Kiley McDaniel Chat – 5/30/18

12:03

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…

12:03

Greg: What’s the upcoming mock schedule?

12:04

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

12:04

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

12:05

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.

12:05

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

12:06

Kiley McDaniel: That’s one pick with some of the crazy rumors swirling. Still seems like a below slot high school pitcher there, but sounding like they’ll also have Swaggerty to choose from (whom they scouted a lot down the stretch and generally fits their type of hitter) and are jockeying to set up their subsequent picks, so it’s more chess for SD than the checkers that other teams are playing at their picks.

12:06

Paul: Can you sell me on Nolan Gorman? Everything I’m reading sounds terrifying and huge bust potential. Brutal spring, contact questions, defense questions. Why should I get excited about him as a potential top 10 pick?

12:08

Kiley McDaniel: You seem very level headed about all this. I would direct you to his report at the link at the top of the chat. It wasn’t a brutal spring, the stuff that’s being said about him is almost exactly the same as what was being said about Austin Riley 12 months ago. If you believe in Gorman’s makeup (and most teams do), he could actually be a bit better than Riley since he’s lefty and has a hair more power and may also be a little more advanced offensively in general.

12:08

Matt D: Any chance Mize falls to the white sox?

12:08

Kiley McDaniel: Less than 5%, probably less than 1%

12:08

Henry: Any names the Braves are connected to in the second round?

12:12

Kiley McDaniel: There’s a slew of HS players (generally ATL’s preference) that will go 20-50 and have big price tags. So knowing who is on the board for that pick is almost impossible since the Braves specifically don’t have the pool to maneuver a player there. They’ve been on Bart (1st) and Seigler (2nd round), but neither will get to the picks they’ve wanted them at and there’s not other catchers in play at those picks. So we’d be more guessing on general tendencies, who is available in a mock scenario and games they’ve been at deep/often.

12:12

Billy Beane: Hey Kiley, THE BOARD is already kickass and getting kick-asser by the day. Question: You guys have no pitchers with a plus-plus delivery. Obviously, there are a lot of different ways to have a good delivery, but who would be an example of an MLB player or a recent prospect who has/had a plus plus delivery as a draft eligible player?

12:13

Kiley McDaniel: Good question. Generally speaking, it would have to be at least a plus athlete, super low effort, everything on time. There aren’t a lot of those as amateurs, for a lot of reasons: terrible amateur pitching coaches, kids pitching to the gun, etc.

12:14

Jonathan: The prospect lists with their new format are awesome – everything we want, but presumably faster to write up.  I have one request, though:  would it be possible to have a “cost-controlled assets” section with PV/FV for select pre-arb players, or would that be a non-trivial time increase?  I know you used to do something like this back in the day, and I appreciated it greatly.

12:15

Kiley McDaniel: Our plans for THE BOARD are likely a lot bigger than you guys realize. It will have this, hopefully this year and, eventually, will the the VP on The Rock’s presidential ticket, then use that platform to become our first King.

12:15

Kiley McDaniel: But first, pre-arb asset rankings

12:15

Run Home: Is Lawrence Butler (GA HS) all about projection? Seems you guys are high on him. Would a good comp be Je’Von Ward from last year’s draft?

12:16

Kiley McDaniel: Generally that kind of guy, but we think a better version, little more hitability

12:16

capconstrained: Torres >> Albies that is all

12:17

Kiley McDaniel: I’ll just say we got some crap from NYY fans after the top 100 went up when we gave Torres 55 hit/power and they said oh man you must not have watched him before he’s hit over power he doesn’t hit homers THANKS GUYS WE’LL TAKE IT FROM HERE

12:17

Dave: Drew Waters top 100 prospect??

12:18

Kiley McDaniel: Possibly by the end of the year, but not in the current version of the top 100 we have completed and are tinkering with. Another Brave has moved onto the list, though.

12:18

Vanessa K.: Are the Blue Jays still looking mostly at prep players?

12:18

Carl: Do you know who the jays could be linked to at the 12th pick in the draft? I saw somewhere they were linked to high schoolers which was surprising for the front office.

12:19

Kiley McDaniel: Still hearing mostly high school guys unless a college guy that shouldn’t get there slides. Sounds like the floor for Swaggerty. If TOR gets Bichette, Pearson and Swaggerty in three consecutive drafts in those spots, Jays fans should be doing backflips.

