Ragans gets a well-deserved honor. Plus, MJ Melendez is looking good, Jake Brentz is hurt, a Royals prospect is touching triple-digits on the radar gun and the Royals Hall of Fame gets it right.
This gets me really excited. I found a scouting report on MLB.com about him that said:
"He possesses an above-average 82-84 mph slider that has a hard break, landing on both sides of the plate. A big focus for him will be a changeup, like most pitchers his age." https://www.mlb.com/prospects/royals/blake-wolters-806265
It sounds like he's doing a good job of developing that changeup to go along with a plus-slider and a plus-plus fastball.
The Mitchell pick was widely panned due to the lack of success of the HS catcher demographic. On draft day we didn’t yet know they went $1m underslot on Mitchell and $1m overslot on Wolters. Wolters was drafted around where most expected, so it wasn’t clear the overslot spending on Wolters was warranted. Based on these early returns, their draft strategy is looking a lot more defensible. It’s hard to give the Royals much credit given their recent track record, but I’m cautiously optimistic that their strategy could pay off handsomely. Its still very high-risk, but both players have legitimate star potential.
I went to a Royals game at Kauffman during the Bo Jackson era. He was jammed on a pitch and it shattered his bat. The bat head ended up in short left field and the ball was eventually caught by the CF standing at the base of the wall in dead center. He shattered his bat and still hit it basically 410 feet. You're right, the numbers weren't all that great, but the guy would just do stuff on the field occasionally that NOBODY else could do. He made games worth watching just for that chance that he'd do something ridiculous.
Always enjoy your writing, check almost everyday to see if you posted.
While I am liking what Ragans selection says about the methodology, I am loving the Bo nod. After just rereading your article, I went to the tube site and typed in "Bo climbs wall" and there it was, maybe even better than I remembered as a kid. He may not have all the stats, but man did he make baseball fun!
Blake Wolters: Not bad for a 2nd rounder.
This gets me really excited. I found a scouting report on MLB.com about him that said:
"He possesses an above-average 82-84 mph slider that has a hard break, landing on both sides of the plate. A big focus for him will be a changeup, like most pitchers his age." https://www.mlb.com/prospects/royals/blake-wolters-806265
It sounds like he's doing a good job of developing that changeup to go along with a plus-slider and a plus-plus fastball.
The Mitchell pick was widely panned due to the lack of success of the HS catcher demographic. On draft day we didn’t yet know they went $1m underslot on Mitchell and $1m overslot on Wolters. Wolters was drafted around where most expected, so it wasn’t clear the overslot spending on Wolters was warranted. Based on these early returns, their draft strategy is looking a lot more defensible. It’s hard to give the Royals much credit given their recent track record, but I’m cautiously optimistic that their strategy could pay off handsomely. Its still very high-risk, but both players have legitimate star potential.
I went to a Royals game at Kauffman during the Bo Jackson era. He was jammed on a pitch and it shattered his bat. The bat head ended up in short left field and the ball was eventually caught by the CF standing at the base of the wall in dead center. He shattered his bat and still hit it basically 410 feet. You're right, the numbers weren't all that great, but the guy would just do stuff on the field occasionally that NOBODY else could do. He made games worth watching just for that chance that he'd do something ridiculous.
Always enjoy your writing, check almost everyday to see if you posted.
While I am liking what Ragans selection says about the methodology, I am loving the Bo nod. After just rereading your article, I went to the tube site and typed in "Bo climbs wall" and there it was, maybe even better than I remembered as a kid. He may not have all the stats, but man did he make baseball fun!