Keith Law Top 100

[Can_of_corn]

22 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

Interesting that he only calls for Kjerstad being a 20-25 homer guy and Holliday to be 25. Maybe he thinks Kjerstad will just be a platoon guy?

Or does he just not believe in the power like many people seem to?

Might doubt his ability to consistently barrel ML pitching.

[Moose Milligan]

I do not care if Enqique Bradfield hits for power or not.  Especially after that writeup.  I hope the Orioles don't care, either.

[Sports Guy]

Just now, Moose Milligan said:

I do not care if Enqique Bradfield hits for power or not.  Especially after that writeup.  I hope the Orioles don't care, either.

He has to show he can cause damage.  He can’t really just be a slap hitter.  And yea I know Pierre or Butler but I don’t see how citing a few expectations changes what the odds are.

5-10 homers is a number many of us have said and Law said the same thing here.  But 40+ doubles and triples combined should also be in play.  45-50 extra base hits overall…something like that.

With his speed he should be able to hit for a good average.  A 280/360/400 type line would be great.  Combine that with his speed and defense and he’s probably a 4+ WAR player.

[Moose Milligan]

2 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

He has to show he can cause damage.  He can’t really just be a slap hitter.  And yea I know Pierre or Butler but I don’t see how citing a few expectations changes what the odds are.

5-10 homers is a number many of us have said and Law said the same thing here.  But 40+ doubles and triples combined should also be in play.  45-50 extra base hits overall…something like that.

With his speed he should be able to hit for a good average.  A 280/360/400 type line would be great.  Combine that with his speed and defense and he’s probably a 4+ WAR player.

A lot of his value appears to be wrapped up in his defense, too, which is why I'm willing to give him a break on not hitting for a lot of power.

If that slash line is what he puts up and he's at the top of our order, that's fantastic.  40+ doubles would be a good metric, but I'm looking at him as an old school leadoff hitter type (with good OBP skills, some of those old school guys like Vince Coleman didn't on base enough) who can steal a lot of bases, especially with the new rules and set the table for the rest of the guys in the lineup.  And play GG level defense in CF, cover a lot of ground.

5-10 homers is fine.  I still consider that slap hitter-ish, but if he can put the ball in the gaps and take an extra base that's what I'm looking for instead.

[Sports Guy]

12 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

A lot of his value appears to be wrapped up in his defense, too, which is why I'm willing to give him a break on not hitting for a lot of power.

If that slash line is what he puts up and he's at the top of our order, that's fantastic.  40+ doubles would be a good metric, but I'm looking at him as an old school leadoff hitter type (with good OBP skills, some of those old school guys like Vince Coleman didn't on base enough) who can steal a lot of bases, especially with the new rules and set the table for the rest of the guys in the lineup.  And play GG level defense in CF, cover a lot of ground.

5-10 homers is fine.  I still consider that slap hitter-ish, but if he can put the ball in the gaps and take an extra base that's what I'm looking for instead.

Well I said 40+ doubles and triples..this guy probably will be an 8-15 triples a year guy. So, 25-30 doubles or so.

He honestly has a chance at being one of those must see, box office guys. His style of play, if he can put it together, will be extremely exciting. 

[Moose Milligan]

49 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

Well I said 40+ doubles and triples..this guy probably will be an 8-15 triples a year guy. So, 25-30 doubles or so.

He honestly has a chance at being one of those must see, box office guys. His style of play, if he can put it together, will be extremely exciting. 

Agreed.  Out of all the minor leaguers we have in the system headed into this year, he's the one I'm most interested in watching develop for sure.  

 

[Sports Guy]

11 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

Agreed.  Out of all the minor leaguers we have in the system headed into this year, he's the one I'm most interested in watching develop for sure.  

 

He will be @DrungoHazewood favorite player if he puts it together.

His style is the exact type of guy that Drungo likes to talk about from the old days, why teams should move fences back, etc…a real throw back type guy.

