Tony-OH

Yep, I agree. the only reason Tampa let him go was because of the TJ surgery and the fact that they would have to protect him on the 40-man and he won't pitch next year. His change hadn't reportedly come around either so he does carry some reliever risk, but the Orioles have been good at teaching changeups.

Let's hope that was his issue, but the K-BB ration is not where I'd like it to be for a guy who didn't hit for much pop and no average. Hopefully the Orioles will be able to help him untap his potential.

Getting Seth Johnson back for Trey is a take in in of itself if you ask me. Sure, he probably won't pitch a competitive game until 2024, but he's a legitimate starting pitching prospect for he future. I'm going to go back and pull video of both him and McDermott, but I like the return on initial look. We got this for two months of a 30-year old DH with a .751 OPS and 10 home runs. Take away the fandom part of things, and you have to like this deal by Elias. Now why Diaz was brought up instead of Stowers is question for another thread.

First, what have Stowers, Westburg, Ortiz, Rhodes, Cowser, etc done at the major league level? Nada. So until they do something, the jury is still out on their selections. Do I like that at different levels, sure, but let's not start taking victory laps until we see what they do at the major league level. BTW, Westburg is struggling badly in AAA after never really putting up great numbers in AA besides a hot streak here and there. And no, I will not give them the benefit of the doubt and put a guy in my top 30 based off their bonus because they are the organization that gave Willems $1 million. Most in the industry scratched their heads with that selection, but I went ahead an "gave them the benefit of the doubt" that they knew something others didn't and put him in my top 30. They made me look like a fool for putting an overweight bad body kid in the top 30 when i did it based off his bonus. Never again. It's kinda like Maikol Hernandez and Braylin Tavera. Big money so they got the benefit of the doubt, but now I'm going to make them put up some numbers in the pros first. This isn't a hit on the International scouting staff since the system down there makes you make decisions in 14 and 15 year olds, but just that I'm no longer going to put guys on these lists based off their bonuses. Now could Young have been hurt most of the year and that's why he struggled so bad, perhaps. If so, he should hit well right off the bat in pro ball assuming he's healthy now. Maybe the Orioles keep him back, strengthen is shoulder and we don't see the real him until next year when he'll be 22. Pehaps. Again, I'm not against the kid. I hope he does well, but no, I'm not giving this scouting staff the benefit of the doubt just because they gave them a big bonus. Especially if the kid is coming off a poor season or is a HS kid that few thought was worth the money.

If that's the direction they want to go, then great, let's see how it works out. Slashing .207/.327/.383/.710 with a 30BB-66K ratio in 228 PAs seems like a red flag for me, but I'm just looking at the numbers. I've always subscribed to the theory that good numbers against inferior competition doesn't always tell you a lot, but putting up bad numbers against that competition does. Now would I rather him and his tools vs no one, sure. But maybe the money they saved to try and get him could have been used for better players earlier in the draft where they saved money? I'm not against this pick, nor am I saying I know more than the Orioles who selected him, I'm just saying that me personally, I want to see a guy tearing up the competition, not crapping the bed against it and that's exactly what he did in his junior year. I've seen way too many times guys get drafted who lit it up early in their careers only to fall off, then get drafted by a team who thinks they got lucky and can fix them. Remember Vanderbilt 3B Jason Esposito who slashed .340/.403/.530/.933 as a draft eligible Sophomore who was also supposed to be a defensive wiz at 3B? remember he was supposed to be a 1st rounder but fell to the Orioles in the 2nd round and was a complete bust? Now, completely different development staff, but until these guys drafted by Elias start coming up and having success at the major league level (not counting Rutschman) the jury is still out on how they draft and develop. I have zero issues with taking high/risk high reward guys occasion, and I'm happy this one is at least an athlete unlike Willems who is an overweight, bad body kid, but I'm just going on record as saying I'm not a fan of taking guys who had poor years in college and giving them a ton of money (Fabian and Young). Hopefully I will be proven wrong.

Coming off TJ, this may have been a flier, but the kid may want to consider that he might not be able to to pitch until the end of his Senior year next year. He might want to get that professional rehab under his belt though with the Orioles rehab process, he might not pitch again until late 2023 season.

Well I can't speak for Gurgi, but I have my concerns over who they spending their money on. I'm hopeful that they think they have some amazing system that can turn sub par college players into great pros, but I've seen guys put up much better numbers with similar tools struggle in the minors so when I start seeing guys who did perform at all last season, get million dollar contracts, I have issues. I used to give them the benefit of the doubt, but after Creed Willems, they don't get that from me no more. Now, they have way more information then I do about these kids, but I like to see some production on the field before players get the big money. Tools don't tell you how they can track a breaking ball. But hitting .206 with a high k rate a pedestrian walk rate tells me he struggled against non-professional pitching. We'll see. You can have all the tools in the world and can hit the snot out of a BP fastball for great EVs, but game play against quality competition is usually the best true predictor of future success at the major league level.

God bless Creed Willems. He was able to convince an organization to give him $1 million because he had good EVs. But this is not his thread so we'll focus on Carter Young who just convinced the Orioles to ignore a .206 average and a pretty high strike out rate against college pitching for his tools.

