Tony-OH

Heck Hobgood wasn't even the worse pick in this draft. The Padres took high school CF Donovon Tate and gave him $6.25 million only to see him slash .226/.331/.321/.652 in 1229 PAs while never getting above High-A.

But again, that was not the case. I had a good relationship back then with Joe and spent hours watching minor league games with him and chatting. Matzek and Wheeler were the other two guys he was considering but If I remember right, Wheeler had makeup issues he was concerned about and Matzek's contract demands scare him and many other teams off. Remember, this was before the slotting system and back when agents could hold their high value high school clients out for huge sums of money throughout the whole winter if they wanted to. I think Joe allowed Hobgood's personality and story to affect him too much. He told me that he felt all three were about the same talent wise, but that Hobgood's character and known contract demands helped him become the pick. Obviously Joe would like that pick back and he and his scouts obviously missed on the talent level of Hobgood though I think injuries sapped his stuff as well. The one thing to note, neither Wheeler or Matzek really worked out for their drafting teams. So was money a factor, sure, but it was more because Matzek's demands were reportedly outrageous (that's why he fell to 11 and then he settled for the 5th highest bonus) and Wheelers' "makeup issues +sketchy salary demands) made Hobgood seem like the safer pick with similar talent. Jordan ended up wrong, but his risk assessment was that Hobgood was the safer of the picks to sign of the three "equally talented" pitchers.

This is completely not true. I've spoke ad nauseam over why Jordan selected Hobgood and although money was a factor, it was not because Angelos limited his budget or told him to pick.

So you trust a BA rankings over a professional scouting department with many full time employees, scouts, and analysts because it fits your agenda? Guess what? Some of the players Elias selected are not going to make it, and in fact, most won't. That's exactly how the MLB draft works. Despite all the advancements, it's still a bit of a crap shoot and after the first 5 rounds or so, it's definitely a crap shoot. Since I don't scout 1000s of players nor do I have a staff of scouts and analysts, I'll take a wait and see approach to how Elias' scouting team has done, but you know what I won't do? I won't assume a publication has more data and information than a professional scouting department so I take these rankings with a grain of salt. When you read up on the players selected by Elias, you can see the tools and promise in each. Now it's up to them and the Orioles development staff to try and shape them into major leaguers. Don't get me wrong, you can have any opinion you like, and I won't argue with slashing of money at MASN as being just plain cheap, but we have a minor league team owned by a HoF former Orioles legend that is too cheap to have a radio announcer and graphics for balls and strikes for their terrible three camera broadcast on MiLB Tv, so let's remember, they aren't the only cheap owners around here.

Have you ever gone back and looked at your posts and just shaked your head and gone, "Damn, I was wrong there?" They spent nearly all of there cap money and may still spend it all if they sign their last guy. There was clearly no "Angelos directive" to save money on this draft unless you think the directive went like this: "Dear Mike, please save me at least 100K because I have my eye on some outdoor furniture for the mansion and my inheritance has not come through yet!"

It is a tough decision because the fans, teammates, coaches and pretty much everyone loves Mancini. But the honest truth is he doesn't fit into this rebuild especially since his replacement (Mountcastle) is here. The return is the key. You don't give Mancini away nor do your dump him in an obvious salary dump this offesason. The other thing is I would love to see him have a chance to win a World Series while he still good, and his skill set is one that generally begins to fall off in the early 30s. Let's face it, Elias knows this and he's not exactly known for making heart string moves. My guess is if a team offers up at least one top ten prospect and a couple of other 10-20 types, Mancini will be moved.

Eh, just popped up in my tweetDeck feed so I shared it. Agreed though, if they are just regurgitating what others are reporting they should credit the person.

Just make sure if the Orioles do make a trade it gets it's own thread. Thanks.

Seriously, stop..

He's a HoF catcher knocker for sure!

And personally, I'd rather have a good defense and run guy as my 4th outfielder than a Stewart kind of guy because he can help you late in games more.

@RZNJ and @Moose Milligan Come on guys, play nice or take it to DMs. Thanks.

BTW, looks like the photographer said, "Everyone say cheese" and Cuellar was like "Queso!"