12:20

Henry: Drew Waters is having a great May. Have you heard anything about his year? I was terrified by the K rate in Danville, but looks good now.

12:21

Kiley McDaniel: Some pro scouts were crushing him in Danville, too. As I’ve said before, pro scouts seeing high school players for the first time right after the draft may be the most worthless scouting opinion in the entire sport. They have no idea what the player has done, they want to puff their chest out and say the amateur scouts are dumb, almost all the kids are tired and playing everyday for the first time while also playing longer into the year regularly for the first time. By extension, bad stats in that situation are also kinda useless on their own.

12:21

aw: How would Mike Trout grade in THE BOARD’s new Frame column? Curious since his body type isn’t a common one in baseball, especially among centre fielders

12:22

Kiley McDaniel: Well we don’t mean it to say, like he’s really strong or well-built, more how it affects his projection. His current frame has no projection, but it suggests he won’t break down and is durable, so probably just +.

12:22

Run Home: Thanks for the chat! Will we be surprised next week on how high Larnach gets drafted?

12:23

Kiley McDaniel: Think we’re gonna be the high guys on him. if he doesn’t go 9-12, then he may slide into the 16-20 range.

12:23

Hank: Austin Riley is striking out 32% of the time in Triple A. Getting beat by velocity consistently. Please make me feel better.

12:23

Kiley McDaniel: you guys are like searching for reasons to be depressed c’mon we’re better than this

12:23

Matt D: I don’t get the Brady Singer love. Low 90’s fastball, lack of wing a miss stuff. Can’t you argue Dane Dunning who was a late 1st rounder when was drafted actually had better stuff then Singer at the time.

12:24

Kiley McDaniel: I would say he definitely had and still has better stuff

12:24

Connor Scott: I dropped in your new rankings. Is that just a function of the injury not letting you get enough looks (as you say in the report) or is there something else?

12:24

Kiley McDaniel: That’s it. Upside is still the same and some pitchers closed strong and slid up a bit. Also talked to some other scouts that saw you early and they didn’t get as good of a look as I did.

12:24

Mr. Fister: Is it time for KC to move Matias up a level?

12:25

Kiley McDaniel:

12:25

Mr. Fister: Walker Buehler looks like the real deal.  Does he go to the bullpen when Kershaw comes back to save innings for the stretch run or is LA too far back in the standings to play around like that?

12:26

Kiley McDaniel: I’d try to be conservative with his usage so I can have that stuff late in the season if we’re contending, or at least allow you to throw a full season and build stamina

12:26

Connor: Who are some candidates to fall because of signability concerns? Any way we see Kumar go to Vandy?

12:27

Kiley McDaniel: Kumar and Mike Siani both have 3-4 slots where their price can be met in the 25-40 area and if they slide past there they’re likely heading to school b/c there wont’ be enough money left to give them. Vandy could also get Will Banfield if he doesn’t go day one.

12:27

j: Thoughts on Garrett Whitlock? Know you saw him last week. Starter or reliever long-term? Also he had to leave the game after being hit with a comebacker and is on the DL. How bad did it look?

12:28

Kiley McDaniel: Didn’t look that bad, he pitched to another batter. Funky long arm action, low 90’s, solid avg slurve he located well. Could be a 40 later with more performance, but that’s about what I’d heard when he was in school.

12:29

Kiley McDaniel: Forgot how much New Level bangs

12:29

Owen: I went to my first MILB game last weekend. Saw Bo and Vladito tear the cover off the ball for the Fisher Cats and go back to back in the seventh. It was amazing. Also, Vladito has one of the thickest lower halfs I have seen on a 19 year old. Got a little more Prince Fielder potential than I realized. But what a sweet swing.

12:29

Kiley McDaniel: People are usually surprised when they seem him physically in person. He’s really big, guys.

12:29

Palardelphia: Why are mock drafts putting Alec Bohm over Nick Madrigal? Is it just the height?

12:30

Kiley McDaniel: It’s based on team-specific intel. The rankings and mock are completely separate, using different information. People always confuse this, which confuses me.

12:31

Kristen: TEX went for high-upside prepsters with their first few picks in last year’s draft.  Given their systemic inability to develop pitching, could they change course and use their 1st pick on a more polished college pitcher like Hjelle or Gilbert who could advance quickly through the system?