Be very careful downtown especially more than a few blocks from Camden Yards. Even in what was once a safe area like the Inner Harbor, there have been reports of bands of people attacking and robbing citizens for no reason. Little Italy, once a great, safe place to get good food, has seen people shot and killed in the last year. I see some city residents on here will tell you it's overblown, but one look at the TV on the local news would tell you otherwise. A man was killed by a 15-year old squeegee worker on the corner in the last month, people are threatened and cars are damaged on a daily basis while the city does nothing, so be careful if you drive through downtown. In fact, most of the police have stopped proactively policing due to their concerns of having no support from the DA's office (I know this for a fact). Crime is through the roof and Baltimore remains a fairly dangerous place to visit. If you can Uber everywhere and go directly into some of the places previously mentioned, you can still enjoy the city, but try and stick to crowded areas and never venture out randomly away from high citizen traffic areas. Camden Yards remains a great place to watch a game once inside, but Uber is your friend for moving throughout the city.

Here's a collection of reports on him though I can't say how good the sources are: http://macksmets.blogspot.com/2021/08/mack-2022-mlb-draft-scouting-report-ss_01509805424.html Perhaps @Stotle can chime in on his defense.

Ah, got it. Now we know why he was still available in the 18th round. Even his scouting bio said he was a basically a one pitch pitcher. I don't care how hard you throw you need something else. Hey, always happy to get talent into the organization so hopefully they can make Young into a much better player than Vanderbilt was able to.

Please remember to make it's own thread if a trade is actually made. Thanks.

It's pretty clear Elias and company now think they have a process to make toolsey guys major league hitters. The number he put up last year make me think he has a long way to go and I'm fairly shocked they gave him this kind of money based on his college numbers. But they know this kid way better than me, but I'm interested in seeing how he performs as a pro. Personally, I'd rather they spent the money on Walters, but maybe Walters wanted a lot more. Guess we're going to see how good a development system they have now with guys like him and Fabian being toolsey underperformers.

Not sure I understand your question.

Maybe McLean won't sign and now they can use the money for Young? I figure they will sign one or the other.

It probably is time for a promotion, but I wouldn't get too overly excited about him. It's been hard to watch him on video because he's at Aberdeen and Aberdeen is not even showing games anymore after having a bare bones no announce broadcast. When I have seen how though he's a 93-95 fastball, changeup, slider guy. The changeup up is his best pitch and he gets a lot of swings and misses. There is some deception in his delivery so that probably helps the fastball play up a bit, but the slider is a below average offering when I've see him. He throws a lot of uncompetitive pitches as well. He reminds me a little of Dillion Tate when he was in the minors so he's worth watching, but this isn't enough Felix Bautista situation. Saying all that, he's certainly dominated Sally League hitters and probably needs a challenge at Bowie.

Wouldn't we all like to know.

Deleon is a 19-year old late bloomer who was signed for peanuts, but has been 89-91, up to 93 with potentially more in there as he gets stronger. He's a 6-foo-t3 left-handed string bean. Worth keeping an eye on.

Teams sometimes play down to those last place teams out of their division/league.

Sounds like a smart young man his priorities straight. When you're a legitimate 19th round pick, why not go back and finish your degree? If he's good enough, he'll get another chance at pro ball, but there are not a lot of 19th rounders playing i the major leagues. Makes me wonder though if his scout talked to him before hand to see what it would take to sign hi or at this point in the draft they're just taking fliers on guys?

Stowers will probably already be on the major league team this year so he'll be on the 40-man. For me the locks are: GRodriguez Ortiz Rom Bubble guys: Handley (not sure how many backup catchers who haven't played past AA get taken) Denoyer (based on his injury) Fontana (based on how he does in AAA)

He's hitting the ball with more authority more consistently now. It appears to me that he just needed some time to get his timing back as well as the strength in the shoulder.

Stowers is a priority play over any outfielder at Norfolk so this doesn't affect him at all. He also could be in Baltimore if Mancini or Santander is moved. Diaz, Neustrom or any other OF may get less PAs, but they are not priority plays.

I'm not ready to say either of these things yet. We're talking about 17th and 18th round selections that were overslot guys. They were probably fall back guys in case they couldn't get McLean done. I'm hoping we will see McLean get done soon. If they fail to sign McLean, then we can have concerns that maybe they misread the kid or the kid changed his number. Remember, there's not much different from a 17th rounder to a UDFA really.

Fontana is intriguing enough for me to add him to the "Bubble players" for the Top 3. He's a bit old at this point but he may be a late bloomer. He's built well, runs well, and is a good defensive outfielder from what's I've seen though I'll need to go back and look at my notes on his arm. It's interesting to see him get moved to AAA so quickly which looks a little like the sink or swim moment for him at 25-years old. They did the same thing with 25-year old Dylan Harris and AAA pitching was just too much for him. To me though, Fontana brings more tools to field than Harris does but we'll see how he does in AAA where I expect he will be a priority play in the outfield.