2023 draft thread

[Hugh2]

Today is draft day, picks 1-70.

 

I know not all fans are interested in amateur ball and the big wide world of prospectadum and that’s ok, to each their own! I don’t expect this thread to live long. But we can discuss draft talk here and for those interested in getting to know our picks we can post scouting reports from results as well.

[Hugh2]

Every year I’ve followed Sox prospects they have had most of the Sox top picks listed as probables. So this list should give us an ideal of who they may target.

 

http://news.soxprospects.com/2023/07/2023draft.html?m=1

[Hugh2]

It’s been rumored the Sox are going to go under slot at #14 and cut a deal.

 

Names being thrown around

 

Tai Peete

Colt Emerson

[moonslav59]

It’s been rumored the Sox are going to go under slot at #14 and cut a deal.

 

Names being thrown around

 

Tai Peete

Colt Emerson

 

It would not surprise me.

 

It would add some extra Bloom-bashing fodder, for sure.

[moonslav59]

Some mocks...

 

Colt Enerson SS (HS) Emerson’s one of the younger players in the draft class and there are at least some scouts who think he’s one of the better pure hitters. I’m only hearing them with hitters, including college guys Shaw, Brock Wilken and Chase Davis; and high schoolers with Bryce Eldridge – who supposedly wants to go to a team that will also let him pitch – Houck and Mitchell as other possibilities. MLB.com has the same pick and adds, "Houck, Emerson, third baseman Aidan Miller or Peete would give the Red Sox a prep infielder in the Draft for the fourth straight year. Mitchell could be appealing as well. "

 

Aidan Miller 3B (HS) mymlbdraft.com

 

Tommy Troy 3B (Stanford) It's been a number of bats mentioned in connection with the Red Sox, and one of the best on the table at this point is Stanford's Tommy Troy. He's bounced around a bit defensively, but he should be able to stick at third base, where he has more than enough bat to profile. If Boston doesn't go with him, it's possible it looks at some prep hitters still around. -Sporting News. Justbaseball.com has the same pick...It is easy to fall in love with Taylor’s sweet swing from the left side, and there’s a decent chance a team ahead of the White Sox could. Should the draft shake out this way, it would be hard to imagine Taylor falling beyond 15. Taylor’s feel to hit is impressive, driving the ball to all fields with a smooth ease along with a great feel for the strike zone.

 

The power presently looks average, but he has decently long levers with some more room for strength within his frame. He should have no issue sticking at third, but could play a solid second base as well.

[Randy Red Sox]

Heaven forbid Bloom could EVER draft the BEST pitching prospect available?? After all we have so many pitching prospects waiting in the wings.

It would not surprise me.

 

It would add some extra Bloom-bashing fodder, for sure.

[Hugh2]

Heaven forbid Bloom could EVER draft the BEST pitching prospect available?? After all we have so many pitching prospects waiting in the wings.

 

As bad as Bloom has been, his ONE strength has been his drafting.

 

Also, if you look at pretty much every mock draft out there, there’s almost no pitching talent around where the Sox are pitching. This is one of the most position heavy drafts we’ve seen in a very very long time

[Hugh2]

It would not surprise me.

 

It would add some extra Bloom-bashing fodder, for sure.

 

Bloom was rumored to be picking Matt McLain and sign him to an under slot deal.

 

Obviously things changed when Mayer fell. McLain fell to #17 currently sporting a .880 OPS and plus defense at SS at the MLB level in Cincinnati.

 

I don’t think anyone would have complained about that.

 

This is the draft class where the high schoolers who didn’t get drafted because of Covid are eligible in the draft. This will be the deepest college class in the draft ever. Position players are 5x safer. I have zero problem going way later in the rounds in pitching. If you have the right scouts and department developing them, that’s a wining strategy. If your first pick busts, it can really blow up your draft.

[moonslav59]

Heaven forbid Bloom could EVER draft the BEST pitching prospect available?? After all we have so many pitching prospects waiting in the wings.

 

Just pick the player you think is best. Position should not be a factor, unless you think it is an exact tie.

 

BTW, our young pitchers have been shining, of late, and the farm has some encouraging pitchers, too.

[Hugh2]

Just pick the player you think is best. Position should not be a factor, unless you think it is an exact tie.

 

BTW, our young pitchers have been shining, of late, and the farm has some encouraging pitchers, too.

