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

[MountUrCastle]

I will also say that if drafting has any analogous features across sports, you should never draft someone (especially on the older side of the draft range) who's problems are mental and situation IQ focused and expect them to get better at said IQ-based issue. You can fix speed, you can fix power, you can fix fielding to an extent. If the issue with Kjerstad is he has spent 21 years going power over everything before a pitch is even thrown it is a deep rooted reflex.

I know this may read weird, but it's the one constant across sports drafts (that I have found.)

 

IQ = awareness of what to do and when.

[Greg Pappas]

FWIW Kjerstad was ranked as the 10 best prospect by MLB.com and 13th by Baseball America.

[SteveA]

3 minutes ago, MountUrCastle said:

I will also say that if drafting has any analogous features across sports, you should never draft someone (especially on the older side of the draft range) who's problems are mental and situation IQ focused and expect them to get better at said IQ-based issue. You can fix speed, you can fix power, you can fix fielding to an extent. If the issue with Kjerstad is he has spent 21 years going power over everything before a pitch is even thrown it is a deep rooted reflex.

I know this may read weird, but it's the one constant across sports drafts (that I have found.)

 

IQ = awareness of what to do and when.

You can "fix power" and "fix speed"?   I would disagree.

[spiritof66]

23 minutes ago, Orioles1954 said:

From the beginning I thought Kjerstad had the batting makeup of Will Clark, a lot of fellow Hogs fans feel that way as well. WOULD NOT be surprised if the O's select Arkansas infielder Casey Martin at either 30 or 39.

Casey Martin is from near (maybe 10-15 miles) Little Rock. It was a long time ago, but I'm pretty sure that we had real good infielder from Little Rock. I think he may have played third base just before DeCInces. 

[24fps]

40 minutes ago, Three Run Homer said:

When you have the 2nd pick and you pick a guy ranked somewhere between 7 and 17 (that I've seen), you're taking a big risk.  Hobgood was ranked lower going into the draft (mid to late 1st round) but he was taken with the fifth pick.  

Elias is definitely putting his job on the line here.  

I don't think his job is at risk.  But a fair amount of credibility is.

[Can_of_corn]

1 minute ago, SteveA said:

You can "fix power" and "fix speed"?   I would disagree.

Oh you can fix power. 

[bpilktree]

27 minutes ago, ArtVanDelay said:

I’d rather have Martin than Kjerstad/Bitsko

Bitsko is the big question mark the last time people saw him he was a sophomore in high school.  He reclassified and skipped a year in high school to get into this class as it was rather weak high school pitching class some believed he has stuff to be top high school pitcher coming out had season ran.

 

 

[weams]

 

[BohKnowsBmore]

2 minutes ago, 24fps said:

I don't think his job is at risk.  But a fair amount of credibility is.

We shall see. I will say this, part of being a good evaluator is seeing what others don’t and exploiting that info asymmetry to your advantage. Jury out on the pick, but tough to immediately judge a pro evaluator with track record in a negative light for breaking against public opinion. 

[scOtt]

24 minutes ago, SteveA said:

You don't have one of those magic scOtt-links that can get MLB network?

No, I don't. I did for a while but it doesn't work any more.

[Can_of_corn]

4 minutes ago, Greg Pappas said:

FWIW Kjerstad was ranked as the 10 best prospect by MLB.com and 13th by Baseball America.

Pool for #2- $7,789,900

Pool for #10= $4,739,900

Pool for #13- $4,197,300

 

[ArtVanDelay]

The NFL does the draft so much better than MLB.  Manfred is so weird.

[Greg Pappas]

BTW: Important to see what these tool grades mean.

 

Quote

 

Objective Tool Grades

	Tool Is Called	Fastball Velo	Batting Avg	Homers	RHH to 1B	LHH to 1B	60 Yd Run
80	80	97	.320	40+	4.00	3.90	6.3
75		96	.310	35-40	4.05	3.95	6.4
70	Plus Plus	95	.300	30-35	4.10	4.00	6.5
65		94	.290	27-30	4.15	4.05	6.6
60	Plus	93	.280	23-27	4.20	4.10	6.7
55	Above Avg	92	.270	19-22	4.25	4.15	6.8
50	Avg	90-91	.260	15-18	4.30	4.20	6.9-7.0
45	Below Avg	89	.250	12-15	4.35	4.25	7.1
40		88	.240	8-12	4.40	4.30	7.2
35		87	.230	5-8	4.45	4.35	7.3
30		86	.220	3-5	4.50	4

 

I couldn't make it smaller, sorry.

[weams]

Just now, scOtt said:

No, I don't. I did for a while but it doesn't work any more.

It's on ESPN 2 tomorrow

[MountUrCastle]

3 minutes ago, SteveA said:

You can "fix power" and "fix speed"?   I would disagree.

Sorry, I forgot power and speed is gifted to you upon birth, and not a trained asset. 

I know it certainly seems dumb, but I would argue that raw power and foot speed are some of the easiest things to improve upon in any sport.