2020 MLB Draft Thread

DeadlySplitter

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Archbishop Mitty High School in San Jose, Calif., has produced three big leaguers in the history of the Draft: Outfielders Mike Vail, who first came up with the Mets in 1975, and Mitch Haniger, who went on to Cal Poly before being drafted by the Brewers in 2012, as well as right-hander Trevor Hildenberger, who wasn??t drafted out of high school, but was drafted out of Cal in 2014. Yorke isn??t projected to go as early as Haniger did after his college career (No. 38 overall), but it??s a strong possibility his bat gets him off the board way earlier than either Vail (17th round of June 1970 Draft) or Haniger (31st round, 2009). Scouts believe Yorke has a real chance to swing the bat, with perhaps even plus hit potential from the right side of the plate. He??s a natural hitter with a pure swing and an advanced approach at the plate and there??s enough power potential in there to believe he could eventually be a run-producing type of player. The questions about Yorke pop up concerning his future defensive home. He??s played shortstop in high school, and might have the range, hands and instincts to stay there, but he had shoulder surgery and has anchors in his shoulder causing him to DH for all of his junior year in 2019. He was back on the dirt this spring, but what had been solid average arm strength had not yet returned. Still, he could profile very well as an offensive-minded second baseman with a bat that could be worth luring away from his commitment to the University of Arizona.
https://atmlb.com/3cDG400
 

DJnVa

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Hmmm...Sox don't sign him and they get the pick again next year...and kid is considered a tough sign.
 

TimScribble

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Red Sox taking a middle fielder under slot? This is my shocked face.
 

ehaz

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BA likes him more than the others. I think he’s #96 or something there. Listed him as one of their 10 sleeper picks.
 

DeadlySplitter

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BA writeup

Some evaluators believe Yorke is the best pure hitter on the west coast, among high schoolers. A 6-foot, 195-pound shortstop committed to Arizona, Yorke has a long track record of performing as a high schooler, with a well-balanced swing that’s routinely on time. This spring before the coronavirus shut down the 2020 season, Yorke was tapping into a bit more power as well, hitting the ball with authority to the pull side and up the middle. He has a chance for a future plus bat and fringe-average power while handling a middle infield spot. Yorke dealt with a shoulder injury prior to his junior year and is still recovering from that, which leads some scouts to believe he’ll be a better fit as an offensive second baseman. Still, other scouts have said his arm has looked good, with a better arm stroke recently and above-average arm strength. With solid footwork, instincts and an internal clock, he has a chance to stay at shortstop, or he could slide to third base. Wherever he ends up defensively, teams love the bat that Yorke brings to the table. There are a number of teams that have Yorke evaluated in the second- or third-round range, but he could be a difficult sign out of Arizona.
They thought he'd be gone in the second round, so they took him
 

Just a bit outside

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Longenhagen on Fangraphs chat says they are going under slot so they can draft top players in each slot instead of drafting seniors who will take 25-30k in 4th and/or fifth round.


Longenhagen
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Again, he's almost certainly under slot so they can go nuts at all their picks. Is it dangerous because they don't have a 2? Yes. We'll see how few HS players and Boras clients go.
 

Ale Xander

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2020 Red Sox draft a 2B from Northern California who is ranked 165

2004 Red Sox draft a 2B from Northern California with pick #65


I need something.
 

The Gray Eagle

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I was hoping we'd take Bryce Jarvis, and he goes right after we take the 165th-rated guy, a high school second baseman.

This is Peter Gammons on Jarvis (so I should remember to beware, as Peter always loves to hype certain guys):
https://theathletic.co.uk/1831618/2020/06/03/gammons-prospects-with-major-league-fathers-navigate-path-to-the-draft-majors/
Bryce Jarvis had a resume going into the season. As a freshman in 2018, he went 5-1 before becoming a Cape Cod League All-Star for Cotuit that summer. As a Duke sophomore, he had 11.2 strikeouts per nine innings, was MVP of the Morgantown Regional, and showed a highly repeatable delivery and command. But scouts saw him as a second-round prospect because of his 92 mph velocity, so instead of returning to Cotuit, he spent 10 days at Driveline Baseball and the rest of the summer at Cressey’s Massachusetts complex. This spring, he was bigger, throwing 94-96 mph with improved shapes on his slider and curveball.
 

