metafour

Bo Bichette hit a grand slam. This kid is looking like the truth.

BA just released their projections for all 30 teams. Anyone got access to the article?

Bo Bichette 1 for 3 with a line drive double and two walks today. Kevin Vicuna was 2 for 5 with a double as well. Obeso 2 for 4 with two doubles. That GCL Jays team looks nice. Vicuna is really intriguing if his bat is coning around as shown to date.

Francisco Rios is the Jays' representative at the Futures Game. Also on the roster are Joe Musgrove, Phil Bickford, and Jeff Hoffman.

He's walked 7 batters in 53.2 innings pitched.

GCL Jays (via Chris King):

Because he's 17 years old. Are you serious? Baseball is a really hard sport.

Cavan Biggio was 4 for 4 with two doubles last night for Vancouver.

Jim Callis ‏@jimcallisMLB 3m3 minutes ago 11th-rder Travis Hosterman signs w/@BlueJays, $400k ($300k vs slot). Florida HS LHP, projectable, feel for spin & throwing strikes @MLBDraft

Jays announced all these guys as signed:

Its virtually the same draft regime from before. We've selected a guy like Bichette before: Dwight Smith Jr. Averageish athlete with bloodlines who "has hit everywhere" and has defensive question marks....

Law also mentioned that we were heavy on HS SS Gavin Lux from Wisconsin. He has him going #26 to the White Sox. The Dodgers are supposedly on him as well.

Keith Law's third mock draft, released today:

Not much different than its been here: "Moneyball" market approach in the past which has shifted towards a more upside-driven approach in recent years since Shapiro has been promoted to President.

How dumb do you think MLB batters are? Everyone already knows what is coming from Sanchez; there is nothing to "figure out" about a pitch that you simply can not do much with. Again, please explain to me what MLB hitters are going to "figure out"? Some new magical batting stance that allows them to square up a ~95+ mph pitch that darts all over the place? You're trying to convince me that he's getting by on "smoke and mirrors" (ie: something that can be "figured out") when his approach is actually the complete opposite of that. Cingrani and Colon aren't the only fastball-heavy pitchers in the league. Lance Lynn has posted 79.2% fastball usage over the past three seasons (that is actually higher than Sanchez as a starter this year) and he's only posted WARs of 3.7, 3.4, and 3.1 over that time frame. And his fastball isn't even on Sanchez's level. Why hasn't he been "figured out"?

Cingrani sucks because his walk rate is atrocious and his fastball isn't elite enough to make up for it. Cingrani gives up lots of HRs...Sanchez doesn't (in fact he's the complete opposite). Cingrani gives up hard contact....Sanchez doesn't. Sanchez can induce groundballs even when he puts guys on base, Cingrani can't do that. He puts guys on base and then gives up HRs. Apart from both throwing tons of fastballs, there is no comparison. What exactly are opposing hitters going to do to "figure out" Sanchez? Are you assuming that everyone doesn't already know that he's going to throw fastballs 80+% of the time? Its not like he's fooling hitters because they're stepping into the box and expecting him to throw offspeed pitches repeatedly. It is quite apparent that hitters simply can not hit his fastball well at all. I was saying this repeatedly even back when you all thought he sucked. So what do you do as a batter? Don't swing and hope he walks you? OK, but he's clearly been ironing out his control and is starting to punish batters who just stand there. His fastball is so good, that even when batters make contact it is typically an easy out for the defense. His fastball is so good, all he really needs to do is stay within the zone to have success. The part you're missing is that he's not just throwing a regular fastball repeatedly. He's mowing batters down with an elite pitch. A pitch that everyone knows is coming, yet still cant handle.

That strike two fastball that Headley took was comical. It had so much horizontal movement, it looked like it was pulled on a string...at ~95 mph.

He reminds you of a guy who averages 91.8 mph on his fastball and has a career 36% GB percentage? Sweet comparison.

Jim Callis' first movk draft:

I think you're giving Sano too much credit. He's a very exciting young power hitter, but he's got holes in his swing and a savvy pitcher (like Estrada) can work him. Obviously you risk giving up a home run, but a pitcher pitching at Estrada's level right now should not be afraid of that outcome going against a hitter who came into today's game batting .232 with a 34% strikeout rate. Sano is making contact on just 66.7% of his attempts this season, with a z-contact rate of 75.5%. Mauer? Not only is he considerably harder to strike out, but his ability to make contact is through the roof: 87.3% overall, and 90.6% z-contact. In that situation, I fear Mauer hitting a single much more than I fear Sano hitting a HR. Mauer's entire approach is basically revolved around taking what the pitcher gives him and dumping singles all over the field; I feel that this works much better against Estrada's pitching style than a wild-swinger like Sano who can be abused. Estrada's tricks work against a lot of hitters, a guy like Mauer to me is simply too robotic at the plate to fool.

I think he's right, for once. Mauer makes considerably more contact than Sano, its really not close. With 2 outs and a fast runner on second, any single scores the runner as he's running on contact. A savvy pitcher like Estrada can make Sano swing and miss (which you saw tonight) as well as force him to pop/fly out. A hitter like Mauer on the other hand can slap singles around even on good pitches because his approach is always to stay quiet and balanced at the plate. Mauer looked MUCH more dangerous against Estrada tonight than Sano did.

The reports are simply mixing his slider/curve. They're talking about the same pitch, just calling it two different things which sometimes happens in the minors.

Rios has gotten positive reviews on his stuff from real scouts. Its not "statline scouting"; we've had those guys before (like Nestor Molina) who never got any real press despite their awesome looking stat-line. I don't think he's an elite prospect or anything; but a "92-94 fastball with late life" and a wipeout breaking ball with a solid feel and good delivery is a real prospect.

Its an away game. You have to use your best reliever. Period.

To be fair he's been calling that one a strike all night, even for Estrada. The one to Saunders was ridiculous, but that one to Tulo was fine.