Laika

This tends to be the refrain with every 2-way prospect. I wonder if it's a supported truth or just something commonly accepted. I don't seem to really recall any sort of recent history of particular prospects that a team tried to develop on both sides. You might have to go back decades to find some historic examples, and build a sample set. On my mind this draft. There's a WEIRD number of high-end two-way prospects in 2017. I don't remember anything like this. With most two-way guys in recent years, it's pretty obvious which role is better for them.

You got violated

Can't really go wrong. I would encourage anyone who cares to PM BTS your vote/input. Hopefully we can reach some sort of clear decision tonight and get the new guy set up for the draft.

Good trade you cucks

I didn't even think about the effect of tired legs. It's probably too much to ask of him

I'm having trouble getting excited about Danner. I hate catching prospects so much. I wonder if they'll put him on the bump at all initially and keep that developmental window open... theoretically you could do it with a catching prospect in the short term, since they need more off days anyway. Just pencil the kid in for a truncated start or a couple innings of relief on his days off. Maybe that's too much stress on the arm though.

Really nice Hudson Belinsky article on Pearson from 2 months ago. Touches on his velocity, all of his secondaries (SL, CU, CH), and even his training/development so far. http://www.baseballamerica.com/college/nate-pearson-progressing-draft-nears/#viz2OAdYbulLY4D1.97

He snaps off some visually cromulent breaking balls on youtube. The last one here in particular seems fringe plus to me:

Canning's arm action is gross

Your only claim to fame is Rendon.

Nobody here knows anything. TheHurl follows college ball, but he's a guy with inverse knowledge. If he likes a player they probably suck.

As a rule, try to avoid cross-racial comps. It's pretty much cultural appropriation.

Why wasn't Rooker more highly regarded? He seems like a f***ing stud muffin, Goldschmidt type hitter.

OMFG, I just watched Pearson videos and his mechanics are sublime. I mean f***ing perfect. Powerful and clean; impeccable timing. I'm in love.

This is a really f***ing nice day 1 for Toronto, wow. Warmoth is a legit two way player that will move fast. Pearson throws fire and probably isn't as raw as people think. I'm reading random reports now and random scouts do mention that his secondaries flash plus and his control is pretty good for a young flamethrower. I'm hyped.

Pearson is a JuCo guy. I love this pick.

Well it's not dumb--high school pitching is statistically the riskiest commodity. A big chunk of that is injury risk.

This is so f***ing true. The thing with Houck is that his production hasn't improved basically his entire time in college, and his fastball has reportedly stepped back this year. He's not that attractive to me.

Why do you like Carlson so much? Pearson seems pretty nice for #28

Teams have never cared (nor should they)

Same with Washington. It's bizarre. It's like all the other teams collude to let Boston get a steal and Washington get the expensive/injured/bad makeup steal.

I love the Warmoth pick. Look for this kid to follow in the footsteps of other late-first-round shortstops, like Deven Merrero and Alex Blandino

I hope he f***s up

I don't give a s*** about this kid. Let's go!

It's never too early to make these comparisons. Anthopoulos' regime was very flashy in how they collected prospects. They aggressively collected compensation picks under the old CBA, and under the new CBA they made a habit of drafting players that would be tough to sign. They used a bit of a gimmick where they would draft a handful of way under-slot seniors in rounds 5-10 in order to theoretically fund the signing of one or two risky picks each draft class. It should be noted that some of these senior signings actually worked out, such as Kendall Graveman ($5000 bonus). But the vast majority were essentially punted picks. Anthopoulos' regime was inclined to take high school players, envisioning this as the player pool with the highest upside. They were also inclined to taking pitchers. As a scout-first front office, the inclination towards pitching was largely based on the notion that it's just easier to scout pitching. Of course, it's common sense that high school pitching is the riskiest draft commodity there is. In spite of this it seemed to work for the organization; from 2010 to 2012 the draft produced for Toronto players like Sanchez, Syndergaard, Norris, and Stroman, along with some nice late-round surprises like Pompey and Pillar. But the organization could not hit on a single highly-selected position player, except for Alford in 2012. That trend continued for 2013-2015, and the well-spring of nice pitching seemed to dry up too. 2013 and 2015 look like particularly lean draft years. A consistent failure to sign high draftees plagued the Blue Jays. They made it their MO to take tough-signs, but deferring development on a high draft pick every single year starts to hurt your system after some time. It's fair to question a lot of the Anthopoulos regime's draft strategies at this point. Expect Shatkins to run a much different draft process, every year. This is a front office that actually uses and appreciates statistical information and evidence. You won't see them draft a bucket of high school pitchers in most years. Expect a relatively balanced draft that leans college and leans position side, but without any strong biases or gimmicks. They might take 2/3 college players with their day 1 and 2 picks, but they'll definitely take a high upside high schooler if it's the best player on the board.