Here we go with day two of the Amateur draft. The Angels selected Ryan Prager, a left handed pitcher out of Texas A&M with the 81st pick overall.
Photo credit: Rex Fregosi
Here we go with day two of the Amateur draft. The Angels selected Ryan Prager, a left handed pitcher out of Texas A&M with the 81st pick overall.
Photo credit: Rex Fregosi
Question: why is everyone generally so negative about the draft? Fact: no one knows who is going to be really good that was on the board when the Halos picked. Other fact: via “reports” and other “experts,” the Angels got value here and there in terms of their picks. Some claimed Colton could go in round 1. The third round was solid and lasted longer than expected. Sure, they also took a couple other guys higher than expected as they liked them more than other teams — but maybe they are right? Again, no one knows. They have reasons for what they did.
Let it all play out everyone. Tomorrow is another day of picks. Focus on the positive for now.
We’re Angel fans. We expect the worst and yet something even worsyer will happen
trÅdition
Actually its the curse of the GOAT draft.
Uh ohhhhhh…. look who loves Arte. Ohvioohsly
I don’t love Arte at all. And it will take a few years to determine how the draft went. But the organization hasn’t blown all of its picks in the past. They took Neto and Joyce, both of whom seem to be keepers. Schanuel is at least playing in the MLB. That track record alone seems better than what prior GMs did, until you go back to Stoneman or the like. And it’s baseball which means for most of the picks, it comes down to how much they improve going forward. We’ll see.
Gitch teases, bro.
TrAdition!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRdfX7ut8gw
For me, the first round pick was uninspiring, seemed like a reach based on the expert draft boards, and too many relief pitcher types. We need starting pitchers, and Minasian seems unable to pick them. The Lakers got Dalton Knecht at 17, when some experts had him going as high as the five slot. That felt great. Unfortunately, they made up for that great pick by taking Lebron’s undersized kid at 55, but most second round picks are irrelevant so I forgave that given the importance of nailing it in the first round.
If Keith Law and some of these other guys were so good wouldn’t they be working for a Major League Franchise right now?
Probably wouldn’t pay as well, they might be chained to a region they don’t want to be chained to, they’d be working under strict NDA conditions that don’t allow them to have a public voice, and they’d have less independence, and likely less job security.
Virtually every writer at Fangraphs has been courted by multiple front offices. There’s a reason why they don’t each jump at those jobs. I know when Kevin Goldstein joined the Twins as special assistant, it was a tough, tough decision.
Reminder: Logan O’Hoppe was 677th pick, Round 23
Sure, and Mike Piazza was picked in the 150th round or whatever. And Mickey Moniak was a number one overall. Drafting is obviously an art and not a science. I’m just offering an explanation why many folks weren’t that excited. Added to the fact that Minasian hasn’t shown much aptitude during his tenure.
I’m with you, Stan.
I think people are rightly looking to the draft for signs of what the front office’s 3-5 year plan looks like.
For me, the draft is a place to accomplish things that are difficult to accomplish in free agency, due to competition, franchise reputation, and cost/years attached to free agents.
To me, Perry’s drafts focus on goals that are more easily addressable in free agency or through the waiver wire. Getting a solid-average 2b is not difficult or prohibitively expensive in free agency. Assembling a bullpen out of waiver claims, minor league free agents and tactical trades is also a totally reasonable alternative to spending high picks on the bullpen in the draft.
What’s harder for the Angels to do in free agency is to acquire starting pitching and positional power (especially on the infield, where they lack it). So any draft that isn’t diversified enough to bring in power and mid-rotation pitching is a lost opportunity to me.
It’s not that this draft is a fail – it just likely doesn’t move the needle on the Angels future (which is what drafts can do for smarter organizations).
After a lackluster draft, who has any confidence that Perry will get any quality prospects from our tradeable players?
I doubt that he will end up with a single prospect that becomes a quality MLB player. He will give Ward, Rengifo, Anderson and Estevez away for practically nothing. I say, don’t trade anyone, but Rengifo.
