2018 MLB Draft

Ranma · Post #21 » by **Ranma** » Mon Jun 4, 2018 6:52 am

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Ranma · Post #22 » by **Ranma** » Mon Jun 4, 2018 3:48 pm

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Quake Griffin · Post #23 » by **Quake Griffin** » Mon Jun 4, 2018 11:03 pm

Oh **** the draft is today.

I forgot to dig into that.
Gotta rush back to LA from Riverside to peep it.

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Ranma · Post #24 » by **Ranma** » Tue Jun 5, 2018 4:21 pm

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Ranma · Post #25 » by **Ranma** » Tue Jun 5, 2018 4:23 pm

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Quake Griffin · Post #26 » by **Quake Griffin** » Tue Jun 5, 2018 4:50 pm

JT Ginn.

Didn’t see much talk of him at our slot but he was on the top prospects list. Also makes sense that we’d go prep when the college talent wasn’t deep in this draft.

Apparently Ginn hit 100 mph this spring.
He already has 2 plus offerings and is just developing the feel for a 3rd - a changeup.

For now, I’m content with this pick. I’ll wait for Ranma to add more color before I give it the official stamp of approval.

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Ranma · Post #27 » by **Ranma** » Tue Jun 5, 2018 4:52 pm

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Ranma · Post #28 » by **Ranma** » Tue Jun 5, 2018 4:54 pm

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Quake Griffin · Post #29 » by **Quake Griffin** » Tue Jun 5, 2018 4:56 pm

https://www.truebluela.com/platform/amp/2018/6/4/17428090/jt-ginn-mlb-draft-profile-2018-dodgers?utm_campaign=truebluela&utm_content=chorus&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&__twitter_impression=true

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Quake Griffin · Post #30 » by **Quake Griffin** » Tue Jun 5, 2018 5:00 pm

https://www.truebluela.com/2018/6/5/17428440/michael-grove-mlb-draft-profile-2018-dodgers

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Ranma · Post #31 » by **Ranma** » Wed Jun 6, 2018 6:59 am

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Quake Griffin · Post #32 » by **Quake Griffin** » Wed Jun 6, 2018 4:40 pm

Looks like Ginn has the floor of a decent reliever (I'll never project prime Kimbrel, he has to earn that).

His delivery is pretty violent. That makes me wonder if he can sustain a career as a starter along with his size. But it's fantastic to see that he has 2 plus offerings already at 19 years old with the potential for a 3rd.

He's no smaller than say Zack Greinke, so it isn't the size that scares me. It's the size along with the delivery.
But wow, it looks like there's great stuff there.

Quake Griffin · Post #33 » by **Quake Griffin** » Wed Jun 6, 2018 4:48 pm

Wonder if Grove will be signed below slot value.

Ranma · Post #34 » by **Ranma** » Thu Jun 7, 2018 7:58 am

MLB.com Draft Profile: Stephen Kolek - 11th Round (344th Overall)

Kolek is a strike-thrower with a good mix of pitches in his arsenal. The right-hander projects as a No. 5 starter at the professional level, with a 90-91 mph fastball that can touch 93, a good slider and a good changeup.

MLB.com Draft Profile: Niko Hulsizer - 18th Round (554th Overall)

Last season, Hulsizer was the NCAA Division I home run champion, crushing 27 long balls in 2017 and winning the College Home Run Derby. This year, the Morehead State outfielder missed 21 games with a fractured hamate bone in his left hand -- but in the 42 games he has played, he's hit .320/.428/.621 with 12 more homers. Hulsizer has 70-grade raw power. He's a big body at 6-foot-2 and 225 pounds, he's strong, and he has a huge swing from the right side. Hulsizer is an above-average runner, too, with an average arm, but his contact hitting and defense aren't as good.

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'18 Draft: Ben Specht
06/02/18 | 00:30

Ben Specht is a right-handed pitcher out of Evangelical Christian School

Ranma · Post #35 » by **Ranma** » Fri Jun 8, 2018 5:43 am

Keith Law, ESPNinsider.com (6/7/18)

Keith Law's Draft Recap: NL Team-by-Team Breakdowns

Ranma · Post #36 » by **Ranma** » Fri Jun 8, 2018 5:58 am

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Ranma · Post #37 » by **Ranma** » Sun Jun 10, 2018 12:09 pm

Quake Griffin wrote:JT Ginn.

