How to Honor the 2016 Championship Cleveland Cavaliers: WFNY Staff Chats
June 11, 2020When the music tells a story: WFNY Staff Chat
June 16, 2020mgbode – Today’s roundtable covers an actual live sporting event; well, sort of. The 2020 MLB Draft was held on Wednesday June 10 and Thursday June 11 with the Cleveland Indians obtaining the following players:
- Tucker, Carson, Mountain Pointe HS (AZ), SS
- Burns, Tanner, Auburn, RHP
- Allen, Logan, Florida International, LHP
- Halpin, Petey, Mira Costa HS (CA), OF
- Tolentino, Milan, Santa Margarita HS (CA), SS
- Hickman, Mason, Vanderbilt (TN), RHP
Thoughts?
scott – George Carlin is rolling over in his grave.
gerbs – I look forward to being confused as to which Logan Allen is frustrating me for years to come.
mgbode – The ‘original’ Logan Allen is having a good time with it: https://twitter.com/Logan__Allen/status/1271262442539175937
gerbs – In actuality, Tucker has good bloodlines and has been training with his brother, Cole, and Cody Bellinger. That baseball knowledge has to rub off some. However, as stated yesterday on Twitter by some, his selection has nothing to do with Francisco Lindor’s expected exit from the franchise and more about organizational depth in the middle infield.
mgbode – Another bit of craziness is that the Indians first five picks were all members of Team USA at some point. Only Mason Hickman was not.
Hickman was an All-American at Vanderbilt though, so perhaps we can find a way for him to be involved in a World Baseball Classic in the future to close the loop on this draft class.
gerbs – Jeff Ellis, @jeffMLBDraft on Twitter, made a good point about Tanner Burns:
Indians have had great success with Burns types he fits with Civale, Plesac, and Bieber in terms of college production. Indians trust medicals and mentioned themselves. If not for my concern there I would have put just behind Bryce Jarvis
— Jeffmlbdraft (@jeffMLBdraft) June 11, 2020
The idea that Burns’ college production puts him alongside Bieber/Civale/Plesac who all ran through the org like gangbusters is nice
mgbode – Burns is interesting because the idea there is that he can make velocity gains in our system to complement his already good control. And hey, maybe he can. He’s only 6-foot tall though and Auburn has a great player development program. So, while he could gain strength/weight (only just over 200 pounds), he also could conceivably be a bit tapped out on potential. We’ll see.
mitchell – I’m very curious what they do with Burn’s arm action. He’s slightly cross-body, and he brings his arm widely around his head. Like, I almost wonder if the Indians try to draft guys that are one physical adjustment away. Or, to be more specific, college pitchers that are one adjustment away. I think the Indians draft pitchers as if velocity can be taught (it can) but command is preternatural (who knows).
mgbode – Or at least more difficult to teach.
gerbs – Bieber picked up velo in the system to go along with his 80 grade command and control
mitchell – Right, and we can think the same way of Civale, who has insane raw spin and Bieber-lite command.
mgbode – Yes.
OK, now what about the 6-foot tall, 180 pounds (I think with bricks in his pockets) southpaw, Logan Allen. What do you think of him?
mitchell – My honest first thought was: the Indians drafted a LHP???
That seems like it never happens.
gerbs – Logan Allen 1.0 is the first lefty Indians starting pitcher in nearly a decade, so getting a lefty in the system that has a high ceiling is great
mgbode – That’s the question though… does he have a high ceiling? I have seen quite a few suggesting that he’ll be in the bullpen before long.
gerbs – With larger rosters and the three-batter minimum, it would be helpful to have a lefty pen arm that is more than a LOOGY. It remains to be see if the newer Allen can be that, but it’s too early to assign him pen duties already
mgbode – Agreed, and the Tribe tends to give pitchers every opportunity to stick as a starter. OK, the other obvious thing from the Indians prospect list and mentioned as a strategy by some… three college pitchers and three high school position players. What do you think of the approach?
mitchell – I mean, it’s old hat now right? This is what the Indians do. Athletic, super-young shortstops with great bat-to-ball skills and successful, under-appreciated college pitchers. With the exception of the occasional full-bodied prep pitcher, e.g. Daniel Espino or Ethan Hankins, this is what the Indians do.
mitchell – The Indians’ draft coordinator could go on Sesame Street and do a segment as the Shortstop Monster.
mgbode – And Halpin fits the bill as the uber-athletic outfielder though the Tribe has had less success getting those players from draft to The Show.
mitchell – True, forgot about young Pete. But yes, he’s got a similar toolset as their shortstops.
