Tony-OH

This is fun to watch because I love the game within the game, but Ray is way off base. The sliders that weren't being swung on were uncompetitive and he was getting a lot of swings and misses. And besides, there was no one on second base so if you are tipping your pitches somehow or the catchers doesn't mask his signs well enough it's fair game to call pitches.

The velocity was down from his 2019 velocity and he has very low spin rate on his stuff. He's throwing his slider way too hard (89 mph average) and there's not enough difference between it and his fastball which averaged only 93 MPH on Sunday. His slider has been very disappointing and he's certainly lost the depth with the pitch. it's getting very little active spin which means it's gyroing too much which is why it's coming in so hard with below averge break His fastball has been his best pitch despite the lack of overwhelming velocity or spin, but he gets pretty good true spin which enables him to keep the ball on plane longer. Right now, this is not starter's stuff for sure. Maybe he's just worn out or tired right now, but I haven't liked the stuff in the two outings I've seen at the major league level.

I like Pinto's stuff but he'd have to really blow through High-A and into AA to get into the Top 10. As for Deson, I think we're a couple years away from him having that opportunity unless for someone reason he just absolutely goes nuts. He needs to add strength to that frame which could still take a few years.

There is no doubt Stowers swings really, really hard on most pitches. Saying that, he's shown a pretty good eye overall so he's not just a hacker. He absolutely falls over some times due to the violence of his swing, but I guess the good news is he's making pretty good swing decisions overall, especially for a guy who hadn't played above Low-A ball before this year.

Mayo has a significantly better chance to stick on the left side of the infield than Mountcastle ever did mainly because of the significant difference in arm strength. saying that, Mayo is very big for 3B (6-5) and though we have seen more 3B of late play at that height, its still rare because those guys tend to not have the footspeed needed to go to their left or come in as they grow into the frame. I'm on the fence when it comes to Mayo's chances of sticking at 3B. He's got plenty or arm and his throws are fine when he gets his footwork right, but that is still a work in progress. the fact that he's stolen some bases makes me think he's got some quick twitch muscle ability which could allow him stay at 3B as his body grows into his large frame. If he does have to move at some point, I'd try him in RF first before moving him to 1B in order to take advantage of his plus plus arm. As for your second part, yes, many future 3B and SS have struggled defensively initially, particularly when drafted out of high school. What I look for are the tools to play the positions and I don't worry as much about the errors unless they are out of control. Once a player gets to AA then you start paying a little more attention to errors, but for now, I would keep playing Mayo at 3B.

I would love to know the launch angle on that one. Wow!

He hasn't committed an error in his last 9 games after making errors in 4 games in his previous 6. I'm just happy they are not bouncing him back and forth like they were. He had a 12 and 11 game games errorless streaks in Delmarva but typically followed them with a flurry of errors. From what I've seen it's not just one thing for him. He'll botch a routine grounder and then throw a ball away. He doesn't seem to throw very accurately on relays when he's gotta make a quick strong throw on a close play, but that could get better with age. He's got all the tools to be a decent defensive infielder but needs to find his consistency. I'm not really convinced he's a shortstop but I'm not ready to say he absolutely can't play there so it's worth keep sending him out there for now. But I think they need to have a good feel for his position by AA.

As I said in my response to CoC, the difference was that Wildcard was referring to going underslot with Kjersatd in order to get a Mayo. Had CoC gone on about that subject, that would have at least been semi-on subject, but CoC turned it into Elias' lack of drafting pitching in the first ten rounds. Which is a valid concern and topic to discuss, but not in a thread comparing Henderson to Mayo.

I'd like to think that, but when you add Mattson to the 40-man roster and leave off Pop, it's hard not to come to the conclusion that he likes his guys because of some metric tells him they have the best chance to succeed. As for Sedlock, his changeup has really become a plus pitch for him and he can throw it against righties and lefties. His breaking stuff still needs to improve, but he will be interesting decision come 40-man roster time. considering the flotsam and jetsam on the current 40-man roster, there should be ample space after the season.

So Wildcard makes a comment about Elias' drafting strategy, but stays on the subject of Mayo. Basically he's saying Mayo was a good selection that was made possible by Elias going under slot with Kjerstad. You then change the subject by wanting to talk about his pitching selections, which literally has nothing to do with what Wildcard was referring to. Grant it 7Mo came at you with a pretty accurate dig which then set you off on your pitching concerns which again, HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE THREAD. You've done this before with some of you other favorite subjects like international spending and the Orioles commitment to spend under Elias. I'm not picking on you, but just asking you to try and keep things on subject so we don't end up in this kind of stuff with back and forths that do nothing for the boards knowledge of the subject at hand.

Because CoC has been doing it all over the board of late and has constantly been shifting the thread's original focus with his same mantras. I realize you are supporting him because you do the same thing at times. I think some of you need to think, was this rehashed in another thread already? Do I really need to start discussing Elias' drafting philosophy in a thread talking about a comparison between Mayo and Henderson? It just gets old to see a thread with a ton of pages suddenly and it the same old people who changed the subject to the same subject that's been rehashed a thousand times. Do I think you guys are the only ones that do this, no, you certainly are not, but I've noticed CoC doing this a ton of late and wanted to make sure we try and stay in subject as much as possible. I get it, this is a message board and I want people to have discussions and yes, sometimes we will rehash discussions and even I've been sucked into commenting outside of the topic at hand, but I try not to give my same thoughts in multiple places. I don't really think people do it on purpose per se, but I do n think we all need to do a little better job at staying on subject.

