2023 MLB Draft

[TheHurl]

???

 

third player in the Groshans deal.

[Slade]

Haven't followed the draft at all, Arjun Nimmala looks like a nice pick. Looks really athletic at 17, will be interesting to see how he develops. We are usually very pitch heavy on the second day.

[TheHurl]

What's not accurate..? He hit well with the Jays first few years, then pretty much sucked after his ALCBPY.. He got moved off SS for D and then cost us a s*** load of games with his s*** D at 2b, a few against the Yankees in big games...

 

He was revitalized in the NL for a bit after the trade, but when he left the Jays he couldn't hit or play D worth a s***.

 

guy was a plus defender including leading all 2B in DRS twice. At worst he was league average up until age 30. And had his two best offensive seasons as a DBack

[Laika]

What's not accurate..? He hit well with the Jays first few years, then pretty much sucked after his ALCBPY.. He got moved off SS for D and then cost us a s*** load of games with his s*** D at 2b, a few against the Yankees in big games...

 

He was revitalized in the NL for a bit after the trade, but when he left the Jays he couldn't hit or play D worth a s***.

 

He was never a shortstop primarily. Just played there a bit his first couple years

 

He was a good defender at second base for most of his career. I think he only lost a step once he landed in Arizona. At times he was elite on D.

 

He was an up and down hitter because of batted ball profile and babip.

[Carlos Danger]

third player in the Groshans deal.

 

Oh, he was the PTBNL?

[Carlos Danger]

He was never a shortstop primarily. Just played there a bit his first couple years

 

He was a good defender at second base for most of his career. I think he only lost a step once he landed in Arizona. At times he was elite on D.

 

He was an up and down hitter because of batted ball profile and babip.

 

In his last year with the Jays his 2B D was atrocious. I remember distinctly. I met Aaron Hill personally and hung out with him and was one of if not my favorite players at the time. He also helped me win a Yahoo fantasy league one year with his bat.

 

He was moved off SS due to his s*** D. Then his last year he cost us and the pitchers a lot of big games not making plays he should have at 2b. Not all were errors, but key plays where he should have made the play or better foot work making the pivot for a DP at 2b on the throw to 1b etc.

 

It sucked because I really liked him... But in his last year with the Jays it was rough...

[Jonn]

So the 36th overall pick was considered part of the first round but the previous 8 picks were not lol

[wamco]

They keep talking about guys being young out of high school. You're suppose to be done High School at 17 lol

 

Majority are 18

[The Cats Ass]

Keith Law had our guy ranked 8th overall. Highest I’ve seen him on lists were 6th.

 

Law Report - Nimmala is one of the youngest players in the entire draft class, certainly the youngest on my Big Board, as he won’t turn 18 until November, which will appeal to all the teams that value age in their draft models. But he’s also very talented and would still be a first-rounder even if he were 18 already. Nimmala is a lean 6-1 and already shows above-average power with a strong swing that makes excellent use of his hips to generate that contact quality. He’s a rangy shortstop with good hands and an easy plus arm, and although he’s probably just an average runner in the end, he’s certain to stay at the position long term. Where he falls short of the high school hitters above him is in his present hit tool, as he’s shown more propensity to swing and miss than his peers but seems to hit velocity fine. If he didn’t have that, he’d be in that uppermost tier of players, since he’d have the hit tool, power and defense at a critical position. Instead, he offers the potential for that sort of player with a slightly longer timeframe and greater risk around his ability to hit when he enters pro ball.

[Krylian]

So the 36th overall pick was considered part of the first round but the previous 8 picks were not lol

 

I noticed that. How does that make any sense?

[Ehjays]

[Jonn]

I noticed that. How does that make any sense?

 

So apparently they lose 10 slots for going over the luxury tax. But since that only takes them half way into the competitive balance and comp picks it’s still considered their first round pick.

