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2020 1st round pick (2): Heston Kjerstad - OF - (Junior) (Arkansas)

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Posted by Tony-OH,

It's not surprising that the draft is looking different than many mock boards due to the lack of 2020 data to go off of due to the lack of games to evaluate. Elias is clearly not afraid to go with a guy with one plus plus tool (power) which is a bit surprising for the #2 overall pick. His hit tool is probably plus as well, but the K-BB ratio prior to his short junior year makes him a bit of question mark when he has to face professional pitching on a nightly basis. Elias and his guys h

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joelala All-Star

joelala

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39 minutes ago, gohogs14 said:

Just for reference, Kjerstad had more HR, more RBIs, and almost identical OPS (1.011-1.007) to Martin. Hitting nearly .350 career in the SEC isn't easy to do.

He's a bit of an awkward athlete but for his size he isn't slow at all once he gets going. Long, lanky strides. He still looks like he could add on to his frame and has room to grow some more. Still looks like he's about 16 in the face lol.

He does have some weird mental baserunning errors and he made some mistakes defensively when he was in LF that made you scratch your head, but he seemed much better in RF. Played a little bit of 1B too. He also made some outstanding plays in the outfield so you can tell he has the athleticism to make them just doesn't do it consistently. Robbed a home run against Dallas Baptist a few years ago in the Regional by climbing the outfield wall.

Also plays with a bit of an attitude:

GAME 66 THREAD: COLLEGE WORLD SERIES GM 1: #5 Arkansas 44-19 vs ...

Great perspective. Thank you. And I love the fire! 
 

The pick is growing on me as well. 

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Orioles1954
Orioles1954

As the only Orioles and Razorbacks fan on the planet I am thrilled with this pick. I've watched numerous games with Kjerstad since he came our way from Amarillo, Texas. Beautiful fluid swing, not a lo

interloper
interloper

Elias and team deserve waaay more benefit of the doubt than saying he's "saving money" at this stage. We have some of the game's best evaluators and analytics. Let's just see! Interesting.

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Just Regular Hangout Grand Counsel

Just Regular

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It's five years since Benintendi got drafted from the Razorbacks - obviously a different kind of hitter.

NCAA Benintendi Ages 19-20: 326/431/525 with 52/74 K/BB.   He is a July 6 birthday, so really gets the July 1 cutoff bump.

NCAA Hjerstad Ages 19-21: 343/421/590 with 129/54 K/BB, and the tantalizing 9/7 K/BB this year.  I did hear Elias last night saying Arkansas played a difficult early season schedule.

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Can_of_corn Hangout Grand Counsel

Can_of_corn

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8 minutes ago, OrioleDog said:

It's five years since Benintendi got drafted from the Razorbacks - obviously a different kind of hitter.

NCAA Benintendi Ages 19-20: 326/431/525 with 52/74 K/BB.   He is a July 6 birthday, so really gets the July 1 cutoff bump.

NCAA Hjerstad Ages 19-21: 343/421/590 with 129/54 K/BB, and the tantalizing 9/7 K/BB this year.  I did hear Elias last night saying Arkansas played a difficult early season schedule.

Someone posted the schedule, It included two ranked teams.

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higgybaby Major Leaguer Cup of Coffee

higgybaby

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18 hours ago, Frobby said:

I’m not going to lie — I pretty much hate this pick.    I don’t like the ratio of upside to downside.    To me it’s a clear underslot move to try to save room.    I would not have gone this route.   

That said, I will root hard for this kid to succeed and prove how little I know.     Bring it on!
 

This is how I feel exactly. 

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Frobby Hangout Grand Counsel

Frobby

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1 hour ago, higgybaby said:

This is how I feel exactly. 

I feel a little better today after reading Elias’ reasoning.     Still, the pick makes me nervous.  I also think the strategy may have backfired when none of the pitchers Elias liked were available at 30.    He probably thought one of them was going to be there and that he’d need extra money to sign them.  

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GuidoSarducci Major Leaguer Cup of Coffee

GuidoSarducci

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19 hours ago, atomic said:

Martin could just go back into the draft next year if he doesn’t get the money he wants.

Who was that Boras client who was drafted high, kept demanding a big payday which he never got, and ended up waning out of baseball in a few years, missing out on millions of dollars ?  I think this was early 2000s. 

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eddie83 Hangout Grand Counsel

eddie83

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4 hours ago, OrioleDog said:

https://www.baltimorebaseball.com/2020/06/10/orioles-select-arkanas-heston-kjerstad-second-overall-pick-draft/?fbclid=IwAR0YvDutRUaseaXP1dmtfqaZUbKUMUl8TTRHyn2WmeDLDs0Vi-wgdmfGaD8

Dubroff has the tidbit he was in a Texas high school All-Star game a couple years back, which gives me some context on Grayson's rapid happy tweet last night.

I heard Heston today on radio say he played summer ball with him. 

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86this Perennial All-Star

86this

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35 minutes ago, GuidoSarducci said:

Who was that Boras client who was drafted high, kept demanding a big payday which he never got, and ended up waning out of baseball in a few years, missing out on millions of dollars ?  I think this was early 2000s. 

Brian Bullington?

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OsEatAlEast Hangout Grand Counsel

OsEatAlEast

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8 hours ago, baltfan said:

I think this is like every hit from this past year.  Gives you a good idea of the quality of the competition and his approach.

 

He looks to have decent speed for a power hitter. Safe at first on a bunt pretty much back to the pitcher.

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