Author Topic: 2011 Draft  (Read 32816 times)

CurtOne

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2011 Draft
« on: May 31, 2011, 04:33:31 pm »
Go for it.

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fredr

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Re: 2011 Draft
« Reply #1 on: May 31, 2011, 04:35:25 pm »
Theres a big dude in NC thats kind of a sleeper E Cunningham, remember the name!

Reb

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Re: 2011 Draft
« Reply #2 on: May 31, 2011, 04:49:59 pm »
Aside from the OF picks that have not panned out, there are the pitcher picks of course.

In the last 20 drafts, aside from the great picks that got hurt and the unknown Simpson and the sandwich picks that did not pan out, there is:  Pawelek, Brownlie, Christensen, Noel, Jayson Peterson, Ratliff, and Derek Wallace. 

Maybe, at this point, we should forget about the history and just deal with the new guy on his own merits.

Clarkaddison

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Re: 2011 Draft
« Reply #3 on: May 31, 2011, 04:56:41 pm »
At least Stockstill isn't doing the drafting any more.

Reb

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Re: 2011 Draft
« Reply #4 on: May 31, 2011, 04:58:49 pm »
Kind of an interesting report on George Springer.  You can see the risk with this guy too.

http://tigers.scout.com/2/1074509.html

JeffH

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Re: 2011 Draft
« Reply #5 on: May 31, 2011, 05:00:55 pm »
We're certainly due for some good luck.

How about this?

Cubs draft Starling and he hits like Miguel Cabrera and fields like Torii Hunter
Justin Bour comes out of nowhere to be a .290/.380/.560 guy

Reb

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Re: 2011 Draft
« Reply #6 on: May 31, 2011, 05:01:48 pm »
Somebody has hijacked Jeff's account.

Chris27

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Re: 2011 Draft
« Reply #7 on: May 31, 2011, 05:52:21 pm »
David Rawnsley:



Quote
Using the standard 20-80 baseball scouting scale (50 being major-league average), I would grade out Starling’s five basic tools as follows, based on observing him for five days at last summer’s Area Code Games (the grades reflect future grades only):

HITTING (60). This is the biggest question that scouts have about Starling, but he showed little or no problem in Long Beach handling either quality off-speed stuff or high-velocity fastballs, and made necessary adjustments with each at-bat. Bat speed is not an issue.

POWER (70). It’s not in the Josh Hamilton or Eric Hosmer realm at the same age, but the swing, leverage and pure bat speed are all there. This grade measures his degree of raw power, but most often the tool is a by-product of the hitting tool.

SPEED (70). Starling is probably a 60 runner (above average) from home to first, and could be an 80 runner in the outfield and on the bases. He has an easy stride and has that extra gear when underway that could lead to him leading a league in triples one day.

ARM (70). Some scouts at the Area Code Games were still believing that Starling was a better pitching prospect than position prospect as he threw his fastball at 90-92 mph, with little more knowledge of pitching than stepping and throwing. He didn’t pitch this spring, and probably never will again.

DEFENSE (80). Starling has Gold-Glove caliber tools in center field and gets exceptionally good jumps on balls hit in his direction. This part of the game comes very easy to him.

Cumulatively, those numbers grade out to an OFP (overall future potential) score of 70, a level that maybe one or two players in any draft will reach. If I was writing a report on Starling for a major-league club, I would probably be inclined to drop that grade by a couple of points, to a 67 or 68, because of some of the uncertainty in his hitting tool.

Jes Beard

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Re: 2011 Draft
« Reply #8 on: May 31, 2011, 06:08:42 pm »
If the Cubs do draft Starling, I hope they sign him quickly to get him on the field this summer.  Make a quick, reasonable/generous offer and let him know that is going to be it, and that they want him signed and in uniform in the minor league system within a week of the offer, they will reduce the offer to some absurdly low amount, let him play college football and pocket the draft pick for 2012.

Jes Beard

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Re: 2011 Draft
« Reply #9 on: May 31, 2011, 09:51:03 pm »
On Bubba Starling -- BA rates him the top HS prospect in the country -- http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/college/recruiting/2010/2610948.html

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/specials/highschool-potw/05/17/hspotw.26/index.html