12:31

Kiley McDaniel: Sure sounds like they don’t agree with you

12:32

Jason: Accidentally hit enter before I added a last little bit, but anyways, have seen you and Eric talking a bit more about stride length and similar in your prospect writeups when it comes to fastball effectiveness and was wondering how much of a difference it can make.

12:32

Kiley McDaniel: Generally speaking, the shortest stride can take 2 mph off your fastball, longest stride can add 2-3 mph. For young pitcher examples, Faedo is really short, Glasnow is really long.

12:33

Sean: Kiley, any sense as to if the Tigers will continue their college heavy approach or if they will start to prioritize ceiling a bit more this year?

12:34

Kiley McDaniel: Sounds like they’re targeting prep players with their second pick (Avila scouted Parker Meadows, they’re on JT Ginn), there’s a rumor they are trying to get the Mize bonus low enough to float Kelenic to their 2nd pick, but I doubt they can pull it off.

12:34

Kiley McDaniel: In part because Kelenic is seen as signable, so some team will just take him if he slides

12:34

Slurve: If trading draft picks were allowed, what would 1.1 fetch? Would you anticipate mostly  Picks, Prospects, or current MLB players?

12:36

Kiley McDaniel: Well using a new feature on THE BOARD, Mize/Madrigal rank in the 30’s on a prospect list. Generally speaking, the 35-45 guys (and AJ Puk, post TJ) in our published top 100 are right next to them. I think it would mostly be deals like that since it’ll be a bad team that wants to rebuild but doesn’t like the talent and wants to be able to pick multiple young players more their type.

12:36

Jared: If you were Oakland who would you be realistically hoping falls to you at 9? Are Swaggerty or Singer good fits?

12:37

Kiley McDaniel: Sounds like Swaggerty will be there and hearing they will pass. I think that would be a mistake.

12:38

Alec Asher Wojciechowski: Corbin Martin is off to a great start to his first full season, what have you heard about him? Is he putting himself in 50 FV consideration?

12:38

Kiley McDaniel: Moving up, not there yet

12:38

Brad: Luke Reynolds at Southern Miss was one of the top offensive performers in division I (leads NCAA in OBP and BBs, 5th in SLG, etc.). 23 year old junior due to transferring, but has also hit well in wood bat leagues. What else besides age holds him back from getting draft buzz? Defense? Bat speed? Mid-major competition?

12:38

Kiley McDaniel: Some 1B risk, just okay contact/bat speed but we like him

12:38

Jo-Nathan: Did Vasil actually remove himself from the draft pool like Joe Boyle last year, or is he just telling teams not to draft him?

12:41

Kiley McDaniel: We’re told he didn’t do the paperwork move that others have done in the past to formally opt out, but he’s asked MLB to be taken out and whether he actually is/isn’t, teams have been told by MLB not to do it. The whole situation makes no sense, as Keith Law wrote about after it happened.

12:41

Alec Asher Wojciechowski: What do you mean when talking about trackman stars when it comes to hitters?

12:41

Kiley McDaniel: Exit velo mostly. You can quantify other stuff like loft and whiff rates but you can do that almost as well with video/eyes

12:41

GraphsFan: Is there a prospect that you and Eric disagree upon greatly, i.e. a FV difference of 10+?

12:41

Kiley McDaniel: No, we’d only disagree that much when we have different info, so we share the info and end up pretty close to the same in almost every case

12:42

Trevor: In the pre-season draft rankings you guys mentioned that some scouts thought Xavier Edwards was better than Brice Turang, but only his size was holding them back? With the less than a week away, would you say that more scouts are convinced that Edwards is the better player?

12:42

Kiley McDaniel: Turang not hitting as expected and Edwards hitting better than expected ended up flipping that. I mean that was easier than Edwards figuring out how to get taller in a few months.

12:43

Bronx Bombers: Looking back at some of your org rankings, do you think you undervalued some MLB-ready players without huge ceilings? Ryan Yarbrough as an MLB contributor who wasn’t in the Rays top-31, for example.

12:45

Kiley McDaniel: I think we valued them more correctly than we/others have in the past. Yarbrough looks like a 40 rather than a high 35, which is a small difference. He has a 4.31 xFIP in relief and got around the below average breaking ball by throwing a cutter.

12:45

Teddy Franco: After Griffin Conine’s Cape season, it seems scouting media has seriously knocked him for an uneven spring a bit too much. What do you think?

