Minor League Ball Community Mock Draft

[Luke-OH]

I will be the "Scouting Director" for the Orioles in the minorleagueball community mock draft this year. I was a late replacement for a no-show last year and drafted for the Brewers. The mock draft goes 4 rounds and I picked Haseley, Trevor Rogers, Quentin Holmes, Bryce Montas De Oca (who didn't sign IRL), and Spencer Howard.

The mock draft will take place on June 2nd and if anyone would like to suggest targets or strategies, I'd love to hear your input. 

[Oriol3s]

You've discussed a bunch of the top guys in your other thread for the draft.

Strategy-wise, I think the team should always go for a best player available, especially in the first 4 rounds as you'll be picking.  Of course, if someone wouldn't sign as a later pick, then that changes the equation.

I'd PROBABLY target a college player with #11 just because there seems to be enough good talent at the college level for the 1st half of the 1st round.  But if a guy like Liberatore was there, he might be the guy.

Top targets who I think may be there when the O's pick include: Swaggerty, India, Winn, Stewart, Gilbert.

I'm assuming Bohm and Madrigal are gone well before 11.

[Luke-OH]

1 hour ago, Oriol3s said:

You've discussed a bunch of the top guys in your other thread for the draft.

Strategy-wise, I think the team should always go for a best player available, especially in the first 4 rounds as you'll be picking.  Of course, if someone wouldn't sign as a later pick, then that changes the equation.

I'd PROBABLY target a college player with #11 just because there seems to be enough good talent at the college level for the 1st half of the 1st round.  But if a guy like Liberatore was there, he might be the guy.

Top targets who I think may be there when the O's pick include: Swaggerty, India, Winn, Stewart, Gilbert.

I'm assuming Bohm and Madrigal are gone well before 11.

Appreciate the input, yeah Bohm or Madrigal would be great if they fell.

Of the guys you listed, the only guy I’m really not high on is Swaggerty.  The only guy I’d add is Kelenic who I really like.

I also like the idea of a college player at 11, only a couple of guys who’d be tempt me to go HS. There are going to be some interesting high school players at 37, the only unknown is signability. 

Gilbert continues to grow on me, he’d likely be my guy out of the top targets you listed. Stewart is pretty tempting though.

[El_Duderino]

I think I saw a mock where Bohm fell to the Os spot. 

Is this something I should be rooting for?

[Luke-OH]

1 hour ago, El_Duderino said:

I think I saw a mock where Bohm fell to the Os spot. 

Is this something I should be rooting for?

I think so, his combination of power and contact is the best in the draft and the closest guy is Tristan Casas, who is a probably a 1B only HS prospect. Bohm has slimmed down and has a good chance to play 3B at least for the first part of his career.

I’ll have my first Orioles Draft primer article out be Wednesday morning at the latest so you’ll get to see how I rank the top 15 or so guys in the draft, but Bohm is pretty close to the top.

[El_Duderino]

I’ve read that the Os are in on college arms. Perhaps signaling they think this will be a quick rebuild. 

[weams]

 

[Luke-OH]

5 hours ago, birdwatcher55 said:

Mize would interest me. The others not so much. Carter sounds like the next Gausman.

Mize would be amazing at 11, but the problem is if Mize falls that far, it surely means that his medicals are horrendous.

Carter sounding like the next Gausman isn't a bad thing. If you told me I could get another Gausman at 11th overall, I'd take that every single time. 

[weams]

 

[weams]

On 5/23/2018 at 2:15 PM, birdwatcher55 said:

Mize would interest me. The others not so much. Carter sounds like the next Gausman.

Gausman is as good as you could hope for!

What do we think a draft is?

[Can_of_corn]

4 minutes ago, weams said:

 

6) Play travel ball

[oceanicvoyage]

I was just reading about some guys who might be available at 87. Garrett Wade caught my eye. He's a left handed HS pitcher who throws low 90s, has good spin rates, and also appears to be athletic as he plays centerfield on days where he isn't pitching. 

[Can_of_corn]

Just now, oceanicvoyage said:

I was just reading about some guys who might be available at 87. Garrett Wade caught my eye. He's a left handed HS pitcher who throws low 90s, has good spin rates, and also appears to be athletic as he plays centerfield on days where he isn't pitching. 

