BlueRocky

The video one didn’t work for me last week, was trying to link a YouTube clip

Shoe could be very decent if he stays healthy this year

Nate Pearson replay for those that missed it.

Kirk behind the plate for Zeuch

That was crushed

He hit 100 on the stadium gun

Second pitch was a 98 mph FB During his starts he often starts 95-97 and ramps up to 97-100 second second time through the order. I’ve seen his curveball go anywhere from 78 to 83 and slider 87-90 with hard bite. But he’s still predominantly FB/SL guy, I’d say 80% of the time. I wish he’d use the changeup a bit more, at times it looks so good after showing a lot of FB and slider.

That was his 89mph changeup to Bell

Here comes Nate

No word but he’s getting in for sure.

I’ve seen him play in Buffalo.. he was never a liability like this defensively. It’s actually quite bizarre. Now fans get to see him on tv and he’s not helping his case for a roster spot. I wonder what’s going on with him?

Money is usually the answer.

Torkelson’s bat is special, it’s a potential 60 hit/80 power caliber bat. After breaking Barry Bond’s ASU Fr+So HR record by 10 last year, teams literally stopped pitching to him. In 11 games he has 24 walks.. 13 intentional walks. He has a .623 OBP and .786 SLG. The first baseman tag could scare away one or two teams, as it did with Andrew Vaughn. But it’s hard to see that bat falling too far down. It’s easy to just say Emerson Hancock, but Asa Lacy is really making a case for himself. 6-4 Lefty that throw mid-90s, wipeout slider and curveball, that can get 14 K in a game are hard to come by. It’s early but Lacy’s had a better start to the season as well. In 3 starts he has 33 K/ 6BB in 17.0 IP & 1.06 ERA.

5-10 5HR, 2BB 10 RBI today, welp.

Yeah so.. add another 2 home runs for Nick Gonzales today. I think his on-base streak is now 77 games straight. New Mexico State pounded Purdue Fort Wayne 19-5. And by the way he moved over from 2B to SS this season. There’s a chance he goes ahead of Torkelson.

I looked at Mitchell a little bit, he’s got some pop and he’s a plus runner. His offensive profile is decent and defensively he’s adequate just based on brief reports. Seems like just a tier below the top guys, which is not throwing shade at him, the other guys just had ridiculous numbers. https://d1baseball.com/season-preview/2020-preseason-all-america-teams/ Just looking at last season for Torkelson, Gonzales, and Martin. This was the pre-season first team all americans for 2020. The pitchers were solid too with Hancock, Lacy, and Detmers. I hear Kumar Rocker would be a top 5 pick (maybe even #1 considerations) if he was eligible this year, but he’ll likely go next year.

Just in case this wasn’t posted. In last night’s game he looked flawless the first three innings, then gave up a run in the 4th, 5th, and two runs in the 6th and got yanked. Stuff looks good, but production wise he hasn’t had the best start to the season. There’s talk he could drop down to #5. His 5.40 ERA doesn’t look good right now in 3 games, but has an outstanding 22 K / 3 BB in 16.2 IP. Hancock was filthy in last week’s start, Feb 21, where he went 7.0 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 8 K Highlights: There’s an article on Hancock by Carlos Collazo if anyone wants to read it: https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/hes-the-best-georgias-emerson-hancock-rises-to-join-college-baseballs-elite/ In summary, he’s added a lot of weight (@25 lbs) since high school thanks to the strength and conditioning coaches. Slider and curveball are improved. Change-up is apparently plus. Throwing FB @ 96mph. For you guys subbed to The Athletic, here’s another Hancock article: https://theathletic.com/1634511/ Just some tidbits: His dad is a HS football coach, but he chose baseball. He didn’t throw very hard as a prep amateur, so he worked on control and refining his secondaries. His velo and stuff came in college.

https://www.baseballamerica.com/rankings/2020-mlb-organization-talent-rankings/ I don’t think it changed for us from a month ago, but Blue Jays are still at #6 for the pre-season updated farm rankings.

I don’t know man, try convincing Gerrit Cole or Stephen Strasburg to come play for the Blue Jays and pitching against the Yankees, Red Sox, and the Rays. While trying to outbid other teams on the contract. Ryu was a pretty special case, it really doesn’t happen often. The Jays are taking a chance and offered a lengthy contract despite the injury history and age. The AL East is not the most friendly environment for free agent pitchers. And there’s such a high premium on elite pitching in free agency. Still unlikely, you probably have a better shot convincing an outfielder like Marcell Ozuna to come here, you’d just have to make the best offer in term and dollars. Using this past offseason as an example.

Contrast to one of the weaker pools in recent memory in 2019 (only 2 pitchers in the top 16 including Alek Manoah). The college pitching pool is pretty strong this year. They’re projecting @7 pitchers taken in the first 15 picks. We might get dibs on the #1 or #2 guy on the board depending how things shape up on draft night. I could see them go either way with position player or pitcher. Things are up in the air as it’s only feb and college season just started.

It’s silly to draft for positional need when the guy you’re picking in 2020 won’t have any major league impact until 2023-2025. Even if our middle infield is stacked I would love to draft the next Gavin Lux. By the time he arrives and it really doesn’t fit the lineup, then we’ll worry about it, prospects are also capital in trade discussions. Pitching is something every team needs, but at the same time they have to balance risk vs reward.. that’s where it gets hazy. There’s always a dice roll with health issues, and even if everything goes right you have a guy that impacts your team once every 5 days. But elite pitching is also the most difficult commodity to acquire via trade and free agency. If the team does all the research and feels really strongly about a guy.. like they feel “Player A” is gonna be the next MacKenzie Gore or Nate Pearson, you have to do it. Even if there’s a strong need for OF.

When you pick #5 it has to be best player available regardless of position.

Detmers is not as tall or athletic as Hancock and Lacy, listed @6-2 210lbs. He doesn’t throw as hard either mostly sitting 91-94, but he’s the ace at Louisville and broke the program record last year with 167 Ks and 113.1 IP last season (I believe in led the nation in strikeouts) and BA is predicting pre-season he will win ACC pitcher of the year. He mixes pitches and locates well and has a nasty curveball to boot.

Not sure if this got posted anywhere. https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/baseball-america-spring-training-prospect-report-feb-26-2020/