2022 MLB Draft Thread (Pre-Draft Discussion)

[sveumrules]

11 minutes ago, brewers888 said:

I havent paid any attention to the draft but give me someone with some real upside which I doubt a 5'8 shortstop has much of.

So when you say real upside you mean power then?

Sounds like he has plenty of upside in the hit, field and run (& intangibles for whatever that is or isn’t worth) categories.

Brewers scouting department doesn’t seem to think height is an eliminating factor.

Frelick, Hedbert & Quero are listed 5’10”, Valerio is 5’ 7”, 

Urias & Wong 5’ 9” at the MLB level.

Almost feels like maybe they think short players are an undervalued player type, especially with the looming automated strike zone where shorter players will have smaller defined zones.

[brewers888]

5 minutes ago, sveumrules said:

So when you say real upside you mean power then?

Sounds like he has plenty of upside in the hit, field and run (& intangibles for whatever that is or isn’t worth) categories.

Brewers scouting department doesn’t seem to think height is an eliminating factor.

Frelick, Hedbert & Quero are listed 5’10”, Valerio is 5’ 7”, 

Urias & Wong 5’ 9” at the MLB level.

Almost feels like maybe they think short players are an undervalued player type, especially with the looming automated strike zone where shorter players will have smaller defined zones.

With high picks I prefer players with oustanding tools such as power for hitters and pitchers with strikeout stuff. Maybe this player is the rar shorter player with power but if he is more like a Turang who has little power I would prefer to pass. The front office has earned the benefit of the doubt but players like this don't excite me at all.

[brewers888]

As great as we have done drafting and developing pitching we have not drafted any big time hitters since drafting Ryan Braun in 2008. Currently we have some guys like Wiemer with promise but we have been awful at drafting inpact bats.

[LouisEly]

3 hours ago, brewers888 said:

I havent paid any attention to the draft but give me someone with some real upside which I doubt a 5'8 shortstop has much of.

It helps if you read a scouting report:

At 5-foot-8, Williams might be the smallest player on our Draft rankings, but he's also a favorite gut-feel guy for a lot of scouts. One crosschecker called him the best hitter on the summer showcase circuit, where he raked despite an injury to his right shoulder. The Mississippi State recruit could factor into the first round of the Draft, especially to a club that thinks he can stay at shortstop. 

Kirby Puckett was 5'8".

[brewers888]

1 hour ago, LouisEly said:

It helps if you read a scouting report:

At 5-foot-8, Williams might be the smallest player on our Draft rankings, but he's also a favorite gut-feel guy for a lot of scouts. One crosschecker called him the best hitter on the summer showcase circuit, where he raked despite an injury to his right shoulder. The Mississippi State recruit could factor into the first round of the Draft, especially to a club that thinks he can stay at shortstop. 

Kirby Puckett was 5'8".

The odds of smallish hitters becoming the next Puckett or Pedroia is extremely small. 

[nate82]

For being only 5'8 Williams actually has some sneaky power in his bat.  Height usually doesn't limit a players power at all.  Matt Stairs who had gobs of power was only 5'9.  Dustin Pedroia another short player at 5'9 had enough power in the majors also.  There are plenty of players who are not all that tall who had and have a lot of power.  Ozzie Albies of the Braves is only 5'8 also I guess he has no power either.  There are more if you want me to continue.

[nate82]

2 minutes ago, brewers888 said:

The odds of smallish hitters becoming the next Puckett or Pedroia is extremely small. 

The odds of any player drafted in any round even the 1st round making it to the majors is fairly low.  So drafting players with just power in their bats is not a good idea.  Ask Doug Melvin how well that strategy worked, I will give you a clue it didn't work out all that well.  Let me give you one name Matt LaPorta.  

[brewers888]

3 minutes ago, nate82 said:

The odds of any player drafted in any round even the 1st round making it to the majors is fairly low.  So drafting players with just power in their bats is not a good idea.  Ask Doug Melvin how well that strategy worked, I will give you a clue it didn't work out all that well.  Let me give you one name Matt LaPorta.  

I'm not looking for power only players but we have failed miserably in drafting position players since Braun in 2008.

[nate82]

Just now, brewers888 said:

I'm not looking for power only players but we have failed miserably in drafting position players since Braun in 2008.

You literally stated that is the main thing you are looking at.  

[brewers888]

1 minute ago, nate82 said:

You literally stated that is the main thing you are looking at.  

No I'm looking for good hitters with power. We had guys like this with Braun and Fielder but havent had any success drafting position players since then. Hopefully some of our current prospects end the drought but we currently have no everyday position players drafted by the team.

[nate82]

Just now, brewers888 said:

No I'm looking for good hitters with power. We had guys like this with Braun and Fielder but havent had any success drafting position players since then. Hopefully some of our current prospects end the drought but we currently have no everyday position players drafted by the team.

You may want to say what you mean and not be so cryptic in your posts.  

