2023 MLB Draft Thread - Arjun Nimmala HS SS

[HangTime]

Can we draft next the best pitcher available, and add them to the bullpen right away?

[Schad]

Can we draft next the best pitcher available, and add them to the bullpen right away?

With the expectation that this will improve the bullpen? No.

[HangTime]

Can we draft next the best pitcher available, and add them to the bullpen right away?

With the expectation that this will improve the bullpen? No.

I mean how bad can it really be?

and if anything you give him a taste of the majors before he goes to the minors.

I really feel like that's the way it should be with early drafted pitchers.

[Schad]

I mean how bad can it really be?

and if anything you give him a taste of the majors before he goes to the minors.

I really feel like that's the way it should be with early drafted pitchers.

It can be extremely bad. The step up in quality is enormous. Only one pitcher (Garrett Crochet) has done it in the past fifteen years, and that was an edge case: a left-handed reliever who threw 100mph+ and was drafted 11th overall (he has since thrown all of 70 IP over 3.5 years owing to injury). Throwing your average 21 year old who doesn't possess a consistently 100+ heater into action is not likely to produce success.

Giving them a taste of the majors before going to the minors is also bad, because you need to put them on the 40-man (permanently) and it starts their option clock. That affects the whole of their development thereafter, because you're racing the time at which you have to put them on the 25-man permanently or lose them.

[Parataxis]

Can we draft next the best pitcher available, and add them to the bullpen right away?

I'm pretty sure that the best college pitcher would get lit up by average MLB hitters.

The skills and quality gap is enormous. Baseball has an extensive minor league system for a reason.

[polo007]

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[Cyrus]

Any idea who we are rumored to be looking at in day 2 - round 3. Some high ranking prospects are still left.

[polo007]

MLB Draft 2023: Analysis of every first-round pick from Keith Law - The Athletic

20. Toronto Blue Jays: Arjun Nimmala, SS, Strawberry Crest High (Dover, Fla.)

No. 8 on Law’s Big Board

Nimmala is one of the youngest players in the draft class, so any team that uses a draft model that values age is going to love him — and there’s lots to love, as he’s a highly projectable shortstop who is going to end up with maybe 70 power, at least 60, and has a powerful right-handed swing. He’s very likely to stay at shortstop, with great instincts and a plus arm, although I could see a scenario where he just gets so big he has to move. I thought he was a top-10 talent, so this is a steal for Toronto.

Scouting Report: Nimmala is one of the youngest players in the entire draft class, certainly the youngest on my Big Board, as he won’t turn 18 until November, which will appeal to all the teams that value age in their draft models. But he’s also very talented and would still be a first-rounder even if he were 18 already. Nimmala is a lean 6-1 and already shows above-average power with a strong swing that makes excellent use of his hips to generate that contact quality. He’s a rangy shortstop with good hands and an easy plus arm, and although he’s probably just an average runner in the end, he’s certain to stay at the position long term. Where he falls short of the high school hitters above him is in his present hit tool, as he’s shown more propensity to swing and miss than his peers but seems to hit velocity fine. If he didn’t have that, he’d be in that uppermost tier of players, since he’d have the hit tool, power and defense at a critical position. Instead, he offers the potential for that sort of player with a slightly longer timeframe and greater risk around his ability to hit when he enters pro ball.

[polo007]

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[SharoneWright]

R3. 89. Juaron Watts-Brown RHP
Scouting grades: Fastball: 50 | Curveball: 55 | Slider: 60 | Changeup: 50 | Control: 45 | Overall: 50

Watts-Brown originally committed to Texas Tech as a California high schooler, but the Red Raiders backed off him when he injured his shoulder playing quarterback as a senior and he wound up at Long Beach State. After redshirting while getting healthy in 2021, he made his college debut last spring, threw the school's first nine-inning no-hitter and set a school record with 13.6 strikeouts per nine innings (the fifth-best rate in NCAA Division I). He starred in the Cape Cod League during the summer before transferring to Oklahoma State, where he led the Big 12 Conference in strikeouts (124) and strikeout rate (13.6) despite an up-and-down spring.

Watts-Brown's best weapon is a plus 83-86 slider that he commands better than his other offerings, showing the ability to get swings and misses in and out of the strike zone. His fastball parks at 90-93 mph and tops out at 96 with decent running action, but it's fairly ordinary in terms of velocity and life and gets hit harder than any of his pitches. He also employs a solid low-80s curveball with bigger break than his slider and an average mid-80s changeup with some fade and tumble.

More athletic than physical, Watts-Brown has a slender 6-foot-3 frame and some questions about how well he'll handle a pro starter's workload. He shows some feel for pitching and should be able to refine his control and command as he gets more innings. His biggest need is to add some power or movement to his fastball so he can keep it off barrels.

[Parataxis]

Watts-Brown seems like a good high-upside pick, at least from that description.

