2094 Nokes Draft Grades

[mattynokes]

I’m going to try to change up the draft grades. Instead of going through pick-by-pick, I’ll highlights the good and bad picks of the draft. Sometimes it may only be the first round. Other drafts it could go later. It’ll just depend on how much time I can devote as well as how much talent I feel was in the draft.
 


The Good
 
01. CF Jose Griffin
 
This was a pretty obvious selection to make, but what intrigues me is wondering how soon he’ll be in the majors. If it were me, I’d have him in the majors right away. He’s certainly MLB quality and will be controlled through his age 28 season in the least. He’s been compared to a number of players, most notably Mark Matte. He certainly has the look of that build and I think he gives more value because of how quickly he can reach the majors.
 
08. C Edwin Studly
 
Everyone send Stang “Get Well” cards. I’m praising a pick of his, so he’ll be back in the hospital soon. Sorry dude.
 
I thought Studly was easily the best catcher in the draft. I think he wins the debate of him vs Foshee because I feel his bat is actually better. Their power is basically the same, but Foshee is more of a low strikeout guy, whereas Studly will draw more walks. What that means is if you’re going to say Contact = AVG and Eye = BB, then you’re basically like looking at the following for real production:
 
Foshee: 65 Con 71 Eye
Studly: 66 Con 75 Eye
 
Add on that Studly has more upside and didn’t drop very much when he aged and I like the pick a lot.
 
14. 3B Josh Cooper
Directly following Simons is who I think is a much better pick. Sure, his fielding isn’t ideal in FCM, but he’s got a strong arm and quality range. He also looks like a better well-rounded bat than Simons. He likely won’t be a 20-25 HR guy, but he should hit for a respectable average and get on-base at a solid clip.
 
15. SP Jamie Kramer
Not that I think this was some amazing pick, but I was surprised to see him still on the board at this point. I would figure a low homer and very high GB% that only dropped two points when he aged would be long gone by now. Maybe it was the lack of a real convincing build, but give him 7 or 8 years to develop and I think his build at peak will look pretty nice.
 
20. DH/1B Les Flynn
Despite their GM being crotchety and not being able to take a joke, I think this even a better pick than what Milwaukee got at #10. Flynn looks to be on the path to becoming a Matt Towe. While there’s a very good likelihood that he’s never going to be good enough to start vs LHP, he should crush righties. Even playing in ~75% of the games, he could still put up 30+ homers and walk 75+ times. What a fleece job, trading back 10 slots and still getting a great bat!
 
29. 1B Vernon Vazquez
Yes, First Base. He has predicted there and I think he was highly overlooked for being a 2B with poor range. He has a real good bat one spot over on the right side. He’ll have some serious power and should be an on-base machine.
 
The Bad
 
04. SP Jacob Scheffler
 
I hate to say this is a real bad pick, but I think there’s enough to be concerned with to classify him as a draftee that you roll the dice on. With all the talent this draft had, I thought it was too early to take him. The home runs are an issue for me. And sure, he’s just 17, but he’s also more advanced (63 overall) than most high school prospects, so I wouldn’t give him as much benefit as a normal 50’s overall high school draftee.  That combined with a very low 20% GB rate and I think home run issues will always follow him.
 
13.  3B Randy Simons


If you like Ben Carne-lite, this is your guy! He doesn’t draw walks and it doesn’t look like his contact will be anything substantial enough to consistently hit for a good average. His value offensively will live and die on his home runs. If Carne is any indication, Simons will be a 20-25 HR guy. His defense is top notch, but the build is more along the lines of someone you put on your bench and jack your Defensive Substitution strategy up to +5 and let him replace a weaker fielder late in the game.
 
30. C Binu Tanikawa
 
Unless his power really explodes, I don’t see the big appeal to him. He’s just okay defensively and his eye is a huge problem. He rarely walks and I think he has the type of plate discipline that will make his contact a little inflated. So, that means he’ll be relying on his power to carry his offensive numbers. I think he either winds up a mediocre catcher (because of his lack of defense) or a below average 1B/DH. Basically, I think there’s good reason he fell (and should have continued to fall).