Kiley McDaniel: Hello! I am here to baseball chat with you. Home after seeing the top 2019 MLB Draft prep types at PG National, also saw a Dunedin/Port Charlotte game and the FSL All Star Game while I was over there. Going to see college Team USA next week with what is the most loaded roster they’ve had in a long time, may be a dozen day one guys on the team.

greg: Is there a direct link to THE BOARD on the homepage or under a menu that I’m missing?

Kiley McDaniel: Yes there is, mouse over the LEADERS header and its near the top of that menu

Lilith: Going into the season, India was pegged as a guy with average tools across the board. How has this season changed how you view his upside? Also, is it possible that he could stick at short? Thanks

Kiley McDaniel: He lost some weight and as sometimes happens, the tools got better when he did that. Power went from 50 to 55, speed went from 40-45 to 50, defense went from fringy to above at 3B and his offensive approach improved, then the stats jumped with the new power which he mostly tapped into

Kiley McDaniel: The upside is still no 60 tools, but there’s plenty of 3 win players in the bigs with no 60 tools that are just above average at everything and play everyday at a useful position, so he could turn into that. Seems likely to fall into the 2.0 to 3.0 WAR band for me, though.

Kiley McDaniel: Hello from a McDonald’s in Tampa where I’m setting up shop for a bit before I hit a few games today, then hit PG National starting tomorrow, which is the first stop on HS showcase season for the 2019 Draft

Anonymous : When evaluating college players, what specific stats, if any, do you look at when trying to figure out if the player will be a productive player at a higher level?

Kiley McDaniel: BB/K ratio and ISO for hitters are both big. BB/K for pitchers too also tells a lot of what you need to know. If you’re bad at controlling the strike zone at the amateur level, it’s an uphill climb

Kiley McDaniel: Also, this chat will run a little shorter than usual, but I usually go over the alotted hour so I feel like we’re all okay with this every now and then

Teddy: Hey Kiley, can you expand on the Brett Cumberland just to the top 100? Is it about the defense taking a step forward? The offense doesn’t look very impressive this year on paper.

Kiley McDaniel: It’s a 120 wRC+ in basically a full year in Hi-A at age 21/22 with plus raw power, a late-count, lofted power approach and the frame/defense have improved this year. He was also in the top of the 45 tier, so he was around 150-200 already and like 20 guys graduated, so he would’ve been right around 130-150 if he hadn’t improved at all.

Tommy N.: Are you surprised Liberatore signed for slot did he really just want to start his career or was there something in his medicals to make him slide? Granted 3+ mil is still a lot of money.

Kiley McDaniel: Wasn’t medicals. I’ve been told the story and am pretty sure it’s correct, won’t be sharing for a little while at least for reasons you guys can probably assume. Great deal for TB.

Tommy N.: Padres draft kind of was underwhelming after Edwards and Weathers they drafted a good amount of college seniors is this because Xavier Edwards is going to cost much more than we expected?

Kiley McDaniel: We like Grant Little and Dylan Coleman, Juwaun Harris has a lot of upside. College seniors means money savers to pay other players, so it’s a sign money is being moved around.

K-Man: Any opinion change on a player because of the team that drafted him?

Kiley McDaniel: Hello everyone coming to you live from rainy Orlando while I’m waist deep in scouting notes that will be showing up on THE BOARD soon. Here’s what we have at the moment: https://www.fangraphs.com/scoutboard.aspx?draft=2018mlb&type=0&pos=all…

Greg: What’s the upcoming mock schedule?

Kiley McDaniel: One on Thursday or Friday, then another on Monday

Larry: Would you still put Gorman as the most likely pick for Atlanta?

Kiley McDaniel: Yes, but there’s a growing sense that, with teams in their meetings and little details leaking out, that beyond the top 5-6 picks, there’s a lot of uncertainty, private workouts and shifting opinions. And some crazy rumors in the top 5 at teams price shopping to figure out what all their options are.

Tommy N.: Any late draft whispers for the Padres and their newly acquired bonus pool money? Less likely to go underslot at 7 now?

Kiley McDaniel: Kiley is here but Scout needs a quick potty break, so we’ll get going a few minutes behind schedule

Kiley McDaniel: Okay we are back

Kiley McDaniel: Quick update on my schedule: headed out tonight to see Mason Denaburg vs. Triston Casas in the FL state HS playoffs and will head out tomorrow morning to Clearwater to see Shane McClanahan face Wichita State in the AAC conference tourney, may run back over on Thursday to see Tim Cate as well, but may also stay here to see Florida/Tampa if the pitching lines up

Kiley McDaniel: Now to your questions…

Jim in Chicago: If Casey Mize doesn’t go #1, where does he end up?

Kiley McDaniel: This seems to be the question of the moment. Detroit is seriously thinking about other options at 1-1, and the talk of this got around right after out mock came up. The specifics about what medicals Mize has shared, what Detroit has, what other teams have and what those medicals say is a little hazy and some of the answers are protected by HIPAA so we won’t get everything we would like to know pre draft.

Kiley McDaniel: Hello everyone, a couple quick plugs for the new @FG_Prospects twitter account and yesterday’s mock draft: https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/2018-mlb-mock-draft-v-2-0/ and of course THE BOARD, which will be updated shortly https://www.fangraphs.com/scoutboard.aspx

Peter: What’d you think of Muller the other day? What does he project as? #4?

Kiley McDaniel: Saw Florida/St. Lucie yesterday with Kyle Muller and Justin Dunn pitching, included some notes on twitter and Cristian Pache video @kileymcd if you’re interested in that. Muller now appears to be essentially what was expected out of HS: low 90’s touch 95, solid avg offspeed that could be 55’s along with starter command and a sturdy frame with some projection. Still young enough that things can still change a bit, but he’s fully recovered from a rocky 2017. Also has easy plus raw power he’ll get to use in Double-A.

Foolish Child: is Bart’s floor the Mets at 6?

Kiley McDaniel: I think it’s probably 5/CIN but yeah maybe 6/NYM, right around there.

Jimmy: Do you buy or sell the Dodgers missing the playoffs ?

Kiley McDaniel: Kiley is here! Just got to south GA as a stopover for Scout to see some family and play in the woods.

Kiley McDaniel: Plan is to see Kumar Rocker vs. Cole Wilcox then Anthony Seigler tomorrow, Ryan Rolison at South Carolina Friday, Cole Sands/FSU at Clemson Saturday, Joey Bart at GT Sunday, Ryan Weathers Monday, Travis Swaggerty at Auburn Tuesday then hopefully Parker Meadows playoff game Wednesday on the way home. Full week!

Kiley McDaniel: All subject to change, but that sounds like a pretty good run even with some adjustments

Kiley McDaniel: We’ll have a new mock draft next week around this time, probably just 10 picks but a different order than the last one

Kiley McDaniel: I’ll have the Twins list coming soon, the draft board will be a part of THE BOARD and an update to minor league portion of THE BOARD is also in the works

Kiley McDaniel: Along with video/reports on the players I’m seeing so yeah Eric and I have a lot going on right now