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Post by The Duke on Jan 11, 2024 9:05:53 GMT -5
Well, we actually hit in the draft lottery and get #2 overall. All signs point to college hitters 1B Nick Kurtz and 2B/SS/CF JJ Wetherholt being the top 2 guys in the draft. Kurtz has a 60 hit tool with 65 power according to MLB Pipeline, walks more than he strikes out both years so far in college, and supposedly could be a gold glover at 1B. Wetherholt has a 70 on his hit tool from MLB Pipeline, hit damn near .450 last year and walked more than he struck out.
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Post by The Duke on Feb 29, 2024 10:59:10 GMT -5
It's very early still but through the first couple of weekends JJ Wetherholt and Nick Kurtz have both had very tepid starts, and Wetherholt has had an injury scare as well and has only played 4 games. On the flip side, MLB Pipeline's #4 prospect, Charlie Condon has exploded to start the year. In 9 games he has a .639/.696/1.417 line with 7 HR, 5 2B, and 1 3B. 8 BB vs 5 K. The downside is he is a 6'6" right hander who doesn't run all that great, but he does have an arm maybe being able to find a home in LF or RF. As a RS-FR last year he hit 25 HR and has kept the power train rolling right along to start this season. Travis Bazzana, the 2B from Oregon State has also had a nice start. I might start tracking all four in here every 2-3 weeks and see how the stats compare. As of 2/29/2024 Name | School | Position | AB | Avg | OBP | SLG | OPS | HR | 2B | 3B | BB | K | SB | JJ Wetherholt | West Virginia | 2B/SS/CF | 13 | .308 | .438 | .385 | .822 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 3 | Nick Kurtz | Wake Forest | 1B | 27 | .296 | .513 | .444 | .957 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 11 | 6 | 1 | Travis Bazzana | Oregon State | 2B | 32 | .438 | .526 | 1.031 | 1.558 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 8 | 3 | Charlie Condon | Georgia | 1B/RF | 36 | .639 | .696 | 1.417 | 2.112 | 9 | 5 | 1 | 8 | 5 | 0 |
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Post by The Duke on Mar 8, 2024 11:34:27 GMT -5
Listening to a Baseball America college baseball podcast and the two guys they took at 1 and 2 in their little back and forth mock top 10 was Charlie Condon and Travis Bazzana.
1. Charlie Condon, 1B/COF/3B, Georgia 2. Travis Bazzana, 2B/CF, Oregon State 3. JJ Wetherholt, SS/2B/CF, West Virginia 4. Jac Caglianone, LHP/1B, Florida 5. Hagan Smith, LHP, Arkansas 6. Braden Montgomery, OF, Texas A&M 7. Nick Kurtz, 1B, Wake Forest 8. Chase Burns, RHP, Wake Foreat 9. Caleb Lomavita, C, Cal 10. Jonathan Santucci, LHP, Duke
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Post by The Duke on Mar 25, 2024 11:19:57 GMT -5
Time for an update, going to include 2-3 pitchers now too as a few college guys are making some noise pushing themselves towards the top of the draft. Name | School | Position | AB | Avg | OBP | SLG | OPS | HR | 2B | 3B | BB | K | SB | Charlie Condon | Georgia | 1B/RF | 89 | .517 | .637 | 1.213 | 1.851 | 17 | 9 | 1 | 25 | 12 | 2 | Travis Bazzana | Oregon State | 2B | 92 | .467 | .581 | 1.054 | 1.636 | 14 | 6 | 3 | 23 | 11 | 6 | Jac Caglianone | Florida | 1B/LHP | 99 | .394 | .474 | .737 | 1.211 | 11 | 2 | 0 | 13 | 10 | 0 | JJ Wetherholt | West Virginia | 2B/SS/CF | 13 | .308 | .438 | .385 | .822 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 3 | Nick Kurtz | Wake Forest | 1B | 57 | .228 | .471 | .421 | .892 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 11 | 26 | 14 |
Charlie Condon and Travis Bazzana have just been absolute wrecking crews. Bazzana has the benefit of being an up the middle player with speed too, could be a nice fit in CF. Condon just has massive in game power, could potentially be a 70 hit, 70 power guy. Caglianone's big thing is being an elite hitter and pitcher, but how much value is that really? JJ Wetherholt is still hurt, and Nick Kurtz has had lingering injuries and has not performed as expected coming into the year. Name | School | Position | G | IP | ERA | WHIP | K | BB | H | WP | HP | BK | W/L | Chase Burns | Wake Forest | RHP | 6 | 37.1 | 1.93 | 0.83 | 68 | 12 | 19 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 5-0 | Hagan Smith | Arkansas | LHP | 6 | 29 | 1.24 | 0.72 | 62 | 10 | 11 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4-0 | Jac Caglianone | Florida | LHP | 5 | 27.1 | 1.65 | 1.10 | 39 | 18 | 12 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3-0 |
Just like with the bat, while Caglianone is elite at both, he also isn't quite as good as the top guys with either. The hope there would be focusing on one leads to more development, but how much more can you count on from a college guy? Burns fastball sits high 90's and touches triple digits, and also has a 70 grade slider. Hagan Smith also has a nasty fastball/slider combo, but coming from the left side. Caglianone has a 70 grade fastball from the left hand side, but not quite as refined offspeed stuff as Burns or Smith.
