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Recent Posts
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Post by ramireja on Jul 6, 2020 13:19:57 GMT -5
A pair of legit 2020 HS talents have recently announced new intentions to play JUCO/CC ball in 2021:
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Post by ramireja on Jul 2, 2020 15:38:21 GMT -5
James absolutely crushed this. Very excited to read all of these (and to give our writers something to do finally!!!). I mean, this is a seriously deep dive. I appreciate the info James and write-ups on literally every selected player. 2003 (and I'm now seeing in 2004) didn't produce a ton of depth in terms of major leaguers, but when you land 2 of the top 20 players in terms of WAR, I think thats a better outcome than say 9 fringe major leaguers lacking any regulars (see 2012). I also love the point about how David Murphy has to be considered a successful pick which I think is an important reality call to anyone expecting Role 60 players as a probable outcome for players drafted in the middle or back of the 1st round.
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Post by ramireja on Jul 1, 2020 23:45:19 GMT -5
I'm a little reluctant to post the tweet below as its from June 17th and there's still no official word on signing. That said, we may just be waiting for the Yorke signing to become official before we can make Jordan and Drohan official. All but three 1st rounders have officially signed, so fingers crossed we get news on Yorke (plus the rest) soon.
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Post by ramireja on Jun 30, 2020 15:40:45 GMT -5
I'm very excited about this SoxProspects draft retrospective series as detailed by James below: The series begins with the 2003 draft and the beginning of the SoxProspects.com era.
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Post by ramireja on Jun 29, 2020 21:51:50 GMT -5
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Post by ramireja on Jun 26, 2020 15:41:49 GMT -5
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Post by ramireja on Jun 26, 2020 11:44:27 GMT -5
For what it's worth, Blaze Jordan attended 44 Perfect Game events over the course of his career and hit 15 HR across those events. I can't tell you how many games or plate appearances are in 44 events, but I know the PG scouts talk about his 15 HR as a very impressive figure among the HS circuit against quality (and often older) competition.
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Post by ramireja on Jun 24, 2020 13:37:15 GMT -5
To celebrate Jordan's signing news, enjoy this video of him hitting bombs at Progressive Field to win the 2019 MLB High School Home Run Derby:
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Post by ramireja on Jun 24, 2020 13:26:47 GMT -5
This is excellent news, I had a slight concern that the Sox viewed Blaze as highly signable but wasn't a definite to sign. Anyways, that figure would leave $3,636,395 to sign the other 3 picks. I could see something like ~$3.0M to Yorke, ~$200K to Wu-Yelland, ~$400K to Drohan; but I'm sure the other three are locks to sign regardless of how the $ is distributed.
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Post by ramireja on Jun 22, 2020 14:05:13 GMT -5
Yup, the Phillies also cleaned up according to rankings. They signed 5 UDFAs from BA's Top 500 (4 in the top 400) in addition to two senior signs from their top 25 senior sign list. I will say though in comparing some of these guys to our draft haul, I don't perceive a huge difference between someone ranking between 300-500 and say Brian Van Belle, Cuba Bess, or Jake MacKenzie. Even guys like Jacinto Arredondo or Merfy Andrew seemingly have as much relief upside as others in the Top 500 but lack the track record or pedigree that comes from playing in a top D1 school.
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Post by ramireja on Jun 22, 2020 12:03:16 GMT -5
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Post by ramireja on Jun 20, 2020 12:40:26 GMT -5
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Post by ramireja on Jun 19, 2020 17:16:35 GMT -5
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Post by ramireja on Jun 19, 2020 16:26:59 GMT -5
Thanks for this, ramireja. Jordan, at age 17, playing at least a level above his age for years, has been considered not just a remarkable power hitter, but a good hitter, “comfortable in the box” and able to “manipulate the bat” for hard contact. Taking what was given by a pitcher or a defense is a skill not all major leaguers possess, and this kid already demonstrates that skill. That he was anticipated to be around the top of his 2021 draft class is not a throwaway line. Being a celebrated prodigy since he was 13 was bound to develop granular scrutiny along with the praise. Yes he could flop. He is a 17 year old high school junior turned professional, a very young prospect. Nevertheless, in a crazy brief draft, the Sox took a likely 2021 first round talent a year early, and will have that extra year to help him develop all elements of his precocious talent. All good. FWIW, just as a point of information, I don't believe it's correct to say that he's been playing "at least a level above his age for years." He only reclassified last May, and he's been playing at age-appropriate levels near as I can tell. Paul Toboni discussed traits he has at the plate that they look for that they think are innate, specifically the ability to process the pitch out of the pitcher's hand and recognize pitches early. And of course, there's the prodigious raw power. But as our conversation with Jim Callis last night (PODCAST NOW AVAILABLE) showed, he's not considered a lock to hit, and Mississippi isn't exactly a baseball hotbed for high schoolers. Jim said there's an enormous gap between possible outcomes for Jordan - he might hit 40 HR a year, or he might fail to get past Double-A. I think that makes sense - if there wasn't, he wouldn't have gotten to pick 89, even if that was in part due to signability. I think Gerry is referring to some of the Perfect Game info I had posted and the fact that he's been playing against older competition on the national showcase (even more impressive than limited to MS) for years. The dude has played a ton on the national circuit, so I wouldn't be too worried about the level of competition in MS alone if that was a concern. Consider that in 2017, Blaze Jordan was 14 and homered at the 14u, 15u, 16u & 17u WWBA and WWBA World Championship in Jupiter. Here is a snippet of his performance at the WWBA World Championship in 2017 where he homered off a guy three years his senior throwing in the low 90s: To be clear, I'm not doubting the range of outcomes or anything. I just think its worth noting what the dude has accomplished on the national showcase circuit because it's possibly unprecedented.
