Dominikk85

QUOTE (steveno89 @ Jan 25, 2017 -> 04:02 PM) Even if we trade nearly all veteran players I do not think the White Sox will be the worst team in baseball. San Diego is trying hard to win less than 50 games with that starting rotation Maybe not but still picking second to third is a big advantage over picking like 5 to 8th. Just look at the 2015 draft were swanson, bregman, tucker and benintendi went off the board before the sox picked. Of course hindsight is always smarter and there is no guarantee the sox would have picked one of them but at least they would have had more options if they drafted second or third. Those late top 10 picks is usually were you start to accept some warts (either a very good player with non perfect tools or guys with tools but some need for polish), while at the top you often can get the complete package of tools and polish. Not saying you cant occasionally get such a guy later (trout) but the numbers get worse.

QUOTE (heirdog @ Jan 25, 2017 -> 10:19 PM) In defense of the click bait article's author, I think he said those were players from each team that would interest the Sox yes there is no way the astros give up bregman AND tucker. the astros were even hesitant to trade tucker at all so they certainly do not give up both and more. i doubt they trade bregman at all but if they do it would be straight up (or bregman plus a bag of balls). i do think the astros have to give up tucker, martes and more but bregman, tucker and reed is completely unrealistic. maybe the author meant some of those guys but not the whole package.

I think the players union hurt themselves by only focusing on veteran pay and neglecting young players (and minor leaguers). of course veterans have more power in the union and the thinking that if young players are underpaid the veterans get a larger share of the cake did work for a long time but GMs now have realized that and they try to replace as many veterans as possible with cheap young players. the really good veterans still get paid but the overall salary in MLB drastically went down the last decade (the actual salary went up but the share of the overall revenue the players get went down a lot (from close to 60 to under 50 percent). to stop that MLBPA needs to start fighting for the rights of young players who are essentially slaves now and maybe even give up some of the veteran players rights to get what they want. of course it is nice that there is no salary cap or maximum salary but that only applies to a handful of great veterans. the majority of veterans would benefit from young players getting a salary more in line with their market value because that makes veterans more attractive again.

I think the Sox should lose a lot of games. People say itsomething OK as long your pick is top10 and that is not wrong but the higher the pick gets the higher the difference in value. The difference between 20th and 10th pick is much smaller than between 10 and 1. Of course plenty of times the number 1 pick busts and the 3 becomes a star but statistically the number 1 overall pick is by far the most valuable. For example the 10th picks produces 6 war over the control years on average which isn't even a league average player and the number 1 overall produces 20 war which is a star player. http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-changin...of-draft-picks/ That doesn't mean the 10th player can't become a hall of famer but the chances are statistically much lower. Also every draft pick higher means more pool money which allows for more overslot signings in later rounds (for example difference between first and second overall is more than a million which basically is another second round pick). Of course the rebuild still doesn't hinge on one pick and the Sox can still succeed if the become 7th but the worse you are the the higher the incentive to be really big because the difference between 6th and 12th is not as significant as 6th vs 1st. So the Sox shouldn't lose on purpose but it wouldn't be the worst thing if they make it all the way to first or second overall.

QUOTE (flavum @ Jan 25, 2017 -> 11:54 AM) Coop on the Score this morning...said he wasn't in love seeing that Kopech video, but he's a young kid and he'll learn. The thing is a training method that was made popular by Kyle Boddy (driveline baseball). Kyle is one of the best throwing experts in the world and trains like 40 pro players in the offseason or so. he is also doing a lot of scientific research. overload underload training is a proven training technique that was invented by soviet union sports scientists somewhere around the 50s and 60s and now is also creeping over to baseball. https://www.drivelinebaseball.com/2016/03/w...d-consequences/ https://www.drivelinebaseball.com/2016/01/d...weighted-balls/

QUOTE (GreenSox @ Jan 25, 2017 -> 09:15 AM) It's not like Anderson was actually making contact with those balls out of the zone....he struck out over 25% of the time. I'd say improving plate discipline more than a bit is paramount and can turn him into a perennial .800 OPS hitter versus an Alexei ceiling. I think to become an 800 OPS hitter anderson needs to improve both his power output and plate discpline. his chase rate was too high (36%, I think league average is around 30%) but he also needs to improve his power output. I think he has room for improvement (I think there is 15-20 HR power in him) but he also always will have swing and miss in his game. his chase rate is not good but he isn't a great contact hitter inside the zone either (81% zone contact, league average was around 86 or so. that combination of mediocre power output and mediocre contact won't really work, even with better plate discipline. last year he had a 740 OPS but on the strength of a 375 BABIP. he seems to be a solid line drive hitter and also gets a lot out of his grounders but he is not going to sustain that. if his BABIP drops to league average it could get ugly soon. as I said I do see some pop in him, he is not a slap hitter. with an adjusted swing plane he could probably approach average to even slightly above average power and while that will lower his BABIP some I believe he needs to make that adjustment, because his bat to ball skill is not good enough for a hit it low and use your wheels approach. so what he needs to do is I think to first lay off more balls but also pick locations inside the zone that he can drive and then elevate those balls a little more. I'm not saying he should become a brian dozier who pulls everything in the air and thus maximized his not so great raw power (he doesn't have doziers bat control to pull this off either and might get punished with a lot of rolled over grounders which happen if you and not timed perfectly or pull the wrong pitches) but a little more elevation and probably also pull might help him to tap into his OK raw power. he doesn't have to become an 800 ops hitter to become a productive hitter with his defense and speed though, but to even repeat his 2016 output one of either his power or his contact needs to get better and likely it will be his power and not his contact that improves (I think with better plate discipline he could get 4-5% lower but not much more).

