Keith Law Top 60 Prospects

[MurphDogg]

Keith Law just released a new top 60 prospects list. This list includes 7 recent draftees.

1. Jackson Holliday 

34. Sammy Basallo

36. Joey Ortiz

56. Heston Kjerstad

Law has always been high on Ortiz and based on his blurb, he thinks he should be an MLB starting shortstop right now (although notes that he is blocked behind Gunnar and Westburg and soon Holliday..

Highest I have seen anyone on Basallo, Law believes him to maybe have 70 FV power and thinks he can stay at catcher, saying that he would be the catcher of the future for the majority of MLB teams right now.

Law calls Holliday "a true shortstop"

Law hadn't ranked Kjerstad in his last ranking, which went to 100, so a bump to 56 is high praise, especially adding 7 2023 draftees. He notes minor AAA red flags "he’s chasing stuff out of the zone too much and still has struggles with same-side breaking balls".

Connor Norby is the only Oriole listed among his 19 honorable mentions, so no sign of Mayo.

The list only includes players currently in the minors which explains the absence of Westburg and Cowser.

Edited July 21, 2023 by MurphDogg

[RZNJ]

Great to hear on Basallo.    

[Gurgi]

19 minutes ago, MurphDogg said:

Keith Law just released a new top 60 prospects list. This list includes 7 recent draftees.

1. Jackson Holliday 

34. Sammy Basallo

36. Joey Ortiz

56. Heston Kjerstad

Law has always been high on Ortiz and based on his blurb, he thinks he should be an MLB starting shortstop right now (although notes that he is blocked behind Gunnar and Westburg and soon Holliday..

Highest I have seen anyone on Basallo, Law believes him to maybe have 70 FV power and thinks he can stay at catcher, saying that he would be the catcher of the future for the majority of MLB teams right now.

Law calls Holliday "a true shortstop"

Law hadn't ranked Kjerstad in his last ranking, which went to 100, so a bump to 56 is high praise, especially adding 7 2023 draftees. He notes minor AAA red flags "he’s chasing stuff out of the zone too much and still has struggles with same-side breaking balls".

Connor Norby is the only Oriole listed among his 19 honorable mentions, so no sign of Mayo.

The list only includes players currently in the minors which explains the absence of Westburg and Cowser.

I think he is missing on Mayo.  This kid will be a star at the majors.  

[MurphDogg]

5 minutes ago, Gurgi said:

I think he is missing on Mayo.  This kid will be a star at the majors.  

In his pre-season Orioles top 20 prospects list, he said he thinks Mayo will outgrow third and is a first baseman long term.

I like Mayo and I think he is a big leaguer, but it is tough to rank a someone that highly who is a first baseman who doesn't have 70 power. If I recall correctly, Law has a heavier bias against first basemen than other prospect writers, he doesn't have a single first baseman on his top 60 or among his 19 honorable mentions.

If he was likely to stay at third or even a sure thing in right, my guess is that he would be ranked by Law.

 

[Tony-OH]

40 minutes ago, MurphDogg said:

Keith Law just released a new top 60 prospects list. This list includes 7 recent draftees.

1. Jackson Holliday 

34. Sammy Basallo

36. Joey Ortiz

56. Heston Kjerstad

Law has always been high on Ortiz and based on his blurb, he thinks he should be an MLB starting shortstop right now (although notes that he is blocked behind Gunnar and Westburg and soon Holliday..

Highest I have seen anyone on Basallo, Law believes him to maybe have 70 FV power and thinks he can stay at catcher, saying that he would be the catcher of the future for the majority of MLB teams right now.

Law calls Holliday "a true shortstop"

Law hadn't ranked Kjerstad in his last ranking, which went to 100, so a bump to 56 is high praise, especially adding 7 2023 draftees. He notes minor AAA red flags "he’s chasing stuff out of the zone too much and still has struggles with same-side breaking balls".

Connor Norby is the only Oriole listed among his 19 honorable mentions, so no sign of Mayo.

The list only includes players currently in the minors which explains the absence of Westburg and Cowser.

Interesting to see his lack of love for Mayo. I'm a bit surprised.