While I still enjoy McDonald, he has taken a turn this year and turned a bit Hunterish when it comes to his evaluations of players "Turning the corner." He was gushing over the five inning, one hit innings Lopez threw saying this was a turning point for him, conveniently not mentioning the five walks he had and the four seasons of Lopez not pitching consistently enough as a starter. I don't need McDonald to be a negative nelly all the time, which would be easy with this team and pitching staff, but he was more forthcoming and accurate when he was doing just a few games a year while focusing on college baseball. I know local announcers are going to be a bit homerish and I don't have an issue with that to an extent because I know some of he fanbase expects that. but just don't give inaccurate or completely Pollyannish" takes on players. He could have said, "This could potentially be a turning point for Lopez, BUT he's had four season of being up and down in the past so we probably need to see sustained good performance over 6-8 starts before getting too excited."

I liked what I saw in spring training and at times this year at the big league level. The arm is there but someone needs to get through to him that trying to command 4 and 5 pitches is not as easy as completely commanding two plus pitches. He really needs slim down his repertoire, but he's got a nice arm.

Of concern outside of his shaky defense this year, his .190/.287/.330/.617 with 14-43 BB-K in 115 PAs against left-handed pitching. It's not broken down between Delmarva and Aberdeen but that's something he will significantly need to improve upon.

He started Rutschman in AA after the lost year so I could see Cowser getting pushed to AA to start the year. Cowser's advanced approach makes him a guy that can be pushed aggressively in my opinion.

I've been very impressed overall. As I said on Bob and Vinnie, he's first 19 year I've watched play in the Orioles system since Manny Machado that looks special.

I get the feeling you've been making a conscious effort to derail every positive thread that's been started of late. You took one comment from Wildcard on Elias' drafting strategy and took that as your opportunity to drive home your concerns over Elias' drafting strategy despite the fact that you've made this argument in several other threads that more closely follow that topic. Can we just try and keep on the subject of the thread. Maybe just think to yourself, if you feel a rant coming on, go check the title of the thread and determine if it fits in that subject, if not, maybe make your own thread. Thanks for keeping things on subject in the future.

It's a lot easier to take when you miss most of the games and know it's better for the team to lose in the quest for the first overall pick.

He's certainly an averagish tools guy, but he really doesn't have any blatant holes in his game either. For 19 years old he held his own in Low-A ball which was nice. He'll get into a ball every once in awhile to show some pop, and he defensively pretty solid at both SS and 2B though I'd say his arm is probably a little below average for an every day major league SS. He's certainly on the scene but probably not as high as I had him after his 2019 debut (though a lot of talent has come into the system since then). He's certainly worth keeping an eye on.

Well again, I said the games I've seen. I haven't seen every game nor do I have access to radar readings for every pitch. I did see an inning or two where he was sitting there, but then I'd see/hear velocity readings in the 95-97 range. Now perhaps you guys have access to some kind of consistent radar readings for entire games but I'd be feel safer saying his velocity is 95-98, t99-100.

I wouldn't call his defense atrocious. I'd probably refer to it as inconsistent. He actually looks good over there at times and has a strong arm, but he's shaky at times. i don't think he's going to get protected as a 25-year old platoon 3B, but I do think he'll be the Norfolk Tides 3B next year. He hasn't hit a ton since July slashing .218/.350/.411/.761 in 240 PAs so he could repeat AA if Bannon is still around at AAA.

I haven't seen Rodriguez sit 98-99 outside of a inning or two this year. He's been pretty solid 95-97, t98.

I don't think he was challenged very much last year in LF. Most of balls hit to him were right at him and when he was "challenged" he ran very tentatively covering an almost league worse 27.9 ft/s covered. He actually improved his jumps and feet covered this year (still below average 29.5 ft/s) but was actually challenged this year and he hurt the team with him being out there. It's not that Mountcastle doesn't have the athleticism and speed to play the outfield, I just think he just doesn't read the ball well in the air. Not everyone can do that. It was certainly worth trying and something the former regime should have done years ago in the minor leagues instead of wasting years playing him at SS and 3B, two places he was never going to play effectively due to his long arm action and lack of arm strength. Mountcastle was always going to be a bat first player, but I do believe he can be a solid average defensive 1st baseman. I would never say never, but the amount of game experience Mountcastle would probably need in LF to ever become passable is not going to happen at the major league level. Mountcastle is a our 1st baseman of now and the future.

He's been -1 OOA with -1% success rate added so while he's been slightly below average, I think that's pretty good overall for a guy playing the position extensively for the first time and he's been getting better. He's been doing a pretty good job of picking balls and has been solid on balls hit on the ground at him.

Trust me, I understand the concerns over K-BB ratios and it does comes into the equation when doing evaluations. My thing with Mountcastle was I watched how hard he hit the ball and although he may have struck out on a bad slider away in one at bat, the next at bat he stayed off the pitch, made the pitcher come into the zone and then crushed it. Why average isn't everything, I do think that batters that hit for a high average with power is a good sign, even if the K-BB leaves some to be desired. Now do I think Mountcastle is a .333 hitter at the major league level, probably not, but I do think he'll settle into a .285-.300 guy with 30+ home run power. I also think settling down his position into something he can handle helped as well.