 

The Dodgers' first pick is 36th overall, which was dropped ten spots because their payroll exceeded the competitive balance tax threshold by over $40 million last year. Their second-round pick is No. 60. For the No. 36 pick, the recommended slot value is $2,362,700.

[Krylian]

So apparently they lose 10 slots for going over the luxury tax. But since that only takes them half way into the competitive balance and comp picks it’s still considered their first round pick.

 

The Dodgers' first pick is 36th overall, which was dropped ten spots because their payroll exceeded the competitive balance tax threshold by over $40 million last year. Their second-round pick is No. 60. For the No. 36 pick, the recommended slot value is $2,362,700.

 

So it's a game of semantics.

[Carlos Danger]

 

Great video, great kid and I always want to see my Florida boys do well. My only hang up is I really think the Jays needed someone who can get to the show sooner or become a major trade asset sooner... Sooo many variables and soo much time with 17 yr olds..

[THANOS]

Great video, great kid and I always want to see my Florida boys do well. My only hang up is I really think the Jays needed someone who can get to the show sooner or become a major trade asset sooner... Sooo many variables and soo much time with 17 yr olds..

 

BPA all day everyday.

[Jonn]

If you look at most draft boards he pretty much was the BPA. Some had him in the Top 10. MLB.com had him at 11.

[Laika]

Great video, great kid and I always want to see my Florida boys do well. My only hang up is I really think the Jays needed someone who can get to the show sooner or become a major trade asset sooner... Sooo many variables and soo much time with 17 yr olds..

 

If they draft a college player who sticks in say 3 years... that just means his first few seasons will be wasted in the post Bo Bichette rebuild.

[Spanky99]

I would have bet $100 the Jays were NOT going with a high school dude... f***ing 17 yrs old..... Don't like the pick..

 

Only because High School...

 

Why, this was a fantastic pick? Just cause of high school doesn't make sense.

[wamco]

I love it. Now draft 18 straight pitchers

[John_Havok]

Seattle took 3 HS with their 3 top 30 picks, then punted the 2nd rounder to save money in order to sign said HS picks.

 

Solid plan.

[jaysblue]

I'm drafting Arjun Nimmala in the LOD with my 1st round pick.

[G-Snarls]

Prospect of Interest: Blue Jays make Arjun Nimmala highest-drafted Indian American

 

https://www.sportsnet.ca/mlb/article/prospect-of-interest-blue-jays-make-arjun-nimmala-highest-drafted-indian-american/

 

The Toronto Blue Jays selected 17-year-old shortstop Arjun Nimmala with the 20th overall pick in the first round of Sunday’s MLB Draft.

One of the best stories in the 2023 Draft, Nimmala became the highest-selected first-generation Indian American and is looking to become the first player of Indian descent to play Major League Baseball.

Nimmala was one of the highest-touted high school hitters in the draft, coming off a 2022-23 season in which he won the Gatorade Florida Baseball Player of the Year while playing at Strawberry Crest High School in Dover, Fla. He was also an Under Armour All-American and first-team All-Conference selection.

 

The Toronto Blue Jays selected 17-year-old shortstop Arjun Nimmala with the 20th overall pick in the first round of Sunday’s MLB Draft.

One of the best stories in the 2023 Draft, Nimmala became the highest-selected first-generation Indian American and is looking to become the first player of Indian descent to play Major League Baseball.

Nimmala was one of the highest-touted high school hitters in the draft, coming off a 2022-23 season in which he won the Gatorade Florida Baseball Player of the Year while playing at Strawberry Crest High School in Dover, Fla. He was also an Under Armour All-American and first-team All-Conference selection.

In one of the deepest drafts in recent memory, the Blue Jays were able to add MLB Pipeline’s No. 11 prospect with the 20th pick.

Here’s what you need to know about Toronto’s latest first-round pick.