Whoo boy spin rates.

[Otter]

On 5/17/2018 at 8:19 AM, Luke-OH said:

I will be the "Scouting Director" for the Orioles in the minorleagueball community mock draft this year. I was a late replacement for a no-show last year and drafted for the Brewers. The mock draft goes 4 rounds and I picked Haseley, Trevor Rogers, Quentin Holmes, Bryce Montas De Oca (who didn't sign IRL), and Spencer Howard.

The mock draft will take place on June 2nd and if anyone would like to suggest targets or strategies, I'd love to hear your input. 

Who do you like past the 1st round?  I love watching college baseball this time of year (and especially this year).  I've been watching a lot of the ACC and SEC tournaments, and especially looking for infielders who are athletic and can stick at their positions.  We've got a lot of corner outfielder/1B/DH types; we need to stock up on athletic middle infielders.  I've watched a few UNC games and liked their 3B Datres in the small sample size I saw.  Seems to be relatively athletic, looked like he could stick at 3B long term, and appeared to have a nice approach at the plate.  I also was intrigued by the 2B Sabino for Pitt.  He is athletic and made some very nice defensive plays in the games I saw.  He has power (16 HRs) and speed (18 SBs), but an incredibly awkward hunched over batting stance and strikes out a ton.  However, he has some nice raw tools and I think his approach at the plate can be refined.  What do you think of these two?  Any other college infielders we should target later in the draft?  Thanks; appreciate your work on the minors and the draft.

[Luke-OH]

8 hours ago, Otter said:

Who do you like past the 1st round?  I love watching college baseball this time of year (and especially this year).  I've been watching a lot of the ACC and SEC tournaments, and especially looking for infielders who are athletic and can stick at their positions.  We've got a lot of corner outfielder/1B/DH types; we need to stock up on athletic middle infielders.  I've watched a few UNC games and liked their 3B Datres in the small sample size I saw.  Seems to be relatively athletic, looked like he could stick at 3B long term, and appeared to have a nice approach at the plate.  I also was intrigued by the 2B Sabino for Pitt.  He is athletic and made some very nice defensive plays in the games I saw.  He has power (16 HRs) and speed (18 SBs), but an incredibly awkward hunched over batting stance and strikes out a ton.  However, he has some nice raw tools and I think his approach at the plate can be refined.  What do you think of these two?  Any other college infielders we should target later in the draft?  Thanks; appreciate your work on the minors and the draft.

I've got a big list of later round guys, I'll have a preference list out to my top 50 up by tomorrow morning. Then I'll do a article on later round guys I like a day or two before the draft.

Datres seems like a 4th-6th round college performer without the power to profile as a regular, but a fairly good chance to hit some and play multiple defensive positions. Cadyn Greiner from Oregon State is a similar player.

Sabino is interesting, thanks for mentioning him, I'd missed him (he's not in the Baseball Cube database for some reason), not much video on him out there that I could find and he's older than your typical college draftee, but I like the idea of snagging those types of toolsy guys who might be a mechanical change away from breaking out.

Some college middle infielders that I like later on in a rough order of preference...

Nick Dunn (Maryland) - 2B, could be 55 hit/50 power which would play really well at 2B

Tyler Frank (Florida Atlantic) - also likely a 2B, similar profile to Dunn, but I think Dunn is a touch better both hit and power even though most outlets have Frank as the superior draft prospect.

Richie Palacios - best chance to stick at SS of these guys, plus runner, some feel for the barrel, may be a better fit at 2b though.

Terrin Vavra - polished hitter, not heavy on tools, also likely 2B at the next level, some room in the frame to grow into more wood bat power.

Jared Mang - legit pop in the bat, not sure if he can stick at 2B

Vinny Capra and John Valente - SR underslot targets, both guys with good feel to hit, Capra has some pop (not sure if it'll carry over with wood), Valente just doesn't swing and miss. Not sure about defense.

 

Only Dunn and Frank are top 10 round talents for me, with Dunn a 2nd/3rd guy and Frank a 4th/5th. Capra and Valente obviously not top 10 round on talent, but could be popped there to save cash.

The issue with college middle infielders is that it's really hard to find true SS, most are 3B/2B at the next level. Definitely not the depth of this draft.