Didn’t see much talk of him at our slot but he was on the top prospects list. Also makes sense that we’d go prep when the college talent wasn’t deep in this draft.

Apparently Ginn hit 100 mph this spring.
He already has 2 plus offerings and is just developing the feel for a 3rd - a changeup.

For now, I’m content with this pick. I’ll wait for Ranma to add more color before I give it the official stamp of approval.

My apologies for the delay in my response, but as I mentioned in the Prospects thread, I've been primarily preoccupied with the NFL and NBA drafts this year and have been passively following the MLB and NHL drafts. Even so, I carried over impressions from following prospects in this class previously even if I am quite unfamiliar with a lot of the ranked prospects in the top 200.

Heading into this draft, I was particularly unenthused because the Dodgers have the absolute lowest bonus-pool amount allotted as a team drafting last in each round without forfeiting any picks or gaining any compensatory selections as well: $5,288,200 ($5,552,609 over-slot maximum before sacrificing future first-rounder).

However, with the pre-draft chatter an hour before the proceedings, I quickly found myself hoping for Kyler Murray to drop to the Dodgers with talk of his commitment to football scaring off teams along with a supposed $3-million price tag. I didn't think we'd have a shot at a premium talent at our slot, but it turns out that we did.

In fact, this draft class had a lot of prospects who were once projected to go 1st overall at some point. Murray was one such prospect and it turns out that he's even better than I initially thought. The dude is obviously a supreme athlete but he played infield in high school, took time off to focus on football then stepped right in and played outfield in college. All while being quite productive with the bat. He seems to have natural instincts for the game to go along with athletic gifts.

Major props to the A's for pulling off the move to draft him 9th overall and quickly agreeing to terms on a contract that will allow him to play football at Oklahoma for a season before committing to baseball. They even signed him for slightly under slot value at about $4.6 million, I believe, which is almost the Dodgers' entire draft budget. I have similar feelings of this selection being a high-level steal as when we drafted Clayton Kershaw out of high school.

Other prospects once thought to be possible 1st overall picks were Brice Turang, Brady Singer, Ethan Hankins, Seth Beer and J.J. Schwarz, but Detroit took Casey Mize 1st overall. The A's also took Schwarz in the 8th round but he'll likely be a DH if he continues to display proficiency with his power numbers. Likewise, Beer goes to the Astros as another DH option if he can learn to hit with wood bats. Turang suffered from evaluation fatigue from scouts but he should still eventually be a reliable starting MLB SS in the not too distant future. Singer was never in play for us but he has great stuff and a projectable frame to go along with a fiery competitive approach. Similarly, Hankins has a similar profile to Singer but there a concerns about his shoulder and signability as a Vanderbilt commit. Outside of Schwarz, all of these prospects were practically taken in the first round (Hankins 35th overall to Cleveland in the compensatory portion of the opening round).

There was some talk of Turang possibly being available to the Dodgers but he went 21st overall to the Brewers. Prep RHP Hankins was the one I had my eye on when the Dodgers' pick came up. I'm not sure whether I like passing up on Hankins at 30th overall, but I guess it will depend on how much he actually signs for with respect to our budget. The slot amount for the 30th overall pick is $2,275,800, which is undoubtedly low for a prospect of Hankins' caliber even with the shoulder issue, especially in light of his commitment to Vandy.

Kumar Rocker was another big-name prep arm available and he's been rated similar to and above Hankins for most of the past year, I believe, but he's apparently a hard commitment also for Vanderbilt, which explains why he went in the 38th round to the Rockies. In fact, the prevailing belief is that the Commodores will have a headline recruiting class fronted by Hankins and Rocker.

Tristan Beck was another prospect I used to be high on but he never developed physically, however, he was able to pitch for an entire season healthy after dealing with back issues in previous years. The Braves selected him in the 4th round but I'm not really broken up about it, though I think he's a good fit for that organization.

Quake Griffin wrote:Looks like Ginn has the floor of a decent reliever (I'll never project prime Kimbrel, he has to earn that).

His delivery is pretty violent. That makes me wonder if he can sustain a career as a starter along with his size. But it's fantastic to see that he has 2 plus offerings already at 19 years old with the potential for a 3rd.

