taylorblakeward

6 hours ago, Stradling said:

Would Ben Joyce be a reach with the 13th pick?  Also is he a guy that could be in a mlb bullpen this year?  I am not advocating this pick, but 103 mph is just ridiculous.  

It'd be a massive reach. Most scouts are talking about him in the third-to-fourth round range but it wouldn't stun me if a contending team nabbed him in the second for a late playoff push. You're right though. That kind of velocity is beyond rare and a commodity that any team would hope to have.

6 hours ago, Stradling said:

Is this draft heavy on any specific position?  Most of what I see on twitter looks like it is pitcher heavy, but that could simply be my feed.  

Bats, mostly prep bats. Angels might actually be the first team to take an arm (though that seems to be changing day-to-day) and they pick 13

6 hours ago, Taylor said:

Will the team's performance this season have any bearing on who they target in the draft?

I doubt it. Perry Minasian, Tom McIlvaine, and Matt Swanson have been around too long to not live by the "you don't draft for need." That said, I could see a power relief type being taken in the third round that the club hopes could jump into a low-leverage role in September (i.e. Ben Joyce). If you do draft for need it's more of a tie-breaker of "we have less catching" or "we have less pitching" or what not, so if they do go "for need" it would be more based on organization depth.

6 hours ago, Stradling said:

Have you heard any buzz on who they are looking at with their top pick? 

I have but buzz a month before the draft is purely speculative based on who is where (GM, Scouting Director at game and/or player working out near stadiums). I believe Gabriel Hughes and Connor Hjerpe are the most likely targets at this moment with over a month before the draft.

6 hours ago, Stradling said:

Do you see the Angels going after anything specific this year in the draft?  Obviously last year they went pitching, prior to that they would always say “Best Player Available”.  

Everything I've heard is pitching with two or three college position players mentioned more as alternatives if they drop in the draft or they aren't overly comfortable with the college arms.

Sorry for being a tick late everyone. We ran long on Twitter after some log-in struggles. I'll go an extra 10 minutes here so ask away all the way through 5:10pm PT (I'll probably come back later after that and answer some more as well) - FIRE AWAY

Hey all. I'll be on Twitter from 3-4pm PT and will jump right in here promptly at 4. Keep asking questions and I'll get to them quickly. Hope you're all enjoying your *checks calendar* Tuesdays(?)

On 6/11/2022 at 7:48 PM, Taylor said:

@taylorblakeward might own a house.

California housing market says NO WAY JOSE

53 minutes ago, Tank said:

after i made an effigy of you, hung it up in my garage, and then tarred and feathered it, i experienced forgiveness towards you.

my incredibly important question was, with all the baseballs that get fouled off or tossed into the stands or taken out of play for blemishes, how many baseballs do they go through in an average game these days? it used to be six dozen but i wondered if that had changed.

I had to Google search it. Seems the answer is 84 to 120 (7 to 10 dozen). I hope voodoo isn't necessary from here on out, though I will gladly take a trip a full expense trip to New Orleans with you (y'know, if you're paying).

26 minutes ago, Tank said:

you did a Q & A on twitter one night. i asked you a question and you told me to go look it up myself.

i'll be looking for an improved relationship here.

To answer your question, woodchucks don't chuck wood, they chew it....

My bad if it came off poorly. What was the question if you happen to remember? Also, look it up. (I'll answer here)

7 minutes ago, Blarg said:

Yes but those were primarily drunk posts. We can wait for @taylorblakeward to post when he has spare time from actual working. 

Actual work? Chuck didn't tell me there would be manual labor involved 

Howdy all! Sorry I've been MIA since joining the Angels Win staff. Was in Idaho which isn't half as far as England or Arabic lands but happy to be home safe in Lake Arrowhead, CA. Glad to be a part of Angels Win and excited to bring some prospect coverage your way. Sorry for stepping on any toes here (ahem, @Taylor). I've known the staff here for some time, particularly @Chuckster70 and @Dave Saltzer (one of the hardest working dudes in the business). I hope to connect with many of you over time.

Hi everyone, I rarely ever post here and am an infrequent visitor, but I'd like to post this for those who would like to help James' family. James was a dear friend to all the local media whether it be baseball or other. Post game in the Angels clubhouse was only made better by him as he always had an entertaining argument about Chicago sports, and one person who would always get involved and loved James dearly was Mike Trout. He was the best of all the media when it came to player and coach interaction, and I'm going to miss him dearly. Thanks for reading this rant and please send prayers to the Allen family, particularly his wife and girls.

https://twitter.com/TrentRushSports/status/1428419421333188611?s=20

5 hours ago, Inside Pitch said:

Yep, I agree.  That was seemed odd to me too.   Other than both of them sort of sling-shotting the ball, they didn't really look all that similar.