12:46

Kiley McDaniel: He was awful early and much better lately. Given the Cape, I think the awful early with be mostly forgotten, but he is a worse hitter than he was on the Cape from a scouting perspective, so he should be knocked.

12:46

Cameron: I would take Jordan Groshans over Nolan Gorman and Xavier Edwards over Brice Turang. Is that far-fetched?

12:46

Kiley McDaniel: I know one respected scout that agrees with you, but well over 50% would not.

12:46

Mr. Fister: Flags fly forever, but Dayton Moore’s player development team has been terrible over the last 8-10 years. Am I wrong to think that it is time for the organization to go in a new direction with the FO, or am I over-reacting to the atrocious drafting and void of upper level talent in recent years?

12:48

Kiley McDaniel: I think we’ve established almost everyone that asks questions in this chat is a little overreactive. That said, GMs clearly have strengths and weaknesses so it isn’t insane to want a change when you’re moving from a contending period to a rebuild period since very few humans on Earth are world class at both

12:49

Ballsandgutters : Why are you guys higher on Travis Swaggerty than other?

12:50

Kiley McDaniel: He has maybe the best tools of any position player in the draft and he’s performed before, just had some bumps this spring. That rap is super similar to Trea Turner, who like 20 teams mis evaluated and privately would tell you that. Luckily I got to see him as a college freshman/sophomore so I had more context than most national scouts who just focus on draft eligible guys in their draft year

12:52

Kiley McDaniel: If you take a step back and ask your scouts why they didn’t like Trea Turner and their answer is I saw 13 plate appearances and didn’t like it, that’s kinda an insane answer when the guy has tools like that and was breaking records statistically, but was banged up/making swing changes on Team USA and the first half of the spring when like 90% of the scouting looks happened.

12:54

Kiley McDaniel: For all the truth that scouting can reveal that can’t be replaced by numbers, the lack of context and lack of searching for answers to reconcile something that doesn’t make sense can often be maddening. Like the two games you saw can tell a kid’s entire athletic future on multi-million dollar decisions and that’s a good process.

12:54

David: How did Acuna escape that injury scare with only a mild ACL sprain?  The Baseball Gods are very forgiving and generous

12:54

Kiley McDaniel: Def looked worse than that

12:54

Louis T.: Thanks for all your work throughout the season, really awesome stuff. Who would’ve thought a year ago that Wilcox would be in a position to get more money than Rocker and/or Hankins, and Seigler would be this far ahead of Banfield? A lot really does change in a year

12:54

Kiley McDaniel: Indeed it does and that’s just in the Georgia preps!

12:55

Nick: Most realistic landing spot for Kelenic in the top 10, if any?

12:55

Kiley McDaniel: He doesn’t really have one. NYM/ATL/OAK all like him but I don’t think any of them take him. Maybe PIT?

12:55

Jordan: What would say the probability is, in percentage, of these guys going to school? Rocker, Banfield, Denaburg. Thanks!

12:56

Kiley McDaniel: 55%, 35%, 20%

12:56

notacop: Maryland’s Nick Dunn posted surprising power this year, and always hit in the Cape. Is he the type of “safe” college prospect we see climb up boards late in the process?

12:56

Kiley McDaniel: Possibly, but he also may be a left fielder and his power has dried up some since his breakout Cape campaign, so where we have him ranked is already rounding up for that sort of stuff.

12:56

GoPadres: I see in the Padres list, Gore is a FV 55 and #3. Does he have the upside of a #1? What would you guess the percent chance of that happening is?

12:59

Kiley McDaniel: We’ve explained this in a few places, but it’s important to note that the pitcher FV’s are hedged a bit due to attrition. 55 FV is a trade value grade, in a sense. If he becomes what his tool grades say, he’ll be like a 65 FV, but there’s a real chance that stuff goes wrong in a big way for a teenager in Low-A, so he’s something like the trade value of multiple years of a 55 FV in the big leagues, or something like that. He’s in our top 5 pitchers in the minors, if I’m not mistaken. Maybe 15-25% chance of being an ace? That’s insanely high when there’s 8-12 on Earth at a given time and many stay there for awhile.

12:59

Mike: Are you still taking Adams over Murray at this point?  Why/Why not?

