1985 Amateur Draft

[Riverman]

Yeah, if I had had that pick it would have been between Herrera and one other guy. Good pick and good move to swap picks for almost nothing.

[Clay]

I need good news on picks considering my #1 pick last year, Arlen Spencer, has all but disappeared from the radar. It was a little tough taking another SP when I already have like 10 in Single A under 21 years old... but this kid was too good too pass up. The fact that the worst reports seem to be 6-6-6, it sounds promising.

[Riverman]

Also had him at 8-8-8. I was praying he'd fall to 1.7. Great pick from our view.

What is the deal with all of these 8s you guys are getting or are you just trying ot offer Clay some encouragement? My scout awarded just 7 of them in the entire draft and all of them either went to relievers or were for gap potential, which in my opinion, is less important than contact, power or eye.

[Clay]

I got 12 8's just on Pitchers and only 3 of them on RP's. Now, my scout is a Tools guy, so it doesn't shock me that he's seeing best case scenerio....

Hell... I have an 8-7-8-7-8 and a 8-8-8-7-5 hitter on my board.

Crazy 8's, Bitches!!!

[Andrew]

The Draft is underway. Spectre said he wasn't going to be here to pick so I entered it for him.

[Jake]

What is the deal with all of these 8s you guys are getting or are you just trying ot offer Clay some encouragement? My scout awarded just 7 of them in the entire draft and all of them either went to relievers or were for gap potential, which in my opinion, is less important than contact, power or eye.

Agreed on gap potential.

Dunno if I should say this before my pick, but it's vague enough so I don't think it will give anything away.

In the "big 3 categories" -contact, power, eye and stuff, movement, control - my scout gave a total of nine 8's. Three to Herrera, and three to another player in the draft, and two to another. So my scout nutted over three guys... and after that, it's a pretty large and pretty quick drop off. There are maybe 7 or 8 guys I would consider (according to my scout) anywhere in the first round in a normal year, and probably about 15 guys I would have been happy with in the first three rounds in a previous year. After that, it's a bunch of 3's and 4's.

[Andrew]

Mine only gave a handful of 8's.

[Lintyfresh85]

My scout gave one hitter 8's across the board... so we'll see.

[Delandis]

Mine only gave out two offensive 8's. And both of those were on Dodson.

[Clay]

The Draft is underway. Spectre said he wasn't going to be here to pick so I entered it for him.

I set my draft to AUTO Herrera which it did not... nor is it giving me the option to manually pick.

[Sully]

I have one hitter with 8s and one 7.

[Clay]

See... I think this makes the draft more interesting if you ask me.... it's a little more mystery.

Plus, to me, the fact that the sudden deaths of prospect's potential is supposed to be fixed (toned down)... at least is a little reassuring.

[Riverman]

Agreed on gap potential.

Dunno if I should say this before my pick, but it's vague enough so I don't think it will give anything away.

In the "big 3 categories" -contact, power, eye and stuff, movement, control - my scout gave a total of nine 8's. Three to Herrera, and three to another player in the draft, and two to another. So my scout nutted over three guys... and after that, it's a pretty large and pretty quick drop off. There are maybe 7 or 8 guys I would consider (according to my scout) anywhere in the first round in a normal year, and probably about 15 guys I would have been happy with in the first three rounds in a previous year. After that, it's a bunch of 3's and 4's.

Interesting, mine is nothing like that. Obviously no one came close to maxing out and I have 40 guys I wouldn't mind getting in the first two rounds and I haven't even looked that hard yet.

[Delandis]

Can someone explain to me the difference between tools and ability in baseball? Or in other words, how will a scout who favors tools be different than a scout who favors ability?

[Andrew]

See... I think this makes the draft more interesting if you ask me.... it's a little more mystery.

Plus, to me, the fact that the sudden deaths of prospect's potential is supposed to be fixed (toned down)... at least is a little reassuring.

There's actually two changes that should help to eliminate the sudden drop offs. The chances of a prospect losing his potential suddenly has been greatly decreased (unless he gets injured). Also, it takes longer for scouts to figure out the new ratings when they do drop off.

It's also important to remember that the ratings aren't necessarily dropping off. It just might be that your scout was wrong about him in the first place.