But consider how well we did trading Raisel Iglesias. Sure, he’s got a 2.02 ERA and 22 saves for Atlanta but you have to admit we scored by getting Jesse Chavez and Tucker Davidson in return
Whew. I guess I was worried for nothing. 🤔
D Cell was given an ill advised $64 Million contract running through Age 35 and then put up a 4.04 ERA, 6 loses including 3 blown saves at the deadline.
Personally I would have kept him but with Arte putting the budget constraints on Perry he had no choice but to do a Salary dump at the deadline to have flexibility for last year.
The Angels have no trade deadline restrictions that will require dumping this year so I believe Perry holds all the cards with what he can get back in any of the players in demand. I dont think hes ever been in this position at the deadline before so we will see how well he does.
I’m hoping for the best
Don’t forget the shit ton of money that was taken off the books with Raisel, that is huge. Especially when you used all that saved money on signing other shitty free agents. Keeps the circle circus going.
2023 Hunter Renfroe Gio Urshela Matt Moore and Carlos Estevez say HALO.
HellNO to Hunter. Gio’s pelvis replacement surgery hospital bill ate into Estevez and Moore balance sheet savings.😀
Hilarious Eric. I had forgotten that horrendous deal.
He was a salary dump
CtPG Guy is stupid and doesn’t get that.
We picked a third Ryan…did Perry get a message in a fortune cookie or something?
I’ve heard that drafting beyond the 6th round, teams are just filling out minor league rosters. Is that the way it’s still viewed?
I don’t think four rounds of paying signing bonuses would be for that. They used to draft until every team stopped.
The later rounds are sometimes for fliers, maybe guys that last lost half of a season because of injuries or someone playing out of position, but a hitter, project picks.
Some yes. Often you take a kid with one really good pitch or skill and hope he develops more.
Sometimes a kid who doesn’t appear to have the tools but somehow put up good numbers in college.
Roseanne Barr could sing better than this
I’ve now heard this. Yikes. The kind of thing that makes you say “poor kid”
maybe I’m getting old. From the look on her face I assumed she was somebody’s young daughter and her dad had gotten her the spot…like he might be a bigwig at the network or something. I figured she must be 16. But no, she’s a “country and western” singer who’s 32!
redglare.wav – Roseanne Barr singing the National Anthem
Still criminal after all these years.
All apologies to Paul Simon.
Farm as currently stands:
2 grade 55 prospects
2 grade 50 prospects
boatload of grade 45 prospects
Trades of Ward and Rengifo should net some 50 to 55 grade prospects and a few more 45’s. Anderson and Esteves are a little less clear.
We could really have 6-7 grade 50 and above guys on the list and be primed for a great draft position next season.
Jeff, you’re using MLB pipeline future value grades?
I tend to prefer Fangraphs’ FV estimates, which better reflect a prospect’s likelihood of reaching the MLB. They believe the Angels only have two prospects at FV 45 or above: Rada at 50 and Dana at 45.
Moore adds another 45, and Cortez is a 40+.
The MLB pipeline grades are kind of ridiculous, and reflect optimal cases for every prospect. Every prospect in their top 100 is FV 55 or better, which essentially projects every top 100 guy as an above average MLB player, when half of those guys going to bust or be role players at best.
Fangraphs, meanwhile, only put 55 or better grades on 35 MLB prospects, and the top six guys in the 2024 draft are all FV 50.
Yeah. The pipeline page is easy to snip and add here.
FanGraphs is better in every way.
I recently told my new neighbor (sadly another sucker Angels fan) about this site. Very into the draft and follows the minors and college baseball. I told him that I haven’t seen a better group of fans that know their shit about the draft. I follow college football closely and have some opinions that might pass as being knowledgeable. But he agrees that the opinions and information being posted here is impressive. Actually asked why collectively you guys weren’t running the draft room?
I also told him about the upcoming Tanking Season, to hopefully better position us for next years draft, where we will under deliver yet again. I’ve also filled him in on the meaning of trAdition
Nice. Thanks for sharing the site.
It’s important to pass along our heritage to the next generation. Good job!
Not a terrifically inspiring lot, true… but last three picks were all fourth-year seniors and graduates… i.e. cost-savers who might sign for $20K or less. Hopefully that translates to another high school overslot pick tomorrow.
Last year their No. 9 and 10 picks signed for $8,500 total.
https://www.mlb.com/draft/tracker/2023/all/team/angels
Are they still with the Angels?
