Official pre-Draft thread

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Southcack77 said:
I haven't read as much on Baz. Would anyone care to link to a recent scouting report showing his trending upwards.
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MLB.com has him #12 in their rankings.

Scouting grades: Fastball: 65 | Cutter: 60 | Curveball: 55 | Slider: 55 | Changeup: 50 | Control: 50 | Overall: 55

Baz can put on a show in batting practice, as evidenced by the 18 balls he blasted out of the park in the first round of the Area Code Games home run derby last August. He's an intriguing third-base prospect from the same Concordia Lutheran High (Tomball, Texas) program that produced a 2015 late first-round pick at that position in Ke'Bryan Hayes. Baz will be one of the first prepsters taken in the 2017 Draft -- but as a pitcher.

Baz may have the deepest arsenal in the 2017 high school class. His fastball has kicked up a notch to 92-96 mph with a peak of 98 this spring, and he has shown the ability to run and sink it while maintaining its velocity throughout a game. His 84-88 mph cutter generates a lot of swings and misses, and he also can turn the cutter into more of a true slider, spin a curveball that's a distinctly different pitch and unveil a changeup that could develop into a solid offering.

Baz's athleticism and clean delivery should yield consistent strikes, though he sometimes has control issues when he falls in love with his secondary pitches and doesn't work off his fastball enough. Scouts rave about his makeup as well as his stuff and physicality. He'll play both ways if he attends Texas Christian, but his upside as a frontline starter should get him drafted high enough to turn pro.
 
Heyman doesn't really strike me as a guy plugged in with draft info, but he just wrote this:

"The Braves may go away from their usual pitcher-first strategy as they like San Juan Capistrano (Calif.) Junipero Serra shortstop Royce Lewis. However, it’s probably only an outside chance he’d fall to them at No. 5. Some scouts say he reminds them of Derek Jeter."

I think I'm higher on Lewis than most here, but I'd love to have him even if he has to move to CF. It looks like the top three is locked in on Wright, McKay and Greene in some order, so it might just come down to what Tampa wants to do at 4.
 
Couple more interesting things about Baz:

1) Like Wentz, he has big power as a hitter.

2) He is apparently more tied to his college commitment than most potential top picks are, though I would guess if he went top 10 he would go pro regardless.
 
Also, this was from a week ago on Adell: http://www.maxpreps.com/news/P9lGOH...on-adell-hits-five-home-runs-in-two-games.htm

21 HR on the year is pretty nice, and he likely has more by now. You can see his swing there, too. He's got a little too much noise pre-load, but that is really easy power. Leads the nation in HR easily and is a ridiculous athlete on top of that.

As I've said all along, if we take Beck or Adell, I'm thrilled. Gore and I'm satisfied. And maybe Baz as well.
 
CJ9 said:
MLB.com has him #12 in their rankings.

Scouting grades: Fastball: 65 | Cutter: 60 | Curveball: 55 | Slider: 55 | Changeup: 50 | Control: 50 | Overall: 55
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Those grades have to be a little off, no way a HS pitcher with 4 55 or better graded pitches and 50 control is going #12 if he's healthy. On top of it a good athlete and scouts rave about makeup? Either he's much better than 12th or those grades are too high.
 
Preacher said:
Those grades have to be a little off, no way a HS pitcher with 4 55 or better graded pitches and 50 control is going #12 if he's healthy. On top of it a good athlete and scouts rave about makeup? Either he's much better than 12th or those grades are too high.
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They've had this issue in the past where their individual grades don't seem to match up with the overall. My guess is either that the control is really more like a 45 or the grades have recently been updated and the rank hasn't been adjusted yet.

But comparing him to Gore, they give Gore the same grades on his top 4 pitches, and while he doesn't have a 5th pitch, they give him a 55 on control. I think they tend to give HS players higher grades because these are supposed to be potential grades, not current level.
 
smootness said:
They've had this issue in the past where their individual grades don't seem to match up with the overall. My guess is either that the control is really more like a 45 or the grades have recently been updated and the rank hasn't been adjusted yet.
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I think the command is my best guess at what's off from reading other scouting reports. It sounds like he's a good athlete and scouts project him to have at least average command, but most of the things online about Baz say it's not there yet.
 
Preacher said:
Those grades have to be a little off, no way a HS pitcher with 4 55 or better graded pitches and 50 control is going #12 if he's healthy. On top of it a good athlete and scouts rave about makeup? Either he's much better than 12th or those grades are too high.
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If those are legit, then I don't have an issue with him being the pick either. Seems like he has a rising stock.

I'm fine with a pitcher or a hitter, but I don't really want to see them pick a SS or CF with good defense and a good bat for the position. The bat needs to play with big upside and power IMO, to justify the pick.
 
Another major mock draft has Atlanta taking Royce Lewis. THere is almost no way to know how this will fall.
 
Southcack77 said:
I'm fine with a pitcher or a hitter, but I don't really want to see them pick a SS or CF with good defense and a good bat for the position. The bat needs to play with big upside and power IMO, to justify the pick.
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This is why I'm not as high on Lewis as others. I love well-rounded players who help you everywhere, but I think Beck and Adell both have the potential to be that, they just also have potentially big-time bats.
 
Predictably, the Braves will draft a pitcher ranked well outside the Top 5.

Predictably, they will claim he was their BPA, comparing him to a fringe HOFer.

Predictably, the posi-Braves will assemble to tell us how great a selection it is, using "facts" from sources affiliated with the Braves.
 
New MLB mock is up, and it's not pretty: http://m.mlb.com/news/article/23108...-projection-2017-mlb-draft/?topicid=151437456

5. Braves: Nick Pratto, 1B, Huntington Beach (Calif.) HS

Here's how this would work. The Braves would sign Pratto and save a lot of money in the process, kind of like they did last year with Ian Anderson at No. 3. Then the money would be used to aggressively pursue someone with their pick at No. 41, perhaps injured Stanford starter Tristan Beck. General Manager John Coppolella and advisor Bo Porter were both spotted at one of Pratto's recent games, though there's still plenty of interest in MacKenzie Gore and Austin Beck here.
 
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