GDT | 2021 First-Year Player Draft | Day 3 | July 13 — 12:00 PM ET

[Spanky99]

Thanks for all the info on most of these guys, dudes! In all of the threads, very much appreciated.

[Brownie19]

This is kind of cool.

 

Adam Tulloch was drafted in the 17th round by the Dodgers. Big 6'2" lefty who pitched at WV this past year. He has really good stuff. Sits 93-94 with really good spin on his 4 seamer. Good secondary's, but has always battled his command.

 

My wife used to babysit him and his twin brother when they were young. The family had a home in Collingwood Ontario. His Dad knew I was really into baseball so he's always ask if I could go work with him when they were back in Collingwood, so he'd come out to my team's practices (North Dufferin Baseball League) from time to time and he pitched in a couple of tournaments with us when he was like 16/17.

 

Some may remember this story as I probably told it last year when the Jays contacted him during the draft. They wanted to sign him in the 5th round well under slot. They couldn't agree on a number so the Jays passed.

 

His Dad recently popped by and dropped off a bunch of Adam's old gear, including a catchers mitt that my middle son simply won't take off.

 

Pretty amazing stuff. I just spoke with him and he's pretty excited to start his career. Thought I'd share.

Edited July 13, 2021 by Brownie19

[metafour]

The Angels just finished their draft: 20 pitchers selected, 0 position players.

[TwistedLogic]

The Angels really drafted 20 pitchers, lmao.

 

[TwistedLogic]

Hell yeah, Blue Jays make the only ranked selection (so far) of the 20th round.

 

#172, Luke Holman, a high school senior from Wilson HS.

 

---

Luke Holman, RHP, Wilson (PA)

 

AGE 18 | DOB 01/06/2003 | BATS R | THROWS R | HT 6' 4" | WT 190 | COMMITTED Alabama

 

FASTBALL 55 | CURVEBALL 55 | CHANGEUP 45 | CONTROL 45 | OVERALL 40

 

Craig Holman spent eight years pitching in the Phillies’ farm system after being taken in the 22nd round of the 1991 Draft, but never made it to the big leagues. He’s hoping for better things from his son, Luke, who beat anaplastic large cell lymphoma as a child and was getting large crowds of scouts at his starts this spring.

 

As part of a bumper crop of high school talent in Eastern Pennsylvania, scouts flocked to watch Holman while getting to double up by seeing outfielder Benny Montgomery or fellow right-hander Michael Morales. Holman has made the most of the attention, showing off his size, projection and stuff fairly consistently. The projectability is the main thing with a 6-foot-4 frame that should be able to add strength. That could mean more consistent velocity for a fastball in the 90-94 mph range, thrown with good spin rates.

 

Holman also can really spin his breaking ball, a pitch he typically throws in the mid-70s that flashes plus at times. He can mix in a decent changeup occasionally as well. Holman’s athleticism on the mound is another asset that should help him repeat his delivery and throw strikes. A team that likes prep arms with some ceiling could take Holman early enough to keep him from heading to the University of Alabama.

[Spanky99]

This is kind of cool.

 

Adam Tulloch was drafted in the 17th round by the Dodgers. Big 6'2" lefty who pitched at WV this past year. He has really good stuff. Sits 93-94 with really good spin on his 4 seamer. Good secondary's, but has always battled his command.

 

My wife used to babysit him and his twin brother when they were young. The family had a home in Collingwood Ontario. His Dad knew I was really into baseball so he's always ask if I could go work with him when they were back in Collingwood, so he'd come out to my team's practices from time to time and he pitched in a couple of tournaments with us when he was like 16/17.

 

Some may remember this story as I probably told it last year when the Jays contacted him during the draft. They wanted to sign him in the 5th round well under slot. They couldn't agree on a number so the Jays passed.

 

His Dad recently popped by and dropped off a bunch of Adam's old gear, including a catchers mitt that my middle son simply won't take off.

 

Pretty amazing stuff. I just spoke with him and he's pretty excited to start his career. Thought I'd share.

 

That's awesome sauce, man. My buddies(Butler Bros) trained the A's 4th rd pick Denzel Clarke, cool s***.

[metafour]

Also: LMAO @ the Orioles.

 

They reach and take Colton Cowser 5th overall. Underslot pick to go big later, right? Nope. They proceed to draft almost exclusively college players, with a ton of senior picks. The draft just concluded for them and they didn't land a single obvious/noteworthy above-slot pick. Even us, with no 2nd round pick and one of the smallest pools in the draft, managed to land Irv Carter as an obvious above-slot upside pick.

