On the Bright Side: 2023 MLB Draft

[Hongbit]

I would like them to select Skenes and Kaline him straight into the major league rotation.  Give him a few starts and then shut him down until next year.  

[Scottwood]

I'd be concerned with how LSU's coaching staff is using Skenes.  They had him throw 124 pitches in a blowout about a week ago.

[SoCalTiger]

50 minutes ago, Scottwood said:

I'd be concerned with how LSU's coaching staff is using Skenes.  They had him throw 124 pitches in a blowout about a week ago.

I agree. I watched him last night and unbelievably they brought him out for the seventh inning despite winning 12 to zip and about 80 pitches. He looked ordinary that inning. Tired or uninspired. Hope we pass on him. 

My money is on Jenkins. I think Crews and Langford go 1 and 2. 
 

 

[RatkoVarda]

1 hour ago, Hongbit said:

I would like them to select Skenes and Kaline him straight into the major league rotation.  Give him a few starts and then shut him down until next year.  

unnecessarily starting his clock immediately seems pointless

[Hongbit]

43 minutes ago, RatkoVarda said:

unnecessarily starting his clock immediately seems pointless

The point would be that he’d start day 1 as one of the top 5 pitchers in the organization.   If he pitches like you expect a college arm picked at 3, then you don’t worry about clock and hope that he plays so well that you can actually save more money in the long run by signing him to an early extension rather than slowing the clock. 

Edited June 11, 2023 by Hongbit

[Scottwood]

7 hours ago, SoCalTiger said:

I agree. I watched him last night and unbelievably they brought him out for the seventh inning despite winning 12 to zip and about 80 pitches. He looked ordinary that inning. Tired or uninspired. Hope we pass on him. 

My money is on Jenkins. I think Crews and Langford go 1 and 2. 
 

 

He's definitely in the Strasburg-tier of pitching prospects in the draft the last decade +.  He was throwing 100+ on pitch 124 in the game I saw and his stuff is amazing.  But, pitchers are so dangerous that it would be hard to get that excited about him if the Tigers took him.

[Cruzer1]

According to BA, the Tigers have seen C Kyle Teel of Virginia a lot, and would take him if Crews and Langford go 1-2. Sounds like the Tigers are extremely high on Langford.

[LongLiveMaroth]

Here is a mock draft from Joe Doyle, he does a lot around prospects etc on Twitter. 

3. Wyatt Langford, OF — Florida

The Tigers have been out to see Virginia catcher Kyle Teel on a number of occasions, even as recently as the Super Regionals. That said, it seems as though those efforts are more of a backup plan as Tigers’ front office members are purportedly “nervous” that Langford won’t get to them at 3.

General Manager Scott Harris is embarking on his first MLB Draft for the organization and it would only make sense for him to follow his analytic roots and take a hitter here. Maybe the team could entertain an under-slot move with a Tommy Troy or Matt Shaw in the event Langford is gone and Teel isn’t their cup of tea.

37. Max Anderson, 3B — Nebraska

Anderson might be the most complete college hitter in the entire country aside from Crews. His contact rates against spin and velocity are both among the elite. He can handle absolutely anything. His positional value may only ever end up average, but he’s projects a solid regular who could boast an above-average hit tool with average game power when all is said and done.

It remains to be seen how Scott Harris is going to attack this draft, but our bet would be he leans on analytics harder than his predecessors.

https://futurestarsseries.com/mlb-draft-mock-draft-3-0-max-clark-dylan-crews-surges/ 

[LongLiveMaroth]

Also Fangraphs has updated their Board as well. 

https://www.fangraphs.com/prospects/the-board/2023-mlb-draft

[Tigermojo]

I'm not crazy about looking outside the top 3. If Skenes is the only one left, why not take him? They can turn around and package him for an established bat from a team looking for pitching.

[RandyMarsh]

I'd be fine taking Skenes at 3 as long as it isn't over Langford. Yeah there is obvious injury concerns with pitchers but there are concerns with a High School bat as well no matter how talented they are, not of the injury variety but just them hitting their potential at the MLB level. 

[Tiger337]

1 hour ago, Tigermojo said:

I'm not crazy about looking outside the top 3. If Skenes is the only one left, why not take him? They can turn around and package him for an established bat from a team looking for pitching.

Just make sure they trade him before he gets injured.  

[Shinzaki]

Really hoping for Crews or Langford...would be leery of Skenes is he's getting overworked like that in college.  I remember Kenny Baugh.  

Clark or Jenkins would be my fall backs over Teel...

[gehringer_2]

36 minutes ago, Tiger337 said:

Just make sure they trade him before he gets injured.  

