2018 MLB Draft

[beckdawg]

Looks like we are going for more contact college bats, and high ceiling HS bats

makes a lot of sense. They are pretty thin in the OF at A and above. I always like high speed low k rate types. Sometimes they gain power and then you end up with really fun players. And finding CFers who are good enough to make the majors is so hard. On Herron also sounds like he needs TJS but would have went higher if not for it. That's also sort of been a trend they've gone for. Not terrible idea if you're confident they come back healthy and you saw them before they were hurt.

Cubs tend to have a pretty big scouting staff so wouldn't shock me if they are a team that has seen these guys before they were hurt and other teams may not have.

 

[Bigfoot]

makes a lot of sense. They are pretty thin in the OF at A and above. I always like high speed low k rate types. Sometimes they gain power and then you end up with really fun players. And finding CFers who are good enough to make the majors is so hard. On Herron also sounds like he needs TJS but would have went higher if not for it. That's also sort of been a trend they've gone for. Not terrible idea if you're confident they come back healthy and you saw them before they were hurt.

Cubs tend to have a pretty big scouting staff so wouldn't shock me if they are a team that has seen these guys before they were hurt and other teams may not have.

Agree beck. I like this direction of the draft. We have enough power at the big league level, but not enough high contact guys. Always good to get more bats in the system.

 

[beckdawg]

Also, another comment on Herron is he kinda seems like another guy who's probably under slot for what that's worth. Definitely feels like they are saving quite a bit of money. Davis is probably slot or over but not this much. Roederer doesn't seem like he's gonna be that overslot but idk that for sure. But with Herron if he needs surgery i'd be willing to bet he's well below slot and they are banking on him being interesting but cheap.

 

[beckdawg]

Matthew Trueblood
‏

@MATrueblood
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Loose comp: Rickey Henderson.

trueblood is with baseball prospectus on Herron

 

[chibears55]

Guess they got my memo on adding high contact guys...lol

Find it interesting that 3 of 4 hitters are outfielders and even their first guy can play OF...



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[beckdawg]

Guess they got my memo on adding high contact guys...lol

Find it interesting that 3 of 4 hitters are outfielders and even their first guy can play OF...



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More interesting thing is they all can play CF. Cubs like up the middle athletic types.

 

[beckdawg]

trueblood is with baseball prospectus on Herron

^ henderson comp is probably a bit rich but looking at his college stats if you squint a bit I can kinda see it. Looks like a .270-.290 hitter who might be high 300's OBP with speed. His walk rate in college was 12% vs 9% k rate. Probably wont hit for much power but there's at least some there. He's not Juan Pierre.

 

[CSF77]

More interesting thing is they all can play CF. Cubs like up the middle athletic types.

You are always better off drafting middle guys that can fall back to corner types. Schwarber was an exception because the bat was that plus.

I’m not against it at all but I don’t see any affecting this team with in 3 years and it is easier to trade/sign a prototypical guy if that is your need. Drafting to cover current needs is pretty silly imo. This is not the NFL.

That said I see no problem investing the system with more contact types as that will filter up to the next generation.

 

[beckdawg]

4th rounder Roberts, Ethan tenn tech

more info to come as i get it edited here.

http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/profile.asp?ID=201728

Edit: coverage basically said he was a reliever who could move fast. Seems like another under slot guy to me. That said does have interesting k/9 bb/9 numbers for a reliever.

 

[beckdawg]

Kiley McDaniel
‏

@kileymcd
3h3 hours ago
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My best guess about where each pool is:

Slightly under relative to slot (9)
ATL, BAL, CHC, HOU, NYM, NYY, PHI, PIT, SD

Since then Atlanta took Tristan Beck who was ranked #35 with the 112th pick. That seems like a probable over slot. Baltimore took Blaine Knight #87 and he was ranked 48th. Not sure on Houston's situation. Both new york teams look to be whereever they were slot wise. Philly was missing several picks so doubt they are in play for falling guys. SD and Pit still seem to be saving.

So, you're likely looking at maybe 5-6 teams who are under slot to varying degrees.

