2023 MLB Draft

[imref]

2 more HRs for Crews yesterday (11 total), now OPSing 1.502 (.488 / .638 / .864)

Skenes now at 1.97 ERA / 0.742 WHIP, 17.4 K/9, 59.1 IP, 115Ks, 12BBs, 32HA

These are both video game numbers.

Dollander is struggling this year and has fallen in most mock drafts.  This one (https://futurestarsseries.com/mlb-mock-draft-crews-skenes-lsu-max-clark-jacob-gonzalez/) has Crews, Skenes, Langford, and Jenkins going 1-4 with Dollander falling to 7.

This one (https://www.prospectslive.com/prospects-live/2023-mlb-draft-mock-3) has Crews, Skenes, Langford and Max Clark as 1-4 with Dollander at 6.

[Senatorswin]

2 more HRs for Crews yesterday (11 total), now OPSing 1.502 (.488 / .638 / .864)

Skenes now at 1.97 ERA / 0.742 WHIP, 17.4 K/9, 59.1 IP, 115Ks, 12BBs, 32HA

These are both video game numbers.

Dollander is struggling this year and has fallen in most mock drafts.  This one (https://futurestarsseries.com/mlb-mock-draft-crews-skenes-lsu-max-clark-jacob-gonzalez/) has Crews, Skenes, Langford, and Jenkins going 1-4 with Dollander falling to 7.

This one (https://www.prospectslive.com/prospects-live/2023-mlb-draft-mock-3) has Crews, Skenes, Langford and Max Clark as 1-4 with Dollander at 6.

It sounds like we have a no brainer pick. If the Pirates take Skenes we take Crews. If they take Crews we take Skenes.

[imref]

It sounds like we have a no brainer pick. If the Pirates take Skenes we take Crews. If they take Crews we take Skenes.

Harper or Strasburg

[JCA-CrystalCity]

It sounds like we have a no brainer pick. If the Pirates take Skenes we take Crews. If they take Crews we take Skenes.

if it is Skenes or Langford, then it's a tougher call, according to the prospect junkies here

[zimm_da_kid]

Mlb pipelines updating draft prospect ranking drops tonight and is also expanded to 150 players.  Intrigued to see how far dollander drops

[imref]

Mlb pipelines updating draft prospect ranking drops tonight and is also expanded to 150 players.  Intrigued to see how far dollander drops

BBA put out their top 300: Crews, Skenes, Langford, Walker Jenkins, Max Clark, Dollander

https://www.baseballamerica.com/rankings/top-2023-mlb-draft-prospects/

Skenes should be starting this weekend. He threw 117 pitches in his last start on April 21 against Ole Miss: 6IP, 3ER, 4H, 3BB, 11Ks,

[imref]

Keith Law with a scouting report after watching Skenes and Crews play over the weekend:

https://theathletic.com/4477136/2023/05/02/mlb-draft-scouting-top-pick-lsu-skenes-crews/

There is nobody close to Skenes among pitchers in this class, and the fact that he throws strikes with this kind of stuff, even if you only give him credit for being 96-99 mph, would make him 1-1 in most years. Stephen Strasburg and Gerrit Cole would top out at 100 mph, with better breaking stuff than Skenes, and they went 1-1. Mark Appel had less stuff and he went first overall, as well. I think it’s fair to project a No. 1 starter ceiling for Skenes with some projection to the changeup and the obvious hope that he stays healthy, which some guys have with this kind of stuff (Cole and Justin Verlander come to mind as comparable pitchers).

Skenes has the misfortune to play with a position player who has an even better argument for going first overall, however, as LSU centerfielder Dylan Crews homered and singled on Friday to raise his season line to .485/.635/.853. No, wait, actually that lowered his OBP, as he reached base three times in five trips to the plate. Imagine going 2 for 4 with a walk and five total bases and it doesn’t improve your triple-slash line.

Crews was a potential first-rounder in 2020, but started his senior year of high school slowly, with more swing and miss than he’d shown before. He chose to take his name out of the draft rather than find himself selected much later than anticipated after things shutdown because of COVID-19. He’s done nothing but rake since arriving in Baton Rouge, showing plus bat speed, excellent ball-strike recognition and solid plate coverage. He almost never misses fastballs, and he has shown power the other way, including a wall-scraper homer to right off a 91 mph fastball on Friday. He does struggle with sliders, with two whiffs on gyro-style sliders from a righty on Friday and much worse numbers against sliders in and out of the zone than on other pitches. He’s an above-average runner who plays center well enough that he might stay there in the long term, although he might get moved off the position if he ends up with a team that has a truly plus defender there.