4 hours ago, brewers888 said:

With high picks I prefer players with oustanding tools such as power for hitters

That right there is saying you are looking for someone with power.  You don't say anything else about the hitter.  Williams is basically what you are describing he has gap power which can improve.  He also has some great hit tools as he doesn't really strike out all that much.  The competition that he has been facing has been really high.  You should really read scouting reports before commenting on some of these.  Looking at a players height in baseball is not a good idea.  This is not the NFL or NBA height is not really all that important.  If someone an hit it doesn't really matter what their height is.  If you looked back at Turang's scouting report his read a lot like Williams scouting report.  

If you want a player with and outstanding power tool you can get those players in the later rounds.  Also you are not going to be getting someone like Braun or Fielder drafting at 27.  

[brewers888]

10 hours ago, nate82 said:

You may want to say what you mean and not be so cryptic in your posts.  

That right there is saying you are looking for someone with power.  You don't say anything else about the hitter.  Williams is basically what you are describing he has gap power which can improve.  He also has some great hit tools as he doesn't really strike out all that much.  The competition that he has been facing has been really high.  You should really read scouting reports before commenting on some of these.  Looking at a players height in baseball is not a good idea.  This is not the NFL or NBA height is not really all that important.  If someone an hit it doesn't really matter what their height is.  If you looked back at Turang's scouting report his read a lot like Williams scouting report.  

If you want a player with and outstanding power tool you can get those players in the later rounds.  Also you are not going to be getting someone like Braun or Fielder drafting at 27.  

I guess you've never heard of Mike Trout if you think you can't ever get a great hitter picking at the end of the first round and I'm sure there have been countless others picked far later than that.

[DuWayne Steurer]

So, possibly one of the best players in the history of baseball is who we should be looking for at the end of the first round.  

[brewers888]

2 hours ago, RoCoBrewfan said:

So, possibly one of the best players in the history of baseball is who we should be looking for at the end of the first round.  

Plenty of great players both position players as well as pitchers have been selected late first round and in the rounds following. The idea that we can't land a great talent picking at the end of the round is flat out wrong.

[LouisEly]

16 hours ago, brewers888 said:

No I'm looking for good hitters with power. We had guys like this with Braun and Fielder but havent had any success drafting position players since then. Hopefully some of our current prospects end the drought but we currently have no everyday position players drafted by the team.

So how do you expect someone like Braun, who was the 5th overall pick in the draft, and Fielder, who was the 7th overall pick in the draft, to be available with the 27th overall pick in the draft?  How many guys like them are available in any draft?

And BTW, Fielder is 5'11".

[CheeseheadInQC]

16 hours ago, brewers888 said:

No I'm looking for good hitters with power. We had guys like this with Braun and Fielder but havent had any success drafting position players since then. Hopefully some of our current prospects end the drought but we currently have no everyday position players drafted by the team.

Saying we haven't had any success since Braun is hyperbole. Lucroy was great during his prime and heck, Mitch Haniger has had a pretty successful career, albeit not for the Brewers, along with the occasional solid player like Davis or Gennett. Not saying it has been ideal, and they do need to start developing more position players, but when you use as your benchmark one of the three best hitters in franchise history, you are setting them up for failure. 

Also, you know who fits the high upside profile you seem to covet? Corey Ray. Just saying.

[brewers888]

6 minutes ago, LouisEly said:

So how do you expect someone like Braun, who was the 5th overall pick in the draft, and Fielder, who was the 7th overall pick in the draft, to be available with the 27th overall pick in the draft?  How many guys like them are available in any draft?

And BTW, Fielder is 5'11".

I think its more than fair to point out that this team doesn't have one home grown starting position player unless you count Cain who was orginally drafted by the team but acquired as a free agent after being traded to the Royals. 

Plenty of great players are drafted outside of the top 10. Look where we drafted Burnes and Woodruff. I don't get this thought that top talent is only found at the top of the draft.   

[brewers888]

3 minutes ago, CheeseheadInQC said:

Saying we haven't had any success since Braun is hyperbole. Lucroy was great during his prime and heck, Mitch Haniger has had a pretty successful career, albeit not for the Brewers, along with the occasional solid player like Davis or Gennett. Not saying it has been ideal, and they do need to start developing more position players, but when you use as your benchmark one of the three best hitters in franchise history, you are setting them up for failure. 

Also, you know who fits the high upside profile you seem to covet? Corey Ray. Just saying.

I never saw Corey Ray as worthy of a high pick but it turns out that the draft where we picked him was a really bad one.

[DuWayne Steurer]

Jose Altuve is like 5'7"

As previously mentioned, Luis Urias is 5'9"

Mookie Betts is 5'9"

etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.

Secondly, we're seeing mentioned that great players get picked later in the draft.  Yes.  But if they're available later in the draft, it's because at this stage of their development (either high school or a few years of college), we don't have enough information to see that future greatness.  Nobody knew Corbin Burnes was a future Cy Young winner or he wouldn't have been available in the fourth round.

