Frayed Knot

2nd round pick (59th overall): Mark Vientos, 3B, American Heritage School (Fla) Sickels: "Very young but good offensive tools, erratic, only 17" more stuff 6' 4" / 190, just 17 and 6 months, youngest player expected to be drafted on Day One. SS now but probably 3B in the long view. "It seems likely that Vientos’ youth and bat will be too much for teams to pass up at the top of the draft and that he won’t get to college. The exact shape his abilities will take down the line is uncertain, but the ceiling is certainly high enough to be worth a gamble."

Insta-analysis from Jim Callis at MLB.com: Peterson is a polished lefty who took a step forward this season, striking out 20 in a game against Arizona State while ranking among the NCAA Division I leaders in strikeout-to-walk ratio. His low-90s fastball and slider are his two best pitches. He can also mix in a curveball and changeup. I can see him getting quickly to the big leagues as a mid-rotation starter.

Braves win 11-10 on a Tyler Flowers 3R HR in the 9th The HR made it 11-9. Nats got one back in the bottom half but Harper flied to CF with the tying run on 1st to end the game. Matt Albers was Dusty's designated closer du jour but that choice didn't work out too well as he's the one who served up the tater to Flowers. That's 3.5 games gained in three days.

MFS62 wrote: Schmidt was ranked much lower in the past few weeks, BA had him ranked 32nd, MLB ranked him 49th. So he must have something going on, like he has already signed. (Derek came to him in a vision and told him to sign). Later Or they simply ranked him higher than others do. These rankings, as NFL fans have failed to realize for like 90 years in a row now, are simply opinions and not etched on tablets anywhere. The snag is that he's already had TJ surgery and so that plays into the process.

As from Page 1 of this thread: David Peterson, LHP, U-Oregon -- 6'6"/240, big K guy whose stock increased this year when his previously high walk rate plummeted: K/BB this season = 107/6

Frayed Knot wrote: Braves have hung a six-spot on Strasburg through the first three innings. 6-4 Braves, bottom 3 in DC Now 9-6 Nats, still only in the 5th

7 full innings in < 2 hours !! Amazing what 9 or 10 GiDPs will do for ya.

#16 - Yanquis - Clarke Schmidt - RHP - Univ S Carolina Says he always admired Jeter with a Stepford-like cadence to his voice #17 - Mariners - Evan White - 1B/OF - U of Kentucky #18 - Tigers - Alex Faedo - RHP - U of Florida #19 - Giants - Helio Ramos - OF - Puerto Rico Next one is us!!

Bruce shoulda had it #garbagefielder

An infield defense that's a help towards winning rather than a hinderance ... what a concept!!

#11 - ChiSox - Jake Burger - 1B/OF Missouri state #12 - Pirates - Shane Baz - RHP (Texas) OF #13 - Marlins - Trevor Rogers - LHP HS New Mexico #14 - Royals - Nick Pratto - Calif HS 1B #15 - Astros - JB Bukauskas - RHP UNC

What the hell is Lackey yelling at the ump about after a 1st pitch HR. I love seeing this guy getting his ass kicked, and even better when we're the ones doing the kicking.

Braves have hung a six-spot on Strasburg through the first three innings. 6-4 Braves, bottom 3 in DC

#7 - Arizona - Pavin Smith - 1B U of Virginia #8 - Phillies - Adam Haseley - OF - U of Virginia #9 - Brewers - Keston Hiura - 2B/OF - UC Irvine #10 - Angels - Jordan Adell - HS OF

#1 - Twins - Royce Lewis - HS SS Not one of the pair expected to go #1 & #2, but a "legitimate #1 pick" says Jim Callis #2 - Reds - Hunter Greene - HS RHP The SI cover boy and all-around solid citizen #3 - Padres - MacKenzie Gore - HS LHP 3rd straight HS kid #4 Tampa Bay - Brendan McKay - 1B, U Louisville with Greene, the pre-draft favorites to go 1st and/or 2nd #5 - Atlanta - Kyle Wright - RHP - Vanderbilt #6 - Oakland - Austin Beck - HS OF

Finally got one where Heyward wasn't tall enough.

I hadn't either. In 2010 & '11 he was setting up for, and to a degree out-pitching, Papelbon. Then the Sox ditched Papelbon and Bard's BB-rate, never low to begin with but at least improving, shot to 43 walks in just 59 IP. By 2013 he was out of the majors and by '15 no longer even in the minors. He resurfaced last season but in limited 2016-17 action in A & AA ball has walked 32 in less than 12 innings. Not sure even Rick Peterson can fix that in ten minutes.

The cardinals take Gilmartin so we take reliever Daniel Bard from them [per Carig tweet] Once a first round draft pick -- 28th overall in 2006 out of UNC -- of the Red Sox, Bard had a sub-1.00 WHIP through his first 200 ML innings and everyone knew be was bound to be the future Boston closer. He then crashed and burned right about as they handed him the job and the soon to turn 33 y/o RHR hasn't pitched in the big leagues since 2013 He was most recently toiling -- and I mean really toiling -- in AA Springfield in the StL system.

