metafour

You're missing the point - there aren't even 29 consensus first round talents in this draft. Unless you're sitting there with someone who LEGITIMATELY fell to #19, this scouting department is strong enough to find a player they like at #19 who also saves money. Kind of like when they "reached" and took Groshans while saving money, who in fact wasn't even a reach at all. They obviously have a wide net of players they like, which means that they can shop them against each other and see who offers the most bang for their buck. Someone like Jay Allen may go at the very end of the 1st round if he doesn't go at #19 (or he may go the very next pick) so there is incentive for some of these kids to cut an under slot deal. Note that by "under-slot" I don't mean that they're going to take a 2nd round talent or someone completely off the board at #19.

Players fall for signability in literally every round of the draft - saving just $~$350K gets us to right at around $1 million for the 3rd round pick, which is the slot value at the end of the 2nd round. That's enough to entice a legitimate HS pick to sign in the 3rd, not even taking into account further signing-bonus manipulation (ie: maybe they plan on punting in the 9th/10th rounds? Maybe they can save even more than $350K at #19?).

Really? I don't think it's weird at all and in fact it makes perfect sense to me. Going under-slot would mean being able to "buy" a bigger talent elsewhere (most likely immediately in the 3rd round) which would help offset the lack of a 2nd round pick. It makes sense to go under-slot at #19 in this particular draft because we're already picking in the range where consensus is non-existent, with lots of players in that range being similarly skilled depending on who you ask and what the preference is.

New mock draft from Fangraphs. College players appear to be the hot late trendy connection with the Jays. As well as further indication that they prefer to save money at #19 if possible. https://blogs.fangraphs.com/mock-draft-3-0-the-morning-of/

But in this case Allen would be playing baseball full-time. He's only a "multi-sport athlete" now - when/if he's drafted in the first round and signs, he's going to be a baseball player. Alford's situation was very unique/peculiar in that we paid him to barely play baseball up until he finally gave up football.

Can you post the writeup?

Kiley McDaniel mock draft 3.0 - with some rumored players after the 1st round as well. https://www.espn.com/mlb/insider/story/_/id/31782968/2021-mlb-mock-draft-30-kiley-mcdaniel-predicts-first-two-rounds Thatcher Hurd is a HS RHP (#68 overall on Kiley's ranking), Hunter Parks is a JUCO RHP.

Kiley McDaniel just updated his Top 200 rankings and he has an interesting name all the way up at #16: https://www.espn.com/mlb/insider/story/_/id/31770656/kiley-mcdaniel-final-2021-mlb-draft-rankings-top-200-prospects And a few potential Jays targets:

Because that's how these woke-pariahs operate. Crappy "lawyer" (who apparently barely understands the legal system) turned s***** sports writer (how? why?) who's only quality is to turn to his/her victim-group status as a means of currency. You see, him/her is always right and shouldn't be questioned because him/her is trans, don't you understand that? And if you disagree with his/her idiotic takes, its obviously because you're a tRaNSpHoBe. Sherly Ring isn't qualified to report on his/her local junior-college baseball team, let alone the MLB. But of course, everyone has to go along and pretend to give a s*** what this emotionally unstable and deranged individual has to say.

New Fangraphs mock draft: https://blogs.fangraphs.com/mock-draft-2-0-3/

Callis and Mayo over at MLB.com have been pumping Solometo to the Jays in their last few mocks and the recent Prospects Live mock also mentioned it as a very strong (and growing) connection. It definitely seems to have wheels at this point, but of course, at #19 they can go in so many directions depending on what happens in front of them that even a "strong connection" can be nullified in an instant. One of the comments I remember seeing from Callis was that scouts were struggling to find 29 "first round talents" this year, and we kind of pick in the range where things get extremely jumbled. For example, MLB.com has Solometo 17th - whereas BA has him 28th. Most of the players in that range past even 12-15 seem to be highly variable depending on who you're asking and what their preference is. There may be some decent depth, but there definitely doesn't seem to be a set order in terms of the first 19 picks - which means that it makes sense to try to save some money while also taking a high-upside player you like. I'm not sure if Solometo would save any money like Mason McRae suggests, but that does seem to make sense for someone like him considering the expected randomness after our pick wherein the next team up for him might be the Padres who are also apparently high on him, but pick 27th. They've used this strategy before with the Groshans pick. If you feel really strongly about a HS kid who also saves you money, then it's a major win-win if you actually hit on that pick, especially with no 2nd round pick for us.

