Tony-OH

I really haven't been convinced Akin is going to be a starter for some time now, but now I'm wondering if he's a major league pitcher at all. But that's what this year was about. They've found out that Akin is who is was in the minors, and that's a guy who cannot command consistently and major league hitters have feasted on him.

I don't think Hyde has anything to do with his roster or who he has to start. that is all Elias and Syd. their computer programs tell them Akin was the best guy to start. It's a program that needs some more data.

Honestly, I hope Hyde keep Akin out there to give up like 20 runs. Elias keeps shoving Akln down his throat because his "analytics" says his pitches should work. Unfortunately analytics doesn't take command into consideration. He's always been this guy. He can not consistently command throughout a game.

Nice to see Mundy break out of his mini slump. Henderson had two hits after starting out 0-for-3 and Mischel Deson collected two more hits in the FCL.

Baseball Reference have finally added both leagues. https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/affiliate.cgi?id=BAL&year=2021

I don't have a strong opinion on their drafting strategy since I don't have all the data they are going off of, but I do find it interesting that the strategy is almost the polar opposite of the Dodgers and Angels this year. I'm in the wait and see and while I have always preferred a balance approach (college juniors and high school players with upside), I will be interesting to see how this works.

They get "advisors" that help them work through the contracts. The advisors are almost always agents that have hand shake agreements that the kid will sign with them before they sign their official contracts. Hopefully it's a rule that will change with the new NCAA rules because it was always just dumb.

Thanks, saw that as well but I'll wait until it's announced since things could happen that could change the situation.

Perhaps. It did seem doubtful that he would be good enough to play in the NBA when the Orioles drafted him, but they certainly knew he was going to go back and play his senior year. Either way, he appears to have made the right choice. He's playing the sport he love the most and his command issues and the Orioles lack of pitching development when he would have been in the system suggests he would have struggled to make the major leagues.

But I think you are missing the fact that they are not getting younger. Every year over 21 hurts their value although this year that's being overlooked a bit because of the missed COVID year. Can they go back, sure. But at 23 or 24 years old for some, what kind of leverage would they have then? Zero. At that point it's a matter of whether they want to give pro ball a try or not.

Yeah, but at his age, if he went back, he would lose ever more leverage and sign for even less next year. Might as well and get started.

That and his mechanical issues and command are why he was still available in the 15th round. Worth a flier though with an arm like that.

I really wasn't trying to put down any of the guys you mentioned, particularly Westburg who has done well in his debut professional season. I was just saying the jury is out on the strategy and draft picks.

Please post all signings and announced bonuses in this thread to make it easier for me to track. Thanks,

Perhaps that was an organizational decision and perhaps the young man just had a change of heart when he realized he wanted to go into the NBA. In the big game of things it doesn't really matter. I'm happy for him though that he's had success in the sport he loved the most.

It sucks that he misled the Orioles on his intentions, but ultimately he played the sport he loved the most at the highest level and it worked out for him. I still believe he should have been required to pay back his bonus but it's old news now.

I heard his stuff was legit for a 5th rounder so he was not just a 10K guy, Will being interesting to hear what he signed for with no leverage though.

Probably the most I know about him comes from this video https://www.mlb.com/video/anthony-sanders-on-mishael-deson Sounds like a good kid and some game action: https://www.mlb.com/video/deson-on-being-part-of-the-o-s?t=mlb-pipeline Koby Perez on him having the highest upside of the guys (Vavra and Nevin) received in the Givens trade. Overall I see a young lanky kid (6-3.. 155) with a lot of room to add muscle to his physique as he matures. It sounds like he definitely has some tools to work from so when you add in the projectable body and the fact he's one of the youngest guys the Orioles brought over to the FCL and you can see how high they are on him. He's off to a good start in the FCL so he's definitely one of the guys people should keep an eye on down there.

And if I recall right, after the penalties for going over the amount of money, they paid something like $30 million for him overall. All I know was the first reports I got about him from player development people at the time were not exactly glowing. Saying all that, he does have the ability to barrel up a ball and has raw power and is good enough in the other areas that he still could provide some value. I wonder if his current slump is from being rusty or just not 100%?

His arm drags badly behind his plant foot which screams elbow concerns at some point, but still, nice arm for the 15th round. Why not? No a ton of K's either for this kind of velocity consistency must be an issue. He highlight film is impressive though.

No real position and no game power.

Gotta wonder what made an arm like this fall to the 15th round? His walk rate is high so must be command related but still, that's a big arm on a big guy.

Yeah, I'm not sure where they got those numbers from because the 91-94 came directly from the PBR site that had statcast data for all the draft league players. Plus, if he was throwing 94-96, he would have went before the 11th round.