Early 2021 Top Draft Prospects

[connja]

Lieter with 7 more no-hit innings tonight.  Was pulled with high pitch count, but will go into next game with 16 straight no-hit innings over 2 starts.  

[DocJJ]

Jud Fabian went 0-6 with 5 K's last night.

He went 0-4 with 3 K's today.  That's a rough weekend, 0-10 with 8 K's....   

 

He now leads all of Division 1 in strikeouts.   He may still turn out to be a stud player.  But it just erodes my confidence a bit....

 

 

[DocJJ]

On 3/27/2021 at 10:01 PM, DocJJ said:

Jud Fabian went 0-6 with 5 K's last night.

He went 0-4 with 3 K's today.  That's a rough weekend, 0-10 with 8 K's....   

 

He now leads all of Division 1 in strikeouts.   He may still turn out to be a stud player.  But it just erodes my confidence a bit....

 

 

Ouch...Jud needs to never play South Carolina again!   He went 0-3 Sunday with 3 K’s.    Over the weekend against South Carolina he went  0-13 with 11 K’s...

[Beef Supreme]

12 minutes ago, DocJJ said:

Ouch...Jud needs to never play South Carolina again!   He went 0-3 Sunday with 3 K’s.    Over the weekend against South Carolina he went  0-13 with 11 K’s...

That's a lot of missing! Not saying that will trend but that is like little-kid missing.

[Just Regular]

On the games yesterday, ESPN was promoting its Vanderbilt-LSU telecast at 9 tonight.

Leiter looking to extend his 16 no hit innings streak.   Haven't been following Jaden Hill since the Oral Roberts disaster, but if he is still LSU's Friday night pitcher he could be the opponent.

[Just Regular]

Was not at all surprised to see Ben the color guy for ESPN.

It was Hill for LSU - his Top of 1st he was fortunate to escape unscathed.   Ben said his changeup a plus pitch and he did throw a few good ones to the 3-hole hitter leading the league in OPS.   But the fastball command didn't look that great.

Leiter bottom 1st - the 2nd batter was this Eddie Gaedel-sized freshman lefty.   He tried to bunt on high heat up and in, he did get a beauty down the 3rd base line, but bending back to get out of the way he fell down in the box.    Nonetheless the bunt was so good, and the 3B shifted over towards SS, this frosh "from the high school across the street" as the PBP guy put it, made it a close play and he beat it out when 1B couldn't make the scoop.    The official scorer gave a throwing error to keep the no-hit streak alive.

Hill left with a trainer partway through the 2nd after a regular looking pitch, so his bad year has gotten worse.   

Leiter has finished first 3 innings with no-hit streak intact and 9 strikeouts.

[DocJJ]

Why did we have to win so many games last year?   We should have lost some more to get Leiter....  (or even Rocker!)

 

Hill clearly grimaced after that pitch and was holding his elbow...   does not look good...

Jud Fabian hit his first HR last night!   Of course, he struck out in all 3 of his other at-bats...

 

Matt McLain is at .287 with minimal power...

 

I like Gunnar Hoglund and Ty Madden for college pitchers.  I wouldn't have considered either of them top 5 picks before the year, but at least they've been quite consistent.  Colton Cowser and Sal Frelick are hitting well, though I wouldn't have predicted either them in the top 5 discussion before the year.   I hope the O's scouts are taking super-close looks at the 3 superstud High School shortstops...

 

[LTO's]

Keith Law just released an article on where he sees the 2021 draft at this point. He notes that Kumar Rocker has had 4-5 mph dip in his average fastball velocity that is concerning scouts. Leiter is without a doubt the top guy with Gunnar Hogland now in the number 2 spot for pitchers. The top two college bats are BC CF Sal Frelick and Lou C Henry Davis. Miami C Castillo has not impressed and is not even an average defensive catcher.

Now, concerning the Orioles, I found this to be interesting. Below are who he determined to be locks to go in the top 10 in no particular order:

Leiter, Rocker, Davis, Frelick, Lawlar, Mayer and Hoglund. 

Going to be very interesting to see where Elias and co. go. Probably going to be an athletic middle of the field type guy. If Frelick has the athleticism to stick in CF I wouldn't be shocked if he goes there. Do they take a chance on one of the high school SS? I would be very surprised if they took a pitcher even though Rocker and Hogland (who only has one less K than Leiter) could easily fall to them. 

[Philip]

Don’t we already have our future SS in Adam Hall? And a 3B in Gunnar?

Sadly I think we need a good college CF.

[panick]

22 hours ago, Philip said:

Don’t we already have our future SS in Adam Hall? And a 3B in Gunnar?

Sadly I think we need a good college CF.

Apparently Elias isn't as sure as you are. That's why he took three shortstops in the first 11 picks two years ago, and drafted two more last year.

 

[Hazmat]

On 4/6/2021 at 10:51 AM, Philip said:

Don’t we already have our future SS in Adam Hall? And a 3B in Gunnar?

Sadly I think we need a good college CF.

Didn't we draft like 4 college CF's in 2019?  Yes, I know.  None were 1st round talents.

[Frobby]

https://www.espn.com/mlb/insider/story/_/id/31269026/kiley-mcdaniel-2021-mlb-draft-rankings-20-jordan-lawlar-jack-leiter-no-1-our-top-100

[joelala]

3 hours ago, Frobby said:

https://www.espn.com/mlb/insider/story/_/id/31269026/kiley-mcdaniel-2021-mlb-draft-rankings-20-jordan-lawlar-jack-leiter-no-1-our-top-100

Behind a paywall, but has us potentially linked to prep SS Marcelo Mayer. 

the write up on Mayer:
 

“3. Marcelo Mayer (18.6), SS, Eastlake HS (California), USC commit, 50 FV

Mayer's spring season just began, and he's got a real shot to be at the top of this second tier on draft day because he has both the safety (elite hit tool by performance and to the eye, likely to stick at shortstop) and upside (stars in the draft are most often found among elite high school shortstops). He was at only a few events last summer, so his spring performance from here on out will carry some weight, but he has been seen a decent amount before that at Team USA events and because he played alongside 2019 first-rounder Keoni Cavaco at Eastlake. Chatter within the industry is that the slick-handed infielder likely goes either third (Detroit), fourth (Boston) or fifth (Baltimore)”

This is the first I’m hearing about him, but I like the write-up. 

[joelala]

 

 

[waroriole]

Is Rocker still experiencing an MPH drop? Any chance he drops to us?