Law Mock draft

[waroriole]

1 hour ago, MCO'sFan said:

LOL, I wonder if the change in coaching at Alabama will affect his thought process?

You’d think setting foot in Tuscaloosa would be enough to say “ewww, hell no.” So I don’t know if there is a thought process. 

[SpOkane]

19 hours ago, Just Regular said:

I don't know if Elias loosened up any on Holliday, but I remember an anecdote on Adley v. Witt that people in the room with Elias the hour before the draft still didn't know his intention.     I believe even in that hour he was probably grinding the player reps for any sliver of extra resources for others, which is his job.

He's demonstrated enough aptitude these now almost 5 years for this kind of thing I know pundits want clicks, but I don't read much into any of it.

I will enjoy the fun of it if we draft whoever is the Gregg Olson type guy.

Wonder if Witt's uncle being an O's scout had anything to do with Elias' close-lipped calculus?

[MCO'sFan]

21 minutes ago, waroriole said:

You’d think setting foot in Tuscaloosa would be enough to say “ewww, hell no.” So I don’t know if there is a thought process. 

LOL... You may not appreciate this but I was in law enforcement and traveled to NO after Katrina as a supplemental LEO. Anyway, the folks at University of Alabama put us up in a hotel and fed us for free. I was very appreciative of their hospitality and generosity. 

[Sports Guy]

Law’s newest mock draft:

17. Baltimore Orioles — Arjun Nimmala, SS, Strawberry Crest HS (FL)

DOB: 10-16-2005 | Height: 6-1 | Weight: 170

All the rumors here are bats, mostly high school, including Nimmala, Bryce Eldridge, and the very obvious Nolan Schanuel as a stats darling. One source threw out the possibility that they might go after Noble Meyer if he gets here, even with Mike Elias’ known disinclination to take pitching in the first round, because he’d represent unusual upside and value at pick 17 – exactly the spot where Elias took Forrest Whitley as Houston’s scouting director – and he has some excellent pitch characteristics.

Scouting Report: Nimmala is one of the youngest players in the entire draft class, as he won’t turn 18 until November, which will appeal to all the teams that value age in their draft models. But he’s also very talented and would still be a first-rounder even if he were 18 already. Nimmala is a lean 6-1 and already shows above-average power with a strong swing that makes excellent use of his hips to generate that contact quality. He’s a rangy shortstop with good hands and an easy plus arm, and although he’s probably just an average runner in the end, he’s certain to stay at the position long term. Where he falls short of the high school hitters above him in my rankings is in his present hit tool, as he’s shown more propensity to swing and miss than his peers (though he seems to hit velocity fine). If he didn’t have that, he’d be in that uppermost tier of players, since he’d have the hit tool, power and defense at a critical position. Instead, he offers the potential for that sort of player with a slightly longer timeframe, and greater risk around his ability to hit when he enters pro ball.
 

https://theathletic.com/4646310/2023/06/29/mlb-mock-draft-paul-skenes-pirates/?source=user_shared_article

[clapdiddy]

30 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

Law’s newest mock draft:

17. Baltimore Orioles — Arjun Nimmala, SS, Strawberry Crest HS (FL)

DOB: 10-16-2005 | Height: 6-1 | Weight: 170

All the rumors here are bats, mostly high school, including Nimmala, Bryce Eldridge, and the very obvious Nolan Schanuel as a stats darling. One source threw out the possibility that they might go after Noble Meyer if he gets here, even with Mike Elias’ known disinclination to take pitching in the first round, because he’d represent unusual upside and value at pick 17 – exactly the spot where Elias took Forrest Whitley as Houston’s scouting director – and he has some excellent pitch characteristics.

Scouting Report: Nimmala is one of the youngest players in the entire draft class, as he won’t turn 18 until November, which will appeal to all the teams that value age in their draft models. But he’s also very talented and would still be a first-rounder even if he were 18 already. Nimmala is a lean 6-1 and already shows above-average power with a strong swing that makes excellent use of his hips to generate that contact quality. He’s a rangy shortstop with good hands and an easy plus arm, and although he’s probably just an average runner in the end, he’s certain to stay at the position long term. Where he falls short of the high school hitters above him in my rankings is in his present hit tool, as he’s shown more propensity to swing and miss than his peers (though he seems to hit velocity fine). If he didn’t have that, he’d be in that uppermost tier of players, since he’d have the hit tool, power and defense at a critical position. Instead, he offers the potential for that sort of player with a slightly longer timeframe, and greater risk around his ability to hit when he enters pro ball.
 

https://theathletic.com/4646310/2023/06/29/mlb-mock-draft-paul-skenes-pirates/?source=user_shared_article

Sounds like the toolsy type of player that Elias will go after.   Keep the pipeline coming...

[Sports Guy]

1 minute ago, clapdiddy said:

Sounds like the toolsy type of player that Elias will go after.   Keep the pipeline coming...