1:00

Kiley McDaniel: They’re ranked back-to-back, so we think they’re super close and you could easily make the case for either. Lots of similarities but Adams is bigger and more classically loose in the way scouts tend to prefer, but Murray just performed better than expected in the Big 12.

1:00

Alex: What are the % odds that you will be surprised with how the top ten plays out next week? Like an unforeseen shake up.

1:01

Kiley McDaniel: You’re asking me to predict how likely an unpredictable thing is

1:01

Tim: On a podcast White Sox scouting director Nick Hostetler said he could see the top 3 getting blown up from the order almost everyone is assuming. Have you heard anything like that and if so, what will be the catalyst of the change?

1:02

Kiley McDaniel: Well Mize not going 1-1 would do that and that seemed like 50/50 a week ago and now is like 90-95% likely to go as expected. I’d guess that’s what he meant.

1:02

Wayne: Wow, Braves like Seigler? Would that be at 8 or trying to float him to the second round?

1:02

Kiley McDaniel: lol he’s a Georgia prep player is it really that surprising? And no, not at 8.

1:02

Tim: Is it just me or would Grayson Rodriguez at 10 be kinda disappointing? I would prefer the Pirates take one of Kelenic, Stewart, or Winn. What do you think?

1:03

Kiley McDaniel: Eric and I don’t get the Grayson Rodriguez in the top 15 stuff at all, but TEX and PIT both are apparently really on him and prep righties is where teams tend to have really different opinions

1:03

Trevor: Is there a scenario where Jesus Luzardo is a #1, top of rotation starter?

1:03

Kiley McDaniel: He has enough stuff/feel so it isn’t 0% but less than Gore.

1:04

Matt: You guys seem to be the high guys on Madrigal – so what kind of hitter do you see at peak – Pedroia?  2014 Altuve?  Urias? 2016 Altuve??  I guess what kind of stat line do you see?

1:05

Kiley McDaniel: He has elements of those guys and Albies but almost certainly isn’t as good as Pedroia/Albies/Altuve. Right around Urias, 2-3 win type that may get to 4 wins once or twice and gets to the bigs quickly.

1:05

Scott: Does Robert Neustrom end up going within the top 4 rounds?

1:05

Kiley McDaniel: I’ll say no but more 65/35 no than a hard no

1:06

Mac: The Jose Altuve/Nick Madrigal comps are driving me crazy (he’s short!!!).  Has anyone ever looked at Altuve’s stats??  Madrigal has no chance to reach any of them.  Like none. EVER.

1:06

Kiley McDaniel: For those that don’t like nuance, may I suggest Mac’s point of view

1:06

MarlinsGuy: As the driver of the Albies bandwagon, what are your thoughts on his .309 wOBA in May? Is he settling down into just an average hitter?

1:06

Kiley McDaniel: Man you guys can rain on any parade RELAX

1:07

Largest Adult Son: Would the Mets be more inclined to take India because they took Mark Vientos out of American Heritage 59th overall last year? Vientos was very young for the draft, but they clearly like prep talent.

1:08

Kiley McDaniel: There’s two different American Heritage HS’s and they went to different ones. India went to Delray (Lucius Fox went there for a bit, Anfernee Seymour as well) and Vientos went to Plantation (the powerhouse that had Hosmer, Deven Marrero, Zack Collins, etc.)

1:08

Phunkyphresh: When do we get a new podcast. Driving without something fun to listen to sucks

1:09

Kiley McDaniel: Direct your vitriol at Cistulli. I’d do one everyday if he asked.

1:09

PS: Have you heard anything on who the yankees like in the latter half of the first?

1:09

Kiley McDaniel: Lots of talk about Daniel Lynch of UVA at that pick. rising late and we have him 23rd, so fits.

1:09

Roger: What can you tell me about Micah Bello?  Was he close to making this iteration of the Board?

1:10

Kiley McDaniel: He’ll be on the expanded board. Solid tweener that’s improved this spring, may be signable in the low six figures.

1:10

Snapper Bean: Seems like all the mocks are saying just about the same thing at the top of the draft.  1 Mize.  2 Bart. 3 Bohm.  4 Madrigal/Singer.  5 Singer/Madrigal.  6 India

1:10

Kiley McDaniel: There’s a reason for that

1:10

ryan: do you think the reds will go for Madrigal if he’s still available, or draft a pitcher given that their pitcher development has been so poor…

1:10

Kiley McDaniel: They will take him if he’s there

1:10

Rob: Is Josh Breaux more project able as a pitcher or catcher? I’ve heard both and would like your thoughts.

