Who and why?

[QBsILLEST1]

Who is your top draft choice and why? I've ,been in and out so much I haven't heard much of the public opinion around here on this and with so much hype surrounding Machado I am curious on everyone's opinion....

I like Taillon and to me he looks like the 2nd best talent in the draft with a ceiling that only a handful of pitchers in pro ball will have. He is the only arm in this draft we could add to the system that WON'T be redundant because he brings to the table true TOR potential.

Machado is high on everyone else's overall draft board, but he falls a good bit behind Taillon to me, closer to Whitson IMO....

[Duke2010]

Who is your top draft choice and why? I've ,been in and out so much I haven't heard much of the public opinion around here on this and with so much hype surrounding Machado I am curious on everyone's opinion....

I like Taillon and to me he looks like the 2nd best talent in the draft with a ceiling that only a handful of pitchers in pro ball will have. He is the only arm in this draft we could add to the system that WON'T be redundant because he brings to the table true TOR potential.

Machado is high on everyone else's draft board, but he falls a good bit behind Tillman to me, closer to Whitson IMO....

Just for clarification, but Machado is a SS, not a high school arm. I was curious as to why you would compare him to Whitson and even Tillman.

Anyway, I would take Taillon because I believe that he is the second best talent in the draft. I would be disappointed with any other high school arm at that slot. I like Machado, but I think that Taillon is more talented and carries less of a bust factor. I certainly wouldn't be disappointed if we took the young infielder, but I really think that Taillon would give us a true TOR profile which is something that we lack.

My top 5 preferences would be:

1) Taillon

2) Machado

3) Pomeranz

4) Cox

5) Chris Sale

[QBsILLEST1]

Just for clarification, but Machado is a SS, not a high school arm. I was curious as to why you would compare him to Whitson and even Tillman.

Anyway, I would take Taillon because I believe that he is the second best talent in the draft. I would be disappointed with any other high school arm at that slot. I like Machado, but I think that Taillon is more talented and carries less of a bust factor. I certainly wouldn't be disappointed if we took the young infielder, but I really think that Taillon would give us a true TOR profile which is something that we lack.

My top 5 preferences would be:

1) Taillon

2) Machado

3) Pomeranz

4) Cox

5) Chris Sale

Thanks for the clarification, I didn't realize it sounded like that when I wrote my OP. I agree with mostly what you say here except I still like some HS arms more than you. I am not as high on Machado as everyone else seems to be, I musta missed the memo on him. I still like Cabrera's power over his, but I believe Machado is a better bet to stick at SS.

Draft Board:

Taillon

Whitson

Harvey

Pomeranz

Sale

Can you tell I like pitching prospects a bit more than hitting prospects?

And I meant Taillon not Tillman, it was late lat night when I wrote this OP.....And when I was referring to Machado being behind Whitson and Taillon on my board, I meant overall board. I guess calling Taillon Tillman kinda threw everything off.....

[Hutman]

Thanks for the clarification, I didn't realize it sounded like that when I wrote my OP. I agree with mostly what you say here except I still like some HS arms more than you. I am not as high on Machado as everyone else seems to be, I musta missed the memo on him. I still like Cabrera's power over his, but I believe Machado is a better bet to stick at SS.

Draft Board:

Taillon

Whitson

Harvey

Pomeranz

Sale

Can you tell I like pitching prospects a bit more than hitting prospects?

And I meant Taillon not Tillman, it was late lat night when I wrote this OP.....And when I was referring to Machado being behind Whitson and Taillon on my board, I meant overall board. I guess calling Taillon Tillman kinda threw everything off.....

I'm the opposite, after Tallion who i like a lot, its Machado and Cox for me at # 3 i don't think the college arms rate as a future # 1 or even a # 2. So i either go for a premium position player (Machado) or the best college bat in the draft not named Harper.

[JTrea81]

Zack Cox, because Taillon while he's a great talent is more risky and is several years away from helping this team, and there will likely be another Taillon in next year's draft for us to pick. Pitching is quite easy to find in any draft.

And Machado is a HS bat, and while he has the tools, this organization has been extremely lousy at developing HS position players.

Cox is an advanced college bat, and can fill a need for us rather quickly, and he's the most polished bat in the draft.

He'd be the Matusz of position players in this draft IMO and would be a nice safe pick at #3.

[waroriole]

Harper

Taillon

Whitson

Machado

[QBsILLEST1]

Zack Cox, because Taillon while he's a great talent is more risky and is several years away from helping this team, and there will likely be another Taillon in next year's draft for us to pick. Pitching is quite easy to find in any draft.

And Machado is a HS bat, and while he has the tools, this organization has been extremely lousy at developing HS position players.

Cox is an advanced college bat, and can fill a need for us rather quickly, and he's the most polished bat in the draft.

He'd be the Matusz of position players in this draft IMO and would be a nice safe pick at #3.

