BlueRocky

There’s a live stream watch party tonight for the bat-flip game with several guests including Jose Bautista.

Can someone invent a time machine, bring Olerud back and put him in this lineup? Or maybe Delgado?

This has to be one of the funniest things I’ve seen recently. Bo using himself to homer off McCullers (also using himself) and making McCullers take himself out of the game.

Itchy Burts is a 4-year senior from Texas A&M, second baseman and right-fielder. Good hitter but not much power and a little bit short for those wondering, 5-8, 165 lbs.

Opioid overdose has been a huge issue in Canada (& USA) over the past few years. Most of them started off as legit due to car accident or workplace injury. It’s not unusual to see people get hooked and have a hard time getting off (seems more prevalent in caucasians), and it’s so much more common than most people realize. Being an insider of the industry for eight years I’ve seen some stuff. But despite how common it is, most people have it under controlled, of course... as long as they’re getting their pills. Missing doses can bring some really unpleasant visits to the healthcare workers.

For sure that’s a great name. This class also has a “Itchy Burts”, “Zacchaeus Rasberry”, “Scotty Scott”, “Blake Deatherage”, “Konnor Zickefoose”, and “Bubba Hubbard”

There’s news that the current COVID-19 swab test has a 30% chance of giving false negative. It’s pretty alarming. Coronavirus has been hitting the USA very hard, but even our local retirement homes and longterm care facilities are facing real emergencies right now. The antibody tests can see if a person is potentially somewhat protected from the virus, but it’s not guaranteed as there might be multiple strains out there. But it could be a step in the right direction to putting certain people, and businesses back to work soon at least until a vaccine is developed. One good thing is these antibody test could produce quick results, I heard somewhere within 10 mins? It’s good to see the MLB taking part in this study, though this won’t have immediate impact on the covid situation.

The BA draft list extended to 400 with a few updates

It’s understandable given the risk, I’ve been debating on this point as well. I’d also rather take a bat and actually hope we land Nick Gonzales or Zac Veen assuming Torkelson and Martin are off the board. But if there’s a year to take college pitching this is one of the years to do it. They took Alek Manoah last season despite several good bats available, and went with a vanderbilt commit in Kendall Williams after that, Atkins & team seem to be coveting arms to compliment our position core. This is perhaps the deepest college pitching class in the past decade, and the two guys potentially available are in a class of their own. If Emerson Hancock was draft eligible last year, there would’ve been serious consideration between Hancock and Rutschman as the no. 1 overall pick. And the drop off between Hancock and the next two (Lodolo & Manoah) were cataclysmic in eyes of the industry and scouts at the time. Hancock’s early struggles in 2020 were also way overblown due to small sample, he looked like an absolute stud by his 4th start, right before COVID ended the college season. He went 7.1 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 12 K in his last start against UMASS. I went back and watched games of his 2019 season, he is pretty legit with both pitchability, physicality, & stuff. He sat 97-98 mph deep into his start with plus command in one of the games I watched. He is typically 93-96, T99 with solid changeup and slider, curveball flashes potential. The stuff is front of the rotation with plus-command on his fastball. He’s a late bloomer similar to Casey Mize, there’s a lot of unscratched potential there in both his frame and development of his secondaries. That’s saying a lot about a guy that had 1.99 ERA, 97K/18BB last season in 90.1 IP, and one of the runner ups for 2019 golden spikes. Asa Lacy has really surprised scouts this season in the first four starts. By far the best-looking college pitching prospect if you’re just purely looking at 2020 and pure stuff. I watched a couple of his games from 2019, he has an obvious mound presence that you don’t really see, even with Hancock. His breaking balls are more advanced and downright nasty, while sitting 94-96 mph most games, touching 97 on occasion. The word on Lacy has been his improved command from last season, which has translated to higher K and much lower BB. I try to point out exactly what has changed from 2019, it looks to me his delivery is a bit more consistent and his arm slot is higher. Fastball command was his primary achilles heel last season which has somewhat been rectified in early showing 2020. But it’s still a work in progress IMO, you often see wild pitches that miss badly in the dirt or way upstairs, and his pitch counts run up often. Acy also is a culprit of losing control and hitting batters often. I saw him plunk a guy in an 0-2 count and nobody was surprised. He hit 13 guys last season and 43 walks in 15 starts, 88.2 IP. Even in 2020 he’s plunked 4 guys in 4 starts, 24 IP. When his stuff is working he looks like an ace, so it’s really about consistency. I feel like he’s deliberately trying to strikeout guys, maybe trying a little too hard, fishing for K’s when he’s ahead in the count, rather than just getting them out and challenging hitters. But for a lefty it’s really premium stuff, and i can see why JJ Cooper thinks he’s potentially a no. 1 overall pick level talent.

https://www.baseballamerica.com/rankings/mlb-mock-draft/ New mock draft (v 3.0) up on Baseball America.