[J Dorian Gray]

3 hours ago, Rbiggs2525 said:

First report that high on Holliday defense. What I would say is last year I was surprised how good Westburg defense was. The OH and national reports seemed to say he was an average defender with a good bat. Either way Law always seemed to be hot take type of guy. 

I tend to believe that guys that are fringe average at SS, have the ability to be plus if you slide them over to 2b.  Westburg looked alot better at 2b than 3b as well.  His athletecism and range played really well at 2b.  Third didn't play to those strengths and while his arm is ok for the left side, it's not a strength. He has every day 2b or super utility guy written all over him. He's a really good athlete. 

I personally like Gunnar better at short than Holliday because of the difference in arm strength. Holliday's arm is solid.   Gunnar's is borderline special.

 

[J Dorian Gray]

1 hour ago, Sports Guy said:

Well I said 40+ doubles and triples..this guy probably will be an 8-15 triples a year guy. So, 25-30 doubles or so.

He honestly has a chance at being one of those must see, box office guys. His style of play, if he can put it together, will be extremely exciting. 

He won't end up being the best of these prospects, but he's the one I'm most excited to see play.  He seems like the perfect complementary roster piece for us. His potentially game changing defense may even allow us to get away with a Mayo or a Kerstad in LF in Baltimore.  Can't wait to see him play live this year. Praying he has a taste of AAA, so I don't have to drive too far. 

[Frobby]

4 hours ago, Spy Fox said:

Anyone know what he dislikes about Cowser?

He answered this last year.  If you go back to last year’s threads about Law I believe you’ll find it.  

[CaptainRedbeard]

EBJ is such an interesting player because power is the ONLY question with the bat. He’s got excellent contact ability, pitch recognition and chase rate. And he can even be successful hitting a ton of balls on the ground with his speed. He just needs to be able to unlock enough gap power that pitchers need to be slightly cautious when attacking him.

And it’s not like EBJ is a small and physically limited guy. He’s skinny but he’s over 6 feet and not an overly narrow frame. It’s not even a Joey Ortiz situation where you need to get every last drop of power out of him.

The Orioles got Joey Ortiz hitting balls with 115 EV so it just feels like they are going to figure something out with EBJ mechanically and he’s immediately going to be a huge prospect as soon as he starts hitting with any bit of line drive contact authority. 

[CaptainRedbeard]

EBJ’s line in 110 PA last year was hilarious: .291/.473/.329.  26 BB and 16 K. 25 SB and 2 CS. In 25 games!

He’s like a video game create-a-player where all the sliders are at 100 except for power, which is 0. 

[Tony-OH]

5 hours ago, Sports Guy said:

Interesting that he only calls for Kjerstad being a 20-25 homer guy and Holliday to be 25. Maybe he thinks Kjerstad will just be a platoon guy?

Or does he just not believe in the power like many people seem to?

Maybe it's because Kjerstad is going into his 25-year old season and has not really turned his plus raw power into consistent game power yet. I'm hopeful that it will, but the truth is he hasn't done it yet.

[jamalshw]

Law always seems to love the athletic types. He had a thing for Adam Hall back in the day which didn't pan out. His latest fav that he was higher on than others for the Orioles was Ortiz before he was dealt (though he still has him higher than most). Now, it's Bradfield. These are the types that can sometimes exceed the consensus expectations, but they're also volatile and can underachieve as well. If there's not enough threat there in a guy like Bradfield, his ability to get on base will struggle as he will constantly get challenged, making it harder to draw a walk. BUT as has been stated already in this thread if he shows a bit of power (and it doesn't even have to be home run power, just the ability to get it in the gap and off the wall) he has the tool set to succeed. And so by putting guys like Bradfield higher on his last than others, he can say "see, I was right" if he hits, meanwhile most forget it and chalk it up to "prospects are hard to predict" when he's wrong. 

[RZNJ]

Bradfield will hit 10 home runs or more this year.   Over the fence home runs.