Starling is a 6-foot-5, 190-pound beast blessed with wiry strength and tremendous athleticism. He's dominated seemingly every sport since grade school, developing into a regional celebrity. At Gardner Edgerton High, he's a superstar in baseball, football and basketball.  Take baseball, for instance. Starling is Baseball the nation's top-rated high school prospect, a do-it-all outfielder and a righthanded pitcher who can touch 94 on the radar gun. He's been likened to Carl Crawford and Josh Hamilton, a five-tool threat equally proficient hitting for power and average. Through nine games, he's batting .522 with four home runs, 10 RBIs and seven stolen bases.[/b]

http://rivals.yahoo.com/nebraska/football/recruiting/player-Bubba-Starling-95194   Ht:6'5"verified
Wt:193 lbsverified
40:4.5 secs
GPA:3.4
SAT:22
Class:2011 (High School)


http://www.swiowanews2.com/blogs/?p=376
Finally, some stats, if only from his 21-game high school season: .508 average, eight home runs, 21 steals (though it doesn’t mention how many times caught stealing). Pitching wise, in 37 innings Starling posted a 1.89 ERA, striking out 53 and walking only 7 (about a 7.5-to-1 ratio).

Awesome stats, no doubt. Stats that should be mentioned in every story about Starling’s baseball abilities.

*I also found this breakdown of Starling’s swing on Baseball America.

I just finished “Moneyball,” so it’s fresh in my mind. And I can’t help but think of the story of Billy Beane, can’t-miss, highly-rated baseball prospect, when I read Starling storys without stats.
Early on “Moneyball” details the story of outfielder/pitcher Beane, who all the scouts loved because of his athleticism, his “makeup,” his speed, canon arm, five tools, etc. But even after Beane’s average fell from in the .500s his sophomore and junior years to the .300s as a senior, the scouts still loved him*. They failed to notice that he was a free-swinger with no plate discipline and other deficincies in his swing.

With that in mind, I’ll be sure to keep an eye on Starling’s senior season stats.

*Many in the Mets organization, who drafted Beane and Darryl Strawberry in the same year, thought Beane would be better than Strawberry.

This post, I suppose, is less about Starling and more about the people who write the stories about him.
Starling may turn out to be amazing, a major leaguer, a Hall of Famer. But the hagiography needs some hard data.


http://huskerextra.com/sports/football/recruiting/article_703f60d4-1d67-5037-8026-84ebbe0b639e.html
Another scout watches Starling in batting practice Friday. This scout's team doesn't have a pick until late in the first round ("We'll never get him," the scout says). He says Starling's speed is just a notch below the fastest major-leaguers. His arm strength is outstanding from center field. His swing doesn't necessarily wow anybody, the scout says, but that part of Bubba's game likely would be developed easily because of his strength and athleticism.
Here's what I liked most about Starling: He ranged far to his left to cut off a drive to right-center field, wheeled and gunned the ball on a line to second base. The second baseman tried to cut off the throw before it reached the shortstop covering the bag. Bubba didn't like that.
"Let it go (to second base)," he shouted angrily.
Everyone says Starling is ultracompetitive -- he despises losing.
"The scouts don't ask me questions about his ability," says Van Rheen, the Gardner Edgerton coach. "I mean, that's so blatantly obvious. A lot of the questions are character-type questions because they're not in a situation where they can take a questionable character."
How's Bubba in that regard?
"He is the highest-character kid you will ever meet," Van Rheen says.


JR

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Re: 2011 Draft
« Reply #10 on: May 31, 2011, 09:52:04 pm »
Maybe we should go ahead and get the 2012 Draft topic started.

Chris27

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Re: 2011 Draft
« Reply #11 on: May 31, 2011, 09:54:13 pm »
Yes Jes, but has BA watched all several thousand eligible players?

Chris27

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Re: 2011 Draft
« Reply #12 on: May 31, 2011, 09:55:54 pm »
An early look at some of the top names for '12:

http://www.perfectgame.org/Articles/View.aspx?article=5117

Jes Beard

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Re: 2011 Draft
« Reply #13 on: May 31, 2011, 10:24:00 pm »
Chris, I am not saying the Cubs should draft Starling, or that they should not, and I will have no problem deferring to Wilkin's choice regardless who it is.  I merely posted information I had found on Starling.  As to whether BA has in fact watched all of the several thousand HS players eligible for the 2011 draft, undoubtedly not... which is one of the reasons I have no problem with the idea that a team might reasonably evaluate and draft a HS player ahead of him.

Cubsin

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Re: 2011 Draft
« Reply #14 on: June 01, 2011, 01:08:29 am »
For me, it's a lot easier to see Starling as top prospect in baseball than in football or basketball. At 6'5", 193 pounds, he'd probably be limited to shooting guard in basketball, unless he's another Magic Johnson. He could be a great college QB, but he's about 40-50 pounds shy of the prototypical NFL QB. I'd expect him to gain 15-20 pounds during his college years, but much more would hurt his speed and mobility.