2022 3rd Round Pick (#81): Nolan McLean- P - (Jr) Oklahoma State University

[Yossarian]

1 minute ago, foxfield said:

Angels can't keep all of their pitching.  We can trade for Joyce or someone better later.   

Angels and Phillies are most in need of immediate pitching help to capitalize on their stars (Trout, Ohtani - if they can keep him, Harper) window of prime performance. The O's have pitchers in the upper minors ready to trickle in to Baltimore. Re-stocking the low- and high-A teams with top players is a good strategy 

[Sydnor]

 

[RZNJ]

2 minutes ago, forphase1 said:

Probably.  But he didn't pitch much at all, which is really curious.  Looking at his stats and bio, sure seems more like a bat than an arm.

36% strikeout rate.  Even that is too much for the Orioles.    Reportedly mid 90's touching 98 out of the bullpen with good spin rates on a slider and cureball.   I'd guess they'll try to make a starter out of him.   35K's and 13 BB's in 25 IP using mostly a fastball.   Very physical looking pitcher.

[DrungoHazewood]

9 minutes ago, foxfield said:

I believe as a pitcher he made 2 appearances.  He also DH'd, played OF and 3b.  

23 appearances as a reliever.  25.1 innings, 20 hits, 13 walks 39 Ks.  Five saves.

.992 OPS as a hitter on a team that had an .893.  37 walks and 107 Ks in 290 PAs.  Which works out to a 37% K rate. I think that means he hit about .430 on balls in play.

So... Rougned Odor, but he also pitches the 8th inning?

[LTO's]

2 minutes ago, O-The-Memories said:

Yes, I think we still need starting pitching help badly. DL Hall has kind of been disappointing to me, and GRod needs to recover from an injury. Those are the only two that I think are near locks to be contributors on a good MLB team. Bradish has been horrible although there's still time. Other than that I'm not sure we have a lot of starting pitching coming up through the ranks. 

There were guys who don't need anywhere near the level of development that were available, and we have enough relievers already. 

If Hall is disappointing you this year then I think your expectations are little too high. 

[RZNJ]

Baseball America

 

McLean showed impressive raw power as a righthanded hitter and big arm strength with a fastball in the mid 90s out of high school. He made it to campus at Oklahoma State where he also was on the university’s football team initially, before dropping the sport and focusing on baseball. A two-way player with the Cowboys, McLean has continued to show massive raw power with top-end exit velocities around 110 mph, though that power has come with significant swing and miss. In 2022 McLean hit .285/.397/.595 with 19 home runs and 16 doubles, but he also struck out 107 times—good for a 36.9% strikeout rate. Because of that, teams might now be more excited about his upside as a pitcher. He posted a 4.97 ERA over 25.1 innings out of the bullpen, with 39 strikeouts (35.1 K%) and 13 walks (11.7 BB%). He attacks hitters with a high-usage fastball in the 94-95 mph range that’s been up to 98 this spring. While he overwhelmingly pitches off the fastball, McLean has shown some potential with both a mid-80s slider and upper-70s curveball that flashes hard, downward bite. Both pitches have impressive raw spin (in the 2,800-3,100 rpm range) but he’ll need to develop considerably more feel and consistency. McLean looks the part of a former football player on the mound, with an extremely physical and strong 6-foot-3, 205-pound frame.

[Yossarian]

At first glance I read his name as Norman McLean.  I thought his profile would be a trout fisherman from Missoula, Montana.

[Three Run Homer]

Even when they draft a pitcher, they don't really draft a pitcher.  

[Yossarian]

4 minutes ago, RZNJ said:

Baseball America

 

McLean showed impressive raw power as a righthanded hitter and big arm strength with a fastball in the mid 90s out of high school. He made it to campus at Oklahoma State where he also was on the university’s football team initially, before dropping the sport and focusing on baseball. A two-way player with the Cowboys, McLean has continued to show massive raw power with top-end exit velocities around 110 mph, though that power has come with significant swing and miss. In 2022 McLean hit .285/.397/.595 with 19 home runs and 16 doubles, but he also struck out 107 times—good for a 36.9% strikeout rate. Because of that, teams might now be more excited about his upside as a pitcher. He posted a 4.97 ERA over 25.1 innings out of the bullpen, with 39 strikeouts (35.1 K%) and 13 walks (11.7 BB%). He attacks hitters with a high-usage fastball in the 94-95 mph range that’s been up to 98 this spring. While he overwhelmingly pitches off the fastball, McLean has shown some potential with both a mid-80s slider and upper-70s curveball that flashes hard, downward bite. Both pitches have impressive raw spin (in the 2,800-3,100 rpm range) but he’ll need to develop considerably more feel and consistency. McLean looks the part of a former football player on the mound, with an extremely physical and strong 6-foot-3, 205-pound frame.

Drafted for that high spin rate?

[PHRESH]

Just now, Yossarian said:

Drafted for that high spin rate?

I assumed time to the plate 

[foxfield]

5 minutes ago, Yossarian said:

Angels and Phillies are most in need of immediate pitching help to capitalize on their stars (Trout, Ohtani - if they can keep him, Harper) window of prime performance. The O's have pitchers in the upper minors ready to trickle in to Baltimore. Re-stocking the low- and high-A teams with top players is a good strategy 

I am fine with what the O's are doing.  I don't admit to always understanding it.  It seems to be a very focused set of specific player type.  It seems they believe they can unlock something in them.  If they can do that consistently with guys, they will extract significant excess value.

There were some pretty attractive high upside starting pitching going into late yesterday and today.  They say some of that went just before they picked.  We will see.  But the idea of stocking the lower teams with some high risk high reward players seems very smart.

[RZNJ]

1 minute ago, Yossarian said:

Drafted for that high spin rate?

Not many innings on that arm either.

[Just Regular]

15 minutes ago, RZNJ said:

36% strikeout rate.  Even that is too much for the Orioles.    Reportedly mid 90's touching 98 out of the bullpen with good spin rates on a slider and cureball.   I'd guess they'll try to make a starter out of him.   35K's and 13 BB's in 25 IP using mostly a fastball.   Very physical looking pitcher.

The fun of this one for me is more Felix Bautista-ish. 

The nice thing about pitch data is it doesn't take a large sample size to have signficance.   My guess is this is more like enough pitches met certain parameters to make us like him more than 29 other Clubs.

Jackson Holliday's uncle is the OSU coach right?    Kind of figure the area scouts who saw Holliday also saw him a bit.

Maybe our first stab at the Gregg Olson, Chris Ray type guy?

[RZNJ]

15 minutes ago, Just Regular said:

The fun of this one for me is more Felix Bautista-ish. 

The nice thing about pitch data is it doesn't take a large sample size to have signficance.   My guess is this is more like enough pitches met certain parameters to make us like him more than 29 other Clubs.

Jackson Holliday's uncle is the OSU coach right?    Kind of figure the area scouts who saw Holliday also saw him a bit.

Maybe our first stab at the Gregg Olson, Chris Ray type guy?

I'm guessing they try to stretch him out as a starter.    A reliever in the 4th doesn't sound like their M.O.

[Just Regular]

1 minute ago, RZNJ said:

I'm guessing they try to stretch him out as a starter.    A reliever in the 4th doesn't sound like their M.O.

We'll see.    To exaggerate I kind of could picture him already ahead of Jordan Lyles on the Roster Power Rankings if we play the Central champ three games in October.

We know the Bats selection pattern, but Arms is still kind of a blank slate.