BA needs better editors

[Blazer25]

What's wrong with this picture/ quote?

 

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b18/blazer25/rdetwiler07428309.jpg

 

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Ross Detwiler came to Missouri as a righthander with plenty of promise if he could add some bulk to his undersized frame. The bulk hasn't come, but Detwiller will still go high in this June's draft thanks to some pretty impressive stuff.

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It's not the first time I've seen BA do this. They are really starting to slip.

 

It is a shame, this close to the draft that they can't even get something on a top prospect right.

 

Anyone else noticed a decline in quality in BA lately?

[colbyjack]

I too have noticed more errors at BA, as they do seem to be getting sloppier (I'm not sure who is in charge of their overall editing, if it is someone new or if it is a result of them losing several of their key guys the past couple of years).

 

I can't complain too much about BA. They're very good at what they do, and they're one of the few publications that covers so many different realms of baseball. I am happy to be associated with Perfect Game and PG Crosschecker, because I think the reputation of Allan Simpson and David Rawnsley among others speaks volumes of the information they have been posting, and they are giving fans of Baseball America another option well worth exploring.

 

Being involved with the things that I am now I can cross-check what I know vs. what BA is reporting, and I'm guessing you do the same thing Blazer. I have found that they often just repeat the same thing about players over and over again (read their write-ups on top prospects from one year to the next, they don't change much, and the same quotes or general perceptions of players are often repeated even if those perceptions have been proved untrue).

 

On a sidenote, who cares if Detwiler lacks bulk? When I saw him earlier this year no one in attendance seemed to care that he was built like a twig. They did care that he threw 93 miles per hour. Again, that seems to be another perception that happens to be repeated endlessly as if its holding him back.

 

Another is that Matt Wieters is having a disappointing season. Has anyone looked at his numbers recently? The dude is having a very good season, again, and if the D-Rays don't take Price #1 overall, Wieters could very well be their man, and I don't see how anyone could argue one bit about them taking Wieters over Price.

[Hidekifan55]

I'm kind of in the same boat as you, CJ, on this one. BA has their place and they do some things real well, while others not so much.

 

Their strength is their depth of info on players, but that info is stretched very thin and is far too general. And, yes, they have proven to be wrong on many many things. I don't know if they slipped, but in fact maybe that people just noticed their mistakes more because there is more places to get info on prospects now.

[colbyjack]

Well they caught it now, and made the change. They also changed the title from "Mighty Mite" to "The Skinny on Detwiler."

 

Blazer has special powers http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif .

[Blazer25]

Colby,

 

I just like to check it to see who they are currently "on".

 

I really have noticed a difference since Allan left, especially in their prospect type stuff.

 

Yes they provide a service. Yes they were the first in the market. The fact doesn't change that they seem to be "stuck in the mud" so to speak.

 

 

IMO though their stuff has gotten stale and recycled as you said nicely. Not to mention they seem to have lost all their baseball guys and replaced them with writers. Their strength used to be their ability to get inside info, and have some idea about how scouting works.

 

Now it reads more like articles you'd find in your local paper.

 

And my magic powers don't extend to North Carolina...unfortunately.http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif

[JoeHova]

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Now it reads more like articles you'd find in your local paper.

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Same thing happened to the Sporting News like 15-20 years ago.

[colbyjack]

It's funny you mentioned The Sporting News JoeHova, because Allan Simpson originally started Baseball America due to the decreased baseball coverage (below the big leagues) in The Sporting News back in the early 80s.

[parkside21]

I know I'm nitpicking, but I noticed a couple of mess-ups (though one may just be an inside joke) in the 2007 version of BA's Prospect Handbook when I was paging through it the other day.

 

Minnesota Twins, Page 273, read the "Raw Power" blurb.

 

Page 505, interesting spelling of the "New York - Penn League"

 

 

I know no one is perfect, but you would think they would remember to at least read their headings before things go to print....rest assured, if this were an ESPN publication, New York would have been the first thing they proofread.