Rule 5: Orioles Select Mac Sceroler, RHP (Reds) Nephew of Ben McDonald

[wildcard]

1 hour ago, Tony-OH said:

True TORs are not easy to find and develop. I personally don't see Hall as a potential TOR because of his control issues. Right now, Elias has been acquiring a stable of decent arms that he hopes will bear some fruit.

He has drafted mainly hitters in his first ten rounds, but has been trading mostly for pitchers, including three that have never pitched professionally (like extra draft picks.)

Now the good news is we can assume that he has metrics like spin rates and such on these guys and that's why he's been targeting them. It remains to be seen whether that will pay off or not.
 

He could have had three.  Asa Lacy.

[wildcard]

1 hour ago, LookinUp said:

Baumann doesn't have true a TOR profile, but if healthy and getting close to his ceiling his power stuff will be really nice to have. There are also rumors about international guys, but to us they're just rumors until we actually see anything. The O's have a better idea for sure (not saying any TOR exist down there either).

Its a big if.   Just have to wait until he starts throwing and see how he does.

[murph]

Apologies if this was already noted but on the Fan today, Big Ben said Mac may (he wasn’t certain) have been held out of the Arizona fall league because the Reds didn’t want other teams to see what he has.   If so; the Reds thought highly of him, albeit not enough to protect him from the rule V. 

[wildcard]

17 minutes ago, murph said:

Apologies if this was already noted but on the Fan today, Big Ben said Mac may (he wasn’t certain) have been held out of the Arizona fall league because the Reds didn’t want other teams to see what he has.   If so; the Reds thought highly of him, albeit not enough to protect him from the rule V. 

Anything else that you can report from Ben?

[Roll Tide]

19 hours ago, Philip said:

I probably missed this, because there are several different threads dealing with this subject, but do these guys slot anywhere into our top 30?

No

 

[murph]

3 hours ago, wildcard said:

Anything else that you can report from Ben?

Didn’t catch the whole segment, but he sounded neutral on the Chris Davis recent quotes and praised Kremer when asked about the up and coming group of pitchers.    Don’t remember anything else significant.   

[Philip]

On 12/11/2020 at 1:53 PM, LookinUp said:

Cole, Strasburg, Buehler and others show how valuable a lock down starter still is when it matters. 

#3's might get us into the playoffs, but to be the best, you have to beat the best. 

woooooooooooo!

I will remind you of 2014, when we beat three cy young winners?

Edited December 13, 2020 by Philip

[Frobby]

11 hours ago, wildcard said:

But there are only 2 TOR prospects in the whole O's farm system ....Rodriguez and DL Hall.  Heaven help the O's if one of them does not develop.   Its Elias biggest hole.

Interestingly, Elias said in his interview tonight that he thinks Means is a top of rotation starter.   Surprisingly high praise.   

[Roll Tide]

7 hours ago, Frobby said:

Interestingly, Elias said in his interview tonight that he thinks Means is a top of rotation starter.   Surprisingly high praise.   

I don’t share his optimism! I’m not saying he can be a solid mid rotation guy but his stuff is not good enough to be elite IMO

[DrungoHazewood]

8 hours ago, Frobby said:

Interestingly, Elias said in his interview tonight that he thinks Means is a top of rotation starter.   Surprisingly high praise.   

Top of whose rotation?  When a GM gives 15 interviews a month some words are going to come out of his mouth that probably don't need to be taken literally.

[ChosenOne21]

If a "Top or the Rotation starter" is a #1 or #2 on most teams, and we define #1 as in the 80th percentile for starting pitchers and #2 as the 60th percentile, I don't think it's wrong to call Means a Top of the Rotation starter. I know people use those definitions differently, but I think my definitions are more stable

I call those shutdown guys you want starting three games for you in a seven-game playoff series "Aces." Means certainly hasn't been that, and I wouldn't say it's likely he becomes that either

[Philip]

10 hours ago, Frobby said:

Interestingly, Elias said in his interview tonight that he thinks Means is a top of rotation starter.   Surprisingly high praise.   

Do you think that comment is justified or just Rah-Rah for the crowd?

[weams]

 

 

[Frobby]

1 hour ago, Philip said:

Do you think that comment is justified or just Rah-Rah for the crowd?

No, I don’t think it was a rah rah statement.   I’m trying to remember exactly how it came up and exactly what Elias said.   It was something like, “with the strides Means made at the end of the season, we think he can be a top of rotation starter.”   So, it wasn’t a 100% definitive statement.  But it certainly was very complimentary.    

Means really did finish the year in very impressive fashion.   Of course, so did Brian Matusz in 2010.   
 

[Oriole1940]

I do not devote as much of my life to Orioles things as many of you do, but I do have literally 75 years of following baseball and a number of teams in both leagues.  Started when my uncle took me to my first baseball game. Browns vs Yankees.   I do not know how good Means is going to get, but I believe he has not reached his upside yet.  He appears to be bright, with an excellent work ethic, and seems to always be trying to improve his pitching.  I really like the fact that his velocity ticked up recently which shows me he is still improving.   To me it is not important if he could someday be a Tor on some better team, but that he might be a Tor  on the Orioles team.  I think he is close to that,  not very high bar right now.  Hope he keeps being hungry and the learning continues.