Blue Jays Discussion: Vladdy named ASG MVP. Draft Over. Now all that's left is the trade deadline

[dredeye]

My prediction: I know many will take issue with this, and even more so because it is based on nothing but my gut reaction - i think we will look back on his draft and it will be very underwhelming. Again, just a prediction based on nothing, but every team has a stinker of a draft every now and then and i think it will be this one.

That being said i know a few outlets think the Jays had one of the better drafts considering they had the second lowest draft pool this year. One writer says they were a winner just by getting Hoglund alone.

I know what you’re saying and I really kind of feel the same. Although the more you read the more positive people sound

 

[phillipmike]

 

[phillipmike]

 

[phillipmike]

Some great pictures from the all star game;

 

[TheMadHatTrick]

He's going to surpass Alomar as the greatest player in team history. Please let us not waste his best years like Delgado and Roy.

 

[TheMadHatTrick]

In college arm Gunnar Hoglund, Blue Jays hope they got top-10 talent with No. 19 pick

Law wrote Hoglund is “more of a command/control guy than a power arm and may lack the plus-pitch to be more than a mid-rotation starter,” but he attacks hitters, throws strikes and looks like he can handle a starter’s workload. Baseball America noted that despite the injury, Hoglund’s body of work (154 innings at Ole Miss over three seasons) demonstrates that he’s a safe-bet starter “with plus command who has the ability to throw three pitches for strikes no matter what the count.”

Hoglund’s three-pitch mix includes a fastball that sat 92-95 mph, per MLB Pipeline, an uptick from a year ago. He also throws an 84-86 mph slider, which got tighter and harder this year, while his changeup is his third pitch.

 

[TGB]

My prediction: I know many will take issue with this, and even more so because it is based on nothing but my gut reaction - i think we will look back on his draft and it will be very underwhelming. Again, just a prediction based on nothing, but every team has a stinker of a draft every now and then and i think it will be this one.

Hard to tell until they get a spring training and a full review from the Jays coaches...or maybe earlier the way tech is these days and all that.

 

[jetsforever]

Pretty sweet for Vlad to get the ASMVP even though it's a meaningless award
Those jerseys are pretty good as well

 

[canucksfan]

I would assume Borucki will be coming up

 

[phillipmike]

Most interesting picks from Draft Day 3

Blue Jays: RHP Luke Holman -- Wilson (Pa.) HS
Round 20 (603rd overall)
Holman reportedly turned down multiple offers to be selected much earlier in the 2021 Draft, looking for a higher bonus to sign him away from his commitment to play NCAA ball at Alabama, but the Blue Jays still used their final pick on the No. 172 player in the class, as ranked by MLB Pipeline. The 18-year-old right-hander has plenty of projection at 6-foot-4 and is one of the more inspiring stories in this Draft class, having beaten large cell lymphoma when he was younger after undergoing chemotherapy for a year. More >

 

[phillipmike]

 

[MS]

My prediction: I know many will take issue with this, and even more so because it is based on nothing but my gut reaction - i think we will look back on his draft and it will be very underwhelming. Again, just a prediction based on nothing, but every team has a stinker of a draft every now and then and i think it will be this one.

That being said i know a few outlets think the Jays had one of the better drafts considering they had the second lowest draft pool this year. One writer says they were a winner just by getting Hoglund alone.

I'm not going to claim to be an MLB draft expert but I get the same general feeling.

Hoglund seems like a high-floor/low-ceiling guy which I'm not a fan of to begin with even before throwing TJS into the mix.

 

[theaub]

Cowards

 

[Vector]

From Fangraphs:

KG: Hoglund’s recent Tommy John surgery dropped him out of the first 10 picks, but in the end, he didn’t fall all that far, and by draft day was expected to go in the 15-20 range. The Jays were one of the toughest teams to get a read on once the draft began, but in the end, they couldn’t pass on this kind of upside at 19.

EL: I love this for Toronto. I think Hoglund’s TJ rehab presents his parent club the opportunity to rework his body and maybe coax more velo out of him, the same way the Dodgers did with Walker Buehler. Hoglund’s slider command is incredible. He was carving up the SEC sitting 80-92 — imagine him parked in the mid-90s.

 

[metafour]

Hoglund seems like a high-floor/low-ceiling guy which I'm not a fan of to begin with even before throwing TJS into the mix.

He's not, but I'd love to hear why you feel this way.

 

[Jimmy Firecracker]

Cowards

It was completely fine for Montreal, Vegas, and Tampa to fly back and forth but god forbid the Jays or TFC do so. Guess it pays to be the Prime Minister’s favourite team.

 

[MS]

He's not, but I'd love to hear why you feel this way.

The reports are 'no dominant pitch' with good control and execution and not eye-popping velocity. That doesn't scream 'high upside' to me.

Again, I'm not claiming to be an expert.

 

[TheMadHatTrick]

The reports are 'no dominant pitch' with good control and execution and not eye-popping velocity. That doesn't scream 'high upside' to me.

Again, I'm not claiming to be an expert.

Don't worry, just wait for metafour to tell you what to think. Makes life easier.

 

[Vector]

The reports are 'no dominant pitch' with good control and execution and not eye-popping velocity. That doesn't scream 'high upside' to me.