 

Sox have a horrible record of drafting pitching in the first round too

[moonslav59]

As bad as Bloom has been, his ONE strength has been his drafting.

 

Also, if you look at pretty much every mock draft out there, there’s almost no pitching talent around where the Sox are pitching. This is one of the most position heavy drafts we’ve seen in a very very long time

 

He seems to have improved on our IFA signings, as well.

 

He also added prospects Whitlock, Winck, Wong, EValdez, Abreu, Kelly, Gambrell and others in nondraft/IFA methods.

 

To me, this was his number one priority- maybe co-number one with fixing the budget. I think he has done well in both areas, but his grade is incomplete, to me.

 

Building up the 26 and 40 man roster foundation has been more difficult, especially with dwindling budgets for his first 3 seasons, and virtually no farm help until Bello & Duran, this year, so I find it hard to grade him on just W-L results.

 

I think our foundation is much stronger than in 2019, but much of it is speculative, in nature.

 

Farm: INC (Already seeing Whitlock, Wong & Wink is a good start.)

Budget: INC (The Yoshida, Story and Devers signings are still pending)

MLB Foundation (26 & 40 man rosters): C- maybe. (2020 does not count, to me. 2021 was a plus. 2022 was a minus. This year is INC.)

 

I'm assuming the poster who keep talking about the legion of "Bloom Supporters" thinks I'm one, but I don't see it that way. To me, he appears to have done what he was told to do, and the major results are still pending. I'm not going to ding him for selecting HS players and delaying the farm's ML impact, until we see how well or poorly they do.

[moonslav59]

Sox have a horrible record of drafting pitching in the first round too

 

Not Bloom. He doesn't do it.

[moonslav59]

Bloom was rumored to be picking Matt McLain and sign him to an under slot deal.

 

Obviously things changed when Mayer fell. McLain fell to #17 currently sporting a .880 OPS and plus defense at SS at the MLB level in Cincinnati.

 

I don’t think anyone would have complained about that.

 

This is the draft class where the high schoolers who didn’t get drafted because of Covid are eligible in the draft. This will be the deepest college class in the draft ever. Position players are 5x safer. I have zero problem going way later in the rounds in pitching. If you have the right scouts and department developing them, that’s a wining strategy. If your first pick busts, it can really blow up your draft.

 

Well said. When I said "tied," I meant factoring in the higher risk pitchers bring to a draft.

[Randy Red Sox]

Taking Mayer aside { no brainer pick given he was ranked #1} what great draft picks has Bloom made? we all know he hoards prospects so drafting SS and 2B every year in the first rd makes no sense to me but I know this is a losing argument. Name these top pitching prospects Bloom has brought us please.

As bad as Bloom has been, his ONE strength has been his drafting.

 

Also, if you look at pretty much every mock draft out there, there’s almost no pitching talent around where the Sox are pitching. This is one of the most position heavy drafts we’ve seen in a very very long time

[moonslav59]

This is the draft class where the high schoolers who didn’t get drafted because of Covid are eligible in the draft. This will be the deepest college class in the draft ever. Position players are 5x safer. I have zero problem going way later in the rounds in pitching. If you have the right scouts and department developing them, that’s a wining strategy. If your first pick busts, it can really blow up your draft.

 

It seems to hurt more when that top pick is top 15.

 

Here's a look at our "top picks:"

 

Theo

'03: David Murphy (pretty solid pick at #17)

'04: 2nd rd Pedroia at #65 WOW!

'05: Jacoby Ellsbury (#23 comp pick for OCab) and Craig Hansen (#26 BUST)

'06: Jason Place (#27 BUST)

'07: 2nd rd Nick Hagadone (#55 and a rare pitcher with our first pick)

'08: Casey Kelly (#30 a pitcher that was traded for AGon)

'09: Raymond Fuentes (#28 BUST)

'10 Kolbrin Vitek (#20 BUST)

'11 Matt Barnes (Pitcher #26 comp for VMart) & Blake Swihart (#26 com for Beltre)

 

Ben

'12 Deven Marrero (#24), Brian Johnson (#31 Comp for Papelbon) & Pat Light (#37 also for Papelbon)

'13: Trey Ball (#7 Biggest Bust and a pitcher)

'14: Michael Chavis (#26) & Michael Kopech (#33 P traded for Sale)

