Kiley McDaniel Mocks

[Sydnor]

Kiley McDaniel posted his Mock Draft 1.0. He has the O’s selecting Carson Benge. To be honest, I’ll be shocked if Benge makes it to the O’s pick, but would be happy if he did.

Carson Benge, CF, Oklahoma State

Benge and Cameron Smith are the two college bats in this range who I think it is easiest to imagine fixing/adjusting their swings to succeed in the pros, and both of them come with the upside you'd normally find only in the prep ranks. Benge is a plus runner who also has a plus arm (he has been clocked into the mid-90s on the mound) along with strong underlying hitting metrics, so it is believed he won't get past this pick given his fit to Baltimore's historical prospect type. Kaelen Culpepper comes up here, as does Waldschmidt, along with Honeycutt and Kellon Lindsey, though they may be more likely to fit at pick 32.

https://www.espn.com/mlb/insider/story/_/id/40233926/2024-mlb-mock-draft-kiley-mcdaniel-first-pick-projection-guardians

 

Edited May 29 by Sydnor

[RZNJ]

Benge sure does fit our profile.

[OsFanInOhio]

22 hours ago, Sydnor said:

Kiley McDaniel posted his Mock Draft 1.0. He has the O’s selecting Carson Benge. To be honest, I’ll be shocked if Benge makes it to the O’s pick, but would be happy if he did.

Carson Benge, CF, Oklahoma State

Benge and Cameron Smith are the two college bats in this range who I think it is easiest to imagine fixing/adjusting their swings to succeed in the pros, and both of them come with the upside you'd normally find only in the prep ranks. Benge is a plus runner who also has a plus arm (he has been clocked into the mid-90s on the mound) along with strong underlying hitting metrics, so it is believed he won't get past this pick given his fit to Baltimore's historical prospect type. Kaelen Culpepper comes up here, as does Waldschmidt, along with Honeycutt and Kellon Lindsey, though they may be more likely to fit at pick 32.

https://www.espn.com/mlb/insider/story/_/id/40233926/2024-mlb-mock-draft-kiley-mcdaniel-first-pick-projection-guardians

 

I’ve seen benge in a lot of mocks going either a pick or two before us or to us. Depends on how many hs ss move up the draft, as a lot of the college of bats will be gone and there’s a lack of college pitchers after the top 3. 

benge feels like the last of our type of pick unless any other college bats surge up the board or we take someone with more swing and miss like Dakota Jordan. 

[RZNJ]

38 minutes ago, OsFanInOhio said:

I’ve seen benge in a lot of mocks going either a pick or two before us or to us. Depends on how many hs ss move up the draft, as a lot of the college of bats will be gone and there’s a lack of college pitchers after the top 3. 

benge feels like the last of our type of pick unless any other college bats surge up the board or we take someone with more swing and miss like Dakota Jordan. 

I’d be surprised by a Dakota Jordan pick.   He feels like Elijah Green without the defense.

[OsFanInOhio]

29 minutes ago, RZNJ said:

I’d be surprised by a Dakota Jordan pick.   He feels like Elijah Green without the defense.

I agree, Jordan wouldn’t be among my top choices, but he’s the only college bat in that range that fits the mold assuming most of the guys projected to go in the top 20 are gone. 
 

to be fair, Elijah green without defense might not be the worst thing in the world. Huge power, good speed and a cannon of an arm, you would hope you can develop the defense if he has the speed and arm tools, at least in RF. Also, while Elijah green had similar swing and miss concerns, Jordan has managed to hit over 300 and ops over 900 and almost 1100 in two years in the SEC. A lot easier to get comfortable with that against that level of competition than a high schooler or a small school / conference. At back of the 1st or comp a, he’s got tons of upside. 

[RZNJ]

35 minutes ago, OsFanInOhio said:

I agree, Jordan wouldn’t be among my top choices, but he’s the only college bat in that range that fits the mold assuming most of the guys projected to go in the top 20 are gone. 
 

to be fair, Elijah green without defense might not be the worst thing in the world. Huge power, good speed and a cannon of an arm, you would hope you can develop the defense if he has the speed and arm tools, at least in RF. Also, while Elijah green had similar swing and miss concerns, Jordan has managed to hit over 300 and ops over 900 and almost 1100 in two years in the SEC. A lot easier to get comfortable with that against that level of competition than a high schooler or a small school / conference. At back of the 1st or comp a, he’s got tons of upside. 

Good points.  Maybe Jud Fabian is a better comp as for the swing and miss at an SEC school.

[OsFanInOhio]

34 minutes ago, RZNJ said:

Good points.  Maybe Jud Fabian is a better comp as for the swing and miss at an SEC school.

Yeah. That feels a bit better. Fabian but without the cf defense and lower swing and miss rates (I think Fabian was in the 30s, even in his last year, while Jordan is in the mid to high 20s maybe last I read something). 

[RZNJ]

7 minutes ago, OsFanInOhio said:

Yeah. That feels a bit better. Fabian but without the cf defense and lower swing and miss rates (I think Fabian was in the 30s, even in his last year, while Jordan is in the mid to high 20s maybe last I read something). 

Fabian struck out 29.3% his junior year.  22.2% his senior year.

Dakota Jordan was 28.5% this year.

Edited May 30 by RZNJ