Today’s draft tidbits, all bullet-pointy.
Another article on top prospects in this year’s draft who were undrafted out of high school.
I’m quoted extensively in this survey article on the HS crop in this year’s draft.
Another videoclip, this one about Scott Boras’ role in this year’s draft.
Also, Levi Stahl discusses Elaine Dundy’s The Old Man and Me in this and one prior blog post. I’ve never read it, but loved her first novel, The Dud Avocado, when I read it back in January.
Last up – I’ll be on our Pittsburgh affiliate again on Saturday morning at 10:40 am, and I’ll be on ESPN Radio sometime in the 9 am EDT hour on Sunday morning.
What is too many pitches for a starter, or rather what is a good way to determine when he needs to come out? Verlander is up around 118, 120, and yet he hasn’t given up a run and his last pitch of the 8th was 97, so he still has his velocity, yet they yanked him after 0 er. Is it more than velocity, like body language and leaving balls up, and maybe a gut feeling too? Or is the gun a primary indicator?
Keith- Josh Levin from Slate (written on Deadspin) dropped your name in an article about Baseball Prospectus alum in MLB.
http://deadspin.com/5279714/moneyballs-deep-how-baseball-prospectus-is-like-the-oakland-as
And of course Rodney gave up two runs top 9
Chuck: Thanks. Josh asked if I could talk to him for the piece, but I had to beg off given the timing. I do see the commenting on Deadspin – which was actually pretty funny on the Belfiore/Wood piece the other day – is back in the toilet where it was when I stopped reading last year.
Its because Deadspin has since been taken over by a LaSalle University grad.
(Slinks away, lame pseudo-plug accomplished.)
(Go Explorers.)
Keith,
I’ve not yet read The Dud Avocado, despite your praise and that of many others, but based on what I’ve read about it, The Old Man and Me is a darker, more cynical book. That’s not to say it’s not quite funny at times, and sharply written, with a wonderful, lively sense of postwar London–but whereas The Dud Avocado seems to be fundamentally a comic romance, at heart The Old Man and Me is a book about need and ruthlessness and deception.
Weirdly enough, I dreamed last night that New York Review of Books Classics was publishing another Dundy book–only this one was a big, fat travel guide to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Not many regions where I could imagine Dundy being more out of place than there . . .
Kyle gibson, diagnosed w/ stress fracture 3 days before the draft. wow. how far does he fall?
I guess that helps explain the velo drop last week.
I doubt he gets out of the first round. That’s a huge buying opportunity.
Levi: TDA is definitely a comedy, maybe not quite a romance, but sort of Wodehouse with a note of satire and definitely a darker view of humanity despite its fairly upbeat, optimistic heroine.
is Ricciardi too conservative to grab Gibson at #20?
Hey Keith, On your chat you made a reference to chatting the day before but on ESPN I only saw one chat, am I missing something?
Jed,
Yes, yes you are. Read who that question is from.
Howdy Keith,
I’m giddy with anticipation for Hanson’s debut in t-minus 76 minutes. Just wondering if you’ve had a chance to see him since posting your Top 100 prospect list before the season started and, if so, what your take is on him now.
Since the Braves’ AAA affiliate left my city this year I’ve only seen him in a spring training game on the 4 letter. I’ve read the scouting reports but wanted to know if you’ve seen anything about him that goes under-reported. Any worries as to the whiplash motion he generates after releasing the ball?
Lol, ahh got it Matt… I never read the names, I guess I need to start to keep up on the jokes. Thanks.