'15: Andrew Benintendi (#7)

'16: Jay Groome (#12 HS pitcher - likely a bust)

 

DD

'17: Tanner Houck (#24 P looking pretty good)

'18: Tristan Casas (#26)

'19: 2nd rd Cameron Cannon (#43 BUST)

 

Bloom

'20: Nick Yorke (#17)

'21: Marcelo Mayer (#4- the highest pick by the Sox)

'22: Mikey Romero (#24) (Anthony picked 79th got a bigger signing bonus)

 

 

 

[moonslav59]

Taking Mayer aside { no brainer pick given he was ranked #1} what great draft picks has Bloom made? we all know he hoards prospects so drafting SS and 2B every year in the first rd makes no sense to me but I know this is a losing argument. Name these top pitching prospects Bloom has brought us please.

 

Whitlock

Winckowski

ZKelly

Drohan (ranked 6th)

E R-C (ranked 19th at age 19)

L Guerrero (25th)

Rogers (30th)

Denlinger

 

Not a great list, but he's only had 3 drafts, and one was the shortened 2020 one, plus there was no 2020 season for any prospects to devlop a full year.

Edited July 9, 2023 by moonslav59

[Hugh2]

Taking Mayer aside { no brainer pick given he was ranked #1} what great draft picks has Bloom made? we all know he hoards prospects so drafting SS and 2B every year in the first rd makes no sense to me but I know this is a losing argument. Name these top pitching prospects Bloom has brought us please.

 

Yes Bloom only took Mayer because he fell and anyone would have done that. Before Mayer fell Bloom was going to cut a deal with Matt McLain (which means they would have had a better draft elsewhere, still pretty good).

 

McLain is batting .301 with and .880 OPS with plus defense in the major leagues right now.

 

Roman Anthony he took last year and is already a top 100 prospect, the year before Mayer he took York’s #1 who is also a top 100 prospect.

 

Look I won’t argue against the various blunders Bloom has made, but drafting isn’t one of them. Let’s get the conversation BACK about this draft

[Hugh2]

Let’s keep the conversations about the 2023 draft, if you want to go off topic and bash Bloom let’s keep it to the “fire bloom” thread.

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

Let’s keep the conversations about the 2023 draft, if you want to go off topic and bash Bloom let’s keep it to the “fire bloom” thread.

 

Who a team drafts just isn't an exact science, and never has been. When it's their turn, most clubs just pick the best player left on the board. Those evals could be based on universal MLB scouting data or from their own analytics, but most are pretty close.

 

When a team drafts can be more attributable to the GM, based on such determinants as whether a club tanks or receives compensation from someone signing a free agent attached to a QO...

[Hugh2]

Who a team drafts just isn't an exact science, and never has been. When it's their turn, most clubs just pick the best player left on the board. Those evals could be based on universal MLB scouting data or from their own analytics, but most are pretty close.

 

When a team drafts can be more attributable to the GM, based on such determinants as whether a club tanks or receives compensation from someone signing a free agent attached to a QO...

 

Agreed, but I think teams boards can vary wildly, they’re all probably the same if close to it for the top 10-15 players. Most teams probably have the same guys in there in varying orders. But the further you go down, the more they vary.

 

This is something I always try to remember. If the Sox pick someone at #14 who is ranked 20th that doesn’t mean they made a bad pick. It just means he was the best player left on their board while Someone else didn’t have him there.

 

The rankings we see is just several boards, what we don’t see is the 30 boards of every team. So we don’t see the vast majority of the rankings out there.

[notin]

2013?

[notin]

Taking Mayer aside { no brainer pick given he was ranked #1} what great draft picks has Bloom made? we all know he hoards prospects so drafting SS and 2B every year in the first rd makes no sense to me but I know this is a losing argument. Name these top pitching prospects Bloom has brought us please.

 

Out of curiosity, why wasn’t Mayer a no-brainer for Pittsburgh, Texas and especially Detroit?

 

Also, for other Bloom draft picks, he did select Yorke, Anthony, Drohan and Romero. Ranked 4,5,6 and 8 on soxprospects.com…

[moonslav59]

Agreed, but I think teams boards can vary wildly, they’re all probably the same if close to it for the top 10-15 players. Most teams probably have the same guys in there in varying orders. But the further you go down, the more they vary.

