1 minute ago, maggsmaggs said:

Given the defensive liabilities of Collins, which have not been improved much by most accounts, it defies reason to me how one could rate him above Cease. While Cease has always been plagued by questions concerning his command, his walk rate has improved with every promotion. 

Yeah if you did a blind scouting session of watching him pitch and then scouting the stat line, he should be a top 25 prospect.

1 minute ago, maggsmaggs said:

Given the defensive liabilities of Collins, which have not been improved much by most accounts, it defies reason to me how one could rate him above Cease. While Cease has always been plagued by questions concerning his command, his walk rate has improved with every promotion. 

I think both the FG think he is a reliever and they put collins as a 1B, so I'm just assuming that in their minds a 1B with good power and OBP is better than a late inning reliever.

Also going back to the Sheets power conversation, they have a current 70 on his raw while a current 40 (future 55) on his game power. It really seems like he is the type that will come back after working on his swing plane for one offseason and will be hitting tons of homers. 

8 minutes ago, GenericUserName said:

Also going back to the Sheets power conversation, they have a current 70 on his raw while a current 40 (future 55) on his game power. It really seems like he is the type that will come back after working on his swing plane for one offseason and will be hitting tons of homers. 

That’s my hope as well.  Let’s give him an offseason to adjust his swing before we all panic.

2 hours ago, GenericUserName said:

FG updated their BOARD today with two big surprise to me with Collins being at #67 and Basabe at #84. Collins was listed as a 1B, but that is still a pretty high ranking for him and I think this is the first list I've seen with Basabe in the top 100. They are lower on Cease and Dunning, but with 9 guys in the top 100, I'm pretty happy with the list.

https://www.fangraphs.com/scoutboard.aspx?draft=&type=&pos=&team=chw

Collins offense numbers only stick out if he can stay at catcher. The Collins situation is looking too similar to the Fulmer situation for my liking. The consensus was that Fulmer was a high end reliever at best and the Sox tried to get cute and use him as a starter. The consensus is that Collins won't stick behind the plate and everything seems to pointing to that as well.

Isn't Hosteller on record as saying he would take have taken Collins 1:1? Are we sure that this guy knows what he is doing in the draft room?

11 minutes ago, tlongo81@gmail.com said:

Collins offense numbers only stick out if he can stay at catcher. The Collins situation is looking too similar to the Fulmer situation for my liking. The consensus was that Fulmer was a high end reliever at best and the Sox tried to get cute and use him as a starter. The consensus is that Collins won't stick behind the plate and everything seems to pointing to that as well.

Isn't Hosteller on record as saying he would take have taken Collins 1:1? Are we sure that this guy knows what he is doing in the draft room?

An .833 OPS in a pitchers park isn't too bad

12 minutes ago, tlongo81@gmail.com said:

Collins offense numbers only stick out if he can stay at catcher. The Collins situation is looking too similar to the Fulmer situation for my liking. The consensus was that Fulmer was a high end reliever at best and the Sox tried to get cute and use him as a starter. The consensus is that Collins won't stick behind the plate and everything seems to pointing to that as well.

Isn't Hosteller on record as saying he would take have taken Collins 1:1? Are we sure that this guy knows what he is doing in the draft room?

The fact that Collins wasn't randomly up in the big leagues in the middle of 2017 is a huge difference from the Fulmer situation. 

4 hours ago, fathom said:

Yeah if you did a blind scouting session of watching him pitch and then scouting the stat line, he should be a top 25 prospect.

I think I'm still blinded by watching him against Seattle this spring. He's got as good a chance as anybody to be a future #2 starter in a good rotation, if not better.

15 hours ago, GenericUserName said:

FG updated their BOARD today with two big surprise to me with Collins being at #67 and Basabe at #84. Collins was listed as a 1B, but that is still a pretty high ranking for him and I think this is the first list I've seen with Basabe in the top 100. They are lower on Cease and Dunning, but with 9 guys in the top 100, I'm pretty happy with the list.

https://www.fangraphs.com/scoutboard.aspx?draft=&type=&pos=&team=chw

Looking through this in more detail and they still don’t have Ian Hamilton & Jimmy Lambert on the list.  While this is a vast improvement over their pre-season list, there’s still some big misses

1 hour ago, Chicago White Sox said:

Looking through this in more detail and they still don’t have Ian Hamilton & Jimmy Lambert on the list.  While this is a vast improvement over their pre-season list, there’s still some big misses

It's early, but cannot help but be impressed with what Bryce Bush is doing in the AZL right now. 

14 games, .442 AVG, 1.143 OPS at age 18

He absolutely seems like a candidate for full season ball in 2019 given this level of play.

Not sure what FG is thinking but based on peripherals as well as pure stuff, one can easily make the case that Cease is the TOP pitching prospect in all milb.

5 hours ago, Flash said:

Not sure what FG is thinking but based on peripherals as well as pure stuff, one can easily make the case that Cease is the TOP pitching prospect in all milb.

They think he's blowing away minor league hitters with pure stuff but it won't play the same in the Majors. They think his command and control suck, and that is why they project him as a reliever. 

7 minutes ago, Jack Parkman said:

They think he's blowing away minor league hitters with pure stuff but it won't play the same in the Majors. They think his command and control suck, and that is why they project him as a reliever. 

They haven't been paying attention.

3 minutes ago, Flash said:

They haven't been paying attention.

I agree. Cease really isn't walking anyone anymore. He's in the argument for top RHP prospect in the minors for the 2019 preseason list. Cease is right there with Kopech, Whitley and Keller, IMO. Would anyone else consider giving Cease a taste of Charlotte for the last few weeks of the MiLB season? 

Edited August 2, 20187 yr by Jack Parkman

14 minutes ago, Jack Parkman said:

I agree. Cease really isn't walking anyone anymore. He's in the argument for top RHP prospect in the minors for the 2019 preseason list. Cease is right there with Kopech, Whitley and Keller, IMO. Would anyone else consider giving Cease a taste of Charlotte for the last few weeks of the MiLB season? 

Don't see why not Jack. To me, FG is being overly critical. Cease compares favorably across almost any/every metric to the names mentioned and the many in front of him on their list. Don't understand it.

54 minutes ago, Jack Parkman said:

I agree. Cease really isn't walking anyone anymore. He's in the argument for top RHP prospect in the minors for the 2019 preseason list. Cease is right there with Kopech, Whitley and Keller, IMO. Would anyone else consider giving Cease a taste of Charlotte for the last few weeks of the MiLB season? 

Not worth the rush, especially if its to prove journalists wrong. Let him finish this season out with the AA team.

Start him in AAA next season i say and call him up if he starts to dominate. Like what the Braves did with Soroka

1 minute ago, reiks12 said:

Not worth the rush, especially if its to prove journalists wrong. Let him finish this season out with the AA team.

Start him in AAA next season i say and call him up if he starts to dominate. Like what the Braves did with Soroka

It is more that I don't think AA is challenging him all that much. 

He's about to hit the part where he gets tired and it will begin to be more of a challenge.

Right, hes blown past his high for IP. Very good point

2 hours ago, reiks12 said:

Right, hes blown past his high for IP. Very good point

Yep. I would leave Cease down in Birmingham for the rest of this year with a close eye on his innings.

Let him start next year in Charlotte with the goal of getting him up to the Show in August/September to work out of the bullpen.

He should be in the starting rotation come 2020 if everything goes according to plan.