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Grissom did have success against MLB pitching before (.746 OPS with Atlanta). Right now it’s just 37 PA. Not everyone starts out hot..

And you get to yell about it on court. “I object!! That’s pure conjecture!!” In this case, it helps if you’re a lawyer. And know whether or not it is conjecture. Also, if they’re a witness against your client…

I’m not asking for research, but I suspect hitting on 1 out of 4 first pitchers is probably fairly average…

The guy is such a punchline. I was pitching to my daughter the other day, and she avoided a pitch way outside, which I told her was a strike. She disagreed. But when I then called it an “Angel Hernandez Strike,” she did agree to that…

Straight up conjecture on whether or not a first baseman who went on the game would have caught that throw. All we know is none of their FOUR major league first basemen were in the game and the utility infielder manning first didn’t catch it…

True as he was a compensatory pick. But that’s just a happy eventual outcome. The Sox obviously wanted to sign Fabian

Like I said, defensible pick. I like Mayer and keep it, and it looks better if the Sox has been able to sign another collegiate outfielder in second round selection Jud Fabian…

Odds favor another outcome for the 100mph arms, too, with Cavalli being a prime example. If the odds did favor velocity, teams would draft velocity. But when it comes to making MLB, what the odds do (did?) favor is hitting over pitching. And that’s (probably?) why the Sox didn’t draft pitchers early…

Three teams passed on Mayer and Cowser went number 5. Taking Cowser over Mayer is pretty defensible IMO. Especially if you prefer college hitters over high school…

I’m not defending the pick as much as I am pointing out the logic of re-writing the draft. “We could have taken Bobby Miller!” If Miller was such as obvious pick, why did the next 12 teams pass on him? He’s also only 22 and in AA. When did that become criteria for being a bust? If he went to college, he’d be eligible for the draft this year…

Would you have taken Sal Frelick or Colton Cowser over Marcelo Mayer?

I think their big need at the last two deadlines was a GM who was not afraid to pay the price to get players that helped the team...

Did Yorke even go underslot? His $2.75mll bonus was right around where everyone drafted near him signed. But the bottom line is there is a lot of luck in the draft, especially if you don't pick first. The Dodgers grabbed Bobby Miller in that same round, but maybe they would not have if Jared Shuster, Cade Cavalli, or Nick Bitsko fell to them, and that is assuming they were even targeting pitchers. Heck, the second pitcher taken that year with the 4th overall pick was Asa Lacy out of Texas A&M. He hasn't pitched since getting batted around in rookie ball and AA in 2022...

Also how much money you defer. The Dodgers' payroll of $229mill certainly doesn't account for all of the $100mill in AAV spent on two Japanese players...

It's also possible another organization had a similar view of Yorke...

Also, maybe teams are looking at hitting the harder commodity. Since 2007 (as far back as data goes on Fangraphs), the average velocity of a fastball has gone up from 91.1mph to 94.1mph (in 2023, with an incomplete 2024 sitting at 93.9). Think about how crazy that is, especially given the surge in season-ending injuries pitchers in 2024 vs 2007. 3mph might not seem like much, but the ball gets to the plate about .07 seconds faster on average, which is enough to make the difference between barreling ball up the middle and sending it flying into the stands along the baseline. And with how many more pitchers it takes to simply get through a season now, yet they still throw an average of 3mph faster. Granted, some of this is also a decreased dependency on starting pitching, but you still need to pitch the same number of innings. If every pitcher in the league is now throwing 3mph faster than they were 17 years ago, it gets much harder for players to hit it. A while back, Bellhorn made a point about how development has taken leaps and bounds with pitchers, so maybe some teams are thinking that if pitchers are going to that much harder, it will get harder to acquire players who can hit. And since most of the money is spent on the first round pick, last year's top pick getting $9.2mill, does it make sense to make sure you have money spent on top hitting talent? I watched Skenes' debut (until the rain delayed it), that guy was hitting 102mph regularly. And he was in college last year!!

I'm talking about around MLB. We can guess all day long who should get traded and who shouldn't, but not like we have any intel. I think drafting pitching for the sake of drafting pitching is more likely to fill the Sox farm system with Brian Johnson types as opposed to Ian Anderson types. But hey, maybe you like AC/DC more than Jethro Tull...

The Braves also acquired Chris Sale because they stockpiled middle infield talent, and had nowhere to play Vaughn Grissom...

The Rays will be starting Aaron Civale today, whom they acquired for a first baseman they drafted in the 2021 second round.

How often do you see any first year players or prospects traded for other first year players or prospects, pitchers or not? Did the Sox manage to trade a couple young players like Moncada and Kopech and others for a pitcher? Not like the Yankees offered us Aaron Judge for Trey Ball, either...

I also wonder if part of the reason the Sox took Yorke when they did was because they thought it was their last chance to grab him, since they had no second round pick that year and did not think he would last until #89. If money was a factor, the pitchers who signed for less than Yorke that round does include Miller, but also Bryce Jarvis, Jared Shuster, Carmen Mlodzinski, Slade Cecconi, Justin Lange and Tanner Burns. The first 4 have all made their MLB debut, but only Miller has made any impact so far. Of course, all except Lange were taken out of college and were much older than Yorke. Jarvis and Shuster were also taken ahead of Miller, which means at least 2 teams had them ranked higher...

Have you seen a list of pitchers the Sox have taken in the first round? From 2010-2020, they to0ok the following pitchers in the first and sandwich rounds: Anthony Ranaudo Matt Barnes Henry Owens Pat Light Brian Johnson Trey Ball Michael Kopech Jay Groome Tanner Houck Should we try to get more Trey Ball/Jay Groome types? Barnes, Houck and Kopech were clear hits. The rest did nothing for the Sox, and were not even dealt for anything that helped the Sox significantly (with the jury still out on Corey Rosier). And people can blame scouting or development or whatever, but this spans 10 years. In this stretch, the Sox had 4 different GM/CBOs, and who knows how many scouts and development people and minor league coaches. They probably had a dozen different philosophies and tactics and strategies. It's not as simple as just drafting more pitchers early. Heck they Sox even took multiple pitchers in the first round a couple times, notably in 2011 when they took Barnes and Owens. Fun fact - after taking Owens in the first round, the Sox second and third round picks that year were an outfielder (Williams Jerez) and a catcher (Jordan Weems) who both converted to pitching and then each appeared in more MLB games as a pitcher than Henry Owens did. It's not so simple as "just draft more pitchers." you do have to draft them. But drafting pitchers for the sake of drafting pitchers is more likely to lead to bad drafts. And recapping past drafts to notice missed picks proves nothing. Yes, the Sox passed on Bobby Miller to take Nick Yorke. But they also took Trey Ball instead of Aaron Judge. And they passed on Dodger catcher Will Smith to take Jay Groome. Does anyone look at those drafts and conclude maybe we should never draft pitching? After all, you can review most drafts and find better players selected later for almost anyone. And it is probably true the Pirates won't be trading Jared Jones any time soon, although interestingly you did choose the organization that traded away Tyler Glasnow when he was a young pitcher...

Later start times. Next!!

Mostly dead? Now you're Miracle Max Bialystock?

Lefty pitcher. O'Neill has a 1.106 OPS vs LHP Devers has a .751 OPS vs LHP