I disagree, Taillon is by far a much more talented player. Taking Cox over him would be drafting for need AND would be a huge mistake. And furthermore, if we are drafting for need, why are we redundantly drafting Cox when Bell is closer and brings a level of safety that Cox is unable to do. This is a waste of resources. Taillon is not redundant, he will be the best SP prospect in our system, and will probably become our true #1 SP, better than Matusz.

If you have the resources, and have the choice to be able to choose between gold or silver today at the market, why choose silver today because the gold will be available next week too? Why not buy gold this week and next week as well?

If you thought Cox was a better talent than Taillon, cool, I understand, but if you agree Taillon is better, then he should be the pick. Besides, I wouldn't be shocked if Taillon beats Cox to the ML, so no, I don't think it will take Taillon a few years to make the ML team. I'd say like I said yesterday that if we picked Taillon this year and Cole or Jungmann next year, they will both arrive around the same time to the majors.....

I guess I was just never that high on Zach Cox....

[JTrea81]

I disagree, Taillon is by far a much more talented player. Taking Cox over him would be drafting for need AND would be a huge mistake. And furthermore, if we are drafting for need, why are we redundantly drafting Cox when Bell is closer and brings a level of safety that Cox is unable to do. This is a waste of resources. Taillon is not redundant, he will be the best SP prospect in our system, and will probably become our true #1 SP, better than Matusz.

If you have the resources, and have the choice to be able to choose between gold or silver today at the market, why choose silver today because the gold will be available next week too? Why not buy gold this week and next week as well?

If you thought Cox was a better talent than Taillon, cool, I understand, but if you agree Taillon is better, then he should be the pick. Besides, I wouldn't be shocked if Taillon beats Cox to the ML, so no, I don't think it will take Taillon a few years to make the ML team. I'd say like I said yesterday that if we picked Taillon this year and Cole or Jungmann next year, they will both arrive around the same time to the majors.....

Why do you like Cox so much?

Because the Orioles need advanced postional players badly in their system and he is the best one in the draft.

Bell may be better than Cox, or not, but positional depth is not a bad thing.

The Reds had Votto, but they still took Alonso in 2008.

As I said usually you take the best player available in the draft, but when your system is so skewed toward pitching, you can't pass up an opportunity to add an advanced position player. And I don't think Taillon is that far ahead of Cox.

[berto]

I hope its one of either Jameson Tallion, Drew Pomeranz, or Zach Cox. I don't think we can pass on Tallion if he is still there and I feel Pomeranz and Cox are the next best choices. I also wouldn't mind Chris Sale. I am not a big fan of Manny Machado though.

[Avsfan]

RZNJ for the win...

That was like the friggin' state of the union right there...eloquent as heck.

[DocJJ]

The only 2 guys I've seen play:

I'd take Taillon hands down. He's ACE material and you can't pass that up. If the Bucs take him (which I doubt they will, but if they do), then I go with Machado. I think he'll be a complete stud.

[Stotle]

The only 2 guys I've seen play:

I'd take Taillon hands down. He's ACE material and you can't pass that up. If the Bucs take him (which I doubt they will, but if they do), then I go with Machado. I think he'll be a complete stud.

That's an odd pairing to be the only two you've seen. Where did you see them?

[PBR Street Gang]

Taillon and Machado are but over-hyped. Neither have lived up to their billing this year and are basically living off what they did last summer. If they were so great they would be far and away head and shoulders above their peers and they're not.

They say Taillon throws 98, but if he did he'd be impossible to hit at the HS level. He was hittable. Is Machado a franchise changer? Doubtful. He doesn't look like a fluid athlete.

Are they excellent baseball players? Yeah. Are they 2 of the three best baseball players eligible for the draft this year? NO.

[odogs101]

Taillon and Machado are but over-hyped. Neither have lived up to their billing this year and are basically living off what they did last summer. If they were so great they would be far and away head and shoulders above their peers and they're not.

They say Taillon throws 98, but if he did he'd be impossible to hit at the HS level. He was hittable. Is Machado a franchise changer? Doubtful. He doesn't look like a fluid athlete.

Are they excellent baseball players? Yeah. Are they 2 of the three best baseball players eligible for the draft this year? NO.

Ok, I'll bite. Who are your top three talents in this draft?

[QBsILLEST1]

Taillon and Machado are but over-hyped. Neither have lived up to their billing this year and are basically living off what they did last summer. If they were so great they would be far and away head and shoulders above their peers and they're not.

They say Taillon throws 98, but if he did he'd be impossible to hit at the HS level. He was hittable. Is Machado a franchise changer? Doubtful. He doesn't look like a fluid athlete.

Are they excellent baseball players? Yeah. Are they 2 of the three best baseball players eligible for the draft this year? NO.

Actually Taillon tops out at 99 MPH, BUT topping out doesn't mean he lives at 99 MPH all day every day. If you knew anything about baseball or pitching you would know that if a pitcher can TOUCH 99 MPH, then he certainly doesn't throw 99 MPH on every fastball he throws. Taillon normally is anywhere from the mid to upper 90's, and the fact that his velocity jumped a few MPH to just shy of triple digits, to go aloong with his plus secondary offerings, these improvements have definitely improved his prospect status.