1:11

Kiley McDaniel: More upside as a catcher, huge arm strength and power, the rest is a little rough. Fastball only with little else on the mound, but in the high 90’s so not a terrible backup plan.

1:11

Mike T.: who is Scout’s favorite player?

1:11

Kiley McDaniel: whichever one gives her treats and/or pets

1:12

Oyster Burns: the yanks are always on socal kids. have you heard the same going into this draft?

1:12

Kiley McDaniel: We’ve heard them strongly tied to three players with high picks, all on the east coast

1:12

Kiley McDaniel: But they’d take Cole Winn if he slides, which I can’t imagine he’ll get that far

1:13

Mr. Fister: Settle a debate.  One of my coworkers is convinced that the Royals will be able to get a significant prospect in return for Moose.  I argued that he will fetch a lottery pick or two at most.  My coworker is insane, right?

1:13

Kiley McDaniel: I don’t think you will win if you think he’ll be traded for a top-14 pick in the NBA Draft.

1:13

Loop: Anything new on the White Sox? Still on Madrigal? More so leaning Singer now? Feed me. I hunger.

1:13

Kiley McDaniel: I think it’s down to those two, still think it’s Madrigal

1:14

Bravesy McBravesface: Isn’t Trevor Larnach just a more polished, outfield version of Gorman?

1:14

Kiley McDaniel: Mostly, yes.

1:14

A Boy Named Yu: Best guess for Cubs’ first pick?

1:15

Kiley McDaniel: They had their top two decision makers at the Denaburg vs. Casas playoff game and Denaburg was pretty good.

1:15

Ptown: Could the Giants shake things up and go with a high school pitcher at #2?

1:15

Kiley McDaniel: Cole Winn is the rumor we keep hearing, but that would have to be in a scenario where Bart goes 1 and they flunk Mize’s medicals and both seem farfetched right now.

1:16

Frank Menechino’s Lazy Eye: Thank you for the DRAFT BOARD!
Do you get the sense that you and Eric are higher on Swaggerty than the industry consensus?

1:17

Kiley McDaniel: Higher than he’ll go, but there’s definitely scouts that have him right where we do. The ones that don’t, we think, are falling into the aforementioned Trea Turner thing, or getting distracted by some worrisome, but ultimately probably meaningless maturity stuff from earlier in the spring.

1:17

giants fan: im not sure if you follow basketball, but did you hear/read about the Colangelo twitter story, Im curious if you’ve heard anything about this in baseball?

1:18

Kiley McDaniel: lol i know a couple GMs burner accounts but they don’t tweet from them because that would be insane, they just don’t want everyone knowing which people they follow/their likes

1:18

A Boy Named Yu: Haseley seems to make decent contact – does the MLB ball help compensate for any power deficiencies?  I.e. is he a good fly-ball revolution candidate?

1:19

Kiley McDaniel: He already lifts it a decent bit, that’s the main adjustment he made in his draft year to get into the top 10. It just isn’t impact tools. Probably a 50 or 55 FV in left field in the end, 1.5-2.5 win territory. He’s something but not a star.

1:19

Mr. Fister: Wut?  Matz……injured?  Syndergaard……injured?  The trend continues.  Poor Mets fans.

1:20

Kiley McDaniel: Yes, poor Mets fans. Unfortunately there’s still a lot of people in high positions there than don’t know what they’re doing and one of them is the owner.

1:22

Eric: You mentioned there are some crazy rumors in the top 5.  Anything you are able to share at the moment?

1:23

Kiley McDaniel: In the mock later this week

1:24

Bo: Why is Bart considered such a high target when he seems to be more like Zunino 2.0? That wouldn’t be worth a top-3 pick, would it?

1:24

Kiley McDaniel: Some people think that Mike Zunino Is Good

1:25

Jake: Will you guys expand draft reports to the rest of your list? That would be awesome !

1:25

Kiley McDaniel: Yep and more players

1:25

Dustin: What’s your long term outlook on Ryan Rolison in the upcoming draft? Four pitch lefty with good decent control and can hit mid 90’s. Seems similar to the Liberatore “whole is more than the sum of the parts”.