With the Tiger bad luck with pitching health, the only way to be sure would be to hold the guy out of competitions until after the WS when he became trade eligible, but if they did It wouldn't be the 1st time the Tigers held a drafted pitcher out of competition the summer they drafted him

[RandyMarsh]

It's worth noting that even if Skenes does get a major injury like TJ which history suggests with recent pitcher will happen it doesn't mean he isn't going to work out in the long run. To me the thing that worries me more about drafting a pitcher is just how SP's are used in general in this day and age. The fact that they throw less innings than ever means that they can't have the same impact that they otherwise would even if they do turn out to be really good. 

With all that said it would take a real generational type pitcher for me to take at 3 but Skenes appears to be just that which is why I'd be fine with taking him if Crews and Langford go 1-2. 

Edited June 19, 2023 by RandyMarsh

[1984Echoes]

I'd rather just wait until the 2nd or 3rd round to start taking pitchers... just on principle.

As many have mentioned... starters aren't really pitching 7+ anymore... it's more like 5-6 innings topping out at 7. The value is just not there.

I'm taking position players only in the 1st round (if I were a GM that is...), and finding good pitchers after the 1st to fill out rotations and BP. It's not like I want to avoid drafting pitchers... but to me, the 1st round is the premium round so I want the premium "value" as much as I want the premium player and that's not pitching anymore. I hope Harris thinks the same way. And I haven't even gotten into the value of "position" players playing every day versus pitchers pitching only every 5th day... I don't really have to because "Starter" really only means "pitches half a game every 5 days", nowadays.

For all the bashing of Avila, hasn't he found cheap trade guys (Wentz & Olson and others) and after-1st round pitching that Fetters has turned into gold dust (I won't say it's been Ft Knox gold... but at least some little bit of gold dust methinks...)? Our pitching has been kept afloat not by Mize & Manning, but Wentz's and Olson's and Brieske's and Foley's and Lange's and such.

Hopefully Harris keeps that up.

But as for 1st round value... if Crews and Langford are already gone, I'd rather go the Catcher or HS bat, and I don't care who Harris values at the #3 more and selects... so long as it's not a pitcher. Any pitcher.

[gehringer_2]

we won't know for several years but I wonder if the shorter games will help starting pitchers. Is there some weird reason that throwing 100 pitches in 90 min is less stressful than doing it in 180? Probably not -  but you never know.

[Jim Cowan]

I'm trying to think of times when the Tigers acquired a first rate bat in exchange for pitching.   Yoenis Cespedes certainly qualifies.  Have there been others?

[RandyMarsh]

2 minutes ago, Jim Cowan said:

I'm trying to think of times when the Tigers acquired a first rate bat in exchange for pitching.   Yoenis Cespedes certainly qualifies.  Have there been others?

Miggy? I put a question mark cause although Andrew Miller was the centerpiece they also through in Maybin who was a top 10 prospect as well so it wasn't just the hot pitching prospect. 

[Jim Cowan]

3 minutes ago, RandyMarsh said:

Miggy? I put a question mark cause although Andrew Miller was the centerpiece they also through in Maybin who was a top 10 prospect as well so it wasn't just the hot pitching prospect. 

I suppose you could count him.  I'm just thinking back to all the first round picks that were wasted on pitchers, the rationale being that you could trade excess pitching later on for hitting.  How often did it actually happen?

[Stanley70]

15 minutes ago, Jim Cowan said:

I suppose you could count him.  I'm just thinking back to all the first round picks that were wasted on pitchers, the rationale being that you could trade excess pitching later on for hitting.  How often did it actually happen?

Jacob Turner brought back Infante and Anibal Sanchez I think.

[RandyMarsh]

Throughout the league I know there have definitely been trades where teams use pitching prospects for proven MLB bats but if the argument is that you can draft a pitcher and flip him for another team's hitting prospect then I'm not sure that happens all that often. Sounds good in theory though. 

[Tiger337]

1 hour ago, RandyMarsh said:

Miggy? I put a question mark cause although Andrew Miller was the centerpiece they also through in Maybin who was a top 10 prospect as well so it wasn't just the hot pitching prospect. 

I remember Maybin and Miller as both being pretty big deals.  I may be wrong, but I remember Miller as clearly being a better prospect than Maybin.  

[Tiger337]

1 hour ago, Stanley70 said:

Jacob Turner brought back Infante and Anibal Sanchez I think.

I just remember Turner as being "untouchable", "no way are trading Turner".   

[LongLiveMaroth]

Law updated his mock draft:

3. Detroit Tigers – Max Clark, OF, Franklin (Ind.) Community High

This is where we could start to see some sort of shake-up; the Tigers are certainly on Crews or Skenes, and Langford as well, but I’ve heard them with Clark, Walker Jenkins, and even a little with Kyle Teel, although that last one might be more about drafting for need than going best player available (BPA).