It's a game of filling the rosters while also making sure that every team is represented. The biggest joke this year is Jasson Dominguez being on the roster. He's literally played in two FCL (GCL) games and doesn't even have a hit yet in his CAREER. Like holy f***, some "point" of this has always been to showcase and reward prospects who are actually performing.

I looked him up. He apparently throws mid 90's and has obviously impressed this year. Either way, a great trade. Flip a late round reliever for immediate help.

They did the same thing in Cleveland and I brought that up repeatedly.

Yeah, the K-rates are the biggest differential. Madrigal's K-rates in the minors were comically good with no comparables that I can think of.

Keith Law also released a mock draft yesterday: https://theathletic.com/2669873/2021/06/24/2021-mlb-mock-draft-2-0-jack-leiter-to-tigers-pirates-take-a-high-school-shortstop-in-keith-laws-latest-look/

Thanks Slade! The Jay Allen connection keeps coming up, and in general there has been much more consistent connection to HS players across the board over recent mock drafts.

The drafting was all over the place too. It seemed like they were just throwing darts at a board, which looked "good" on the surface because they had a few years with a million high draft picks. My "favourite" pick during that era: HS RHP Tyler Gonzalez. He was old as s*** for his class, and the scouting report read: more of a thrower than a pitcher with a high-effort delivery. Struggles with command and high reliever risk. So basically just a kid who's only calling card was whipping the ball as hard as he could, which of course made his command atrocious. He was also old (19+ at time of draft) and came out of Texas which meant that his lack of development was even more concerning as he had way more "reps" than most of his peers. Unsurprisingly, he basically flamed out as soon as he turned pro. One of the worst picks ever - I think he pitched 25 innings total over two seasons, and that was it.

Can anyone post BA's newest mock that just released? https://www.baseballamerica.com/rankings/mlb-mock-draft/

Orelvis Martinez is on a bit of a tear. 3 for 4, 2 2B's yesterday 2 for 3, 2B so far today Leo Jimenez is also 2 for 3 with a 2B and is up to .300 on the season with a pretty elite KK/BB rate, albeit still no power. Addison Barger has hit HR's in two consecutive games as well - 7 on the season, although his K rate is bad.

Most of the draft and early scouting write-up's on Taylor that I remember indicated that he had surprising pop for such a small/slightly built guy. I think what you're seeing is a change in his swing profile which has enabled if not even upscaled his power output. He seems to be hitting the ball harder and with a better launch angle. As mentioned, these HR's he's hitting aren't "incidental" - he's crushing the ball. He is also a quick-twitch/explosive athlete, and those types of guys can often unlock a lot of untapped ability if/when they figure out how to actually hit the ball optimally.

Nobody forgot - it's just that Moreno looks like the better player to "keep". It's the same or better offensive profile with better defensive upside, better athleticism, and considerably less long-term physical risk. Kirk has barely been up at the MLB level and he's already out with a long DL stint, is that shocking for a 5'8 260 pound marshmallow? It was a hypothetical comment - if it comes down to choosing between those two, I can almost assure yo that the FO would tab Moreno as their guy. Kirk looks like a great player himself, but you're talking about a potential Top 10-15 type prospect in Moreno.

Who? Moreno? Prospects of this caliber don't really get moved that often anymore. If anything, they'd look to dump Jansen and even Kirk before Moreno.