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jan 23, 2017 -> 08:34 AM) Rob snagged an interview with HC Todd Steverson, asking some questions about the mini-camp and a few key hitting prospects. Always fun to get an interview like this, and Todd didn't disappoint. Read it all here. What are your impressions of Todd, and the camp? nice interview, thank you for posting. I'm not sure I love what I read. steverson seems to be a great guy but he sounds to be rather old school focusing mostly on mental stuff and making stuff simple at the plate. that isn't inherently bad but if you look at the really modern hitting coaches like a bobby tewksbary (private coach of josh donaldson and others - look up his stuff, it is really advanced, I know bobby a little and he studies the swing really all day) or the astros hitting coordinator jeff albert who is a sports scientist they are much more advanced in their stuff and they actually like well timed bigger moves vs a simplified quiet A-B-C approach. For example the modern instructors actually favor elevating the ball and a slight uppercut (albert tweets about that a lot). In theory the bat starts above the head and makes contact below the waist so the swing goes down but modern high speed video actually shows that the swing is more like a nike swoosh going down behind the body and then slightly up through the ball so that the upward swing plane matches the downward plane of the pitch. that plane is a little longer than going directly diagonal down to the ball (like mattingley for ex. still teaches) but it allows for more error if you are late or early. here is a good illustration https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ehs-H2V6N5o I think both anderson but also moncada could benefit a little from that. they tend to get a little forward with the upper body instead of having that slightly rearward tilted axis that allows for a nice slightly upward swing plane. I'm not so sure about moncada (because we don't have the MLB data and I only have seen snippets and scouting reports, so I'm not as confident making that statement about him, although it looks like it to me) but anderson definitely hits the ball too low and might have a too level swing plane (his launch angle is well below the MLB league average albeit his exit velo is almost average, he would be a good candidate to do the murphy/altuve adjustment and add some power - I think he could hit 20 bombs with that albeit of course he doesn't have the hit and bat to ball skill of a murphy or altuve.

QUOTE (steveno89 @ Jan 24, 2017 -> 10:56 AM) Law is high on younger players it seems. I'm no expert, but I would tend to favor prospects further along in their development in the top 100 until they have proven more in the minor leagues Delvin Perez has talent, but #61 based on his play in rookie ball (admittedly impressive for an 18 year old) is high Law's rankings look smart for picking players that could rise up, but also I'll bet alot of these deep dives are out of the top 100 by mid season due to over projection Law is a guy who values ceiling and projection over floor (sickels is a bit of the opposite). that is probably why he loves the big pitchers like giolito and is kinda down on guys like De leon who have excelled at every level but don't have quite the projection.

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Jan 23, 2017 -> 08:41 AM) http://www.espn.com/blog/keith-law/insider/post?id=6172 Keith started with 81-100 today. He had Zack Collins at 95 Zack Collins, C, Chicago White Sox Age: 22 (2/6/95) | B/T: L/R Height: 6-3 | Weight: 220 Top level: High-A | 2016: NE The White Sox think Zack Collins can catch, and sent him out as a catcher right to the High-A Carolina League after drafting him out of the University of Miami with the 10th overall pick, making him one of only two college bats from last year's draft to go straight to High-A. I don't think Collins, already big for the position and not that agile, will make it to the majors as a catcher, but I do think he can really hit, and do so with power and some on-base ability, so it might not matter in the end. When Collins keeps his swing controlled, he's short to the zone and explodes quickly from where he loads, with plenty of natural angle in his finish to hit for power, but he does get a little homer-happy and then his swing becomes unnecessarily long. His pro debut went better than anyone could have expected, with a lot of strikeouts but a .258/.418/.467 line that would have placed him among the league leaders in OBP and slugging. There is absolutely some extra value in having this kind of bat behind the plate, but if Collins' bat is as advanced as I think it is, he might hit his way off the position this year. Hey guys, I'm new here, guy from germany who follows the sox. I think the sox should try everything to keep him at C. 10 years ago guys who can strike out, walk and hit for power were valued very highly (OBP,OPS era of sabermetrics) but in the last couple years that type of 1b/DH good OBP/power slugger has lost a lot of value on the market and you can get solid 1B guys with power on the cheap. of course he still has value there, especially at the league minimum salary but unless he hits like jim thome the value for a good but not great hitting 1B (120 OPS+) with mediocre D is limited if you go by WAR (often under 2 which is around league average for a full time starter). So in the current market I don't think collins can really hit himself out of catching just with his power and patience, unless he drastically reduces his Ks and suddenly his 315 with the same kind of power because you can always buy a chris carter (or equivalent) to do the same quite cheap. collins value as a DH/1b is not zero and it is a fall back plan but if you can get him to not suck at C that would be great. especially the new framing data make that interesting for not so athletic catchers. athleticism might limit blocking and throwing but even a non athlete could still become a good framer if you have the right personell to teach it (and inherent talent of the player). so if they could teach collins to frame well he could be an OK catcher even with so so blocking and throwing skills. of course not every non athlete can become a good framer and it is still not quite clear how to teach framing. it could also be that collins becomes a bad framer on top of bad blocking and throwing and in that case he indeed would be unplayable at C and needs to go back to plan B but you should give him all the time to learn framing (and get his throwing and blocking to non terrible). I would definitely give him all the time he needs because a 260 bat with walks and power but no baserunning or defensive value still plays at the MLB level but is not as valuable as it used to be.