On the Bright Side: 2023 MLB Draft

[apabruce]

His offensive numbers are eye popping.  He also had no triples and no stolen bases.  He's a catcher, so I suppose his speed, or lack thereof, is not critical. 

[gehringer_2]

  On 7/13/2023 at 6:59 PM, apabruce said:

Here are what I could find regarding Cerekownyk's stats.  Keep in mind this is junior college.

 

https://www.njcaa.org/sports/bsb/2022-23/div1/players/bradycerkownykmw9a

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31BB 18K

[LongLiveMaroth]

 

 

[Cruzer1]

 

[Cruzer1]

 

[Cruzer1]

 

[Cruzer1]

 

[Jim Cowan]

McGonigle is a 2B?

[RandyMarsh]

  On 7/14/2023 at 12:22 PM, Jim Cowan said:

McGonigle is a 2B?

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I've heard mixed report about that, at first most of the reports I read said that he was a SS for sure and now I'm seeing more that say that he either already is or will have to move to 2B in the future. If that is the case it does temper my excitement a bit for him but if he can hit I guess it really won't matter if he ends up a 2B. 

[Cruzer1]

The Tigers said they would start McGonigle at SS, and let the chips fall where they may.

[Longgone]

  On 7/14/2023 at 12:22 PM, Jim Cowan said:

McGonigle is a 2B?

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Magic 8 ball says "Reply hazy. Try again."

[RandyMarsh]

Reading up on Law's chat about the draft and somebody asked him if the Tigers approach this year was different due to the firing of an "old school scout guy" in Avila(their words) to a more analytic based guy in Harris and Law responded with this. 

"GMs don't make the picks in most cases, although they can set philosophy. Mark Conner was a successful scouting director in San Diego under a fairly old-school approach."

I figured the GMs weren't the be all end all when it came to the draft but this makes it sounds like they have very little input which surprises me, can anybody like Edman, Mark or somebody else verify if this is accurate? 

 

Edited July 14, 2023 by RandyMarsh

[Shinzaki]

  On 7/14/2023 at 1:09 PM, Longgone said:

Magic 8 ball says "Reply hazy. Try again."

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Stupid Canadian wildfires...

[gehringer_2]

  On 7/14/2023 at 1:02 PM, Cruzer1 said:

The Tigers said they would start McGonigle at SS, and let the chips fall where they may.

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arn supposedly fringy for the left side.

[RatkoVarda]

  On 7/14/2023 at 12:22 PM, Jim Cowan said:

McGonigle is a 2B?

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Many are predicting that which makes sense considering all that goes into successful SS play . Hands, arm, feet, technique, anticipation. But it shouldn’t take long to figure out if he can do it. Some guys get better. Greene was supposed to move to 1b according to some FWIW

[Tiger337]

  On 7/14/2023 at 1:38 PM, RatkoVarda said:

Many are predicting that which makes sense considering all that goes into successful SS play . Hands, arm, feet, technique, anticipation. But it shouldn’t take long to figure out if he can do it. Some guys get better. Greene was supposed to move to 1b according to some FWIW

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It seems like if there is any question about whether a prospect can stay at a position, they usually wind up moving down the spectrum more often than not.  However, you are right that Greene is an example of someone who did not.  

[mtutiger]

  On 7/14/2023 at 1:11 PM, RandyMarsh said:

Reading up on Law's chat about the draft and somebody asked him if the Tigers approach this year was different due to the firing of an "old school scout guy" in Avila(their words) to a more analytic based guy in Harris and Law responded with this. 

"GMs don't make the picks in most cases, although they can set philosophy. Mark Conner was a successful scouting director in San Diego under a fairly old-school approach."

I figured the GMs weren't the be all end all when it came to the draft but this makes it sounds like they have very little input which surprises me, can anybody like Edman, Mark or somebody else verify if this is accurate? 

 

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Random observation to add, although it doesn't answer your question: I thought Metzler / Conner were very convincing in their explanations to the press when asked about certain players in their media availability. Which is a bit of a change from Scott Pleis / old regime, which often felt like a used car sales pitch a lot of the time.

Some of that may be new regime / recency bias, though it was nice to see this organization try a different approach in the draft. Now we just have to see whether it bears any results.

[gehringer_2]

  On 7/14/2023 at 1:11 PM, RandyMarsh said:

Reading up on Law's chat about the draft and somebody asked him if the Tigers approach this year was different due to the firing of an "old school scout guy" in Avila(their words) to a more analytic based guy in Harris and Law responded with this. 

"GMs don't make the picks in most cases, although they can set philosophy. Mark Conner was a successful scouting director in San Diego under a fairly old-school approach."

I figured the GMs weren't the be all end all when it came to the draft but this makes it sounds like they have very little input which surprises me, can anybody like Edman, Mark or somebody else verify if this is accurate? 

 

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The funny thing is that to listen to Harris you could classify what he says as quite 'old school'. The thing is there are various ways to cut up the definition of 'analytics'. There is the data statistical end, advanced instrument measurement end and the player measurement/bio-mechanics stuff. An org may use different proportions of the various tools for different reasons.

Based on what I've heard him say, if anything it sounds like Harris is driving a more detailed/fine grained observational scouting system, But at core it has an old school component because it is still based on eye-ball scouting, but they appear to be drilling down for more specific details.

So if they have a more sophisticated and systematic way of doing eye-ball scouting, is that old school or analytics?

And the other piece is just plain very old school - get out there and look at more player in more places - e.g finding guys like Cerekownyk.

Edited July 14, 2023 by gehringer_2

[Longgone]

  On 7/12/2023 at 7:07 PM, Longgone said:

If they valued Cerkownyk that highly (5th round money) I doubt they would have waited until the 15th round to draft him, and I can't see they committing that amount until the pool draftees are resolved, and lastly, he just isnt that type of prospect.

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Man, was I wrong.

[mtutiger]

  On 7/14/2023 at 2:19 PM, Longgone said:

Man, was I wrong.

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For reference 

[mtutiger]

I would guess that picks 1-2 were both money savers (Clark for 4-slot value, Anderson TBD), so it's definitely possible they freed up enough money to go overslot for Cerkownyk and still have a good shot of signing the rest. Not to mention that they probably will go underslot on a couple other of their picks from Rounds 1-10.

Like LG though, it's really fascinating that he got that kinda haul as a 15th Rounder.

[RatkoVarda]

16th pick has some large hands (assuming not photoshopped)

[Jason_R]

  On 7/14/2023 at 2:49 PM, RatkoVarda said:

16th pick has some large hands (assuming not photoshopped)

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WUT?

I'm assuming he is holding a gumball. 

[gehringer_2]

  On 7/14/2023 at 3:50 PM, Jason_R said:

WUT?

I'm assuming he is holding a gumball. 

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IIRC Willie Mays could close his hand on a baseball. And he threw as hard or harder than most pitchers.

[RandyMarsh]

That pic makes me think of this Joel Embiid tweet from years ago, even though it's like 7 years old it has always stayed in my memories.