2101 Nokes Draft Grades

[mattynokes]

01. RF/1B/DH Salvatore Tequida
What He Does Well: He's very young. He has solid speed and should get on-base at a nice clip.

Why He Sucks: In the end, he'll have more of a contact build and he's merely tolerable defensively.

Bottom Line: I think he'll be a solid player, but I expect middling power and steal ability. Maybe he'll consistently hit for a high average (his contact projects to over 90), because he'll have to in order to be a real valuable piece.

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02. 3B Ethan Leenan
What He Does Well: He has good power and elite defense.

Why He Sucks: He won't walk a lick and despite having good vitals at 2B, his speed limits him to 3B.

Bottom Line: He looks to follow in the footsteps of Tom Litvinsky. Good defense and good power is welcomed at the hot corner. It's just to be a great player, he'll need to (magically) walk more or hit for a nice average.

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03. CF Hideki Honda
What He Does Well: Defense and speed

Why He Sucks: He has lower health and limited upside

Bottom Line: He has good (but slightly overrated) speed. He should hit well enough to be am everyday starter, but just how good will depend on how long he has to develop.

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04. RF Raul Sigier
What He Does Well: He has good speed and good defense.

Why He Sucks: He also has lower health and limited upside. He shows pretty low K's.

Bottom Line: While he looks very similar to Honda, Sigier looks to have an even more inflated contact. He strikes me as a guy who'll look like he'll hit for a ~.300 AVG, but instead sits in the .270s.

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05. SP Josh Bithery
What He Does Well: He has great power and good control to go with a couple of nice pitches.

Why He Sucks: He's shown high home runs three years and his low GB% backs that up.

Bottom Line: Normally, I wouldn't be so kind to a player like this. He's mildly advanced and the home run issues could truly be a thing. However, this draft seems rather bland and it's not the worst thing to take a chance on. His control and power will be pretty good and if his home runs aren't a big issue, he could end up pretty good.

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06. SP Chip Foley
What He Does Well: He has an exceptional ground ball rate. He doesn't show any home run concerns and he's just 16.

Why He Sucks: His build is as bland as this draft.

Bottom Line: Who knows how he'll develop. Mogul sometimes likes taking these real build mediocre (or even bad) builds and turning them into HOFers. Though, if he develops as the build is normally expected to turn out, he could be in trouble.

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07. 3B/2B Daveed Santa
What He Does Well: He has great defense to go along with solid power and a solid eye.

Why He Sucks: He has pretty drastic splits.

Bottom Line: So, the splits are somewhat of a concern, but even then he doesn't have to develop much to become an everyday starter. He's much like Leenan. You're trading some power for a substantially better eye. As long as his contact vs RHPs is tolerable, I think he'll be a highly coveted player.

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08. C Fredrik Sanders
What He Does Well: He'll wind up with good contact and a good defensive profile.

Why He Sucks: He lacks power.

Bottom Line: There's four really talented catchers in this draft. He's one of them. It's really splitting hairs for which will be the best one. Sanders has a nice contact/eye build and his power won't be terrible. He'll also have upper 60's speed, which is quite good for a backstop.

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09. SP Joe White
What He Does Well: He has great control and high GB%.

Why He Sucks: He has an extreme control-to-movement gap.

Bottom Line: He looks like he should be a solid pitcher. He has the control, GB%, and he doesn't show any real home run concerns. The problem is with a 16 gap between control and movement, it usually spells the home runs will be a concern or that he'll get battered around for a lot of hits. I tend to think he'll be solid enough, but that gap has me weary of him being consistently good.

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10. C Lionel Talent
What He Does Well: He has good power and good defense.

Why He Sucks: His contact with a -3 drop has some concern.

Bottom Line: He's another good defensive and solid offensive catcher. With his power, he could very well be the best threat in the batter's box out of this catching crop. If his contact catches up, he'll definitely be a very good catcher.

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11. SP Marvin Wessel
What He Does Well: He has good control and tons of upside.

Why He Sucks: He's shown high home runs and a high OBA.

Bottom Line: You can look at the high home runs and high OBA and think they're enough red flags to not like him, but I wouldn't. He's young enough to think that those are a product of not being very developed at the moment. I think his movement will eventually catch up to his control (or come very close), so no issue there either. In a class full of uninspiring prospects, I think he was the one to push all the chips to the center of the table and see if his development turns him into a top of the rotation pitcher and forget the amateur stats.

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12. SP Dan Hoogaboom
What He Does Well: He has solid power and is very young.

Why He Sucks: He's shown some high home run years.

Bottom Line: This is another dice roll on a 16 year old. Even if he wasn't 16, I don't think this is a bad build to bet on. The projections have him around 80, 80, 90 and if Mogul does its thing to 16 year olds, he could easily wind up with mid 80s control and mid 90s movement.

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13. 1B/DH Kevin Kent
What He Does Well: He has good power and a solid eye.

Why He Sucks: He's limited defensively and has below average health.

Bottom Line: Luckily the defensive edits now give him a position, so that's a small extra boost. He has already jumped, so it'll be interesting to see how he ages. If he gets to his projection of mid 90s power and eye, he'll be a big time bat that you look for out of the #4 or #5 slot. He should be somewhat similar to Scott Brune, though I'd expect his contact and AVG to turn out better.

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