2021 MLB Draft / College Baseball Thread

[Gson]

ahh.. we are at the eve of the first round of the June First Entry Draft.. The Indians' selection is at # 23..

The Tribe takes a Catcher:

@# 23. Cleveland:

a. Joe Mack, C, Williamsville East HS (East Amherst, NY)
b. Matheu Nelson, C, Florida State
c. Harry Ford, C, North Cobb HS (Kennesaw, Ga.)

...in the order listed above..

..that is.. If all three are there, Joe Mack is our guy..

What say you?

 

[CalBuckeyeRob]

ahh.. we are at the eve of the first round of the June First Entry Draft.. The Indians' selection is at # 23..

The Tribe takes a Catcher:

@# 23. Cleveland:

a. Joe Mack, C, Williamsville East HS (East Amherst, NY)
b. Matheu Nelson, C, Florida State
c. Harry Ford, C, North Cobb HS (Kennesaw, Ga.)

...in the order listed above..

..that is.. If all three are there, Joe Mack is our guy..

What say you?

Don't take a catcher in round 1. Any catcher.

 

[Gson]

Don't take a catcher in round 1. Any catcher.

... coughnoahnaylorcough ...

 

[CalBuckeyeRob]

... coughnoahnaylorcough ...

Talk to me when he gets that career .238 minor league average and below .200 average this year into the major league starting lineup with a combination of defense and production at the plate. I would love to have a young Buster Posey in Cleveland, but chasing catchers is a losing battle.

 

[Tondo]

Don't take a catcher in round 1. Any catcher.

This, and of the 3 mentioned, Ford would be my no1.

Don't want Nelson anywhere, won't hit

 

[Tondo]

I've posted my targets here:

Draft Targets, a primer

Hello draft nerds, interested, lurkers. This upcoming draft starts on Sunday night with rounds 1+2(comp) and has 20 rounds overall. CLE will have 3 picks on day 1 and 21 overall. It's a deeper than...

www.coveringthecorner.com

Draft Targets pt 1, College Pitching

Draft Primer for reference https://www.coveringthecorner.com/2021/7/10/22571189/draft-targets-a-primer College Pitching Targets (no order): RHP: L. Marceaux - LSU (C, F, P, R, S, T) M....

www.coveringthecorner.com

Draft Targets pt 2, College Hitters

C CJ Rodriguez - Vanderbilt C S. Mcguire - San Diego C W. Hendrie - San Diego St. C M. Turner - Kent St. C/Util L. Hancock - Mississippi St. 1B JT Schwartz - UCLA 1B T. Francisco - East...

www.coveringthecorner.com

Draft Targets pt 3, High School

I'll preface that the HS demographic is a much more difficult group to get a read on every draft. Less data, less video, much younger, so there's more projection baked in, which is always an...

www.coveringthecorner.com

 

[sportscoach]

I've posted my targets here:

Draft Targets, a primer

Hello draft nerds, interested, lurkers. This upcoming draft starts on Sunday night with rounds 1+2(comp) and has 20 rounds overall. CLE will have 3 picks on day 1 and 21 overall. It's a deeper than...

www.coveringthecorner.com

Draft Targets pt 1, College Pitching

Draft Primer for reference https://www.coveringthecorner.com/2021/7/10/22571189/draft-targets-a-primer College Pitching Targets (no order): RHP: L. Marceaux - LSU (C, F, P, R, S, T) M....

www.coveringthecorner.com

Draft Targets pt 2, College Hitters

C CJ Rodriguez - Vanderbilt C S. Mcguire - San Diego C W. Hendrie - San Diego St. C M. Turner - Kent St. C/Util L. Hancock - Mississippi St. 1B JT Schwartz - UCLA 1B T. Francisco - East...

www.coveringthecorner.com

Draft Targets pt 3, High School

I'll preface that the HS demographic is a much more difficult group to get a read on every draft. Less data, less video, much younger, so there's more projection baked in, which is always an...

www.coveringthecorner.com

I like the idea of the letters, but they are more confusing than I would like them to be. Maybe set it up next time with their best tools and a short description on them. Now thank you for the list though since that will be a big help for reference when/if we draft the player.

 

[sportscoach]

Talk to me when he gets that career .238 minor league average and below .200 average this year into the major league starting lineup with a combination of defense and production at the plate. I would love to have a young Buster Posey in Cleveland, but chasing catchers is a losing battle.

I am not against actually getting a C early right now. I haven't seen a mock draft anywhere that doesn't have at least 3 catchers in the first round so on paper, it's hard to see anything wrong with getting another catcher since lack of depth their organizationally and analysts putting them in the 1st round talent wise.