 

[beckdawg]

5th round pick is Weber, Andy from Virginia

http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/profile.asp?ID=202093

Performed well at Virginia. High contact guy yet again. This time not much speed. Would guess this is either a slot sign or below.

 

[beckdawg]

Going back to Roberts, he's apparently averaged 2 innings per relief stint which is kind of interesting. They did the same sort of thing when they drafted Dakota Mekkes.

 

[chibears55]

Going back to Roberts, he's apparently averaged 2 innings per relief stint which is kind of interesting. They did the same sort of thing when they drafted Dakota Mekkes.

New trend...
Getting relievers who can pitch multiple innings

Get these kids out of college now who are used to it

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[beckdawg]

So, got a bit more info. Baseball america had Hoerner at 42, Davis at 133, Roederer at 161, Richan at 164 and Herron at 165. Richan said he was expecting to go 4th-6th. My thinking here is given those 3 guys were bunched around the same area for BA they may have just offered Roederer, richan and Herron all 4th round money. That's roughly $425k. Their Slots are worth $775k, $762k and $570k. That's potentially $700k in savings. Davis is rumored to have asked 1.3-1.5 mil which is 250k-450k over slot. Nico's slot is worth $2,724,000. The 40th pick is worth $1.786 miil or roughly a million less than slot. If that sort of math is right you're looking at 1.2-1.5 mil under slot plus whatever the last two picks are probably under. Wouldn't shock me to see them build up to close to $2 mil they are saving.

 

[beckdawg]

6th round pick is Franklin, Kohl a hs RHP

Edit: 89-92 fb, throws a slider and a curve with a change. Good size(6'4 200). Projectable. Is related to Ryan franklin some how but don't remember how they said. Dad's an agent so assumption is he's signing but I don't think he's enough of a guy to be a big time over slot guy. Seems more like a slot guy to me.

Edit 2: Ryan Franklin is his uncle.

 

[beckdawg]

7th round pick is D.J. Artis a CF from Liberty uni. 136 on mlb.com

http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/profile.asp?ID=197599

Scouting grades: Hit: 50 | Power: 40 | Run: 60 | Arm: 40 | Field: 55 | Overall: 45

A three-year starter at Liberty, Artis has probably had his worst season, statistically, in this, his junior season. But the speedy outfielder has shown enough where teams that covet college performers will still have interest in the top five rounds

It's not that Artis, a two-time Cape Cod League player, has been bad this spring; it's just that he set the bar high by winning the Big South Conference's Freshman of the Year in 2016 and then Player of the Year in 2017. He's proven he can really hit, albeit from an unorthodox crouch from the left side of the plate. There is some raw power, but he doesn't tap into it consistently, focusing on line-drive contact and drawing a lot more walks than strikeouts. He's a plus runner who can handle center field with below-average arm strength, one who could one day hit near the top of a big league lineup.

Even in his "down year," Artis has gotten on base at an impressive clip and stolen bases. That skill set, not to mention his track record, has kept him fairly high on Draft boards.

 

[CubsFaninMN]

I understand getting some good bats into the system, but we seem to have drafted about five roughly similar versions of the same guy...

 

[beckdawg]

I understand getting some good bats into the system, but we seem to have drafted about five roughly similar versions of the same guy...

Cubs attack weakness by volume typically from my understanding. Thing is too if you can play CF(which most of these guys can) you can usually play all 3 OF positions. RF might be iffy for guys with poor arms but it's typically a fairly safe type pick. At worst, you have a good defensive OF range wise. In best case you can end up with several guys who can be legit CF in the majors types. As I have said earlier, those guys don't grow on trees. Most CF in the majors are below average defensively because that's how rare they are.

 

[chibears55]

I understand getting some good bats into the system, but we seem to have drafted about five roughly similar versions of the same guy...

Stock piling for the future not just for the cubs but for trades too...

This current cubs roster will have a different look in 2 years...

Looks like their draft plan was to add as many high contact speedy type players who can play OF...
They grabbed a couple high average hitters too ..

Pitching and infield may be top choices in IFA


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[beckdawg]

8th round pick from Zach Mort george mason. He's a RHP.

http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/profile.asp?ID=200083