Age: 17

School: Strawberry Crest HS (FL)

Position: Shortstop

Commitment: Florida State

Height: Six-foot-one | Weight: 170 lbs

Scouting grades (Per MLB Pipeline): Hit: 50 | Power: 55 | Run: 50 | Arm: 55 | Field: 50 | Overall: 55

2023 Stats: AVG: .479 | 6 HR| 29 RBI | 30 Runs | .573 OBP | .904 SLG | 9 SB

Scouting Reports

Nimmala has impressive raw power — more than his six-foot-one, 170-pound would suggest possible.

 

The Toronto Blue Jays selected 17-year-old shortstop Arjun Nimmala with the 20th overall pick in the first round of Sunday’s MLB Draft.

One of the best stories in the 2023 Draft, Nimmala became the highest-selected first-generation Indian American and is looking to become the first player of Indian descent to play Major League Baseball.

Nimmala was one of the highest-touted high school hitters in the draft, coming off a 2022-23 season in which he won the Gatorade Florida Baseball Player of the Year while playing at Strawberry Crest High School in Dover, Fla. He was also an Under Armour All-American and first-team All-Conference selection.

In one of the deepest drafts in recent memory, the Blue Jays were able to add MLB Pipeline’s No. 11 prospect with the 20th pick.

Here’s what you need to know about Toronto’s latest first-round pick.

Age: 17

School: Strawberry Crest HS (FL)

Position: Shortstop

Commitment: Florida State

Height: Six-foot-one | Weight: 170 lbs

Scouting grades (Per MLB Pipeline): Hit: 50 | Power: 55 | Run: 50 | Arm: 55 | Field: 50 | Overall: 55

2023 Stats: AVG: .479 | 6 HR| 29 RBI | 30 Runs | .573 OBP | .904 SLG | 9 SB

Indian Heritage

Nimmala is very proud of his Indian Heritage and grew up playing cricket both at home in Florida and on trips back to visit family and friends in India.

At the MLB Draft Combine, the newest Blue Jay spoke about what it means to him to represent his family’s history.

“That means a lot. There’s not many Indian American players in the big leagues,” he said. “For Indians, it’s mostly cricket, and the transition to baseball has been a lot.

“Hopefully, one day, I can inspire young Indian Americans to play and get more Indians into the sport.”

Nimmala told MLB.com that his father pushed toward baseball in search of a sport similar to cricket. Ever since, the 2005-born infielder has risen up the ranks — ending as the top-ranked high school infielder in 2023.

Scouting Reports

Nimmala has impressive raw power — more than his six-foot-one, 170-pound would suggest possible.

At such a young age, there is, undoubtedly, room for him to grow and get bigger and stronger as he joins the pro-ball ranks.

He was a consensus top-20 prospect in the draft, coming in at No. Eight in The Athletic’s rankings, No. Nine at Baseball Prospectus, No. 11 at both ESPN and MLB Pipeline and No. 17 at Baseball America.

According to MLB Pipeline, “Nimmala is all about projection. He calls himself a ‘patient-aggressive’ hitter and definitely doesn’t get cheated at the plate. He has at least plus raw power and can drive the ball to all fields, and while there are still some issues about his pitch selection and inconsistency in the quality of his at-bats that sometimes keeps him from tapping into that power, scouts are bullish about his offensive upside.”

On the defensive side of the field, prospect experts believe he can stick at shortstop long-term.

[Krylian]

Seattle took 3 HS with their 3 top 30 picks, then punted the 2nd rounder to save money in order to sign said HS picks.

 

Solid plan.

 

AA playbook

[BlueRocky]

Seattle took 3 HS with their 3 top 30 picks, then punted the 2nd rounder to save money in order to sign said HS picks.

 

Solid plan.

 

How soon will they be traded though?

[JaysAllMighty]

The Athletic article:

 

[h=1]Blue Jays see potential for more power in first-round draft pick Arjun Nimmala[/h]

The Blue Jays selected high-school shortstop Arjun Nimmala with the No. 20 pick in this year’s MLB amateur draft.