[emmett16]

41 minutes ago, Gurgi said:

I think he is missing on Mayo.  This kid will be a star at the majors.  

So long as he doesn’t blow his back out taking Ruthian hacks.  

[Hank Scorpio]

24 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

Interesting to see his lack of love for Mayo. I'm a bit surprised.

Defensive shortcomings, you think?

[RZNJ]

35 minutes ago, MurphDogg said:

In his pre-season Orioles top 20 prospects list, he said he thinks Mayo will outgrow third and is a first baseman long term.

I like Mayo and I think he is a big leaguer, but it is tough to rank a someone that highly who is a first baseman who doesn't have 70 power. If I recall correctly, Law has a heavier bias against first basemen than other prospect writers, he doesn't have a single first baseman on his top 60 or among his 19 honorable mentions.

If he was likely to stay at third or even a sure thing in right, my guess is that he would be ranked by Law.

 

Agree that future position hurts Mayos ranking.   Hard to believe that big boys power doesn’t deserve a 70 rating.  Law mentioned 70 Fv power with Basallo.   Basallo does seem to have a smoother swing and easier oppo power than Mayo but Mayo has started to tap into his oppo power and his pull power looks second to no one, to me.

Edited July 21, 2023 by RZNJ

[Tony-OH]

2 minutes ago, Hank Scorpio said:

Defensive shortcomings, you think?

Perhaps?? I don't know because other than seeing what people post here about his thoughts on Orioles prospects, I don't really follow him that closely. 

Here's the thing with Mayo defensively. I think he's got the tools to be a very good defensive 1st baseman although I do think he can play 3B if you willing to live with the errors a bit. If the bats plays the way it should, he'll be fine at 1B. Remember, Mayo would have been drafted this year had he gone to college.

You can't tell me had he developed like he did with the O's that he would not have been a top 3 if not top overall player taken in this draft? Imagine drafting a guy out of college and be able to place him in AAA already? 

[Sports Guy]

I don’t get the idea of not having Mayo on here but you have Kjerstad. That’s a head scratcher to me.

Law always stays with his favorites, which explains Ortiz and Norby.  How he scouts them from the beginning mean a lot in his rankings long term.

[Sports Guy]

On Holliday:

He’s also a true shortstop who’s been impressive at the position, both with his range and his instincts as the ball leaves the bat. 

[MurphDogg]

When asked about Mayo on Twitter, he replied that he is a top 100 guy.

[Alasdaire]

If Holliday is a "true shortstop," and Ortiz would be a plus shortstop for many MLB teams right now, and Jorge Mateo is a borderline GG shortstop--remind me, why are we running Gunnar Henderson out there at short? He needs the reps at third, just leave him be there.

[RZNJ]

8 minutes ago, Alasdaire said:

If Holliday is a "true shortstop," and Ortiz would be a plus shortstop for many MLB teams right now, and Jorge Mateo is a borderline GG shortstop--remind me, why are we running Gunnar Henderson out there at short? He needs the reps at third, just leave him be there.

Henderson gives the best combination of offense and defense at the position.  Mateo is the weakest batter on the team.   Westburg and Urías are plus defenders at 2B/3B.   Hopefully, you won’t have to be reminded again why your first place Baltimore Orioles have decided this is best alignment for the team on most nights.

[Alasdaire]

Just now, RZNJ said:

Henderson gives the best combination of offense and defense at the position.  Mateo is the weakest batter on the team.   Westburg and Urías are plus defenders at 2B/3B.   Hopefully, you won’t have to be reminded again why your first place Baltimore Orioles have decided this is best alignment for the team on most nights.

I guess if you're just looking at this year, you can justify playing Gunnar at short since only really he and Mateo can man the position. But it seems like you could more than get away with Mateo/Ortiz now, some combination of Mateo/Ortiz/Holliday next year, and then Holliday after that. All three of them are arguably better defensively than Gunnar.

And there's no clear 3B of the future other than Gunnar. I actually think his skillset is better suited to 3B than SS and he could be really good at that position whereas he's probably just an average SS at best. But he needs works there, so just move him to third now and let him get better sooner than later.

What makes you think Westburg is a plus defender at any position? I wouldn't put him in the same zip code as Ramon in the field.