This draft actually should be deep college wise as well, so we may see a few more college kids than in past years. I almost expect their 4ish through 10 to be straight college kids in a sense...

 

[CalBuckeyeRob]

I am not against actually getting a C early right now. I haven't seen a mock draft anywhere that doesn't have at least 3 catchers in the first round so on paper, it's hard to see anything wrong with getting another catcher since lack of depth their organizationally and analysts putting them in the 1st round talent wise.

This draft actually should be deep college wise as well, so we may see a few more college kids than in past years. I almost expect their 4ish through 10 to be straight college kids in a sense...

If you told me that you would draft that catcher in the same spot if he was a 3B or OF because of his bat, then go for it. But those unicorns get picked in the top 5 and describe guys like Mauer and Rutschman. A major league catcher that is first round worthy needs to project to play 120+ games per season and be among the top 10 hitters at his position.

On the defensive side of it, projection is very difficult since neither high school or college is close to the game demands of the pros and his ability to physically cope with playing 5+ games a week for 5-6 months is everything. Outside of his arm on defense, his ability to perform as a game manager is going to be extremely hard to see, especially if he is just in high school.

Offense has its own issues. If they end up being a great hitter, they often get moved because you want that bat in the lineup 160 games a year. Now clearly this is not a bad thing for your team, but if you move them, then you still need a catcher and that was the whole point of picking a catcher in Round 1.

My focus would be on signing multiple international kids because there is likely a lower acquisition cost, and college kids with any useful hit tool because you have a longer sample size.

Catchers are overdrafted. The budget in Cleveland makes it even more important that their high picks provide a return. I would choose to find my catchers for the system in other ways.

 

[sportscoach]

If you told me that you would draft that catcher in the same spot if he was a 3B or OF because of his bat, then go for it. But those unicorns get picked in the top 5 and describe guys like Mauer and Rutschman. A major league catcher that is first round worthy needs to project to play 120+ games per season and be among the top 10 hitters at his position.

On the defensive side of it, projection is very difficult since neither high school or college is close to the game demands of the pros and his ability to physically cope with playing 5+ games a week for 5-6 months is everything. Outside of his arm on defense, his ability to perform as a game manager is going to be extremely hard to see, especially if he is just in high school.

Offense has its own issues. If they end up being a great hitter, they often get moved because you want that bat in the lineup 160 games a year. Now clearly this is not a bad thing for your team, but if you move them, then you still need a catcher and that was the whole point of picking a catcher in Round 1.

My focus would be on signing multiple international kids because there is likely a lower acquisition cost, and college kids with any useful hit tool because you have a longer sample size.

Catchers are overdrafted. The budget in Cleveland makes it even more important that their high picks provide a return. I would choose to find my catchers for the system in other ways.

Your logic is correct, but how do we fix our lack of catching without drafting more catching? We haven't hit on a catcher so far in a long time... I think it's been what 5 catchers that we have drafted and 1 international Signing catcher made it to the pros since 2000 area... Einar Diaz, Wyatt Toregas, Chris Gimenez, Roberto Perez and Tony Wolters with Victor Martinez as the signing. Diaz was a AAAA player, Toregas played 22 games in the bigs total, while the other 4 have played a fair amount of time in the pros, Wolters and Gimenez are both fringe guys though... That's all we have had that we drafted or signed internationally back to the 90s. Esmil Rodgers and Casey Blake got us our other catchers... (Bard, Shoppach and Marson were also all acquired in a trade)

We need catching depth and if we go get supposedly a catcher that's rated in the first round. I am not gonna have any qualms with it since that is one position I absolutely hate our depth in. Can you name a catcher outside of our top 2 catchers in the system off the top of your head?

 

[Gson]

Bo Naylor <=== drafted in the first round.. for his bat and his defense.. Developing nicely.. and will continue to do so..

What's not to like about Matheu Nelson? His action behind the plate (blocking, pop, calling, feet, mobility, hands) are all in the 45 + to higher range.. while his batting (power and contact) showed elite levels during this past season.. Won't hit? perhaps, some elite breaking ball stuff.. but, not that much different than you'd see with an elite hitter.. As a catcher with his power and defense.. is well worth an upper level draft pick..

 

[DickyLeftridge]

Why am I the only one who feels fine with our catching depth? BERTO and Hedges to me are exactly what we need 1-2 in MLB. Naylor is at AA. Lavistida is A and will finish this season likely in Akron. Diaz is down at Lynchburg. I honestly don't know what you all are talking about re: catching depth. Now, could we use some corner IF depth? Yes, yes we could. With Bobby in the bigs, name our best 1B prospect. Then if you name Noel for 1B, name our best 3B prospect (who will actually play there in the pros). Crickets, boys.