[Deadpool]

https://www.mlb.com/video/2021-draft-luke-holman-rhp?t=mlb-draft

[Spanky99]

The Angels just finished their draft: 20 pitchers selected, 0 position players.

 

That's pretty comical.

[Slade]

Luke Holman (BA Rank: 204 )

Wilson HS, West Lawn, Pa.RHP

Notes:

Ht: 6-4 | Wt: 190 | B-T: R-R

Commit/Drafted: Alabama

Age At Draft: 18.5

 

Craig Holman was a righthander in the Phillies farm system from 1991-98 who reached Triple-A. His son, Luke, has emerged as one of the top 2021 pitchers in Pennsylvania. Holman's fastball is about the same as it was last fall, sitting at 89-92 mph and up to 93. Holman has a tall, rangy form with more space to fill out and add velocity. He throws from a high slot that allows his fastball and curveball to play well off of each other. Holman throws his 75-78 mph curveball with tight rotation and it flashes as a plus pitch with good depth. Holman has a changeup but it's more of a distant third pitch he hasn't needed to use much yet. Scouts more skeptical of Holman have seen inconsistent strike throwing, with a wrap in the back of his arm action and a short stride out front, but those highest on him have seen more strikes and point to his athleticism (he's a 55 runner on the 20-80 scale) that should help him repeat his mechanics and make adjustments. Holman is an Alabama commit, but several scouts consider him likely to sign, so that signability could help boost him up higher in the draft than where he's ranked here.

[Deadpool]

Luke Holman (BA Rank: 204 )

Wilson HS, West Lawn, Pa.RHP

Notes:

Ht: 6-4 | Wt: 190 | B-T: R-R

Commit/Drafted: Alabama

Age At Draft: 18.5

 

Craig Holman was a righthander in the Phillies farm system from 1991-98 who reached Triple-A. His son, Luke, has emerged as one of the top 2021 pitchers in Pennsylvania. Holman's fastball is about the same as it was last fall, sitting at 89-92 mph and up to 93. Holman has a tall, rangy form with more space to fill out and add velocity. He throws from a high slot that allows his fastball and curveball to play well off of each other. Holman throws his 75-78 mph curveball with tight rotation and it flashes as a plus pitch with good depth. Holman has a changeup but it's more of a distant third pitch he hasn't needed to use much yet. Scouts more skeptical of Holman have seen inconsistent strike throwing, with a wrap in the back of his arm action and a short stride out front, but those highest on him have seen more strikes and point to his athleticism (he's a 55 runner on the 20-80 scale) that should help him repeat his mechanics and make adjustments. Holman is an Alabama commit, but several scouts consider him likely to sign, so that signability could help boost him up higher in the draft than where he's ranked here.

 

This screams "pre-draft deal" to land him that late.

[Benito]

Also: LMAO @ the Orioles.

 

They reach and take Colton Cowser 5th overall. Underslot pick to go big later, right? Nope. They proceed to draft almost exclusively college players, with a ton of senior picks. The draft just concluded for them and they didn't land a single obvious/noteworthy above-slot pick. Even us, with no 2nd round pick and one of the smallest pools in the draft, managed to land Irv Carter as an obvious above-slot upside pick.

 

I kept waiting for them to draft that overslot player with the money they saved earlier, but wow, 1 hs, and lots of seniors. Glad though. AL East is already competitive enough.

[Benito]

Luke Holman (BA Rank: 204 )

Wilson HS, West Lawn, Pa.RHP

Notes:

Ht: 6-4 | Wt: 190 | B-T: R-R

Commit/Drafted: Alabama

Age At Draft: 18.5

 

Craig Holman was a righthander in the Phillies farm system from 1991-98 who reached Triple-A. His son, Luke, has emerged as one of the top 2021 pitchers in Pennsylvania. Holman's fastball is about the same as it was last fall, sitting at 89-92 mph and up to 93. Holman has a tall, rangy form with more space to fill out and add velocity. He throws from a high slot that allows his fastball and curveball to play well off of each other. Holman throws his 75-78 mph curveball with tight rotation and it flashes as a plus pitch with good depth. Holman has a changeup but it's more of a distant third pitch he hasn't needed to use much yet. Scouts more skeptical of Holman have seen inconsistent strike throwing, with a wrap in the back of his arm action and a short stride out front, but those highest on him have seen more strikes and point to his athleticism (he's a 55 runner on the 20-80 scale) that should help him repeat his mechanics and make adjustments. Holman is an Alabama commit, but several scouts consider him likely to sign, so that signability could help boost him up higher in the draft than where he's ranked here.

