Question: Is that Ryan Mountcastle at first base?

[Luke-OH]

11 minutes ago, DrungoHazewood said:

Maybe it has changed recently, but it used to be very rare to draft a second baseman in the high rounds.  Much was made of the Orioles' risky/forward-looking/different (okay, mostly stupid) decision to draft Mike Fontenot with the 19th overall pick in '01.

HS 2B usually aren't drafted, but college SS who can stick there are, Madrigal was a 2B.  2B Chase Strumpf out of UCLA will go in the first couple rounds this year, he's my pick to pull a Jonathan India as a guy with 50/55 grades across the board who'll just hit a ton in a tough conference and jump into the top half of the first round. McClain was a high school SS, but was announced as a 2B when drafted. 

[DrungoHazewood]

12 minutes ago, Luke-OH said:

HS 2B usually aren't drafted, but college SS who can stick there are, Madrigal was a 2B.  2B Chase Strumpf out of UCLA will go in the first couple rounds this year, he's my pick to pull a Jonathan India as a guy with 50/55 grades across the board who'll just hit a ton in a tough conference and jump into the top half of the first round. McClain was a high school SS, but was announced as a 2B when drafted. 

Right, I think it's always been common to have a high school or college shortstop drafted with the intent of playing him further down the defensive spectrum.  Fontenot was a college second baseman all along, IIRC.  But at least he netted us that desperate and disruptive season of Sammy Sosa!

[DrungoHazewood]

22 minutes ago, Redskins Rick said:

Syd Thrift brilliant move.

I'm sure Syd delegated drafting to Tony DeMacio so he could go take a nap.

[atomic]

56 minutes ago, Luke-OH said:

7 of the first 10 high school position players picked in the 2018 draft didn't play SS on their HS teams.

Well you know what I mean.  Adam Jones played shortstop in high school and minors.  Chris Davis played a lot of 3rd in high school and minors.   Even Mark Reynolds played 135 games at Shortstop in the minors.  Mark Texiera played 85 games at 3rd in Minors.  Eddie Murray was a catcher in high school.  

If I had a vote down ability I would down vote your post.  

[Luke-OH]

1 minute ago, atomic said:

Well you know what I mean.  Adam Jones played shortstop in high school and minors.  Chris Davis played a lot of 3rd in high school and minors.   Even Mark Reynolds played 135 games at Shortstop in the minors.  Mark Texiera played 85 games at 3rd in Minors.  Eddie Murray was a catcher in high school.  

If I had a vote down ability I would down vote your post.  

Haha

[bobmc]

9 minutes ago, atomic said:

Well you know what I mean.  Adam Jones played shortstop in high school and minors.  Chris Davis played a lot of 3rd in high school and minors.   Even Mark Reynolds played 135 games at Shortstop in the minors.  Mark Texiera played 85 games at 3rd in Minors.  Eddie Murray was a catcher in high school.  

If I had a vote down ability I would down vote your post.  

$6/mo is chump change, right?  

[atomic]

Just now, bobmc said:

$6/mo is chump change, right?  

I paid before and right after I paid I got a permanent ban. And it was more than $6 that I paid.  

[Legend_Of_Joey]

2 hours ago, Luke-OH said:

It's hard to gain muscle without gaining fat. I went on a bulk when my wife was pregnant with our first kid and gained about 40 pounds in 8 months. It was almost half fat though, I just ate a ton and lifted a bunch, not very scientific. Hopefully Mountcastle's bulk was a bit leaner than that, I'd guess it was. 

 

2 hours ago, Can_of_corn said:

I'm familiar with the concepts you are discussing, just hadn't heard that terminology.

 

I'm familiar with the "eating a ton" concept...

[jabba72]

He's getting equal looks at 3B and 1B according to Hyde. Sounds like a decent plan. You cant keep him at a position he has no chance of being average in. Not that anyone has decided that yet. 

[Tx Oriole]

7 hours ago, atomic said:

Well you know what I mean.  Adam Jones played shortstop in high school and minors.  Chris Davis played a lot of 3rd in high school and minors.   Even Mark Reynolds played 135 games at Shortstop in the minors.  Mark Texiera played 85 games at 3rd in Minors.  Eddie Murray was a catcher in high school.  

If I had a vote down ability I would down vote your post.  

Why? 

[TGO]

8 hours ago, DrungoHazewood said:

Maybe it has changed recently, but it used to be very rare to draft a second baseman in the high rounds.  Much was made of the Orioles' risky/forward-looking/different (okay, mostly stupid) decision to draft Mike Fontenot with the 19th overall pick in '01.

I don't think it has changed much and if anything has become even more rare, at least if you're talking about the first round. I remember looking at this a few months ago when people were talking about Hiura as a potential return for Schoop/Gausman. Other than him there have not been a lot of players drafted in the top half of the first round who were announced as 2Bs. Madrigal last year had played 2B because of Grenier but even he was announced as a shortstop. Before Hiura you have to go back to Kolten Wong and Cory Spangenberg in 2011.

[rudyrooster]

Mountcastle's offensive potential is too good.  They will eventually run him out there on the field.  At what position I do not know.  To make an NBA analogy--do you sit James Harden on the bench because he plays "matador" defense.  I think not.  You find a way--anyway-- to get him into the game. 

[weams]

9 hours ago, atomic said:

I paid before and right after I paid I got a permanent ban. And it was more than $6 that I paid.  

But you came right back as Cimota anyway. Anyway. You are in good standing with your preferred nomenclature now. 

[weams]

26 minutes ago, rudyrooster said:

Mountcastle's offensive potential is too good.  They will eventually run him out there on the field.  At what position I do not know.  To make an NBA analogy--do you sit James Harden on the bench because he plays "matador" defense.  I think not.  You find a way--anyway-- to get him into the game. 

He’ll be as good a defender as half the league at some position. 

[MarCakes21]

On 2/19/2019 at 8:37 AM, Can_of_corn said:

I think you are misunderstanding how WAR works.    WAR does adjust according to defensive position, but it also evaluates how good the player is at that position. It’s quite possible for a guy who is a bad defensive 3B to have more value (as measured by WAR) as a good defensive 1B.

On 2/19/2019 at 8:37 AM, Can_of_corn said:

It is possible but I think he'd have to be really bad at third. 

I'm not sure that Davis or Reynolds had more value at first.

Looking to pull on this topic a bit more as I don't understand the positional differences of WAR as much.  Say Ryan we're below average defensively at 3rd (maybe -1 dWAR?) and average defensively at 1st, how much better would he have to hit at 1st than 3rd?  Because there's already a positional difference between first and 3rd, so what would be the needed delta to make him more valuable at 1st than 3rd?