At age 17, Nimmala is one of the youngest players in this year’s class, and the Blue Jays are betting that he’ll mature into even more power. The Blue Jays’ amateur scouting director Shane Farrell said the team favoured the shortstop out of Strawberry Crest High School in Dover, Fla., because of his “tool package combined with the age and overall upside.”

“The power, the arm strength, the actions defensively, playing at a premium position, that all makes him a really exciting player and somebody I’m really, really happy to get into the farm system,” said Farrell, who spoke to the media from the Rogers Centre’s draft headquarters shortly after making the pick Sunday night.

Nimmala was ranked No. 8 on The Athletic’s Top 100 prospects. The 20th pick comes with an approximate slot value of $3.75 million.

 

 

Keith Law wrote of the 6-foot-1, 170-pound shortstop, “Nimmala is a lean 6-1 and already shows above-average power with a strong swing that makes excellent use of his hips to generate that contact quality. He’s a rangy shortstop with good hands and an easy plus arm, and although he’s probably just an average runner in the end, he’s certain to stay at the position long-term.”

From Valrico, Fla., Nimmala lives about a 50-minute drive away from the Blue Jays’ spring training complex in Dunedin, so the team’s scouting staff have had plenty of opportunities to meet with him and watch him play regularly over the past year. Farrell said the organization has built “a strong relationship with Arjun” and he’s already visited the team’s state-of-the-art player development complex.

“There is a level of familiarity for a high school player, which is a bit different and a little unique, and we think that transition is going to go well,” Farrell said, adding the club feels “pretty good” about their ability to sign him.

If there are questions about Nimmala, it comes around his present hit tool. Law noted that he’s shown “more propensity to swing and miss than his peers but seems to hit velocity fine.” He still has the potential to develop into a player who can hit, play good defence and hit for more power, but with “a slightly longer timeframe and greater risk around his ability to hit when he enters pro ball.”

There is always a risk when selecting a player as young as Nimmala, who has plenty of growth — both physical and mental — ahead of him, but Farrell said, “We think he’s going to fill out and be a strong and mature individual and that power is going to continue to grow and can continue to translate to game production as well.”

Nimmala isn’t a big-bodied slugger, yet he batted .479 with six home runs and posted a .573 on-base percentage as a high school senior. In a recent profile on Nimmala, The Athletic’s Maria Torres spoke to his high school coach, Eric Beattie, who said, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anybody hit with the same amount of power that Arjun hits with.”

“He works hard and he’s gotten the most out of where he’s at right now,” Beattie told The Athletic. “He’s gotten the most out of it, but very few people reach their full build at 17 years old. He’s got a lot of growing in front of him and he goes about the process the right way. I think the average male, based on the general population, usually peaks at 26, 27 years old. So he’s still 10 years away. … When you think about that, it’s gonna be fun to watch.”

Assuming he signs, the immediate next steps for Nimmala will be to participate in a two-week camp for the new crop of prospects at the Jays’ player development complex. There, they’ll be introduced to the organization’s player development staff and get a feel for the club’s programming and routines. Following that, Farrell said, Nimmala will “likely transition to a (complex league) team and get his summer season underway.”

As for the rest of the draft, the Blue Jays do not own a second-round pick after they forfeited it with the offseason signing of right-hander starter Chris Bassitt, who had rejected a qualifying offer from the Mets. The Blue Jays’ next pick will come in the third round, at No. 89.

