just seeing these now after getting home from the office. I agree with A town and Squire with Meh and disappointing. maybe I'm getting too old and the little grand ones are taking up more time but I'm not happy with this, only 1 HS pitcher, and I have always advocated for at least 3-4. and the one they picked is a long shot at best. but he is a lefty and they tend to develop later. good size though. the exciting one for me is the gamecock in the 18th. great size for a SS and a probable move to 3B, if they can sign him. hopefully next year the Phils pick really late and without any losing of picks (unless Trea Turner) so they can keep all of their slot money. and maybe 2 high Latin player signings. looking forward to watching these new kids for the rest of the summer. I hope some good reports.gm
It's easy to forget at times that some picks are about organizational depth, not ML potential.If you're gonna develop a bunch of pitchers, someone has to catch them.
Organizational depth is less important in a 20-round draft. Ideally you want 12-14 picks to be some sort of prospect. Undrafted players can fill out your organization and imagine we still get close to 30 new players most draft years.
Weāve already signed 4 UDFAs. Matt Winkelman gets the find credit
Dakota Katowski, OF, Missouri State Ty Penner, INF, University of British ColumbiaMason Ronan, LHP, College of Central Florida Matt Alifano, 3B, Adelphi University
Article on Kotowski signing:
Report from local TV in Spartanburg, SC, says 6th round pick Mavis Graves will sign:
The Phillies selected Graves with the 182nd-overall pick in the first-year player draft. Per his family, Graves is expected to sign with the Phillies and forego his college career.
looks like Rincones and Dissan were 2 of the invitees a few weeks ago to the Bank for a workout.gm
Per a local Beaver County news source, 14th round pick Bryan Rincon does have a college commitment, to San Jacinto JC in Texas:
It just seems very familiar to drafts of years ago that were instantly recognizable as disappointing. If Crawford and Rincones donāt hit enough to become at least well regarded prospects to have trade value, after that your just left with a handful of interesting arms, only one or two of which could be starters. Fingers crossed that Barber has a finer touch than his predecessors.
Fifth-round pick Orion Kerkering has indicated he's heading to Phildadelphia for a pre-signing physical:
[This page is paywalled, but I was able to open it in an "incognito" window in Chrome.]
The money quote:
The 21-year-old prospect said he relaxed with his family and watched the MLB Home Run Derby on Monday night, but the next morning was all business.
Kerkering took calls from the Phillies and his agent, booked a flight to Philadelphia and will undergo medical evaluations before officially signing his contract with the organization, he said.
One small change with regard to the undrafted free agents. It does look like teams can use their pool to exceed the $125,000 bonus limit with undrafted players just like they can in rounds 11-20. Should give teams a few more options if they can't sign someone in those rounds. And we'll have to note their bonuses if they are announced.
From Gelb on the Athletic - Phillies expect to sign everyone. Boyd (11) and Rincon (14) expected to be over slot.
I think the timing of the draft leads to it being lost in the All Star hype. Baseball has always been way behind other sports in conducting their draft and this year seemed about as unexciting as it has been in a long time.
Nobody cared about it in June either. It's just always been a tough sell because the average fan has not heard of even one player. It is for minor league junkies and college baseball fans and the rate of return on first-rounders is just a lot steeper (and longer) than in basketball and football (hockey too though there's more similarities there in terms of slightly longer dev curve). But everything MLB does these days is in pursuit of the casual fan (and arguably deliberate rejection of any fan that keeps that average age around 57, i.e. most of us).
sorry, from up above, Rincon was at the Bank for a workout a few weeks ago, not Rincones.gm
Kotowski has some crazy numbers. Only batted .242. Only had 5 doubles. But had 24 homers. Walked 25 times. Struck out 95 times in 223 ABs
Sounds like a guy who will be simply devoured by good pitching. As a lesser-college hitter, he would have ample opportunity to get his HRs against poor pitching. I wonder what the Phillies see in him. How could an analytics-based org possibly like those stats?
The next Baron Radcliff.
Sounds like Barber did a zoom press conference yesterday.
Going local with a bunch of these picks is an interesting angle that the Phillies have not tried before. The Braves have done this a lot in getting kids with some local ties to the area and state to sign for reasonable bonuses. Dissin really sounds like the next O'Hoppe from the description. Boyd is also bigger at 6'1" than the Roman Quinn comps.
Rincon is an interesting story. Born in NY but moved to Venezuela as an infant. Moved to the Pittsburgh area during the pandemic to avoid unrest in VZ. 3.9 GPA. I think I would only be worried about the college commit (San Jacinto JC) if it was a solid 4-year academic school.
Nope, Radcliff was a walk machine in a better college league. He didn't have a great BA, but he did better than .242. Baron has maintained his walk rate, even while striking out in half his ABs. Really not all that much power the past two years. Certainly three-true-outcomes sort of guy, but an XBH only once in 12 AB isn't going to cut it.
Still a Radcliff type of player though. Just much less good as an undrafted free agent versus a relatively high pick (5th round). I have zero expectations for any of these undrafted free agents unless we find out they get a bonus higher than $125K. Hopefully they can entice a HS player or two like Ben Brown who signed for less than that if I recall.
Okay, but to me the Radcliff-type MUST include the high walk rate we see from serious HR hitters, whom pitchers fear and who have at least a modicum of control of the strike zone. This produces a high OBP to complement the HR power. Without that, you are just a big guy who swings hard, but doesn't have a clue how to hit.
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