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Post by ramireja on Jun 19, 2020 11:40:29 GMT -5
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Post by ramireja on Jun 19, 2020 11:22:04 GMT -5
Yeah we're not going to see another wave of signings, but I want to note that UDFAs can sign at any point before returning to school. In other words, they don't have the same Aug. 1st signing deadline that applies to drafted players. So I wouldn't be surprised to see a couple more players sign between now and next Spring, but this current group has to represent the majority of what we'll see.
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Post by ramireja on Jun 17, 2020 11:48:55 GMT -5
Who is ready for the 2021 MLB draft? Maybe too soon, but regardless, here's a link to Kiley McDaniel's way-too-early 2021 mlb draft rankings via ESPN. I won't give away too much behind the paywall, but here's the top 10 from these rankings: 1. Kumar Rocker, RHP, Vanderbilt, 50 FV 2. Brady House, 3B, Winder Barrow HS (GA), 45+ FV 3. Jack Leiter, RHP, Vanderbilt, 45 FV 4. Jaden Hill, RHP, LSU, 45 FV 5. Jud Fabian, CF, Florida, 45 FV 6. Jordan Lawlar, SS, Jesuit Prep HS (TX), 45 FV 7. Luke Leto, SS, Portage Central HS (MI), 45 FV 8. Alex Binelas, 3B, Louisville, 45 FV 9. Adrian Del Castillo, C, Miami, 45 FV 10. Ethan Wilson, LF, South Alabama, 45 FV
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Post by ramireja on Jun 16, 2020 20:33:02 GMT -5
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Post by ramireja on Jun 16, 2020 20:20:01 GMT -5
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Post by ramireja on Jun 16, 2020 13:07:08 GMT -5
How did this guy not get drafted? He seems like someone you'd rather have then even Wu-Yelland or Drohan. That was my question, so I looked up his college stats. I had trouble finding much aside this link, so I apologize in advance if the numbers are not accurate: asasilverstorm.com/sports/bsb/2017-18/bios/andrew_merfy_gipkAccording to that webpage, in 13.1 innings Andrew walked 31 batters. Perhaps that made a few scouts think twice about drafting him? Yes, basically this. He has a history of extreme control concerns. Its possible he's turned a bit of a corner. This year for St. Thomas, Andrew still walked 18 in 25.1 innings. Certainly better than 31 walks in 13.1 innings, but still problematic. If you dig under the hood a bit more and look at his 5 starts this year, you'll see his first of the year was atrocious walking 7 batters in 2.1 innings. He followed that up though stringing together 4 strong starts with a 40K/11BB ratio in 23 innings.
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Post by ramireja on Jun 15, 2020 11:32:14 GMT -5
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Post by ramireja on Jun 15, 2020 0:00:24 GMT -5
The Royals are finding access to the BA's top 500 like no other team right now. They've signed 6 guys according to BA's tracker, 5 are in BA's top 500 and the other made their list of top 25 seniors. Plus one of their signings is Kale Emshoff...I want to say he's a consensus top 200 type.
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Post by ramireja on Jun 14, 2020 20:11:58 GMT -5
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Post by ramireja on Jun 14, 2020 11:39:23 GMT -5
St. Josephs had their season opener against #24 ranked Ohio State this year and DiValerio got the start and the win. His line: 5IP 1H 1R (0ER) 1BB 9K
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Post by ramireja on Jun 14, 2020 10:23:24 GMT -5
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