The Official 2018 Amateur Draft Thread

[Docwaukee]

A john smith post in the draft or prospect thread makes it move.  

but I'm always a little nervous during the draft singing period.  It's like draftee roulette.  

[Stradling]

I agree, John Smith is the heat.

[John Smith]

Ben Thomas‏ @BenThomasPreps

 

Officially official! Jeremiah Jackson signs with the Angels. Congrats @datdudejackson2

[Inside Pitch]

John Smith doing John Smith stuff....   

As always thank you for the work you do this time of year.....

[Lou]

9 minutes ago, Inside Pitch said:

John Smith doing John Smith stuff....   

As always thank you for the work you do this time of year.....

I agree

[Lou]

3 hours ago, Dochalo said:

A john smith post in the draft or prospect thread makes it move.  

but I'm always a little nervous during the draft singing period.  It's like draftee roulette.  

I agree

i hope we drafted some altos with high upside

[Lou]

On June 8, 2018 at 11:34 AM, Angel Oracle said:

Showcases a nice breaking pitch, seemed to sit high 80s-90 on the heat.

Sidenote on tv analyst for that game:  F'ing Todd Walker drove in the winning run against LB in 1993 to deny LB a CWS title game appearance (back before best of 3 decided it). 

I f'n love AO.

Todd Walker - LSU, right?  He raked in college. 

[Tank]

2 hours ago, Lou said:

I agree

i hope we drafted some altos with high upside

i think she's an alto.

[Docwaukee]

4 hours ago, Lou said:

I agree

i hope we drafted some altos with high upside

[Docwaukee]

5 hours ago, John Smith said:

Ben Thomas‏ @BenThomasPreps

 

Officially official! Jeremiah Jackson signs with the Angels. Congrats @datdudejackson2

our last three 2nd round picks before Jeremiah 'The Bullfrog' Jackson 

Jam Jones - top 100 prospect
Brandon Marsh - top 100 prospect
Griffin Canning - soon to be a top 100.  

Jerry Dipoto era 2nd rounders btw:

Joe Gatto 
Hunter Green

Congrats to JJ.  Looking forward to seeing him in action.  I presume he'll go to AZL.  


 

[Chuck]

Something to keep in mind regarding Luis Rengifo and David Fletcher.

 

[Docwaukee]

Altuve is incredible.  

after this blurb he took the 2011 season by storm and hit .389/1.017 between A+/AA where he got the call to the majors at age 21.  He had 234 pa at the major league level that year with a .672 ops.  In 2012 he had a .740 ops and in 2013 a .678 ops at age 23.  

Jose Ramirez has become an elite major league player as well.  Also never in the top 100.  He hit 13 minor league hrs in 1539 PA with a .766 ops.  He had a .646 ops in mlb at age 21, and a .631 ops at age 22.  

They're both short, but incredible athletes.  Betts, Lindor, Simmons, Trout, Machado, Arenado, Bryant etc.  Athletes.  Can we see what Eppler and co are doing?  You take the elite athletes with strong make up/intelligence and flood them with baseball opportunities.   

[wopphil]

I am starting to get interested in what Fletcher and Rengifo might become. I know Fletcher isn't exactly young, but he is flat out hitting.

And Rengifo is young for his league and also dominating. If Rengifo finishes the year in AAA with a season slash line of .300/.400/.480/.880 and 50 steals, doesn't he pretty much have to be a top 40 prospect?

[Preston]

Can someone post all the signings in one post?

[Lou]

17 minutes ago, Preston said:

Can someone post all the signings in one post?

Have at it 

[Chuck]

From Baseball America:

Los Angeles Angels

Story of Their Draft: The Angels drafted arguably the most athletic player in the class in OF Jordyn Adams (1), who was committed to play football and baseball at North Carolina. The team then took SS Jeremiah Jackson (2) with its second pick after an outstanding spring season that featured 15 home runs. After that the Angels drafted 30 pitchers.

Keep An Eye On: RHP Cooper Criswell (13) stepped into Chapel Hill and posted a 2.89 ERA with an outstanding strikeout-to-walk rate this spring. RHP Nick Frank (15) doesn’t have overpowering stuff, but he has above-average control and could be a solid back-of-the rotation arm.

[Chuck]

40 minutes ago, Preston said:

Can someone post all the signings in one post?

https://www.baseballamerica.com/draft-history/mlb-draft-database/

[Griffey's Corner]

I know very little about the drafts. But is it the feeling of the board that the Angels had a good draft? Great draft? Should we have went with someone else in the 1st round?

[Dave Saltzer]

1 minute ago, Griffey's Corner said:

I know very little about the drafts. But is it the feeling of the board that the Angels had a good draft? Great draft? Should we have went with someone else in the 1st round?

I think there is a myriad of opinions on this year's draft, as opposed to last year's draft (which was universally loved). 

 

The truth is, the only way to know how good of a draft a team had is to wait 5-6 years and look back. 

[Griffey's Corner]

cool thanks for the answer. I am assuming than this one was not universally loved?

[Dave Saltzer]

8 minutes ago, Griffey's Corner said:

cool thanks for the answer. I am assuming than this one was not universally loved?