Yeah, I was just about to ask if Conforto did something during the game yesterday. It would explain the late inning PH thing as well. Now the only question remains is the date of the surgery.

The team had to be planning on a decline out of Lackey given his age and mileage. The downturn of Arrieta, still just 31 and reportedly a fitness and nutrition freak, seems to be as out of the blue as his surge was when it popped up three years ago.

So what’s happening with the — as they once (but only once) said in Brooklyn — Woild Champeens? The best team in MLFB from start to finish last season is chugging along at .500 with a run differential (+2) that says that’s pretty much what they deserve and, in their early June matchup against one of the elite teams of the 2017 season, they had to pull out a win on Sunday to avoid getting ‘bageled’ in a four-game set vs Colorado. They got out-scored 18-5 in the first three games. In 2016 they were *By Far* the best team in the NL at preventing runs and were second only to the Rocky Mountain High totals of Colorado when it came to scoring them. That near double coup has fallen to where they’re right around league average in scoring and only a shade better than the norm in preventing them this year. So what gives? Pitching: In 2016 they had just Ten games started by someone other than their main five and most of them were late season choices they made to give regular starters a rest rather than something they were forced into by injuries, iow, their rotation (Lackey, Lester, Arrieta, Hendricks, Hammel) stayed intact all season. But Hammel went FA to KCR over the winter, Hendricks in currently on the DL, Lackey is older still, and whatever magic Arrieta found that turned him from a Baltimore bust to a three-year (2014-16) run with the Cubs which produced a CY and a 2.42 ERA during that span, has now deserted him to the point where he’s merely ordinary right now. Closing is former KCR Wade Davis, he and set-up guys Carl Edwards Jr. (is he a racecar driver or a hamburger joint?) and 89 y/o Koji Uehara have all been good so that, unlike the Nats, when the Cubs are losing games it’s usually not through late blown leads. Offense: Dexter Fowler left both the top of their lineup and the city itself; the clamor to declare Kyle Schwarber as the next generation of super weapon has turned out to be, at best, premature; their young middle infielders are both OBA’ing at sub-.300 levels; and really only Rizzo & Bryant (the Bryzzo Corp as they’re called on the commercials) are hitting to an OPS+ of over 100 Lineup - although you always have to keep in mind that Maddon likes to mix and match … A LOT! C - Willson Contreras gets most of the starts although Miguel Montero has been the better hitter 1B - Rizzo, started REAL slow but is back to normal since mid-May or so Middle IF - Javier Baez at 2nd has given way lately to more Ben Zobrist with Baez shifting to SS in place of the slumping Addison Russell 3B — Kris Bryant plays everyday OF — Awww who the hell knows? Some combo of Schwarber, Heyward, Zobrist, Almora, Jay, or Happ Four different guys have started double-digit games in CF, lately it’s been recent call-up Ian Happ, their 22 y/o former 1st round draft pick (#9 overall in 2015) Heyward's not been as bad as in recent years (87 OPS+ as opposed to last year’s 70) but is still dragging that contract around CF & RF like an anchor Former StL Cardinal Jon Jay has the best offensive numbers of all the OFs but only plays part-time Monday 7:10 — deGrom vs Lackey Lackey is now 38, isn’t pitching that well [4-6; 5.12; 1.37] And, besides that, he’s funny looking and always comes off like an angry asshole. Tuesday 7:10 — Wheeler vs Jon Lester (L) Probably been the Cubs best pitcher this year but, like another team I could name, that’s a bit like being the best hockey player in Ecuador [3-4; 4.13; 1.35] Wednesday 7:10 — Harvey vs Mike Montgomery (L) A former 1st round pick of the Royals, Montgomery came to the Cubs via Seattle late last season and made five starts for them. He’s been in the bullpen mostly this season as this will be just his 2nd start of the year.

An index of players likely to be drafted early on from John Sickels' site. Should be a good tool to play along at home during draft time. MLB is advertising that the draft starts at 6PM but it's looking like it really gets underway at 7 so it'll be happening during game time. At six they're merely doing the pre-draft show to lead up to the draft since it's not like there's any time to talk between picks

It helps that, while we were taking 3 of 4 from the Braves, the Nats were taking it on the chin from the Rangers, getting beat three straight at home. Tanner Roark got roughed up on Friday; their bullpen sunk them on Saturday (gave up 2 in the 9th plus 3 more in the 11th); then Scherzer's gem got destroyed on Sunday by the pen when the Rangers scored 4 times in the 8th on one hit.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: Impugn his lady choices all you'd like, but you can't fault that taste in hosiery. Not just the taste in hosiery, but he was the one with the full-blown socks technique where he'd put on his pants starting inside-out so as to keep the previously donned stirrups looking mahrvalus throughout the game.

S/He was a party/Rule-5 pickup, had some good times in the beginning but it didn't last and now you've both moved on with no hard feelings. It happens.