All of that said, I am firmly in the camp of using our #1 pick today on the one area of the org where we have the most depth and that is SP. Give me a flame thrower baby. Or Bieber Jr. baby. Chase Petty. ECU kid who I know we'll never draft. Bubba Chandler seems intriguing. The big HS LHP from New Jersey. LET'S GO. It's going to be YAWN CITY if we use another top pick on some slap hitting HS kid. YAWN CITY BABY.

 

[CalBuckeyeRob]

Your logic is correct, but how do we fix our lack of catching without drafting more catching? We haven't hit on a catcher so far in a long time... I think it's been what 5 catchers that we have drafted and 1 international Signing catcher made it to the pros since 2000 area... Einar Diaz, Wyatt Toregas, Chris Gimenez, Roberto Perez and Tony Wolters with Victor Martinez as the signing. Diaz was a AAAA player, Toregas played 22 games in the bigs total, while the other 4 have played a fair amount of time in the pros, Wolters and Gimenez are both fringe guys though... That's all we have had that we drafted or signed internationally back to the 90s. Esmil Rodgers and Casey Blake got us our other catchers... (Bard, Shoppach and Marson were also all acquired in a trade)

We need catching depth and if we go get supposedly a catcher that's rated in the first round. I am not gonna have any qualms with it since that is one position I absolutely hate our depth in. Can you name a catcher outside of our top 2 catchers in the system off the top of your head?

I am not against drafting or signing catchers every year. I am against using picks at the top part of the draft for them. You want a catcher in Round 5? Go for it.

 

[DCTribefan]

Your logic is correct, but how do we fix our lack of catching without drafting more catching? We haven't hit on a catcher so far in a long time... I think it's been what 5 catchers that we have drafted and 1 international Signing catcher made it to the pros since 2000 area... Einar Diaz, Wyatt Toregas, Chris Gimenez, Roberto Perez and Tony Wolters with Victor Martinez as the signing. Diaz was a AAAA player, Toregas played 22 games in the bigs total, while the other 4 have played a fair amount of time in the pros, Wolters and Gimenez are both fringe guys though... That's all we have had that we drafted or signed internationally back to the 90s. Esmil Rodgers and Casey Blake got us our other catchers... (Bard, Shoppach and Marson were also all acquired in a trade)

We need catching depth and if we go get supposedly a catcher that's rated in the first round. I am not gonna have any qualms with it since that is one position I absolutely hate our depth in. Can you name a catcher outside of our top 2 catchers in the system off the top of your head?

Well Tribe did hit on Haase.

 

[sportscoach]

I am not against drafting or signing catchers every year. I am against using picks at the top part of the draft for them. You want a catcher in Round 5? Go for it.

I am one that's always high on catching and willing to go get it when we don't have it. Honestly if we have a chance to get the best catcher in the draft, I want to go do that, but I am not stating we have to draft a catcher 23, I just personally want a catcher fairly early in this draft cause of the catching depth we have.

Why am I the only one who feels fine with our catching depth? BERTO and Hedges to me are exactly what we need 1-2 in MLB. Naylor is at AA. Lavistida is A and will finish this season likely in Akron. Diaz is down at Lynchburg. I honestly don't know what you all are talking about re: catching depth. Now, could we use some corner IF depth? Yes, yes we could. With Bobby in the bigs, name our best 1B prospect. Then if you name Noel for 1B, name our best 3B prospect (who will actually play there in the pros). Crickets, boys.

All of that said, I am firmly in the camp of using our #1 pick today on the one area of the org where we have the most depth and that is SP. Give me a flame thrower baby. Or Bieber Jr. baby. Chase Petty. ECU kid who I know we'll never draft. Bubba Chandler seems intriguing. The big HS LHP from New Jersey. LET'S GO. It's going to be YAWN CITY if we use another top pick on some slap hitting HS kid. YAWN CITY BABY.

We have Naylor, Lavastida and Diaz, can you name any other catcher? My point is the fact we don't have very many catching prospects that have any type of ceiling. You cannot expect all prospects to make it and right now we have at most 3 who have an off chance.. I don't like those odds and getting another catcher is on my to do list...

We have a million players who can play 3B... Almost all the MIF prospects we have can play 3B, we just haven't kept one there because it's blocked. Now our depth at 1B isn't good, but we can always find someone to play there. Brooks has done well with the transition there. Marabell got time there even though he's a solid OF defensively. I am not worried at all about who can play 1B/3B in the minors, I am worried about who can hit for me at the pro level. 1B only prospects flame out very easily, that's the position I would never take early...

I want BPA draftwise and if that's a pitcher then that's who we get... I have no qualms with that.