Howdy, new here to Angels Win. Someone sent me a link to this page and I found it interesting. Thank you for the kind words and enjoying the piece. As for the Wolf/Seminaris comparison: It was one of two that did not come from a scout and it actually came from the Long Beach State coach who played with Wolf. It was hard finding video of Wolf in his younger years, but I did find this side-by-side I made right after the draft that is a tad clearer (

Seminaris is definitely the better athlete of the pair between the stages of life in the side-by-sides, but I understand your confusion. It was definitely a challenge to make it close. Thanks again for the kind words.

1 hour ago, Chuckster70 said:

They have one job. Maybe they need to hire more coverage or scouts?

I literally sat next to a BA staff member watching Rengifo for three days. Just spent 10 minutes yesterday on the phone talking about Rengifo with the same staff member.

Alexander Ramirez turns 16 on August 29th, the cut-off for 16-year-olds in this international signing period is August 31st. He is the youngest of the bunch.

Ben Badler has all your signing needs: https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/2018-mlb-international-signings-tracker/

5 minutes ago, Dochalo said:

does he still set up like blash with his feet together?  

He's not as tight as Blash (who is?), but yes, he's close together and very tall in his stance. Hands are a bit further away from the body (head) than earlier this Spring. He doesn't look as loose as he did but with his athleticism, ability to adjust and feel for hitting I doubt it takes long for him to adapt.

12 minutes ago, Chuckster70 said:

One thing is for certain, not many people can say this or that about Knowles and Deveeaux because they haven't seen them yet. Really all we can do is go by the numbers. 

I've seen both, Deveaux is probably one of the five best prospects in the Angels system

10 hours ago, Chuckster70 said:

Deveaux is the new Baldoquin until proven otherwise. 

31 plate appearances for an 18-year-old... my goodness you guys live off the stat line and small sample sizes 

5 hours ago, Scotty@AW said:

What I meant by good norm is that's where I felt he could feasibly reach. Again, I've watch him three times in the last couple years (twice last year in Stockton). First time was 88-90, second and third times he sat 91/92 for most of the night. 

But I've been told the gun at Stockton can run hot and cold. 

I just assumed that if I watched him twice in the same place a little more than a month apart and got the same readings, they must be pretty accurate.

So if you say he's throwing 87-91, I'll take your word for it, it's just not what I saw. 

Not questioning that he was 91-92 on any given night. You would also project his velocity to jump a tick or two but his frame still never physically developed into what they figured. It looks like if he grows into more velocity, it's only going to be 90-93, which is something many figured would be the case. The reports I've gotten this year are pretty poor.

9 minutes ago, Dochalo said:

thanks.  Is that similar to last year?  

I saw him twice in person last year, sat pretty much 87-91 and would touch 92-93 on rare occasions - asked around when I did my rankings and everyone said about the same

6 hours ago, Scotty@AW said:

Just another thing that scout observed that has forced me to question what I'm reading. I'm not saying he's wrong, just like I'm not saying Longenhagen was wrong in regards to Maitan, but something isn't adding up.

My guess with the scout was that he saw Castillo on an off night where he sat 88-ish and was maybe exaggerating in the article. Because 92-94 is a good norm for him. 88 would be alarming but not the sort where you pull him and schedule an MRI. 

Castillo has been about 86-91 all season

1 hour ago, Scotty@AW said:

If I had to guess, it was just Longenhagen snapping pictures at unfortunate angles and showing video of every bad thing Maitan has done at the plate.

He made up his mind about Maitan as a prospect and has created a narrative where he's right.

... 

Longenhagen has a ton of power and influence writing for a major blog and having access to these guys. He essentially tells the public what they should think.

He's not a scout and never was. Before last year, FG's prospect lists were an absolute joke. They've since improved a ton though.

Scotty, this is probably your worst opinion to date.

16 hours ago, Dochalo said:

how much can a team pay a UDFA?  

probably no limit is my guess.  makes sense why teams draft a bunch of these guys late in the draft.  

They have same restrictions as players in rounds 11-40 - anything over $125K goes to the team's bonus pool, most of them sign for a ticket to an affilliate 

6 minutes ago, Scotty@AW said:

18 in mine.

Not that I'm totally exposing a mid-season re-ranked T100 or anything... and yea, the difference between 25-40 isn't anything so argue whether he's 25 or 40