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Post by The Duke on Apr 10, 2024 7:07:57 GMT -5
Update time BATSName | School | Position | AB | Avg | OBP | SLG | OPS | HR | 2B | 3B | BB | K | SB | Charlie Condon | Georgia | 1B/RF | 124 | .468 | .573 | 1.081 | 1.654 | 21 | 11 | 1 | 28 | 22 | 2 | Travis Bazzana | Oregon State | 2B | 116 | .466 | .608 | 1.060 | 1.668 | 18 | 7 | 4 | 39 | 13 | 8 | Nick Kurtz | Wake Forest | 1B | 88 | .318 | .512 | .807 | 1.319 | 13 | 4 | 0 | 35 | 19 | 1 | Jac Caglianone | Florida | 1B/LHP | 131 | .397 | .484 | .802 | 1.285 | 17 | 2 | 0 | 18 | 14 | 0 | JJ Wetherholt | West Virginia | 2B/SS/CF | 26 | .346 | .471 | .423 | .894 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 4 | 3 |
So in about his last 31 at bats, Nick Kurtz has roared back to life with 10 HR. Not sure what his issue was early in the year, but he had 3 multi-homer games in the last week. Condon and Bazzana's numbers are stupid close for being this stratospherically good. Condon has the power edge and is facing SEC pitching vs PAC pitching, but the SEC also has more homer friendly parks. JJ Wetherholt is finally back in action, but I think he'll be firmly out of the picture for 1.2 given how the top of the class has performed. ARMSName | School | Position | G | IP | ERA | WHIP | K | BB | H | WP | HP | BK | W/L | Hagen Smith | Arkansas | LHP | 8 | 41 | 1.76 | 0.83 | 6283 | 14 | 20 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 6-0 | Chase Burns | Wake Forest | RHP | 8 | 50.2 | 3.38 | 0.91 | 97 | 15 | 31 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 6-1 | Jac Caglianone | Florida | LHP | 7 | 34.1 | 3.67 | 1.37 | 39 | 44 | 25 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 3-0 |
I haven't had a chance to watch Chase Burns yet, but I did get to watch a Hagen Smith start. Think Kyle Harrison of the Giants, but with a better breaking ball. Fastball was 96-97, did dip to 93-95 towards the end of his start. Slider was 83-86 with a hard bite that he both landed in the zone and got guys to chase with. Even threw a changeup 80-82 that didn't look bad. I saw his "bad" start where he gave up a couple runs on 4 hits and 2 walks (and struck out 11) but 3 of those 4 hits didn't even leave the infield. He's a legit option at 1.2, even with Bazzana/Condon at the top. I'll hopefully get a chance to watch Chase Burns this Friday, but we'll see if I can make the time for that. Big Board1. Travis Bazzana 2. Charlie Condon 3. Hagen Smith 4. Nick Kurtz 5. Jac Caglianone
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Post by The Duke on Apr 15, 2024 13:46:49 GMT -5
Interesting tidbit.