Again, I'm not claiming to be an expert.

As I posted earlier, Eric at Fangraphs claims Hoglunds slider is something special.

 

[TheTotalPackage]

Cowards

Is this strictly a federal decision, or is the provincial government involved in the decision as well?

Either way, open it up. We're letting flights come in and out from all over the world. Time to let U.S.-based teams with the majority of players who are vaccinated come in. No issues with putting restrictions in place on those teams. Let's get going already.

 

[phillipmike]

Is this strictly a federal decision, or is the provincial government involved in the decision as well?

Either way, open it up. We're letting flights come in and out from all over the world. Time to let U.S.-based teams with the majority of players who are vaccinated come in. No issues with putting restrictions in place on those teams. Let's get going already.

Both the provincial government and Mayor Tory gave the Jays the green light to play the 2020 games in Toronto, it was the feds who said no. A few weeks ago the province and city re-confirmed their commitment to have to Jays come back this summer. Still waiting on the feds once again.

 

[metafour]

The reports are 'no dominant pitch' with good control and execution and not eye-popping velocity. That doesn't scream 'high upside' to me.

Again, I'm not claiming to be an expert.

His slider was plus this year, as per multiple reports. The fastball was only "above-average", but the velocity on that pitch was also up this year prior to his injury and who knows how much more juice can be coaxed out of that pitch through modern development. His control and command are obviously well above-average and have been since his HS draft year when the Pirates drafted him 36th overall but failed to sign him.

I would implore you to look at his strikeout rates the past two seasons (in the SEC - the best conference in college baseball) and compare to other current and previous top college pitchers. He has better K-rates than Alek Manoah did out of West Virginia, better K-rates than Casey Mize in the same conference (Mize - who had a plus-plus splitter and similar profile of elite control/command). Better K-rates than Kumar Rocker this year.

He has been overpowering the best hitters in the country over the past two seasons, albeit he carries a bit less track record due to last season being cut short due to COVID, and this season only being 11-starts prior to his injury, so I guess there is some risk that his uptick in stuff was just a mirage that might have backed-off over a full season (or, perhaps he could have cemented it even further). Nevertheless his stuff was up this season and his control/command are elite, which means that his pitches play up.

Pitchers that strike out 14 per 9 innings in the SEC aren't accomplishing that off the basis of just being able to control and locate pitches. Not against that level of quality competition. I've followed the draft for a long time - as soon as you tack on a "plus control/command" or "high floor" label on a college pitcher it's as if it sets off some trigger to suggest "low upside". There was a reason why Hoglund was a Top 10 lock prior to his injury; the era of teams drafting supposedly "safe" college pitchers with average stuff in the Top 10-15 is pretty much over.

 

[Canada4Gold]

Bowden Francis might be getting his first start tonight for Buffalo. Was added to the roster yesterday and tonight's starter is TBD but the next 4 games all have been announced.

 

[TheTotalPackage]

Both the provincial government and Mayor Tory gave the Jays the green light to play in the 2020 games in Toronto, it was the feds who said no. A few weeks ago the province and city re-confirmed their commitment to have to Jays come back this summer. Still waiting on the feds once again.

Thanks for clearing that up. I recall last year's veto from the federal government following the other two governments' approval. Hadn't really heard (perhaps didn't follow intently enough) the process approval this year. Hope the federal government comes to their senses this time around.

 

[MS]

His slider was plus this year, as per multiple reports. The fastball was only "above-average", but the velocity on that pitch was also up this year prior to his injury and who knows how much more juice can be coaxed out of that pitch through modern development. His control and command are obviously well above-average and have been since his HS draft year when the Pirates drafted him 36th overall but failed to sign him.

I would implore you to look at his strikeout rates the past two seasons (in the SEC - the best conference in college baseball) and compare to other current and previous top college pitchers. He has better K-rates than Alek Manoah did out of West Virginia, better K-rates than Casey Mize in the same conference (Mize - who had a plus-plus splitter and similar profile of elite control/command). Better K-rates than Kumar Rocker this year.

He has been overpowering the best hitters in the country over the past two seasons, albeit he carries a bit less track record due to last season being cut short due to COVID, and this season only being 11-starts prior to his injury, so I guess there is some risk that his uptick in stuff was just a mirage that might have backed-off over a full season (or, perhaps he could have cemented it even further). Nevertheless his stuff was up this season and his control/command are elite, which means that his pitches play up.

Pitchers that strike out 14 per 9 innings in the SEC aren't accomplishing that off the basis of just being able to control and locate pitches. Not against that level of quality competition. I've followed the draft for a long time - as soon as you tack on a "plus control/command" or "high floor" label on a college pitcher it's as if it sets off some trigger to suggest "low upside". There was a reason why Hoglund was a Top 10 lock prior to his injury; the era of teams drafting supposedly "safe" college pitchers with average stuff in the Top 10-15 is pretty much over.

That strikeout rate looks great in a vacuum but 20 of 20 pitchers for Mississippi were striking out over a batter/inning and the team as a whole were striking out almost 12 batters/inning. The guy who went #58 overall was blowing guys away at a higher rate yet.

Again, I'm not an expert. I didn't like the way he was being described and the way the team themselves described him. If he comes through with a wipeout slider ... great.