. Said he's leaning one way (didn't say which) but he'll decide in the next week or two. I suppose if he believes in himself he could picture getting to be a 1st round talent in a few years and making at least 3 or 4 times more.

That being said, I assume he'll sign with Pittsburgh.

Funny, about 3 or 4 months ago UConn had two under the radar kids they expected to come in as freshman in Mozzicato and Kellington and both of them exploded this Spring. That program has been great especially as far as Northeast baseball goes, but those 2 kids would have helped take it to another level.
 

RedOctober3829

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 19, 2005
55,299
deep inside Guido territory
He said on TV up their that he hasn't 100% made up his mind. Said he's leaning one way (didn't say which) but he'll decide in the next week or two. I suppose if he believes in himself he could picture getting to be a 1st round talent in a few years and making at least 3 or 4 times more.

That being said, I assume he'll sign with Pittsburgh.

Funny, about 3 or 4 months ago UConn had two under the radar kids they expected to come in as freshman in Mozzicato and Kellington and both of them exploded this Spring. That program has been great especially as far as Northeast baseball goes, but those 2 kids would have helped take it to another level.
It also shows you how far Northeast baseball has come scouting wise.
 

Cumberland Blues

Moderator
Moderator
SoSH Member
Sep 9, 2001
5,193
The Pirates have 4 HS kids left to sign in their top ten, and enough money left to give each of them significant over slot bonuses. I'd be shocked if Kellington doesn't sign. That - and my kid tells me that Owen has changed his profile on one of the social media platforms from "UConn Commit" to "Pittsburgh Pirates Baseball Player".

The best thing for VT baseball out of all this, imo, is the trickle down to other kids. The Spaulding team Owen beat in the state championship has 3 or 4 kids (none were seniors this year) who could play D-1 imo if given the chance - they got a bunch more exposure because people came to see Owen play.
 

steveluck7

Member
SoSH Member
May 10, 2007
3,994
Burrillville, RI
Mets' Agreement With Draft Pick Kumar Rocker In Jeopardy

The Mets and Kumar Rocker had an agreement seemingly in place just hours after the Vanderbilt right-hander was selected with the 10th overall pick of the draft, but it now isn’t clear if the deal will be finalized. Metsmerized’s Jack Ramsey reported earlier this week that an issue had emerge from Rocker’s physical with the team, and now according to Ken Davidoff of The New York Post, the Mets are concerned about Rocker’s right elbow.