There’s a few of first round talents that might be available to nab in later rounds with over slot money, the pitching is seriously deep this draft. JT Ginn would probably be the guy with highest ceiling, potentially two double-plus pitches. But he’s a draft-eligible sophomore with some injury risk, will likely need a significant offer (mid-first round money).

It would be fun to be in same division with the Tigers, Phillies, and Pirates. I’d imagine a lot of traveling fans if this was permanent.

http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/mlb-mock-draft-2020-vanderbilts-austin-martin-goes-no-1-to-tigers-royals-take-first-pitcher-off-board/amp/ Interesting mock draft here from CBS published today. They tried to put some reasoning behind their picks. It’s difficult to speculate how things will turn out and it’s still unconfirmed if we’re getting more than five rounds. These are never correct either, but they’re fun to look at. 1. Tigers: Austin Martin 2. Orioles: Nick Gonzales 3. Marlins: Spencer Torkelson 4. Royals: Emerson Hancock 5. Blue Jays: Asa Lacy 6. Mariners: Garrett Mitchell 7. Pirates: Mick Abel 8. Padres: Austin Hendrick 9. Rockies: Reid Detmers 10. Angels: Jared Kelley 11. White Sox: Max Meyer 12. Reds: Garrett Crochet 13. Giants: Robert Hassell 14. Rangers: Zac Veen 15. Phillies: Heston Kjerstad

There’s little chance that Austin Martin or Spencer Torkelson gets passed four times and land on the Blue Jays, though I would love that scenario. It’s more likely one of Emerson Hancock or Asa Lacy gets down to no. 5. At this point, Lacy might’ve slightly edged out Hancock in the rankings due to a strong 2020 start, this bodes very well for the Blue Jays potentially having a chance at Hancock.. which was the no. 1 ranked draft prospect entering the season and the most dominant college starting pitcher in 2019. But don’t overlook Nick Gonzales’ bat. He wasn’t just good, he was the best hitter in college baseball. Albeit some question marks due to facing weaker competition. He did lead college in home runs, set on-base records, won Cape Cod MVP, and was well on his way to being a 2020 golden spikes finalist if the season didn’t end abruptly, he was leading that discussion back in early March. My point is, whoever falls to the Blue Jays they will have a lot of great options and if it’s between Nicky G or Zac you really can’t go wrong. I’m working on an article right now covering all the draft scenarios for the Blue Jays 5th overall pick (Zac Veen included), part one should be up on http://radioscouts.com sometime next week.

Thanks I missed that last part, didn’t stay for the whole chat session. Here’s the video Carlos was referring to:

Manuel Beltre swing video (courtesy of baseball america)

Here’s a couple more interesting ones from this week. Cheers

https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/2020-mlb-draft-prospects-chat-492020/ More Carlos Collazo Q&A on Baseball America, he answered a couple of my questions: And last week he answered this one:

Like I said, Franco has a chance to be very, very good. I just don't think it’s fair to set the bar that high before even seeing an MLB AB. Putting an 80 FV on a kid that just turned 19 and tasted full-season pro ball for the first time is pretty asinine. Sure, he could be that good. But nobody knows. The Rays don’t, Fangraphs and Eric Longenhagen certainly doesn’t. These guys gave Acuna and Tatis a 65 FV and Juan Soto a 50 FV. They’re setting the bar very high with this one by saying Wander Franco is going to be better than those guys. Could he be? Sure. We will see. I just think its premature. He definitely needs to show more power. And being a switch hitter is a really difficult thing, don’t be surprised if he hits a speed bump or two.

Lindor has multiple 30+ HR seasons and perennially 4-7 WAR player. It just might be a tad premature to call Franco the next Lindor +0.50 OBP. I’d like to see an MLB season under his belt before reserving a spot for him in Cooperstown, especially for a switch hitter.

Wander Franco is really, really good. But his bat cannot touch Vlad’s ceiling in terms of raw power. There’s some alternate universe in his prime, Vladdy could be an 80/80 type hitter. Just looking at those 20-year-old rookie exit velo numbers and what he did at the home-run derby, Vlad Jr has Giancarlo Stanton type exit velos with a plus-plus hit tool. He was 20 as a rookie and nowhere near his peak. That’s possibly a .300 hitter with 45+ HR and 100-walk season ahead of him in best case scenario. That’s really special. Franco will produce a lot of hits, won’t K much, steal some bases for you and play solid defense. Those are special prospects that have great all-around game, but we always see one or two of those guys pop up (e.g. Acuna, Tatis jr). I’m not saying one has a higher ceiling than another, they’re just completely different players. But it’s not often you see a bat come around that could scratch a Manny Ramirez type ceiling.

I mean, why not?