[Brownie19]

Jays take Juaron Watts-Brown

 

Watts-Brown originally committed to Texas Tech as a California high schooler, but the Red Raiders backed off him when he injured his shoulder playing quarterback as a senior and he wound up at Long Beach State. After redshirting while getting healthy in 2021, he made his college debut last spring, threw the school's first nine-inning no-hitter and set a school record with 13.6 strikeouts per nine innings (the fifth-best rate in NCAA Division I). He starred in the Cape Cod League during the summer before transferring to Oklahoma State, where he led the Big 12 Conference in strikeouts (124) and strikeout rate (13.6) despite an up-and-down spring. Watts-Brown's best weapon is a plus 83-86 slider that he commands better than his other offerings, showing the ability to get swings and misses in and out of the strike zone. His fastball parks at 90-93 mph and tops out at 96 with decent running action, but it's fairly ordinary in terms of velocity and life and gets hit harder than any of his pitches. He also employs a solid low-80s curveball with bigger break than his slider and an average mid-80s changeup with some fade and tumble. More athletic than physical, Watts-Brown has a slender 6-foot-3 frame and some questions about how well he'll handle a pro starter's workload. He shows some feel for pitching and should be able to refine his control and command as he gets more innings. His biggest need is to add some power or movement to his fastball so he can keep it off barrels.

[Spanky99]

46. Juaron Watts-Brown

RHP

 

Ht: 6'3" | Wt: 190 | B-T: R-R

 

School: Oklahoma State Source: 4YR

 

Commit/Drafted: Never Drafted

Age At Draft: 21.4

BA Grade:50/High

Tools:Fastball: 55. Slider: 60. Curveball: 50. Changeup: 50. Control: 45.

 

Watts-Brown was a standout, multi-sport athlete in high school who excelled at baseball, football and basketball. He began his college career at Long Beach State, but redshirted in 2021 to recover from an arm injury he sustained in football. When he returned to the mound in 2022, Watts-Brown was named a Freshman All-American and his draft stock exploded over the summer when he showed improved velocity and some of the best all-around pitching upside during the summer in the Cape Cod League. In his first and only season with Oklahoma State, the 6-foot-3, 190-pound righthander posted a 5.03 ERA over 15 starts and 82.1 innings and led the Big 12 with 124 strikeouts and a 33% strikeout rate. He’s a good mover on the mound with a clean, fast arm, a bit of length in the back of his arm path and a three-quarter slot. Watts-Brown averaged 92 mph and touched 95 with a fastball that had around 19 inches of induced vertical break. He used that pitch less than half the time however, thanks to a high-usage, mid-80s slider that flashes plus with hard, tight spin and looks like a real out pitch. He generated whiffs at a 53% rate with the slider, with 40% usage, and often shows better feel to land it for strikes than either his fastball, his low-80s 12-6 curveball or his mid-80s changeup. Watts-Brown has fringy control and needs to improve his fastball command to make the most of a solid four-pitch mix

[Brownie19]

Cousin Jack is dropping. Chances are the Rays take him but he might drop all the way to the 2nd round for the Jays. Amazing how that middle paragraph matched my draft profile in 1988 (if Canadians were allowed in the draft)

 

In 2022, Virginia Tech rode one of the better collegiate offenses in the game to a Super Regional appearance, and that lineup had five players taken in the top five rounds of last year’s Draft, led by first-rounder Gavin Cross. Hurley was one of the best performers on the team as a sophomore, finishing with a 1.116 OPS and reaching double digits in home runs and stolen bases. He played briefly in the Cape Cod League and was a member of the U.S. Collegiate National Team over the summer.

 

A left-handed hitting outfielder, Hurley has the chance to be a true five-tool player at the next level. He has excellent bat-to-ball skills and started tapping into his considerable raw power in 2022, with the chance to be an above-average hitter with above-average power in the future.

 

Hurley played left field in deference to Cross last year, but his plus speed and strong defensive instincts enabled him to play center field in 2023 and should let him stay there, with more than enough arm to slide to right field should the need arise. He plays with a ton of energy, reminding some of Tennessee product Drew Gilbert, who was taken by the Astros at the end of the first round of the 2022 Draft.

 

Diamondbacks picked him up...9 picks before the Jays pick.

[Brownie19]

Spanky - what list was he ranked 46th on? That seems like good value at #89

[Spanky99]

Spanky - what list was he ranked 46th on? That seems like good value at #89

 

Baseball America.