TimScribble

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So, if they have an under slot deal, what’s the number everyone hopes? $3.6M slot value. I’m hoping they save at least $2M.
 

edoug

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2020 Red Sox draft a 2B from Northern California who is ranked 165

2004 Red Sox draft a 2B from Northern California with pick #65


I need something.
The 2004 pick was probably the best player taken in that draft. If the '20 version is 1/2 as good, it is a really good pick.
 

LostinNJ

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They'll tell us whatever, and we don't have to believe them. I'm disappointed, but maybe they think that can have it both ways: get a guy they really like AND sign him for under slot so they can target better talent in the later rounds. Or maybe they're just too clever for their own good, like in 2013 when they took Trey Ball over Austin Meadows.
 

jon abbey

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The Vanderbilt (maybe the top college program) coach was doing commentary on MLBN all night and said he thought Yorke was the best HS bat in the country.
 

OCD SS

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One thing I was thinking of this morning is just how much draft boards & rankings change from the beginning of the amateur season up to the draft (for example the Sox were initially targeting Bregman, and then he shot up boards towards the end); was hose changes in the rankings still apply, we just don’t have the actual performance that drives them. I guess this is where we see what Bloom can bring to assessing talent with a less entrenched track record.

Edit: and I first found the pick unnerving, but the more I think about it this is a pretty major statement for Bloom’s first major independent move (or her than Mookie, which I assume was somewhat preordained from ownership).
 

sean1562

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They'll tell us whatever, and we don't have to believe them. I'm disappointed, but maybe they think that can have it both ways: get a guy they really like AND sign him for under slot so they can target better talent in the later rounds. Or maybe they're just too clever for their own good, like in 2013 when they took Trey Ball over Austin Meadows.
I was about to criticize the last sentence of this post since Austin Meadows career WAR comes entirely from last year. But I didn't realize he was only 24 last season. That Ball pick truly was terrible. Nice to have a guy that worked on the Archer trade running our farm now. Hopefully Bloom ends up paying off.
 

jon abbey

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Keith Law is not a fan:

“• So the Red Sox … did something. Nick Yorke wasn’t on my top 100 prospects for the draft, and he wasn’t close to it. He wasn’t on MLB Pipeline’s either, if you want a second opinion. Yorke is a high school second baseman, and the only reason I didn’t write in The Inside Game that spending high picks on high school second baseman is a bad idea is that nobody spends high picks on high school second baseman because it’s a bad idea. Yorke has a good swing, geared more for average than power, and he doesn’t have the range or arm for shortstop.”
 

uncannymanny

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They'll tell us whatever, and we don't have to believe them. I'm disappointed, but maybe they think that can have it both ways: get a guy they really like AND sign him for under slot so they can target better talent in the later rounds. Or maybe they're just too clever for their own good, like in 2013 when they took Trey Ball over Austin Meadows.
Meadows was seen as a veritable slam dunk in that draft (who was the other player mentioned with him leading up to that draft?). Was there anyone available that came close to that level of “certainty” in this draft?
 

LostinNJ

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Meadows was seen as a veritable slam dunk in that draft (who was the other player mentioned with him leading up to that draft?). Was there anyone available that came close to that level of “certainty” in this draft?
The other guy was Clint Frazier. I remember going in thinking how great it would be if the Red Sox got one of those two high school outfielders from Georgia. But they outsmarted themselves.
 

Bigpupp

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Meadows was seen as a veritable slam dunk in that draft (who was the other player mentioned with him leading up to that draft?). Was there anyone available that came close to that level of “certainty” in this draft?
That's really not true at all. The Soxprospects 2013 Mock draft, Jim Callis' final Mock (link no longer active - but here's a past that discussed it), and Sickels' final Mock all had had Ball going ahead of Meadows. While Ball was never really connected to the Sox, the consensus was that Ball would get picked before Meadows.