 

This FO has a good track record of signing their picks. I hope they continue with Palmegiani and Holman.

[metafour]

This screams "pre-draft deal" to land him that late.

 

I can't imagine we have the money saved up anywhere to sign him, so this looks more like a token pick or perhaps an insurance policy of some sort?

 

But if we DID somehow pull this off and squeeze this kid in somehow along with everyone else, then it would be a pretty massive signing.

 

 

[Slade]

We'll see. I'm really interested to see if the Padres can sign Gage Jump and Chase Burns, they took like 8 college seniors so they might have the money.

[BlueRocky]

Also: LMAO @ the Orioles.

 

They reach and take Colton Cowser 5th overall. Underslot pick to go big later, right? Nope. They proceed to draft almost exclusively college players, with a ton of senior picks. The draft just concluded for them and they didn't land a single obvious/noteworthy above-slot pick. Even us, with no 2nd round pick and one of the smallest pools in the draft, managed to land Irv Carter as an obvious above-slot upside pick.

 

I kept waiting for them to draft that overslot player with the money they saved earlier, but wow, 1 hs, and lots of seniors. Glad though. AL East is already competitive enough.

 

 

Mike Elias likes to leave the money on the field, it's hard to see.

[metafour]

We'll see. I'm really interested to see if the Padres can sign Gage Jump and Chase Burns, they took like 8 college seniors so they might have the money.

 

I doubt it. Those late round picks look entirely like courtesy picks. No different from the Rangers drafting Will Taylor. They likely saved money on their 1st rounder (Jackson Merrill) but they immediately went with James Wood with their next pick - who I believe was flaunting a first round price tag and shouldn't be a slot signing in the 2nd round. I don't think the couple SR's they took afterwards should present enough to get either of those two big HS pitchers signed. If they had that sort of money saved up, they wouldn't have waited till the 18th and 20th rounds to make those picks.

[Englewood]

More than one Major League Baseball team expressed interest Monday in drafting Wilson right-hander Luke Holman, but the price wasn’t right for him.

 

Craig Holman, Luke’s father, said that his son turned down offers of signing bonuses of $800,000 and $700,000 before two teams made their third-round selections. He said his son had been seeking $1 million. He’s signed a letter of intent to enroll next month at Alabama.

 

“He turned down $700(K) and $800(K) in the third round by direction of his advisor (Jonathan Maurer),” Craig Holman said. “He thought he could get a little bit more. ... Luke and I are sitting here and talking quietly. He’s wondering if he made the right decision. I don’t know if he did.”

 

 

Holman said he and his son countered an $800,000 offer from the Chicago Cubs with an offer of $850,000, but the team said no and drafted another player who accepted the slotted amount.

 

The Cubs had the 93rd pick overall in the third round, which has a slotted value of $627,900. They selected left-handed pitcher Drew Gray of IMG Academy in Florida.

 

Every pick in the first 10 rounds is assigned a slot value, ranging from $8.4 million for the No. 1 pick to $142,200 for the final pick of the 10th round.

 

All the recommended slots are combined into a team’s bonus pool, which is what a team can spend on bonuses for picks in the top 10 rounds. Any bonus greater than $125,000 for picks in the final 10 rounds are counted against the bonus pool.

 

Teams can choose to offer a player the slotted amount of money, more than the slotted amount or less.

 

 

So, teams can sign a player with little leverage, like a college senior, at a lower price than the slotted amount and use that money to sign a player with a lot of leverage, like a high school senior who can choose to enroll at a four-year or two-year college.

 

Most of the players drafted in rounds 5-10 Monday were fourth-year college players. Rounds 11-20 are scheduled for Tuesday.

 

Craig Holman said several teams called his son after the 10th round and said they would offer him as much as $500,000 if they drafted him Tuesday.

 

“This is not fun,” Craig Holman said. “It is such a poker game. These kids get stuck in the middle. It’s a learning process. We’re not going to get back to that $800,000, I know that.”

 

Craig Holman played at Jacksonville State in Alabama and was a 13th-round pick of the Toronto Blue Jays in 1990. He decided to stay in college for his senior year and was taken in 1991 in the 22nd round by the Philadelphia Phillies, for whom he played eight minor league seasons.

 

 

Luke Holman was rated as the 172nd-best prospect available in the draft by MLB.com. He was 7-1 this season with a 0.88 ERA and 113 strikeouts in 55.2 innings and led the Bulldogs to their second straight District 3 Class 6A title and the Berks League final.