Is it his .154 average, .256 SLG, 37.8% whiff rate against pitches grouped as fastballs or his .000 ISO on any fastball on the inner half of the plate that makes you think he has good bat speed? Maybe it's his 86.1 EV (88.3 MLB avg) overall that makes you think he has good bat speed? Maybe it's his .100 AVG and .108 XBA and 50% whiff rate on 4-seam fastballs so far this year? Or maybe you are letting you eyes dictate what you believe when it's the easiest tricked way of "scouting" a player? I have to scout off my eyes in the minors but Baseball savant tells me everything I need to know off major leaguers. Whether it's officially "slow bat speed" or his inability to make quick swing decisions and get the barrel to the ball on high velocity, McKenna has absolutely not hit velocity this year and that matches up what I saw in the minors when I've been questioning his bat long before most pundits have. Saying all that, at some point he will start cheating to get to the fastball and will have a little success until they adjust and start mixing in more breaking pitches which will give him fits. He does bring outstanding defense and speed to the team so I do think if he can have a little success at the plate that he can be a good 4th/5th outfielder.

At least McKenna brings outstanding defense and speed to the field. Stewart brings power and that has been missing this year. i imagine Stewart will be DFA'd or traded before the Orioles set their 40-man this offseason.

Sportrac has the Orioles having $194,600 left of their bonus pool, so i missed something somewhere. https://www.spotrac.com/mlb/draft/2021/baltimore-orioles/

Looks like MLB took out all the signing bonuses from their draft tracker. https://www.mlb.com/draft/tracker/2021/all/team/orioles

Interesting that both Leiter and Rocker are unsigned.

https://forum.orioleshangout.com/forums/index.php?/topic/41965-2021-orioles-draft-tracker/

It appears that Kyle Wright who was drafted by the Braves 5th overall in 2017 never made a top 100 list. He's already pitched 70 underwhelming innings in the majors.

Wonder if they could have made that number on the front bigger? Actually I love 70s uniforms and dig this one as well. They should definitely wear these maybe minus that number on the front a few times a year. As for Palmer's beard, the man can wear whatever he wants on his face, he's Jim "Freakin" Palmer!

That's the one i saw. It was a bomb!

Updated as of July 26th. Stowers continues his ascent and a new FCL pitcher is on the board in Raul Rangel. Rangel, 18, is throwing 91-94, with a curve and developing change and has been one of the best pitchers down there along with Jean Pinto. Rangel though has a long lanky body that suggests he could fill out and throw harder.

When the Orioles drafted Craig Lewis in the 33rd round in the 2019 draft as a 22 year old redshirt sophomore out of little Seton Hill University (not Seton Hall), it didn't register a blip. Lewis was assigned to the GCL Orioles and crushed the younger competition with a .417 /453/.458/.911 over 53 PAs before getting promoted to Aberdeen where he slashed just .216/.231/.270/.501 in 39 PAs. He did not hit homer in either stops after hitting just 5 in 306 PAs in college. After not making a full season club at 24 years of age this spring, it seemed like he was just the typical older guy who could hit younger pitching but struggled against age appropriate pitchers. The FCL season opened and surprisingly the 24-year old (easily the oldest player on either Orioles FCL team) was not only on the roster full of mostly Latin American talent, but he was playing everyday. He crushed the younger pitchers in the FCL once again to the tune of .435/.536/.652/1.188 earning himself a promotion to Delmarva (Low A). This gave me my first look at the guy and the short, stocky kid has a nice quiet swing who made great swing decisions n the games I watched him. I guess the eye opener for me was when he connected on his only home run when he hit the ball well over 420+ feet to right center. That was no punch and judy home run. After just 13 PAs, the Orioles have promoted Lewis surprisingly to Bowie where I'm guessing he's getting the sink or swim test. I'm a bit surprised he was sent all the way to Bowie so quickly, especially when Bowie has Stowers and Watson as priority plays and Rizer and Turchin filling out the rest. I'm not saying he's a prospect yet, but I do find it interesting that besides his short little Aberdeen time, he hasn't failed in the minors slashing .366/.430/.497/.927 in 165 PAs. When Bowie starts back up on Tuesday, it will be interesting to see if Lewis is in the lineup and if he gets everyday PAs. The Orioles need to make room for all those outfielders they drafted so I'm pretty sure that's why they are giving guys these sink or swim opportunities. Turchin did well with his early on and then the league caught up to him and he's now in danger despite his solid defense and plus raw power. Either way, Lewis is a fun case to watch.