Draft Thoughts Round 1 and Comp

[Jon (Astros GM)]

Had an idea I’ve seen done in other leagues. Favorite picks and predictions. Only rule is don’t pick your own cause ya know, we all love our picks. Here are the categories:

Favorite pick-
Quickest to the bigs-
Biggest reach-
Biggest steal-
Best round-


If anyone has anything else feel free to add!

[Jon (Astros GM)]

Favorite pick- Brice Turang, huge fan and debated him at 9. Honorable mention Trevor Larnich.

Quickest to the bigs- Should of said from draft prospects only. Shane McClanahan, I think he could make some RP appearances as soon as next year.

Biggest reach- Vidal Brujan. Felt there were a couple others more worthy. Had him rated as a 2nd rounder. But non draft specs tend to go higher.

Biggest steal- I like a lot of players here. Hard to argue against Ryan Weathers at 28. Also liked Ethan Hankins and Jordan Groshans

Best round- Pretty easy, Toronto Blue Jays. Ohtani, Muncy, James, O’Neil, and Luciano. 4 non draft guys and arguably the top international spec. Could quit now and might have the best draft overall.

[Max (Tigers GM)]

Random thoughts:

I echo a lot of Jon's points, especially re: Brian's run of picks.

I'm curious as how Kyler Murray does; I'm sure both the real life A's and Nic will have their fingers crossed come college football time.

I liked Chris's pick of Taylor Widener at #36 and PJ's pick of Grant Lavigne at #43 and really hated that Jon took Nolan Gorman at #7 with the pick right ahead of me.

Still a lot of names left on my board; interested to see how this plays out!

[Michael]

I know I’m one of the newer guys but figured I’d throw my take in here; I agree mostly with what was said above but I’d also like to add in that I think the San Diego Padres had just as good of a first round as the Jays. Madrigal is gonna be a stud. The kid has a great bat and is already moving through the lower levels. Could see him in the bigs sooner than later. I’m also a huge fan of Denaburg. I know there’s been some concern with his injury and all but his fastball is blazing fast and a power curveball and a pretty nice change. He and Fedde could soon replace Scherzer/Stras as the Nats 1-2 punch. Oviedo May have been a slight reach but I think his high k rate and low walk rate is a good sign of his development. Great first round to Tucker and Brian both.

To add to the steals, I think the Phillies getting Carter Stewart all the way at 24th was great. I know he went unsigned but I don’t see him slowing down in college and he could potentially be the 1st pick when eligible again.

[Brian (Blue Jays GM)]

Favorite pick- Trevor Larnach to the Cardinals at 17, I love his advanced bat, think he'll move quickly through the minors, and was considering him as an option at pick 6. Great value for Billy. I'm sure by now Jon is sick of me raving about how much I love Larnach as a prospect.

Quickest to the bigs- Nick Madrigal. Took him 72 plate appearances across 3 levels to strike out for the first time. If you haven't seen my new favorite twitter account yet, go look up the account called "Did Nick Madrigal Strike Out?"

Biggest reach- There hasn't really been anything I thought was too bad of a reach, but if I had to pick one I guess it's Dereck Rodriguez at 3. I was considering him as a backup plan at 6 and thought that was a reach, figured he belonged closer to the comp round. Still an excellent player though and can't blame Alex for taking him.

Biggest steal- There were a lot of guys I really liked the value on, but ultimately I have to give it to Travis Swaggerty to the Red Sox at pick 12. IMO Swaggerty was a top 10 talent and I think he went 3-6 picks later than he should've (which can be huge at the top of the draft). Honorable mentions to Ryan Weathers to the Twins at 28, Jordyn Adams to the Dbacks at 41, and Brice Turang to the Indians at 15.

Best round- Again, I think a lot of teams have done really well so far. Every one of the teams I mentioned above deserve to be considered for best round, but I'm going to give it to the Astros for Gorman and Kelenic, arguably the 2 highest upside bats in the entire draft class. To me, that's the best 1-2 prospect punch anyone hauled in this draft.