What kind of bat do you draft?

[CheezWizHed]

Jack Z seemed to be of the 1TT philosophy (one true tool). Not that his draftees only had one tool, but had one exceptional tool (Prince-power, LaPorta - power, Jeffress-fastball, etc), with defense not being the 1TT. I wonder if that trend will continue or if we will change course and look for more all-around players?

 

Seems like in the past, we could look at a shortage of power bats and predict Jack to go for a power bat. Or something to that effect (seems like what this thread is leaning towards). I'm not so sure we will see that now...

 

(yes, I made up 1TT, but it sounded like 3TO and fit the bill, so...)

[Playing Catch]

With the "new" emphasis on defensive ability around MLB, I think that the most valuable prospect the Brewers could draft would be a power/speed combo in the mold of Carl Crawford because not only would that prospect be valuable to the Brewers (although I hope Lorenzo Cain proves to everything we hope him to be), but because I think that that type of prospect would be the most valuable in a trade. With that said, the Brewers got a lot of bang-for-their-buck with the polished, college power bat (LaPorta).

[rousieboy]

I have to tell you that I am surprised to see all the talk about bats...with enough good pitching and catching you can buy/trade for all the bats you want. 1TT is an interesting observation, but I think that it is more than "true tool"...I think it is overwhelming tool. JJ was a natural hs athlete and could do many things well, but blew people away with that arm, same for LaPorta and Prince with their power...

 

I would like to lay the groundwork of saying in the first 10 rounds I want to see 5 pitchers, 2 catchers, and 3 hot sticks...fielding be damned. Slick gloves can come after Rd 10...I want plus arms and two higher end catching prospects every draft...sort of like Wolf always taking a QB, OL, and a CB in all the GB drafts...the attrition rate is too high on arms and catchers.

 

After round 10 and often well before it, it is going to be a crapshoot.

[Tbadder]

I like last year's strategy. Go get your bat in round one. Then back up the hay wagon and keep pitchforking arms. I'm oversimplifying but you get the point.

[strawbossisevil]

I´m hoping they can get a guy who will replace Fielder in two years or so (the best power prospect available), and then grab a ton of high ceiling arms. I don´t think we have anyone currently who could step in if we were to trade Prince, and I would prefer that our team not be spending big bucks in Free Agency filling the 1b position.

[battlekow]

This may be a dumb question, but what's the statistical correlation between college OBP and pro OBP and college BB/AB and pro BB/AB? For how many guys is there a substantial difference, and for how many guys is there similarity?

 

I understand the problems involved with correlating college stats with pro stats, but I think it would be an interesting study, if it hasn't been done.

Walk rate in the minors doesn't even really predict walk rate in MLB very well, so I would imagine that it's not very useful to look at it in college.