If he’s there, I would be surprised if he’s not the pick although maybe others drop too. This is supposed to be a really good draft, so there is going to be value there.

A HS player is my assumption.

[SpOkane]

23 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

If he’s there, I would be surprised if he’s not the pick although maybe others drop too. This is supposed to be a really good draft, so there is going to be value there.

A HS player is my assumption.

Not sure what Law thinks, but Callis/Mayo have said that in a normal draft year any one of the top 5 (Skenes/Crews/Langford Jenkins/Clark) would usually be favored to be drafted 1:1.  Pre-season they were also saying that about Dollander who may not even be drafted in the top 10 now. Also, heard mentioned, not sure if Callis/Mayo or Longenhagen, that there are so many quality HS bats that could be taken in the first 2-3 rounds that some are bound to go to college.  O's could walk away with 2-3 HS bats with their first 5 picks in the Top 100.

[bpilktree67]

The advantage with selecting Nimmala is that we would clearly have the best Cricket player in professional baseball, as we was a nationally known cricket player coming up as a kid.  There is a nice article on how he is still learning baseball as a teenager with cricket being his number 1 sport.  

[Sports Guy]

11 minutes ago, SpOkane said:

Not sure what Law thinks, but Callis/Mayo have said that in a normal draft year any one of the top 5 (Skenes/Crews/Langford Jenkins/Clark) would usually be favored to be drafted 1:1.  Pre-season they were also saying that about Dollander who may not even be drafted in the top 10 now. Also, heard mentioned, not sure if Callis/Mayo or Longenhagen, that there are so many quality HS bats that could be taken in the first 2-3 rounds that some are bound to go to college.  O's could walk away with 2-3 HS bats with their first 5 picks in the Top 100.

Yea, the talk is that you could see high end HS bats fall to the second and third rounds because of all the college players and the demands of the HS kids.

I read an article last week that speculated the Yankees could just go nuts on this draft and just punt the next few drafts because of the penalties they would get for going way over slot this year.

But the thought was that this is the best draft we have seen in a long time and it may be worth it for a team to do that.

Now, I’m not suggesting the Os do that but I have no problem is spend all their money on just 3-4 players and then just take college seniors with the rest of their top 10 picks and pay them 25-100k bonuses.

Those guys have zero leverage, so they will sign and if they don’t, who cares if you are able to get 3-4 top 75ish talents.

If Elias decided to do that (which I doubt he will do), I would welcome that.

[clapdiddy]

16 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

Yea, the talk is that you could see high end HS bats fall to the second and third rounds because of all the college players and the demands of the HS kids.

I read an article last week that speculated the Yankees could just go nuts on this draft and just punt the next few drafts because of the penalties they would get for going way over slot this year.

But the thought was that this is the best draft we have seen in a long time and it may be worth it for a team to do that.

Now, I’m not suggesting the Os do that but I have no problem is spend all their money on just 3-4 players and then just take college seniors with the rest of their top 10 picks and pay them 25-100k bonuses.

Those guys have zero leverage, so they will sign and if they don’t, who cares if you are able to get 3-4 top 75ish talents.

If Elias decided to do that (which I doubt he will do), I would welcome that.

The draft is a crap shoot anyway.  I kind of like the idea of drafting high-end high school guys mixed in with college senior signings.    It's obvious that they know the specific types of players they want, so just stick to the formula.   Keep filling the lower ends of the farm system.

The one thing I would not mind seeing, however, is a focus on bullpen arms with those college seniors.  I'd like to see them go after a couple of guys that could quickly rise and be the 6th/7th inning types. 

[Sports Guy]

2 minutes ago, clapdiddy said:

The draft is a crap shoot anyway.  I kind of like the idea of drafting high-end high school guys mixed in with college senior signings.    It's obvious that they know the specific types of players they want, so just stick to the formula.   Keep filling the lower ends of the farm system.

The one thing I would not mind seeing, however, is a focus on bullpen arms with those college seniors.  I'd like to see them go after a couple of guys that could quickly rise and be the 6th/7th inning types. 

Yep…I would definitely be targeting relievers, especially in a scenario like that one.

[Sports Guy]

Good article by McDaniel on Nimmala:

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/37929232/mlb-draft-2023-arjun-nimmala-cricket-baseball

[clapdiddy]

4 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

Good article by McDaniel on Nimmala:

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/37929232/mlb-draft-2023-arjun-nimmala-cricket-baseball

Holy cow!   I clicked on your link and thought "Why is there a picture of Kyle Hamilton here?"! 

[Gurgi]

On 6/27/2023 at 8:08 PM, emmett16 said:

I hope Nimala is available for the taking.  I can’t see them passing on him if available.  Sounds like he could go much higher and 17 is about his floor.  Fill the whole damn system with SS and figure out the rest later.  

Thats Earl Weavers belief for sure.

[waroriole]

Nimmala is very interesting. One of the youngest and also late to playing baseball. Theoretically, he would have the most projection. Of course the EVs are right up this FOs alley.