Is there someone realistic you guys wished the Indians drafted but didn’t? I’m not talking Torkelson here, we knew he was 1/1.
gerbs – Who was the last farm developed outfielder that the Tribe cultivated and why do I think it was Grady Sizemore?
mitchell – Gerbs, at this point, we gotta recognize Naquin, no?
mgbode – I would recognize Naquin if I saw him in public, sure.
gerbs – When Tyler Naquin is the best answer to the above question, you’ve said what I intended to say
mitchell – All I’m saying is he’s had two average-ish seasons. You guys know I’m not a Naquin guy.
mgbode – Ka-ai Tom is the current hope. Benson and Capel were hopes at one point. Maybe Quentin Holmes and Jonathan Rodriguez will be the next hopes.
gerbs – Man I wish Benson had better contact ability.
mgbode – Back to Mitch’s question. I really, really liked Cole Wilcox (pitcher from Georgia) and thought he was being under-valued as a late first-round guy, then got drafted in Round 3 by San Diego. ESPN said it was because he wanted $3 million to sign, so he’s probably just going back to school.
mitchell – It seems like Wilcox was a case of having way more faith in yourself than the teams do. He was a sophomore, so he’ll definitely have a chance to prove it.
mgbode – Another guy that jumped out was Jared Kelley who had great stuff for a high schooler. The White Sox nabbed him at Pick 47 (one of the five pitchers they took).
gerbs – We’ve long past exhausted any knowledge I have of draftable players, so who went first? Let’s take him. Or anyone Tampa Bay, my developmental organization crush, took.
mitchell – I said realistic, Gerbs!
mgbode – Tampa picking one spot behind the Tribe means that there will be plenty of opportunity for the Indians to look bad for “passing on a guy.”
When really their insane development system could mean that even a good development system like the Indians wouldn’t have eeked out the same value.
gerbs – I like guys that “could be the next Mike Trout” so anyone who was claimed to be him, sure.
mgbode – Oh, there was someone that ESPN said that about…
mitchell – Ugh.
mgbode – It was either Zac Veen or Austin Hendrick, I forget which.
mitchell – It’s interesting, you guys mention Kelley and Tampa, who drafted prep arm Nick Bitsko. The Indians don’t normally target prep arms, but this was a particularly volatile year for them. They could be insanely valuable or completely bust.
mgbode – Or both!
mitchell – Tampa can afford a first round bust, so it makes sense that they’d try to knock it out of the park.
gerbs – Let’s use this break to remind ourselves and our readers that even as quickly as Bieber/Civale/Plesac broke with the big club, they took (mostly) two years after being drafted to make it to the majors. These players won’t be seen in Cleveland for years to come. Tucker and Tolentino are light years away from being Lindor replacements
mgbode – This is the part of the chat where we mention that kids born in 2002 were drafted; including Halpin. Yes, everyone reading, you are likely feeling old now.
gerbs – But if there was one who was player who was going to be “fast tracked” to the bigs, it would be Burns, yes?
mitchell – I would say it just depends on which college arm takes to the developmental coaching the fastest.
Which I know is a non-answer.
mgbode – Put Hickman in a Cressey or DST gym over the offseason and it could be him.
mitchell – Exactly. It’s just hard to know.
mgbode – Pretty sure it won’t be Logan Allen because that would just be too confusing.
mitchell – They should have thought of that before they drafted him!
gerbs – Another “which Jose Ramirez is the right one on FanGraphs” situation waiting to happen
mgbode – I wish his name was Allen Logan, to be honest. Would have been even funnier.
mgbode – OK, let’s give a nod to Dillon Dingler, whom the Detroit Tigers drafted with the first pick of the second round out of the Ohio State University.
mitchell – Great name.
mgbode – Mac Wainwright out of St. Edwards High School was also drafted by the now stacked pitching development program of the Cincinnati Reds in the fourth round. He is an outfielder, but I’m sure they are beefing up that side of things too.
And Joey Wiemer of the Cincinnati Bearcats was taken by the Milwaukee Brewers in the fourth round to finish off the Ohio prospects drafted.
Quite a few other Ohio kids who did not get drafted but could get signed led by Buckeye Seth Lonsway who was a surprise non-draftee.
mitchell – Great job, Ohio!
Also, quickly, back to the Logans Allen. It’s too bad one of them isn’t a fireballing lefty and the other a junkballer righty. Put both of them in the bullpen, make them numbers 86 and 88. That could get real confusing. Is the new market inefficiency having players with the same name?
mgbode – The current Logan Allen is 53, so you’d want the new Logan Allen to be 35. Then, you’d want to argue with the umpire that you are having the same pitcher name pitch to a new batter, so it still follows the 3-batter minimum rule. Alas…
mitchell – “Now pitching for the Indians, number eighty-[PA muffles], Logan Allen!”