5th round - Right on cue, the Indians, in the 5th round, selected Tanner Bibee, a college senior RHP from Cal State Fullerton listed as 6'2". He was drafted with the 156th pick and his MLB rating was as the 162nd best prospect. As a college senior you could see him signing for underslot value but his prospect rating tells me that it won't be much underslot. I could be wrong but that is my sense.
Bibee was yet another victim of the truncated 2020 draft. He would have likely been drafted last year due to his pitching peripherals. He is a control pitcher, not yet a power pitcher, although it sounds like Bibee is an ideal candidate for the pitching development machine of the Indians, seeming to come in where Aaron Civale started out. Don't know if that is a good comp for Bibee but it seems, on the surface, like it fits. On the downside he could be projected to be another Mason Hickman who they selected in the 5th round last year, but I think Civale works better for me.
Bibee was one of only 5 players drafted in this round whose rankings were near or above what their draft slot was. While this doesn't mean anything it points out that the Indians may not be using the "like who we like" approach that is very prone, in my opinion, to epic failures compared to monumental successes. In picks 133-163 FIFTEEN teams picked guys not ranked in MLB's top 250. The Indians appear, to the contrary, to be taking college pitchers with present value and stuff and plugging them into their pitching development program AND leveraging the spillover from 2020's truncated draft. This is exactly what I hoped they would do as they are playing to their own development strengths and minor league talent distribution without sacrificing draft talent to do it.
In the 6th round the Indians picked Aaron Davenport, a 6'0" RHP college junior from the University of Hawaii. He is actually a 3rd year sophomore so we might not have much leverage with him. We will see how the NCAA's waiver for 2020 plays out in terms of bonuses and leverage. He is a little short but has an average ML fastball, has had success in college and has an elite curveball. This is the first pick for the Indians (6th round, 186) where they took a player not listed in MLB's top 250. Again, a college pitcher but this one looks, at the moment, like more of a two-pitch guy with one of those pitches being a dominating curveball.
In the 7th round the Indians selected Jack Leftwich, a 6'4" RHP from U. of Florida. Going back to the college pitching pool and MLB's top 250 (draft slot 216 and 156th best prospect in the draft), Leftwich is yet another college pitcher who was not drafted due to the 5-round draft in 2020. Leftwich looks like a 2-pitch pitcher with a mid-90s fastball and a slider. His fastball is straight and so he is susceptible to be pounded when not locating the pitch. His third pitch, a changeup, is apparently not that good making him look like a true bullpen fastball-slider guy going forward. The Indians have been great in developing relievers with this type of stuff so that plays well for the future of this kid in the organization.
Seven college pitchers in the first 8 selections. We will have to wait to see how these guys develop but understanding how drafting works, as much as an amateur at it like me can, tells me that the extra college pitchers thrown back into this draft really favors a team that can avoid "liking who we like", drafting signable players or drafting guys with bigger upsides who will be tough signs. The Indians are doing exactly what I hoped they would do: draft older, highly rated college pitchers and allow their pitching development system to do its work.
Won't say this is the most exciting draft the Indians have ever had but, to me, it is the one that makes the most sense on paper given the strength of the draft and the current state of their farm system.
On to round 8.
No comments:
Post a Comment