He's no smaller than say Zack Greinke, so it isn't the size that scares me. It's the size along with the delivery.
But wow, it looks like there's great stuff there.

Now with regards to our actual draft pick, J.T. Ginn, I was initially relieved when I heard the selection live since, like you said, the draft was deeper in prep prospects especially in this portion of the selection slots. I also prioritized high-upside pitching this year--particularly southpaws--given the lack of available talent in the Dodgers' pipeline, but the bottom line is always to go with BPA.

At first, I was pleasantly surprised that Gasparino strayed from his norm of never drafting a prep pitcher in the 1st round, especially with all the talk of the Dodgers being linked to toolsy position prospects such as prep outfielders Alek Thomas and Parker Meadows, both of whom went in the 2nd round. However, I was concerned to hear that Ginn was primarily used as a relief pitcher in high school.

Given the Dodgers' history of handling relief pitching prospects and stretching them out as starters, it's disconcerting to me that we used our first-round draft pick on another such endeavor. Chris Reed, Jharel Cotton, Grant Holmes, Jeff Sborz, Frankie Montas and Jordan Sheffield. Yaisel Sierra and Yadier Alvarez could arguably be added to this list.

From what I understand, he's got promising stuff with his fastball-slider combo, which is arguably the best in his class. I'm also encouraged to hear that he's working on a change-up and that he's been stretched out before. I choose to compare this particular selection to both Jordan Sheffield and Cole Winn, the prep prospect I've initially targeted since last year to be considered for the Dodgers' pick this year.

As a late first-round draft pick, he's a better version of the Sheffield pick. The only difference is that Sheffield should have been fast-tracked as a closer prospect. I'm not sure what to make of Ginn just yet but I'm more open to him being a starting pitcher than I was with Sheffield. Just like you, I'm concerned with his violent delivery, particularly with the whiplash "head jerk" in his pitching motion.

Ginn is listed at 6'2" but I'm hearing he's actually closer to 5'11" or 6'0", which is a slight concern for now. However, comparing him to Winn, who is actually 6'2" and was selected 15th overall by the Rangers, Ginn actually has better front-line stuff. Winn has a more projectable frame and more pitches in his repertoire along with a much cleaner delivery. Winn posted pretty good numbers as he sought out better competition and excelled to the point where he was projected as a top-10 pick prior to the draft with Keith Law even mocking him as high as 2nd overall the day before the draft.

Having said that and despite my affinity for Winn, I never envisioned him to be more than a #3 starter, maybe #2 in an MLB starting rotation but not really an ace or even co-ace. Ginn, on the other hand, actually has the stuff to reach that higher level but his frame and delivery pose health concerns much like I had with Walker Buehler but to a much higher extent. I also consider it a positive that Ginn excelled as a 2-way player. Such athleticism and versatility should help in his development in possibly tweaking or even reworking his mechanics.

I'm jumping the gun, but the hope for me is to see Ginn develop into a young Tim Lincecum or prime Sonny Gray. I'd definitely be cool with him turning out to be the next Craig Kimbrel, for that matter, but I'll echo what you stated in that he'll have to earn it while repeating my concern of whether our developmental staff is equipped to helping him realize his potential.

Given my initial passive interest in the Dodgers' draft this year and the budget constraints of our limited bonus pool, I was resigned to deferring to Gasparino with respect to our early picks. Outside of a few exceptions, I actually like Gasparino's approach to our mid-to-late round draft selections. My issue with him has been with his early picks, particularly in the first round, but whether at the behest of Stan Kasten or not, he seems to be making a point to "swing for the fences" with higher-upside picks in the first-round over the past couple of drafts or so.

Given Hankins' signability and shoulder concerns, I can't say that I have much to complain about with the Ginn selection, but I am concerned with how he will be handled from this point on.

Quake Griffin wrote:Wonder if Grove will be signed below slot value.

I was actually hoping that both the Ginn and Grove picks were underslot selections to go after a big-name prospect later, but it's unlikely that Ginn will sign for under slot value, though Michael Grove should not get full value given his injury history and accompanying low rankings among draft experts. I actually think the Grove pick was a big reach as, from what I understand at the moment, he should have been available later in the draft as a third- or even possibly ninth-round pick given his extended layoff.