Nobody knew Mike Piazza was even going to make a dent in a 40 man roster some day, or he wouldn't have hung around until, I believe, the 35th round, let alone end up a HOFer.  

Yes, there are great players that come from the late first round, the 2nd round, the 4th round, and the 11th round, but we don't know those guys are going to be great, or they'd be picked 8th, instead of in the 8th round.  The MLB draft is way more of a crapshoot than any other sport (by far!) because of the amount of development these guys still have to go through to reach a point where they're going to contribute to the major league clubs. 

One can just keep saying "they need to pick a great player with the 27th pick", but repeating it over and over doesn't mean that the guy that ends up being there is going to be a known quantity, or will even sniff a 40 man roster some day.  This is a super inexact science. 

 

[nate82]

More info on Jett Willams from PerfectGame:

https://www.perfectgame.org/Players/Playerprofile.aspx?ID=406026

Quote

Jett Williams is a 2022 SS/OF with a 5-8 178 lb. frame from Heath, TX who attends Rockwall-Heath. Compact athletic build with good present strength and plenty of quick twitch athleticism. Right handed hitter, short leg lift shift into contact, has quick hands and fires them hard to start his swing, sound well timed swing with bat speed and the ability to consistently impact the ball hard, gap to gap approach with nice carry when squared up. 6.47 runner in the sixty. Moves well in the middle infield on defense, good raw arm strength, still developing consistency in his footwork and game actions. Very good student.

If the Brewers drafted Jett I would be very happy.  He seems as though he is a type of hitter that some complain about the Brewers not having.  He sounds to be a low strike out hitter who will put the ball in play a lot.  He also has enough pop in his bat to be dangerous.  He may not put up 25+ HR seasons but he should be in the 10-15 range which is plenty enough.  Looks to be a top of the order bat who can put the ball in play and will be someone who can steal a base with ease.  Defensively he maybe more of a 2B than a SS but I think he can stick at SS athletically but his arm may force a move to 2B.  

If a middle infield spot is not an option he has the athleticism to play in the OF specifically in CF.  He wouldn't have the arm to play in RF but LF is also possibility.  I see him more as a future 2B which with his hitting ability should make him a perfect selection at 27.  

Oh and the discussion about high profile players the Brewers did take Clint Coulter at 27 in 2012 who when you read his scouting report sounds exactly like the player brewers888 is looking for.  

[brewmann04]

They also Drafted Lutz for his potential Power.

[Never Outhustled]

On 5/29/2022 at 11:36 AM, CheeseheadInQC said:

Saying we haven't had any success since Braun is hyperbole. Lucroy was great during his prime and heck, Mitch Haniger has had a pretty successful career, albeit not for the Brewers, along with the occasional solid player like Davis or Gennett. Not saying it has been ideal, and they do need to start developing more position players, but when you use as your benchmark one of the three best hitters in franchise history, you are setting them up for failure. 

Also, you know who fits the high upside profile you seem to covet? Corey Ray. Just saying.

 

[Never Outhustled]

The Brewers have proven they can build a outstanding, home grown pitching staff without impact from the 1st round of the draft, and they're also proving they can't build an offense without 1st round impact bats. 

 

This draft will have some high quality college bats available at 27, so picking one of them is will be what they do in July. Green Bay native and ACC players of the year 3B Max Wagner could be there according to some mocks, and he'd be an obvious selection. He's had a monster year at the plate as a draft eligible sophomore. 

[nate82]

6 hours ago, Never Outhustled said:

The Brewers have proven they can build a outstanding, home grown pitching staff without impact from the 1st round of the draft, and they're also proving they can't build an offense without 1st round impact bats. 

 

This draft will have some high quality college bats available at 27, so picking one of them is will be what they do in July. Green Bay native and ACC players of the year 3B Max Wagner could be there according to some mocks, and he'd be an obvious selection. He's had a monster year at the plate as a draft eligible sophomore. 

Maybe they go college but I think they may go with a high school player.  The Brewers haven’t gone with a high school player in the 1st round since Turang in 2018.  

[Never Outhustled]

16 hours ago, nate82 said:

Maybe they go college but I think they may go with a high school player.  The Brewers haven’t gone with a high school player in the 1st round since Turang in 2018.  

They only went HS in 2018 because there wasn't a college hitter to ever consider. The same with why they went with Small. The preference of Johnson will be college hitter, because the analytics favor that approach. Obviously, you can't force it if the players aren't there, but it looks like they will be this year. 

Getting a 3B coming off a 1.348 OPS sophomore year at #27 is light years better than pre-Johnson when we took an OF coming off a 933 OPS junior year, in the same conference. Just have to cross our fingers that Wagner lasts that long. 

Yes, there's way more to it than just OPS, but those things are favorable with Wagner too.