There Are Rumblings That the O's Will Not Take Rutschman

[LTO's]

1 minute ago, LookinUp said:

Exactly. I was hearing today that only 1/3 of the Astros roster was drafted by Houston. Talent acquisition will take many forms.

And they still pretty much always maintain an elite farm system. Bringing up prospects like Bregman, Springer, Correa etc is nice but so is being able to trade them for someone like Verlander who carries you to a WS. A certain someone here is completely ignorant of just how important the Astros' drafting has been to their success.

[weams]

 

[wildbillhiccup]

17 minutes ago, jabba72 said:

Realmuto's career high in games started at Catcher is 125, they moved him to 1B for roughly 8-10 starts every year to keep his bat in the lineup. Still, his career high in games in a season is 137. Thats missing 25 games minimum and playing 1B in 10 others. 

...but there' even more flexibility to get him ABs in the American League with the DH. I also think you're underestimating how rare it is to have a very good hitting catcher in this day and age. Right now their are basically four (Realmuto, Sanchez, Grandal, and Contreras) and I'm not even sure it's fair to call Gary Sanchez a catcher since he's so bad defensively. SS has become a much deeper position in this era and having a decent hitting SS isn't the rarity it once was. 

[jrobb21613]

List of best SS prospects since 1987 only Arod ahead of Witt Jr. but everyone wants us to draft a catcher. I don’t get it we have the opportunity to draft a kid who can be impact player for 162 games a year and he brings more tools than Adley plus Rutschman a catcher would be lucky to play 140 games a year.

https://atmlb.com/2WrehuJ

[jrobb21613]

Somebody give me Mike Elias phone number please! I need to call and talk some sense to him. 

[Frobby]

2 minutes ago, jrobb21613 said:

List of best SS prospects since 1987 only Arod ahead of Witt Jr. but everyone wants us to draft a catcher. I don’t get it we have the opportunity to draft a kid who can be impact player for 162 games a year and he brings more tools than Adley plus Rutschman a catcher would be lucky to play 140 games a year.

https://atmlb.com/2WrehuJ

Basically, that’s one guy’s opinion.   

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

3 minutes ago, jrobb21613 said:

Somebody give me Mike Elias phone number please! I need to call and talk some sense to him. 

[jrobb21613]

2 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Basically, that’s one guy’s opinion.   

Yes... but if you look it up you’ll see there are others that share the same sentiment.

[DrungoHazewood]

33 minutes ago, jabba72 said:

Taking a catcher 1-1 is risky, because he'll be sitting 30-35 games per year at a minimum.  The O's also have no depth at SS in the system which makes me want Witt or Abrams. I would be fine with either of those players.

But how many players play every day at any position?

114 players played 1000+ games from 2009-18.  11 were catchers, or mostly catchers.  114 divided by nine is about 13.  Catchers require more rest, but most players don't play 150 games a year.

Look at JJ Hardy.  13 years in the majors, eight of them he played fewer than 130 games. There were only two or three first basemen who played more games from 09-18 than Yadier Molina.

[Slappy]

Bunch of noise.  They will take Rutschman or Witt.

[mdbdotcom]

18 minutes ago, jrobb21613 said:

List of best SS prospects since 1987 only Arod ahead of Witt Jr. but everyone wants us to draft a catcher. I don’t get it we have the opportunity to draft a kid who can be impact player for 162 games a year and he brings more tools than Adley plus Rutschman a catcher would be lucky to play 140 games a year.

https://atmlb.com/2WrehuJ

Or, he could end up not hitting a plus slider. Less risk with a guy who's seen the best college pitching as opposed to a guy who has never had to struggle or adjust.

[jrobb21613]

I’m psyched for tonight been waiting for this Day for a year was on the Quit for Witt bandwagon then and still want him now. That being said I fully Trust Elias and Sig and will he excited for whoever we select. I imagine it’s going to come down to all the scouts and others information being placed in the computer and some algorithm saying this who we should pick. Then Elias decides whether to Trust the data which will be easy if it matches his gut, but if his gut tells him differently which does he choose? 

[LookinUp]

8 minutes ago, jrobb21613 said:

Yes... but if you look it up you’ll see there are others that share the same sentiment.

(insert caveat that I'm a stupid internet reader who isn't qualified to scout these guys myself)

I think the best argument for Witt is that he'd be a good #1 overall pick (talent wise) in most years and could theoretically be had more cheaply than Rutschman, which gives the O's a chance to go over slot later in the draft. 

However, Witt is not on the prospect level of top prospects like Griffey Jr., ARod, Price, Harper and Strasburg. He's a wonderful prospect, but he's played high school competition, is almost always older than his competition and apparently has exhibited some struggles with premium velocity. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to have the kid in this organization, but there are reasons to think his worst case production is lower, maybe significantly, than Rutschman's. 

The upside of a Witt pick is a grand slam home run. The upside of a Rutschman pick is a grand slam home run. It's the floor that differentiates them, IMO.

 

[weams]

Just now, LookinUp said:

(insert caveat that I'm a stupid internet reader who isn't qualified to scout these guys myself)

I think the best argument for Witt is that he'd be a good #1 overall pick (talent wise) in most years and could theoretically be had more cheaply than Rutschman, which gives the O's a chance to go over slot later in the draft. 

However, Witt is not on the prospect level of top prospects like Griffey Jr., ARod, Price, Harper and Strasburg. He's a wonderful prospect, but he's played high school competition, is almost always older than his competition and apparently has exhibited some struggles with premium velocity. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to have the kid in this organization, but there are reasons to think his worst case production is lower, maybe significantly, than Rutschman's. 

The upside of a Witt pick is a grand slam home run. The upside of a Rutschman pick is a grand slam home run. It's the floor that differentiates them, IMO.

 

Witt could always go to college. Adley can only get hurt.  Neither under slot much. 

[jrobb21613]

2 minutes ago, mdbdotcom said:

Or, he could end up not hitting a plus slider. Less risk with a guy who's seen the best college pitching as opposed to a guy who has never had to struggle or adjust.

When we are scouting a player are we able to work that player out have our own guys pitch to them or so we have to base everything off what we see from them in there own games?