Connolly: Duquette's Minor League

[wildcard]

1 hour ago, survivedc said:

If the narrative you want is that most of Dan’s picks that have had success were “turned around” by the new group, that’s your prerogative. It’s a mostly unprovable position, that I think is mostly hooey. 
Did keeping Mountcastle in the infield hurt his development? Did Tanner Scott have the same issues throughout his early career and also exhibit them in the majors this year? 

Come on.   Of course, if Mountcastle had played at left field and first base for 4 years he would be better at those positions than if they had played them for a few months.

I think we have seen this year that Elias' pitching coaches and analytics have benefited the pitching prospects more than prior to 2019.  That includes Scott.

[Can_of_corn]

4 minutes ago, wildcard said:

Come on.   Of course, if Mountcastle had played at left field and first base for 4 years he would be better at those positions than if they had played them for a few months.

I think we have seen this year that Elias' pitching coaches and analytics have benefited the pitching prospects more than prior to 2019.  That includes Scott.

Maybe he'd be 25 pounds heavier?  Athletes do change body composition depending on the role they are playing.

[survivedc]

50 minutes ago, wildcard said:

Come on.   Of course, if Mountcastle had played at left field and first base for 4 years he would be better at those positions than if they had played them for a few months.

I think we have seen this year that Elias' pitching coaches and analytics have benefited the pitching prospects more than prior to 2019.  That includes Scott.

Would he be more comfortable in those positions today? Probably. Could it have hurt his confidence moving off those positions so early? Maybe. Does it make sense to allow him to prove he can’t handle those positions? Absolutely. 
 

At the end of the day, Mountcastle looks every bit the hitting stud he was at times reported to be. Weird to use him as an example of the prior staff failings.

[Frobby]

Astros 2012-18: 37 players, 63.1 WAR

Padres 26, 33.5

Dodgers 44, 57.8

Cubs 21, 43.6

A’s 30, 63.6

I haven’t looked at every team, but I’m pretty sure A’s, Astros, Dodgers are the top three.   

[Frobby]

5 hours ago, Frobby said:

Here’s who has made the majors from Duquette’s drafts so far (each year in descending WAR order):

2012: Gausman, Hader, Walker, Kline,  (20.9 WAR)

2013: Mancini, Yaz, D. Hart, Brault, Crichton, Wynns, Harvey, Sisco, Yacabonis, Heim, Tarpley (17.2 WAR)

2014: Means, Scott, Hess, Wilkerson (5.1 WAR)

2015: Stewart, Mountcastle, Meisinger, Mullins (1.3 WAR)

2016: Akin, Hays (0.5 WAR)

2017-18 nobody yet

Obviously the later the year, the more incomplete the picture.  But that’s 25 players who’ve produced 45.2 WAR so far.

Thinking about this group a bit more, it’s exactly 25 players, so enough to fill a major league roster in those years.   But, it consists of 14 pitcher and only 11 hitters, only one of whom ever played 2B/3B/SS in the majors, and that’s Wilkerson.  Three catchers, four true outfielders, one utility guy, three 1B/DH/COF types.   Only 2 of the 14 pitchers have ever had a good season as a starter.

[Jammer7]

On 9/18/2020 at 11:59 AM, Tony-OH said:

I'm going to nitpick here. I saw a few work out tapes of him and I could not believe he was a second round pick. Other than speed, he had no plus tool and I'll always remember watching him pull ground ball to second base during a BP session one after another. 

I never had major league talent, but let me tell you, my BP sessions in high school were typically line drive to left, left center, center, then left center as I tried to hot where pitches were thrown. he made absolutely no adjustments while cameras were on him and scouts were watching him.

If I were scouting him, I would have dropped him because of that. Now obviously i didn't get to see a lot of him so I don't know what else he did well, but he was a guy I never thought highly of and a guy i dropped from our Top 30 prospect list when BA still had him #4 in the organization. Let's just say I was an early adopter of him not being a prospect.

I remember you being critical of him quickly. The national media was very polarized about him. I remember BA saying this. His swing was on a downward plane and he had 30 power. I suppose they thought they could change his swing plane, which I thought they could as well. The sad thing is that Rajsich said he considered taking him in the first round if Hunter Harvey was not there.