I like his profile certainly more than I did when we drafted Morgan Cooper in the second round last year since Cooper was a vanilla pick really lacking in upside despite being a solid prospect overall. Still, I'd prefer to make the most of our picks in picking best player available even when we factor in signability and such. Players available at the time included Will Banfield, Jeremy Eierman, Blaine Knight, and Tristan Pompey.

Banfield was considered a sure-fire first-round pick as a catching prospect but was apparently surpassed by other backstop prospects this year, plus, he supposedly has a hard commitment to Vanderbilt as well so I'm not going to fault Gasparino for passing on him.

However, Eierman, Knight and Pompey were cited by Dodgers Digest as being in consideration for our first-round pick. I don't know much about those 3 particular prospects but they were all practically ranked among the top 50 (Pompey was 51st) by MLB Pipeline. This is where I can point to in future criticisms of Gasparino's drafts if things don't work out given the highly questionable circumstances.

I know Gasparino has a thing for intending to take advantage of a market inefficiency by taking injured prospects as an undervalued commodity, but as it's been pointed out in the past, it's dubious to say that he's been doing an effective job of employing that particular strategy. I think we're both on the same page, more or less, with regards to him gambling too often and early on prospects with injury histories.

Having said that, I kind of admire the ballsy call of this particular selection. I'll have to read Gasparino's comments to confirm my suspicions, but if he does truly believe in Grove and sees something special in him, it's absolutely a pick I will applaud him for if it works out to a high-level degree of success even if he reached on taking a player who should have been available much later on. I'm usually not a fan of reaching for players in most circumstances, so maybe I'm reading too much into this pick, but if I am, then this selection doesn't make much sense at all.

Overall, I'm intrigued by a few selections based on cursory knowledge of certain prospects selected by the Dodgers. Like I've stated, I actually trust Gasparino with the later portion of the draft because I think that's his bread-and-butter expertise, but I want to cite some examples that stood out to me for whatever reason when the selections were made.

Based on the description by the in-studio pundits, 2B Devin Mann seems like a reach even as a pick in the 5th round. Stephen Kolek, brother of flamethrowing former 2014 2nd overall pick Tyler Kolek, seems like an interesting pitching prospect with a good mix of pitches despite projecting as a #5 starter right now. Taking prep pitcher Brayden Fisher in the 4th round seems like a really good value when you consider he was ranked 80th overall and still hasn't turned 18 yet with a projectable 6'4" frame. John Rooney, on the other hand, seems like a reach as a projected sixth-rounder taken in the 3rd round despite having a 6'5" build and polished 3-pitch mix as a college left-handed starting pitcher. Prep RHP Trey Dillard could be a steal in the 16th round if we can sign him since he was ranked 140th overall given his strong arm and pure stuff, but he definitely needs development with regards to polishing up his mechanics and improving his control. 6'8" prep RHP prospect Brandon White literally stands out as a pick in the 14th round but needs to eat quite a few sandwiches regularly at 190 lbs.; he could be an intriguing project if he develops physically.

There were a few other notable standouts in the mid-rounds but I forgot who they were specifically. I'll have to actually read up on the materials I've posted in this thread as well as elsewhere if I can find some more once I have more time and am not as focused on the Clippers' picks in the upcoming NBA draft.

Ranma · Post #38 » by **Ranma** » Tue Jun 19, 2018 8:10 am

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Quake Griffin · Post #39 » by **Quake Griffin** » Sun Jul 1, 2018 1:09 am

Will Ginn sign?

Ranma · Post #40 » by **Ranma** » Thu Jul 5, 2018 1:04 am

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Jim Callis, MLB.com (7/3/18)

Dodgers: J.T. Ginn, RHP, Brandon (Miss.) HS
No. 30 overall, pick value: $2,275,800

This one could get interesting. The Dodgers have baseball's lowest bonus pool ($5,288,200) and still have to finalize a deal with second-rounder Michael Grove (who's expected to get roughly $300,000 above his $917,000 pick value). No team wants to lose a future first-round choice, which will leave less than $2.5 million for Ginn, who would be Draft-eligible as a 21-year-old sophomore in 2020 if he attends Mississippi State.

Draft Signings: 6 First-Rounders Remain Unsigned