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Official Minor League and Amateur Baseball Thread


beekay414

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Caglianone is a hitter only imo.  He'd be a round 2-4 pick if he was a pitcher only and that's only because he has elite velo as a left hander.  Had a near 5 ERA this year as a pitcher and his breaking ball is inconsistent.  Maybe he'd be better if he was a pitcher only, but he's a future 1B which will also hurt his value as a bat only guy.  Cags also became a slap hitter with 2 strikes this year, a strategy I don't think will work nearly as well in the pros with a wood bat against better pitching.  He still chases balls outside the zone a lot more than the other top bats and he doesn't connect much when he chases either.  Only 8 doubles to go with his 35 home runs, and half of those doubles came in the post season.  He did have a helluva postseason though.  80 raw power.  Like Condon, nearly half his walks this year were intentional walks.

I prefer Hagen Smith to Chase Burns.  Burns control might be equal to Smith, but Smith's command of the zone leads to him getting hit hard a lot less than Burns does.  Like said above, Burns fastball gets very straight at times and it gets crushed at the college level.  People were throwing out Skenes comps, and that was ridiculous to me, the only comp there is a fastball that touches triple digits, except Skenes fastball has life to it.  Hagen Smith is a rich man's Kyle Harrison

Kurtz is a 1B only, but he might be a gold glove 1B.  He also has the best strike zone discipline in the draft.  Battled injuries early this year which dampened his numbers some but once he got healthy mid year he went on a big tear.

Bazzana will either be a 2B or a CF, I think he could handle either, and his tool set is almost 60 across the board except i'd call his arm average.  He can run, hit, hit for power, and has great plate discipline nearly on par with Kurtz.  If he lands on a team like the Reds who already have Matt Mclain for 2B (who would be a plus SS in Cincinnati if the Reds didn't already have Elly De La Cruz) then i'd put him in CF immediately and let him settle there.  If he goes to a team that needs a 2B, he can stick there as a pro and be a good defender.

Condon will have a decent amount of swing and miss as a pro, but he doesn't chase nearly as much as Caglianone does.  His walk rate also benefitted a lot from intentional walks this year and he struck out more than Cags, but he also hit for a lot more extra base hits and a higher batting average.  It's already 70 in game power, and he might still add another 10-15 lbs of muscle as his body matures.  Cagianone is already a stout 250, Condon is only 216 and is an inch taller, so he might get stronger yet still.  A team could try to see if he can stick at 3B, but i'd say put him in RF (and he has plenty of arm for RF) and let him mash his way to the bigs and settle into a long term spot quickly.

JJ Wetherholt was the NCAA batting champion in the 2023 season but struggled with injuries the first half of this season.  The second half his bat looked like it did last year except he showed more power this year.  He'll take plenty of walks and he moved to SS this year and looked good doing it.  He doesn't have the track record at SS, but if a team believe he can stick there then you can get an elite hitter at SS.

Christian Moore of Tennessee has been overshadowed at 2B this year by Travis Bazzana, but he's had a monster year and an even better college world series so far.  He's pushing 30 HR now, hit nearly 400, hit for the first cycle in the CWS in almost 70 years, and I think if he goes outside the top 10 like he is projected, someone is going to get a steal.

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I know nothing about college baseball. Is Vitello baseball's version of Spurrier from the 90s? An a-hole that everyone but his fans hate because he doesn't do things "the right way"? By all accounts he seems like a great dude off the diamond, but every other team's fans hate his guts. 

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  • 4 weeks later...

I like the Bazzana pick for Cleveland a lot. I would've liked Condon also but it sounds like they have a deal in place with Bazzana that will let them go overslot in Comp A or the 2nd. And with him and Condon being 1a/1b for me, I'm fine with saving something here for an overslot there.

I'm surprised by Condon not going #2 as well. I wonder if that's a need influenced pick? Reds certainly need more SP's than bats right now.

Condon to the Rockies makes him the #1 pick for first year fantasy drafts, right?

Stupid Cardinals getting Wetherholt. That's a really solid pick.

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