 

Craig Holman said Alabama coach Brad Bohannon called his son several times Monday and told him he could make as much as $2 million after he plays three years for the Crimson Tide.

 

“Luke has a full ride to go to Alabama,” Holman said. “It’s a great place. It’s in the SEC (Southeastern Conference). I played 10 years of pro ball, and the SEC is like playing in Triple-A. You’re going to get treated like a king.

 

“Now teams are coming back to us because they don’t mind wasting a pick. 'Can we negotiate overnight and reach a number so we can take you tomorrow?’ I don’t know what he wants to do but we’re talking about it right now. We wanted a million dollars.”

From Reading Eagle.com

[Spanky99]

Sounds like he's going to school, I guess we'll see, as Metafour mentioned I can't see how they get him signed at that number. Also, that adviser's fired. How'd his dad let his boy make the same mistake he did.

[InsideThePark]

This screams "pre-draft deal" to land him that late.

 

I doubt it. Most teams usually take a higher ranked guy late so they have someone to give their pool money to in case something comes up in a medical with one of their more costly guys. This screams to me as a guy they're taking so they'll have someone to give Irv Carter's money to if something unexpected happened there.

 

I'd love to be wrong

[Laika]

More than one Major League Baseball team expressed interest Monday in drafting Wilson right-hander Luke Holman, but the price wasn’t right for him.

 

Craig Holman, Luke’s father, said that his son turned down offers of signing bonuses of $800,000 and $700,000 before two teams made their third-round selections. He said his son had been seeking $1 million. He’s signed a letter of intent to enroll next month at Alabama.

 

“He turned down $700(K) and $800(K) in the third round by direction of his advisor (Jonathan Maurer),” Craig Holman said. “He thought he could get a little bit more. ... Luke and I are sitting here and talking quietly. He’s wondering if he made the right decision. I don’t know if he did.”

 

 

Holman said he and his son countered an $800,000 offer from the Chicago Cubs with an offer of $850,000, but the team said no and drafted another player who accepted the slotted amount.

 

The Cubs had the 93rd pick overall in the third round, which has a slotted value of $627,900. They selected left-handed pitcher Drew Gray of IMG Academy in Florida.

 

Every pick in the first 10 rounds is assigned a slot value, ranging from $8.4 million for the No. 1 pick to $142,200 for the final pick of the 10th round.

 

All the recommended slots are combined into a team’s bonus pool, which is what a team can spend on bonuses for picks in the top 10 rounds. Any bonus greater than $125,000 for picks in the final 10 rounds are counted against the bonus pool.

 

Teams can choose to offer a player the slotted amount of money, more than the slotted amount or less.

 

 

So, teams can sign a player with little leverage, like a college senior, at a lower price than the slotted amount and use that money to sign a player with a lot of leverage, like a high school senior who can choose to enroll at a four-year or two-year college.

 

Most of the players drafted in rounds 5-10 Monday were fourth-year college players. Rounds 11-20 are scheduled for Tuesday.

 

Craig Holman said several teams called his son after the 10th round and said they would offer him as much as $500,000 if they drafted him Tuesday.

 

“This is not fun,” Craig Holman said. “It is such a poker game. These kids get stuck in the middle. It’s a learning process. We’re not going to get back to that $800,000, I know that.”

 

Craig Holman played at Jacksonville State in Alabama and was a 13th-round pick of the Toronto Blue Jays in 1990. He decided to stay in college for his senior year and was taken in 1991 in the 22nd round by the Philadelphia Phillies, for whom he played eight minor league seasons.

 

 

Luke Holman was rated as the 172nd-best prospect available in the draft by MLB.com. He was 7-1 this season with a 0.88 ERA and 113 strikeouts in 55.2 innings and led the Bulldogs to their second straight District 3 Class 6A title and the Berks League final.

 

Craig Holman said Alabama coach Brad Bohannon called his son several times Monday and told him he could make as much as $2 million after he plays three years for the Crimson Tide.

 

“Luke has a full ride to go to Alabama,” Holman said. “It’s a great place. It’s in the SEC (Southeastern Conference). I played 10 years of pro ball, and the SEC is like playing in Triple-A. You’re going to get treated like a king.

 

“Now teams are coming back to us because they don’t mind wasting a pick. 'Can we negotiate overnight and reach a number so we can take you tomorrow?’ I don’t know what he wants to do but we’re talking about it right now. We wanted a million dollars.”

From Reading Eagle.com

 

Craig Holman, uhhhhh, really showing all their cards isn't he?