Is it just me – or does drafting all these pitchers essentially send the signal to our scouting department – “y’all have no clue -so we’ll take our chances.”
And this fresh new crop will be replacing many of the old crop from the past several drafts.
Right now and going into next spring, I would argue the need for hitting slightly outweighs the need for pitching. I look at the bats in our system, and not many appear remotely close to being able to hit MLB pitching. Maybe we can land some hitter’ish guys at the trade deadline.
Ryan Nicholson played summer ball every year. Kid has 930 plate appearances between college and the wood bat leagues.
He’s gotten a lot better over the last year and a half, too.
Their 7-10 selections seem like guys you should sign at 7-10: college performers from good programs who excelled against good competition, but may fall short of the complete skill set to become something other than bench, taxi or bullpen pieces.
Cleveland really went all in on the expensive high-ranked pre pitchers – four through the first ten rounds. Very interested to see if they can sign all of them given their huge bonus pool.
Day 1 and 2:
Fourth and sixth round selections are complete headscratchers to me…passed up some good alternatives on those picks.
Everyone else, from 1 to 10, feels largely slot appropriate (though Cortez was a bit aggressive). Not seeing any high ceiling picks here – just a likely 2 WAR keystone guy and some bullpen arms, with some “let’s see what happens” starter projects in Johnson, Jordan and Clark.
Which is kind of what I expected from this draft. When Condon is the “Jackson Holiday” of a draft….. meh muhhhh. Lot’s of we’ll see picks.
Given the composition of this draft, I wish they went top heavy with starting pitching. I think they had the opportunity will their first four picks, since there weren’t many obvious positional gems in the torso of the draft class.
But it is what is – not a transformative draft. Just hope one or two of these guys exceed expectations and contribute.
Ryan Nicholson hit middle of the order on Ryan Waldschmidt’s Kentucky team, which made it to the CWS but was destroyed by Cag’s Florida squad. Had a strong high school pedigree, and performed well in college, but often struggled with wood bats on the Cape.
Clark was the best pitcher on JJ Wetherholt’s WVU squad. He was one of the best performers in the country for the first couple months of the year, and was notable for how many 9 inning games he pitched.
One in particular, Dallas Baptist vs WVU, he outdueled the Angels 3rd rounder in a complete game.
Interesting links: here, here, here.
Under the radar selection for a big performer in a small package, from a strong program.
That sounds promising.
You mean stupid Perry just drafting cheap players so Arte can pocket money and buy Cutco knife sets right?
Working today and missing the draft action. Please tell me that Day 2 was more productive than Day 1.
Lots of pitching with most of it likely to head to the bullpen.
Thanks. Speed read through all the comments, looks like I did not miss much.
A 6’11” pitcher???. It’s very Perry. Like his Sonny D pick two years ago. Perry just has to be one of those guys who selects an oddity.
Lot of unorthodox body types in this draft. Olejnik (way tall), Clark (way short).
I like Clark and Flores for deep cut selections in the 8-10 rounds.
Angels picked at 8,45,74, and 81.
Got the prospects rated 13,47,61, and 85. But the picks and ratings only line up on the first one.
Kind of reminds me of our family and friends old Fantasy Football drafts. So at the end of the day I’m not sure it really matters where the players were drafted other than if it helps develop excess bonus money to draft and sign some high schoolers on Day 3.
Tomorrow’s early rounds should be a final indicator of whether this is a completely botched draft or there’s some possible hidden gems in the fold.
Glad to have a Beav in the system! Bridger had some big outings for us at Oregon State last year. A little Wild at times but everything he throws has crazy tilt. Should profile as a nice back end / high leverage arm for us.
Go Beavs!
Cool insight. Definitely looks like Perry is taking another crack at building a homegrown bullpen.
Hopefully Bridger sticks as a rotation piece.
I can’t imagine Bridger as a rotation guy. Seems like he and Cortez are the best locks for impact bullpen arms among Perry’s draftees.
Ah, so the 2021 plan redux.
hey, a non-pitcher in round 8!
Wow… apparently the Cubs scouted UCSB a lot.
CHOS IN THE SHOW!