I'd say if there is a fairly common sentiment, it's a slow burn. With so much highly ranked pitching still available at our first pick, and, with Adams playing OF like so many of our top prospects, there was a strong desire by many to draft someone like Singer instead of Adams. Not that we necessarily thought the Angels would necessarily draft Singer, but that we wanted them to switch gears based on who was falling to us. As we have learned more about Adams, and, it has become. Clear that he will sign to play (that wasn't well known at the time by fans), people are more open to it and liking it more. I think most really like the Jackson pick in the 2nd round, along with some of the later pitchers. But, I don't think you can say there is as. Much joy as there was with last year's draft with Adell and Canning. 

[Lou]

20 minutes ago, Griffey's Corner said:

cool thanks for the answer. I am assuming than this one was not universally loved?

I've seen our draft graded as a B+, which is top 3rd in mlb.

at/near the bottom were the Yankees, Dodgers and Cubs (who received the worst grade - D+)

[Docwaukee]

56 minutes ago, Dave Saltzer said:

I think there is a myriad of opinions on this year's draft, as opposed to last year's draft (which was universally loved). 

 

The truth is, the only way to know how good of a draft a team had is to wait 5-6 years and look back. 

not universal.  I didn't like last years draft all that much.  Loved the Adell pick.  Wasn't a fan of canning (respect).  Didn't love any of the picks after that outside of Rivera as well. Glad that we could use Pearson to get Ohtani.  Still not seeing much more than a couple relievers outside of our 1 and 2.  But frankly, every draft is mostly about 1 and 2.  And both of those picks were home runs (or so it seems).   So anything after that is gravy.  But I don't think there's much gravy.  Maybe a couple of nice relievers.  

I liked our 2016 better.   Williams, Rodriguez, Duensing, Torii jr.. 

This years draft I really liked.   I wanted Gorman in the 1st but after seeing and reading about Adams, I am happy with the pick.  I also like the rest but it boils down to who we sign.  I feel like we went with quite a few guys at 17-40 who we may not be able to get.  Ask me in 3 weeks.  But for now I really like who we picked.  

[Inside Pitch]

9 hours ago, Dave Saltzer said:

I'd say if there is a fairly common sentiment, it's a slow burn. With so much highly ranked pitching still available at our first pick, and, with Adams playing OF like so many of our top prospects, there was a strong desire by many to draft someone like Singer instead of Adams. Not that we necessarily thought the Angels would necessarily draft Singer, but that we wanted them to switch gears based on who was falling to us. As we have learned more about Adams, and, it has become. Clear that he will sign to play (that wasn't well known at the time by fans), people are more open to it and liking it more. I think most really like the Jackson pick in the 2nd round, along with some of the later pitchers. But, I don't think you can say there is as. Much joy as there was with last year's draft with Adell and Canning. 

I can't really speak for anyone other than myself but I'm pleased with how our draft went...  They seemingly went into this valuing select position player ability over what was generally viewed as a glut of safer college pitching with their top two picks.  I'm okay with that.

I'm a big opponent of taking the highest possible upside regardless of position.... BPA or bust!  There is no such thing as drafting for need in a MLB draft IMO, particularly not after the first few overall picks.  In all but a tiny fraction of cases it will be years before guys are ready and as we have seen recently ... a team's needs can change dramatically from one year to the next...  What I do know is I had some pretty well placed people in other organizations talk Adams up and go on record prior to the draft that the Angels were seemingly all over him despite what they themselves believed were signability issues.  As we have come to find out... the Angels had done their research on that end as well.  It's also worth noting that some of the pitchers that did drop are long term projection types.... people get caught up in the hype and buy into what they hear the finished product might be while ignoring how long it may take for them to get there.  For instance Matt Libatore's best long term comp according to most prospect hounds is Tyler Skaggs....  that's not a slam but he is a guy that many people here were ready to punt on before this year...  That speaks volumes as it relates to upsides and expectations...  

Post draft there has been a lot of talk about Adams projecting as high as a 1-1 talent had he only been focused on baseball.  Like Adell, Adams is a supreme athlete, a guy with a great family, and someone who's work ethic and makeup aren't questioned... The interesting thing is that there have seemingly been less questions about the bat and the level of competition with Adams than there were last year with Adell.  When it's all said and done regardless of what people here wanted or thought going into the draft, this team only stands to benefit if Adams comes close to being what Adell already is.

If there is any disappointment from me it's with the decision to target RPs, simply because history has shown there is almost zero fallback for them.  I believe in doing so (focusing on RPs), that it's the closest the Angels have come to drafting for need while under Eppler's direction.  That being said, I'm choosing to trust the process.  The Angels recent track record suggests they use picks 6-10 to free up cash to use on higher upside talent and if history repeats itself there then I'll be happier with their choices/decision making.

Looking forward to Adams and Jackson taking the field and watching them push each other in Rookie ball.

Edited June 11, 2018 by Inside Pitch

[totdprods]

Great post @Inside Pitch. Agree 100% on your last paragraph about a little disappointment in the number of relatively 'meh' picks rounds #6-10, but as you said, there is strategy behind it in that it enables them to sign those rounds very cheaply so they can take some risk trying to sign away guys Rds. #11-15, and maybe have a bit leftover for #3-5 guys and some to throw a late-round Hail Mary like this year's Chandler or last year's Molina. So long as they're really scouting their picks in those rounds and doing their research on their signability, it should work out more often than not.