1:26

Kiley McDaniel: Except Rolison isn’t projectable, needs to change his delivery some, needs better fastball command and needs to throw his changeup more/curveball less and didn’t perform that well in the SEC. Could go as high as 11, but probably more in the 20’s

1:26

Dominik: Prospect list is great. Could you put in individual grades (fastball, curve, power, hit, run) or would that be too much work?

1:26

Kiley McDaniel: Click on the SCOUTING tab at the top, it’s all there and it’s wonderful

1:27

Butters: There’s a fair amount of “Larnach to Seattle” talk being spun around in the echo chamber.  Do you think this very likely, or do you think they’ll stump for a high upside pitcher with the first pick?

1:28

Kiley McDaniel: Wouldn’t bet on Larnach there

1:28

Ptown: Any chance you think the White Sox will take Swaggerty to save money on 2nd and 3rd round picks?

1:28

Kiley McDaniel: Possible, unlikely

1:28

Billy Beane: Be honest, Kiley, how many secret twitter accounts do you have to criticize David Appelman and Eric Longenhagen?

1:28

Kiley McDaniel: fine, I also run @realskipbayless

1:29

OddBall Herrera: The most highly rated prospects in the draft are on your board as mid-30s in the top 100.  I can’t recall from past years, but it seems like previously the top couple picks were floating around in the 10-25 area.  Am I remembering right and if so is this a sign that it’s a particularly weak draft?

1:29

Kiley McDaniel: Something like that, yes

1:29

John S: Can you explain how Singer was assigned a “low” on variance?

1:30

Kiley McDaniel: He has a low variance among his possible outcomes. He’ll almost certainly be in an MLB rotation pretty quickly and he wont’ be an ace. In the draft, the gap between 3rd starter and 5th starter is really small when some guys have a real chance of not getting out of A-Ball.

1:30

NE Draft: Any idea where Siani/Decker/Torres will be drafted. Seems like all 2nd round?

1:31

Kiley McDaniel: Sounds like Siani is going to school if he doesn’t go 25-40. Decker probably 30-55, Torres like 15-35

1:31

Hank: Denaburg, Seigler and Connor Scott — will I be able to watch any of them at UF?

1:31

Kiley McDaniel: Wouldn’t count on it

1:32

Frank : Why are the Mets so damn conservative with prospects? Alonso and McNeil still in AA, Peterson and Kay still in A ball, etc.

1:32

Kiley McDaniel:

1:33

WISOX: Please tell me the South Siders aren’t in on Heimlich.

1:34

Kiley McDaniel: We know a few teams that are, the majority are not and never considered it.

1:34

Billy Beane: When you worked for the Braves did you enjoy draft day or was it more of a slog? I have to imagine it’s somewhat exciting, but also a metric F*** ton of work.

1:35

Kiley McDaniel: More fun since the work was over and now you get to open your presents. Most of the prep was fun, but got tedious at times.

1:35

Tom: Saw a report that had Kyler Murray’s arm at a 40 grade. Certainly doesn’t look good for an aspiring QB. What’re the odds a team with a big bonus pool grabs him & how much $$$ would it take?

1:36

Kiley McDaniel: Sounds like $4-5 million, if there even is a number. Arm is below right now but the arm action can be cleaned up to be more baseball like and there’s some zip in there so it’ll likely be average to above eventually.

1:36

WarBiscuit: Do you think Cole WIlcox will go to Georgia? And thoughts on Will Holland? could he be a top 3 round pick?

1:36

Kiley McDaniel: No and I’d guess yes

1:36

Frank Menechino’s Lazy Eye: Thank you for the DRAFT BOARD!

1:37

Kiley McDaniel: YOU’RE WELCOME

1:37

Twins Bro: Why is Akil Baddoo the way he is?

1:37

Kiley McDaniel: wait a minute is it already that time

1:37

MATT BOYD: MATT. BOYD.

1:37

Juan Soto: JUAN. SOTO.

1:37

Matt Damon: MATT. DAMON.

1:37

Kiley McDaniel: Agree on all fronts. Thanks for reading.





Kiley McDaniel has worked as an executive and scout, most recently for the Atlanta Braves, also for the New York Yankees, Baltimore Orioles and Pittsburgh Pirates. He's written for ESPN, Fox Sports and Baseball Prospectus. Follow him on twitter.

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riyamisra
5 years ago

thanks for sharing style
Design mode
Face glow