[King]

Lol his dad sounds like a f***ing dumbass. That pro baseball experience really coming in handy

 

"These kids get stuck in the middle" They aren't kids anymore. It's a multi-billion dollar industry.

[Spanky99]

Craig Holman, uhhhhh, really showing all their cards isn't he?

 

That's why I think he's going to school, his dad can't be that dumn.

[Ray]

Damiano Palmegiani looks super balanced at the plate from what I've seen from him. Short & compact swing that generates easy pop. Looks like a physical specimen too.

 

Hope we can sign him.

[King]

I would be absolutely pissed if I was the agent and read that article. Way to throw your advisor under the bus. Jonathan Maurer should rip into him.

[TwistedLogic]

More than one Major League Baseball team expressed interest Monday in drafting Wilson right-hander Luke Holman, but the price wasn’t right for him...

 

This is hilariously candid. Did this idiot think that he was talking off the record or something? I've never seen someone so unnecessarily honest in the media before. Reads more like he was venting to a friend rather than giving statements to a news outlet.

[King]

This is hilariously candid. Did this idiot think that he was talking off the record or something? I've never seen someone so unnecessarily honest in the media before. Reads more like he was venting to a friend rather than giving statements to a news outlet.

It's so stupid. All he had to say was the usual canned answer like "We had a few offers to sign but they didn't meet what we were looking for. Luke is excited to play at Alabama and looks forward to re-entering the draft in a few years.

 

Also lol at "The SEC is like Triple-A. You're going to be treated like a king." That's what someone who spent 8 years in pro ball and never made it to the show would say.

[Krylian]

This screams "pre-draft deal" to land him that late.

 

[Deadpool]

I doubt it. Most teams usually take a higher ranked guy late so they have someone to give their pool money to in case something comes up in a medical with one of their more costly guys. This screams to me as a guy they're taking so they'll have someone to give Irv Carter's money to if something unexpected happened there.

 

I'd love to be wrong

 

If they don't sign a player they lose the slot money for them, they can't re-assign it to someone else. Unless I'm mistaken, but I'm pretty sure that if they don't sign Irv they have $350K less with which to work.

[InsideThePark]

If they don't sign a player they lose the slot money for them, they can't re-assign it to someone else. Unless I'm mistaken, but I'm pretty sure that if they don't sign Irv they have $350K less with which to work.

 

That's true, but they still have the amount they were going to pay him over his slot value. For example if they were going to give him 800k they have an extra 450k they didn't expect to have. Or if something coming up in the medical so they lower their offer to Irv to 500k and he takes it because of the medical issue(not likely but possible) they have an extra 300k to spend that they didn't expect to have

 

They're never going to recover all the lost money when something like that pops up but teams take guys like this late so they'll have something to potentially do with the extra money they didn't expect to have if issues arrive. Obviously that only applies to the overslot guys as not signing a planned underslot guy costs you everything they were going to sign for and more which is why I assumed it was probably a backup plan for Irv Carter if an issue in his medical unexpectedly pops up

 

Take the 2015 Jays draft as an example, every guy they drafted and signed in rounds 1 to 10 was either at or below slot except Brady Singer who we ended up not signing. It was reported it may have been an issue with the medicals though I don't remember anything being confirmed. Presumably that was done to give Singer overslot by a sizeable margin. They were left with extra cash they could move around(Not the 1.09m for Singers slot but the extra savings from going underslot elsewhere that they were going to pay Singer). They ended up signing Reggie Pruitt in the 24th round to 500k which was 400k overslot(anyone past the 10th round was 100k at the time). They still ended up 435k under the 5% extra threshold. They probably wish they had taken an extra guy to 2 to give Singer's extra money to, though Pruitt didn't work out either, still toiling in AA 6 years later as basically a guy who can run and not do much else. Was that insurance policy worth more than drafting Lance Jones in the 36th round? I guess it depends on how what the likelyhood of something popping up in one of your overslot guys that changes the plan because of course that random 36th round pick college senior might become something too.

 

https://www.bluebirdbanter.com/2015/6/10/8755563/2015-draft-signing-table

 

edit: Apparently not signing Bickford in 2013 helped get Tellez as well. Can't remember if that was injury related at all but Bickford wanted more than the Jays offered(which was above slot already), Jays said no and were able to then go way overslot with Rowdy and Jake Brentz(and get the 11th pick in 2014, Max Pentecost, sigh), which wouldn't have been possible if they went much overslot with Bickford. They didn't give Bickford's slot money to them, they lost that, but the underslot money from others which they were saving for Bickford was freed up for elsewhere.

Edited July 14, 2021 by InsideThePark