Charlie Condon has been walked 32 times and has 25 K. A very good ratio, walking more than he strikes out. However, he has been intentionally walked 14 times. Take those away and it's 18 walks vs 25 Ks.
Conversely,
Tavis Bazzana has been walked 45 times and struck out 15 times. He has only been intentionally walked 6 times, bringing his ratio to 39 walks vs 15 K.
Condon has the definite edge in power (although Bazzana does have 18 HR this year), both are hitting in the mid .400s (Condon .458 vs Bazzana .429).
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Post by The Duke on Apr 30, 2024 14:44:12 GMT -5
MLB Draft Prospect Updates Hitters
Name | School | Position | AB | Avg | OBP | SLG | OPS | HR | 2B | 3B | BB | K | SB | Charlie Condon | Georgia | 1B/3B/RF | 167 | .461 | .567 | 1.090 | 1.657 | 29 | 16 | 1 | 37 | 34 | 3 | Travis Bazzana | Oregon State | 2B | 148 | .412 | .576 | .932 | 1.508 | 20 | 9 | 4 | 52 | 21 | 9 | Jac Caglianone | Florida | 1B/LHP | 171 | .404 | .502 | .871 | 1.374 | 26 | 2 | 0 | 28 | 15 | 1 | Nick Kurtz | Wake Forest | 1B | 127 | .307 | .500 | .811 | 1.311 | 18 | 8 | 1 | 47 | 26 | 2 | JJ Wetherholt | West Virginia | 2B/SS/CF | 58 | .328 | .506 | .569 | 1.075 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 20 | 8 | 3 | Braden Montgomery | Texas A&M | RF/CF | 165 | .376 | .514 | .885 | 1.399 | 23 | 13 | 1 | 44 | 37 | 4 |
PITCHERSName | School | Position | G | IP | ERA | WHIP | K | BB | H | WP | HP | BK | W/L | Hagen Smith | Arkansas | LHP | 11 | 60 | 1.35 | 0.82 | 111 | 23 | 26 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 8-0 | Trey Yesavage | East Carolina | RHP | 11 | 67.2 | 1.73 | 0.81 | 113 | 21 | 34 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 9-1 | Chase Burns | Wake Forest | RHP | 11 | 69 | 3.26 | 0.94 | 127 | 21 | 44 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 8-1 | Jac Caglianone | Florida | LHP | 10 | 48.1 | 4.10 | 1.51 | 58 | 35 | 38 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 5-0 |
A couple of new names this week. Trey Yesavage has been getting a lot of buzz amongst Baseball America, D1 Baseball, and MLB Pipeline for the dominant season he has been having for East Carolina. According to MLB Pipeline he has a good four pitch mix and he uses all four, with his slider being the best of the bunch and that his fastball has played up a little more this year, sitting 93-95 and has touched 98. Big bodied pitcher at 6'4" 225, it's possible he gets another MPH or two of velo still. Braden Montgomery has been in the top 10 mix the entire season, he's just sort of hung around and done what he's been expected and a little more that he is entering the top 5 conversation. I don't like him at 2, but he's a name to keep an eye on in case the Reds do something stupid like take him if he'l take significantly less money than the other top guys. I wouldn't do that, but we can't rule out that the Reds will, although historically, they haven't done much of that. Condon and Bazzana keep being insane, although Bazzanna cooled slightly behind Condon in overall numbers, but he is still the better athlete with the better walk rate and contact rate. I'm not quite sure how Caglianone can have 26 HR and only 2 other extra base hits. He's drastically reduced his K rate this year, but is he doing it by slapping singles with two strikes? He might have even more raw power than Condon, but Condon seems to be a little more well rounded. If we go pitcher, it only makes sense if it is Hagen Smith, dude is unreal. Burns might have better raw stuff, but he doesn't control and command it like Smith does. MY BOARD FOR #21. Travis Bazzana 2. Charlie Condon 3. Hagen Smith 4. Nick Kurtz 5. Jac Caglianone 6. Trey Yesavage 7. Nick Kurtz 8. Chase Burns 9. JJ Wetherholt 10. Braden Montgomery
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