Randal Grichuk Addresses His 2015 FanGraphs Scouting Report
Randal Grichuk was ranked seventh when our 2015 St. Louis Cardinals Top Prospects list was published in March of that year. Acquired by the NL Central club in trade 16 months earlier, the then-22-year-old outfielder had been drafted 24th overall by the Los Angeles Angels out of a Rosenberg, Texas high school in 2009. The selection is a well-known part of his story. Grichuk was the first of back-to-back Angels’ picks that summer, the second being Mike Trout.
Grichuk has gone on to have a good career. Now in his 13th major league season, and his second with the Arizona Diamondbacks, the right-handed-hitting slugger has propelled 203 home runs while logging a 102 wRC+. Moreover, none of the 23 players drafted in front of him (in what was admittedly a pitcher-heavy first round) have homered as many times, nor have they recorded as many hits. AJ Pollock is the only position player with a higher WAR.
What did Grichuk’s 2015 scouting report look like? Moreover, what does he think of it a full decade later? Wanting to find out, I shared some of what our then-lead prospect analyst Kiley McDaniel wrote, and asked Grichuk to respond to it.
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“Grichuk was the Angels first rounder that they took one pick ahead of Mike Trout in 2009, though Grichuk has turned into a solid prospect in his own right.”
“That’s accurate,” replied Grichuk. “I was taken one pick before Trout, and I played well enough in the minor leagues to be looked at as a prospect.”
“They inexplicably basically gave Grichuk away in the Peter Bourjos–David Freese deal in 2013, and now Grichuk is knocking on the door.”
“I guess they felt like their depth was good enough to get rid of one of their top draft picks,” reasoned Grichuk. “It was definitely a surprise. It was obviously my first time being traded, and I hadn’t really heard any rumors. All of a sudden, I learned that we had traded Peter Bourjos to the Cardinals along with a player to be named later. Sure enough, later in the day it was announced that it was me. It was kind of shocking — I definitely didn’t see it coming — but I’m thankful for how it ended up.”
“The tools are everyday quality, with above-average bat speed and raw power to go with solid average arm strength and fringy speed that’s better underway.”
“I would say that’s pretty accurate,” agreed Grichuk. “I had the ability to drive the ball over outfielder’s heads. I was fast-twitchy, quick-twitchy enough to be able to get the job done defensively.
“I don’t know that any of that has necessarily changed for the better,” Grichuk added with a smile. “Not now, with me being older. But yeah, I’d say it was pretty accurate back then. I understand where they were coming from.”
“He can get aggressive and chase out of the zone, but he’s been young for his last three levels and he’s hit 65 homers in that span, though his strikeout rate has risen at each level.”
“I would say that’s very accurate,” responded the veteran outfielder. “I didn’t really learn how to hit the slider, or the breaking ball, until later in my career. So there was a lot of swing-and-miss, a lot of jumpiness trying to hit the heater, and not as much seeing the ball deep. It probably wasn’t until 2020 that I kind of learned to get my body into a position to hit the breaking ball, to understand where it needed to start and finish.”
“Grichuk can play center in a pinch but fits in right field.”
“That’s accurate as well,” he replied. “I can play center — I was probably average at it — but I felt, at that point of my career, like I excelled in right field. I could get better jumps on the ball. Overall, I felt more comfortable in right.”
“The question is how much much he’ll hit and how much he’ll get to his raw power in games.”
“There was too much swing-and-miss back then,” reiterated Grichuk. “I was gung ho on the heater and, like I said, didn’t really know how to hit the breaking ball. I had to get lucky with timing those up. All of these reports seem pretty accurate.”
“He’s big-league ready.”
“I was as ready as I could have been at that moment,” opined Grichuk, who had debuted with the Cardinals the previous summer and put up a .678 OPS over 116 plate appearances. “I don’t think I was anywhere close to the player I am today — mentally, physically, or mechanically — but I do feel that I was major-league ready. I just wasn’t as ready as I am now.”
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Previous “Old Scouting Reports Revisited” interviews can be found through these links: Cody Bellinger, Matthew Boyd, Dylan Cease, Matt Chapman, Erick Fedde, Ian Happ, Jeff Hoffman, Matthew Liberatore.
David Laurila grew up in Michigan's Upper Peninsula and now writes about baseball from his home in Cambridge, Mass. He authored the Prospectus Q&A series at Baseball Prospectus from December 2006-May 2011 before being claimed off waivers by FanGraphs. He can be followed on Twitter @DavidLaurilaQA.
Love these.
“Mike Trout? Oh, the guy drafted *after* me?” is an amazing, tongue-in-cheek thing to be able to say, but Grichuk is no slouch (and yikes, that draft class…)
and yes, this series, like David, is a treasure
Honestly, that draft class is quite good, even before Trout’s pick. 2 bona fide aces (even if one them rolled snake eyes in the injury department); couple of decent mid-rotation guys; a couple of useful relievers; 2 solid OFs.
First rounds generally produce an average of about 6-10 WAR/player, and that feels in-line what I’m seeing outside of a couple outlier drafts.
You want a yikes draft class — go look at 2016. A couple of dudes could still move the needle there, but, uh, it’s not going great so far.
that’s an excellent point, though I’d amend my statement to note that it was a terrible draft for position players by and large (but some great pitchers; great call!)
These articles are fantastic, David. Keep them coming.
This is the stuff I’ve really been enjoying. Once you get past all the polite “yeah, that’s accurate” comments (I’m still waiting to see someone really argue with his writeup!) the most interesting thing is to hear what veteran players think about their post-prospect development. Grichuk is telling kind of the classic rushed-to-the-show story for hitters here.
I would love to read how you teach a hitter to hit a slider. Not just a description of how a hitter does it, but an actual, repeatable methodology. (I assume this is what hitting coaches do, but then, so many of them from my youth seemed to just be guys who were friends with the mgr from their playing days)
Randal Grichuk would be a lot less well known had the Angels simply reversed the order of their consecutive draft picks, which is kind of hilarious to me.
Happy to see these pop up on Fangraphs. This one is funny though, guy basically is saying “True true” to everything, ha. I’m waiting for the guy who fights his report and says they are all idiots and I’m the best.
Yeah, should’ve interviewed I AM RANDAL instead!
Tilaps!
Great job!
kiley sure crushed this one