[SharoneWright]

R4. 121. Landen Maroudis RHP (HS)

Scouting grades: Fastball: 55 | Slider: 50 | Changeup: 55 | Control: 50 | Overall: 50

Calvary Christian High School in Florida has one of the deepest high school pitching staffs in the country with right-hander Liam Peterson, lefty Hunter Dietz and Maroudis. Also the club's shortstop when he isn’t pitching, Maroudis entered the spring third on the depth chart, but many evaluators believed he had vaulted to the top of the list based on his performance and upside.

Maroudis is a solid infield prospect, a good athlete who can swing the bat well, but his future at the next level lies on the mound. The 6-foot-3 right-hander has the chance to have an excellent three-pitch mix. His fastball had touched 96 mph early in the spring, though that velocity backed up a bit as he tired a bit thanks to his two-way duties. There’s good ride and spin to the fastball, something sure to speak to the analytics fans. His changeup is his best secondary offering, ahead of the spike slurve he throws that’s more of a frisbee-like slider than anything else, with some evaluators worrying a little bit about his breaking stuff due to how low his elbow is in his delivery.

Committed to North Carolina State, Maroudis does a very good job of throwing strikes, and teams will certainly be interested in his fastball qualities as well as the upside that comes with his athleticism. Teams that think there could be another gear to reach once he stops hitting could be intrigued in the first few rounds.

[Fairview4Life]

I like it. Now draft 18 straight pitchers

They're on it.

[SharoneWright]

R5. 157. Connor O'Halloran LHP
Scouting grades: Fastball: 45 | Slider: 55 | Changeup: 50 | Control: 55 | Overall: 40

The son of Greg O'Halloran, who played briefly with the 1994 Marlins, Connor was a mainstay on Canada's 18-and-under teams before heading to Michigan. He barely pitched as a freshman in 2021 before becoming the first hurler in school history to record multiple 100-strikeout seasons. The 2023 Big Ten Conference Pitcher of the Year, he's one of the most polished left-handers in this year's college class.

O'Halloran succeeds more with control and deception than stuff. His lone above-average pitch is his low-80s slider, which features plenty of sweep along with some depth and works against both left-handers and right-handers. His fastball hovers around 89 mph and tops out at 93, though it plays up thanks to its flat approach angle and carry up in the zone. His low-80s changeup is a decent third offering with some fade.

O'Halloran has little margin for error but makes few mistakes. He has an easy, athletic delivery with a low arm slot that creates deception without compromising his ability to throw strikes. His control and command have improved significantly this spring and he comes with a high floor as a likely back-of-the-rotation starter.

[SharoneWright]

Kid looks like he throws just like BJ Ryan....

[Schad]

The Maroudis pick is really interesting. Consensus seems to be that he'd be difficult to sign in any instance, and he went two rounds after his projection. Aren't any obvious savings with our other picks, either. As Met said, though, we aren't generally a team that makes speculative picks on signability. The last time we took a tough sign in the 4th round from Calvary Christian a couple years back in Irv Carter, we had no difficulty getting him signed, though it took early 3rd round money.

[Schad]

Looking at some of the others, Bohrofen is our favourite sort of mid-round hitter, a batspeed demon with power and swing-and-miss concerns. Put up big numbers, but seems to have been a bit of a flat-track bully, beating up on lesser opposition while being more ordinary against in-conference teams with quality pitching. Can gamble on that all day in the 6th round, though.

[-MetA4-]

The Jays draft as per Prospects Live rankings:

#12 SS Arjun Nimmala
#51 RHP Juaron Watts-Brown
#72 OF Jace Bohrofen
#76 RHP Landen Maroudis
#107 Nick Goodwin
#200 LHP Connor O'Halloran
#211 OF Sam Shaw

[polo007]

Analyzing Draft Day 2, round-by-round - MLB.com

Pick 20 (121st overall), Blue Jays: Landen Maroudis, RHP, Calvary Christian (Fla.) HS (No. 72)

Calvary Christian boasts three pitchers ranked among MLB Pipeline’s top 150 prospects with Liam Peterson (No. 85) and Hunter Dietz (No. 141) still waiting. Maroudis is the first off the board, thanks to a fastball that can touch 96 and an above-average changeup. Supremely athletic at 6-foot-3, Maroudis also starred at short in the prep ranks but could take off as he focuses on pitching.

Pick 20 (184th overall), Blue Jays: Jace Bohrofen, OF, Arkansas (No. 66)

Entering 2023, Bohrofen was known more as a Cape Cod League standout than he was for his performance at Oklahoma (2021) and Arkansas (2022). He became a regular performer for the Razorbacks this spring, hitting .318/.436/.612 with 16 homers in 60 games. His above-average raw power will be what plays best in the Toronto system.

Pick 20 (214th overall), Blue Jays: Nick Goodwin, SS, Kansas State (No. 163)

Goodwin doesn’t boast a true plus tool, but he’s been a solid three-year starter in the Big 12 and helped his stock with a good showing in the Cape Cod League last summer. He projects for 15-20 homers with a good walk rate in the pros, and while he’s improved at short, he might be better as a bat-first second baseman in the Toronto system.