2021 MLB Draft

Catcher Liam McGill out of Bryant U is the ninth rounder. Senior sign, but he led nation in hitting (.471) and OBP (.541).
 
Enscheff said:
FG has him listed as SS/SIRP. Do you know what SIRP stands for? Single Inning Relief Pitcher.

Did the Braves just take 2 BP arms with their first 2 picks?
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Possibly. His scouting grades for his pitching fair far better than his position/hitting grades.
 
CJ9 said:
Catcher Liam McGill out of Bryant U is the ninth rounder. Senior sign, but he led nation in hitting (.471) and OBP (.541).
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He was a grad transfer to Bryant. He graduated from Columbia and was All-Ivy League a couple of seasons there.

10th rounder Dylan Spain is listed as No School. Actually, he pitched for Hawaii-Hilo but hasn't pitched in a game since 2019.

Must be something in the works for tomorrow because I see at least half of these guys signing for under slot and some of them for way under slot. I have no real idea, but my guess is the two high school guys will probably be close to slot.

To enscheff's question, Schwellenbach has been a bit of a darling in the scouting community this spring and folks are viewing him as a possible starter. It's important to remember that Kris Medlen was a similar SS/RHP who was a junior college closer that developed into a starter down the road. Schwelenbach is much bigger physically than Medlen.

Here is Schwellenbach's video from the pre-draft combine: https://www.mlb.com/video/draft-combine-schwellenbach
 
Trying to figure out who we could be targeting tomorrow. I’ve seen three names linked to us in the last two weeks as guys our front office liked at later picks —

1B Jacob Walsh (Oregon commit)
INF Braden Montgomery (Stanford commit)
OF Ryan Gilbert (Indiana commit)

I’ve seen a lot of high school players today tweet something about how they’re excited to head to campus and honor their commitment. None of the above three have put anything like that on social media.

Montgomery would seem least likely to me as an option since he’s a Stanford commit, but he is from Mississippi. Would be great if he grew up a Braves fan or something, but ultimately, he seems pretty unlikely to sign this late. Walsh is from out west, Gilbert from up north so not likely to have any fan connections there.

Still a lot of questions about how much money we actually have, and we just won’t n kw the answer to that. We don’t know how much overslot Smith-Shawver or Collins will cost. I’m also curious about how much Schwellenbach will get. He had multiple connections late first round, so I wouldn’t be totally surprised if we were able to float him to our second pick by offering him above slot.
 
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Who is the last college pitcher that was an important player for us...mike minor?

I do not get the college pitcher focus. Even the few pitchers that have worked out for us are hs arms or trades for hs arms or international signs.

Maybe strider changes that.

Shuster they seem afraid to throw more than 3 innings.

Is aa planning on signing all these college guys for 2 million and putting them in our ****ty pen?
 
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Russ2dollas said:
Who is the last college pitcher that was an important player for us...mike minor?

I do not get the college pitcher focus. Even the few pitchers that have worked out for us are hs arms or trades for hs arms or international signs.

Maybe strider changes that.

Shuster they seem afraid to throw more than 3 innings.

Is aa planning on signing all these college guys for 2 million and putting them in our ****ty pen?
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Pretty easy. College players have better hit rates and quicker progressions.
 
Dana Brown comments on pretty much every pick yesterday: https://www.talkingchop.com/2021/7/...spencer-schwellenbach-braves-day-2-selections.

The Schwellenbach praise is very high:

“We think he could start. He’s been up to 99 and he has a really good changeup and a good breaking ball. We feel like he’s going to be a starter for us,” Brown added. “This is probably one of my favorite picks I could say of my career. I was so excited to get this guy.”
 
CJ9 said:
Trying to figure out who we could be targeting tomorrow. I’ve seen three names linked to us in the last two weeks as guys our front office liked at later picks —

1B Jacob Walsh (Oregon commit)
INF Braden Montgomery (Stanford commit)
OF Ryan Gilbert (Indiana commit)

I’ve seen a lot of high school players today tweet something about how they’re excited to head to campus and honor their commitment. None of the above three have put anything like that on social media.

Montgomery would seem least likely to me as an option since he’s a Stanford commit, but he is from Mississippi. Would be great if he grew up a Braves fan or something, but ultimately, he seems pretty unlikely to sign this late. Walsh is from out west, Gilbert from up north so not likely to have any fan connections there.

Still a lot of questions about how much money we actually have, and we just won’t n kw the answer to that. We don’t know how much overslot Smith-Shawver or Collins will cost. I’m also curious about how much Schwellenbach will get. He had multiple connections late first round, so I wouldn’t be totally surprised if we were able to float him to our second pick by offering him above slot.
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Malakhi Knight seems like someone to keep an eye on too. Michael Harris type tooled-up CF with questions about how much he'll hit. UCLA commit, but not so sure it's considered a "strong" commit since he wavered several times and was initially committed to Oregon State.
 
Looks like about half our picks so far are guys with legitimate upside, and the other half is essentially organizational filler that project at best as utility players or relievers.
 
clvclv said:
Malakhi Knight seems like someone to keep an eye on too. Michael Harris type tooled-up CF with questions about how much he'll hit. UCLA commit, but not so sure it's considered a "strong" commit since he wavered several times and was initially committed to Oregon State.
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He said after the first night that he took his name out of the draft and is going to UCLA.
 
Schwellenbach was my 2nd choice when the day started, so I'm pretty pumped we were able to land him. Seems like we like him more as a pitcher. Would be cool if the bat was good enough to pull double duty.
 
Russ2dollas said:
But do they for us?

Does that hold true when most are converting from relievers or have huge command issues?
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For me converting arms isn't a bad thing....per se. Maybe it's even overblown in my head, but it's interesting that whatever philosophy is being taught regarding command is not registering with these pitchers. Someone smarter than me can counter that, but everyone I see in the minors up until their major league debut either has little command of loses it quickly. Perhaps we need to invest in the Chris Reitsma school of pitching.
 
Russ2dollas said:
But do they for us?

Does that hold true when most are converting from relievers or have huge command issues?
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Not sure.

How has picking high school pitchers worked out for Braves?

Braves have somewhat rarely picked college arms early up till recent years.

They had mixed at best success with high school arms.

Current regime is just getting started really.
 
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