 

This is something I always try to remember. If the Sox pick someone at #14 who is ranked 20th that doesn’t mean they made a bad pick. It just means he was the best player left on their board while Someone else didn’t have him there.

 

The rankings we see is just several boards, what we don’t see is the 30 boards of every team. So we don’t see the vast majority of the rankings out there.

 

It would be interesting to see all 30 boards from some past drafts, just to get an idea of how different some teams viewed certain players.

 

Were other teams drooling to pounce on Trey Ball, or did nobody have him on the top 30 board? (Probably somewhere in between.)

[Randy Red Sox]

Nonetheless Mayer WAS ranked #1 before the draft. I realize I am fighting a losing battle on drafting P in the 1st rd but seriously how many 2B, SS, and 3B can we have in our system at one time?? Supposedly Yorke is our future 2B { i am skeptical on that} , Mayer, is our SS and Devers is locked up at 3B with Jordan as insurance. We also drafted at least 1 more SS with a 1st rd pick since Bloom arrived too. The team Bloom came from has made their mark on young top cost controlled SP like we FINALLY have with Bello { thank you DD}.

Out of curiosity, why wasn’t Mayer a no-brainer for Pittsburgh, Texas and especially Detroit?

 

Also, for other Bloom draft picks, he did select Yorke, Anthony, Drohan and Romero. Ranked 4,5,6 and 8 on soxprospects.com…

[Hugh2]

Nonetheless Mayer WAS ranked #1 before the draft. I realize I am fighting a losing battle on drafting P in the 1st rd but seriously how many 2B, SS, and 3B can we have in our system at one time?? Supposedly Yorke is our future 2B { i am skeptical on that} , Mayer, is our SS and Devers is locked up at 3B with Jordan as insurance. We also drafted at least 1 more SS with a 1st rd pick since Bloom arrived too. The team Bloom came from has made their mark on young top cost controlled SP like we FINALLY have with Bello { thank you DD}.

 

How many? That’s a great question, allow me to answer it for you.

 

If you continue to follow amateur baseball and the draft you will see this is the norm. Most position players are up the middle. The best player on your high school team is almost ALWAYS a short stop. The vast majority of MLB infielders were drafted as SS, the vast majority of LF/RFers were CFers in high school and college. Sometimes infielders move to the outfield as well.

 

If you can play a good SS, you can transition anywhere aside from Catcher and Pitcher.

 

Take notice on who most of the position players are on other teams as well.

[Randy Red Sox]

What list to you see Yorke as a top 100 prospects? I saw Keith Law's top 100 put out on May 8th with Yorke not on there. I don't pay for BA rankings.

Yes Bloom only took Mayer because he fell and anyone would have done that. Before Mayer fell Bloom was going to cut a deal with Matt McLain (which means they would have had a better draft elsewhere, still pretty good).

 

McLain is batting .301 with and .880 OPS with plus defense in the major leagues right now.

 

Roman Anthony he took last year and is already a top 100 prospect, the year before Mayer he took York’s #1 who is also a top 100 prospect.

 

Look I won’t argue against the various blunders Bloom has made, but drafting isn’t one of them. Let’s get the conversation BACK about this draft

[Hugh2]

What list to you see Yorke as a top 100 prospects? I saw Keith Law's top 100 put out on May 8th with Yorke not on there. I don't pay for BA rankings.

 

BA has him at 96.

[Randy Red Sox]

fair enough but I don't see that as a huge thing given where he was drafted 4 drafts ago.

BA has him at 96.

[Hugh2]

fair enough but I don't see that as a huge thing given where he was drafted 4 drafts ago.

 

 

Most people drafted in the first round do not end up being top 100 prospects. Especially outside of the top 5 picks. Those guys get ranked, everyone else has to earn it. Between the draft and IFA you have close to 1300 guys entering a mature ball every year. Between every teams system and complex leagues there’s well over 7,000 players out there who qualify. Being in the top 100 is impressive. Especially in a 5 round draft.

 

Speaking of which, all those kids who didn’t get drafted and just went to college because of COVID? Yeah, guess what, this is their first draft eligible year.

 

I predict an infielder first round, but once you get to rounds 2-5 I think you will see a lot of pitchers there.

[Dipre]

Do you have to absolutely f*** up this thread whining about or defending Bloom? Take that somewhere else please.