Also some notes on UVA players:

Virginia catcher Kyle Teel has established himself as the No. 3 college position player in the draft class with another strong year at the plate and improved receiving that should erase any questions about whether he’d stay behind the plate over the long term. Teel is an extremely athletic catcher who runs at least above-average and shows very good bat speed, with gap power and a swing that tends to put the ball in the air. He’s a low-walk, low-strikeout hitter who makes a lot of contact on balls out of the zone, so while he chases more than you’d like he also has had unusually good results while doing so. Behind the plate, he’s got the hands, arm and general flexibility to be an average to above-average catcher, needing some work on framing and simplifying how he’s catching balls at the bottom part of the zone, as he tends to drop the glove down first before trying to pull those pitches back into the strike zone. He’s hitting .422/.481/.660 for the Cavs, and with his defense and positional value, he should be the next college bat taken once Crews and Langford are gone.

Virginia third baseman Jake Gelof set the Cavs’ career home run record a few weeks ago, halfway through his junior year, and is now up to 43 homers since he arrived in Charlottesville, 39 of those since the start of 2022. Gelof, whose older brother Zack is in Triple A for Oakland, does have plus power, with a very rotational swing and solid plate discipline, but he has had real trouble with fastballs up in the zone, whether up and in or up and out over the plate. He’s also very pull-oriented and can exacerbate that by collapsing his back side on some of his harder swings. He’s stronger than his brother but less athletic, showing more arm to potentially stay at third base but more likely ending up in right field. With so much position-player depth in this draft, Gelof is probably a sandwich/second-round talent, although I could see someone buying into the power and figuring they could make some small adjustments to keep him balanced for more contact.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

anything on Langford?  I assume it's a decision on Skenes vs. Langford and that Crews will either be gone or a no-brainer if he isn't.

[imref]

anything on Langford?  I assume it's a decision on Skenes vs. Langford and that Crews will either be gone or a no-brainer if he isn't.

barring injury, it's Skenes vs Crews. I don't see how the Pirates pass on Crews.

[zimm_da_kid]

Keith Law with a scouting report after watching Skenes and Crews play over the weekend:

https://theathletic.com/4477136/2023/05/02/mlb-draft-scouting-top-pick-lsu-skenes-crews/


Also some notes on UVA players:

Gelof is a guy I was eying for our 2nd round pick (#40 overall)

[JCA-CrystalCity]

Gelof will always make me think of Geldof.

[imref]

Gelof will always make me think of Geldof.

He won’t play on mondays.

[DCsOwn]

https://twitter.com/lsubaseball/status/1654659190193893378?s=46&t=Q_qc3R_qyMHAAFvlywNqzQ

Genuinely can’t see Rizzo passing on him if he’s available at 2. I’m still leery about taking a pitcher that high in a draft replete with high quality position player prospects in the top 5, but I’ll be stunned if Rizzo does anything other than turn a card in with his name on it.

[DCsOwn]

https://twitter.com/lsubaseball/status/1654655888760643584?s=46&t=Q_qc3R_qyMHAAFvlywNqzQ

[JCA-CrystalCity]

Got a friend from a family of LSU baseball fans. Big thing for her and her Dad. I told her that, odds are, either Crews or Skenes is going to be drafted by the Nats. She's happy.

[DCsOwn]

https://twitter.com/pitchingninja/status/1654681308851838977?s=46&t=Q_qc3R_qyMHAAFvlywNqzQ

^Tonight’s work

The totals are awesome obviously, but the REALLY exciting thing about the Ks tonight are that the secondaries appear to have been working. The slider and changeup are coming along nicely. 

[DCsOwn]

Got a friend from a family of LSU baseball fans. Big thing for her and her Dad. I told her that, odds are, either Crews or Skenes is going to be drafted by the Nats. She's happy.

You can dream on a Skenes-Gore-FA Starter-Gray-Cavalli rotation FOR SURE.

[SkinsNatFan21RIP]

I mean, if they take Crews you take Skenes. You have too.

[zimm_da_kid]

I mean, if they take Crews you take Skenes. You have too.

Keith law has Langford at 2 over Skenes at 3.

Fwiw, Langford is also hitting slightly over .400 in the SEC and is faster and has more
Power than crews.  Crews has a bette that tool, but over .400 in the SEC is still over .400 in the SEC

[DCsOwn]

https://twitter.com/lsubaseball/status/1657212450037706753?s=46&t=Q_qc3R_qyMHAAFvlywNqzQ

Machine

[SkinsNatFan21RIP]

https://twitter.com/lsubaseball/status/1657212450037706753?s=46&t=Q_qc3R_qyMHAAFvlywNqzQ

Machine

They can’t pass on him. I’d imagine he wouldn’t spend much time in the minors.

[Slateman]

They can’t pass on him. I’d imagine he wouldn’t spend much time in the minors.

Yep. No reason to waste his bullets in the minors

[imref]

Final line: 7.0IP, 3H, 1R 1ER, 1BB, 13Ks, 1HR against one of the better hitting teams in the SEC. (Crews was 0-4)

So 2024 is Gore, Gray, Williams, Rutledge, and Corbin with Cavalli hopefully back early, Skenes probably up at some point and Irvin available.

2025 is when it gets interesting: Gore, Gray, Cavalli, Skenes, Rutledge?

[JCA-CrystalCity]

Don't count out Irvin at all. Bird in hand

[nobleisthyname]

Cole Henry could always be a thing too.