JotCast | Kiley McDaniel Chat

Kiley McDaniel Chat - 2/14/18

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Kiley McDaniel

1:03

Seattle has certainly pushed their chips in, in a way that most other teams are actively avoiding. Don't know if that's screwed per se, but definitely very invested in what happens this year.

walt

1:03

Which defensive position has more value? 3b, 2b, CF ?

Kiley McDaniel

1:03

WAR (if I remember correctly) adjusts them C, SS, 2B, 3B/CF, in that order

Steve

1:03

Kyle Muller is a forgotten arm in that Braves arsenal. Do you think he can make a leap to the forefront of that org?

Kiley McDaniel

1:04

There's a video on insta or twitter or both of him throwing 95 off the mound, 100+ on a pulldown and looking loose and in good shape. Would expect him to be good this year.

Solaire

1:04

The #1 guy on your 2019 HS prospect list (Bobby Witt Jr.) plays very close to me. Is it worth it to go see him or is it too early to really see tools shine? And if I go, what should I be on the look out for with him?

Kiley McDaniel

1:05

He's another guy that was jumping off the field at scouts when playing with guys older than him. Above average at most everything on the MLB scale. Any given high school game maybe you don't see a lot of it, but probably will in most of them.

john wick

1:05

let's assume atlanta calls up acuna after a few weeks down to get the extra year of control. what kind of line do you expect from him this year?

Kiley McDaniel

1:06

I'd set the over/under at 107 wRC+ (7% better than MLB average line). You guys can tell me what you think in the comments below this.

Frank Menechino's Estranged Dad

1:06

Can you please explain to me how Ronald Acuna has a 50/55 hit tool? I thought his bat is what makes him special? How does a 19/20 year old hitting .344 in 57 AAA games only project to a 50/55 hit?

Kiley McDaniel

1:07

I think he's gonna go the Justin Upton route. He could be, roughly speaking, a 60 hit/55 power guy or 55 hit/65 power guy and I think he picks the latter

Floyd

1:07

Do you predict that any of Buehler, Greene, Gore, M Baez or S Sanchez will reach #1/ace status?

Kiley McDaniel

1:07

I don't think I'll ever bet that any minor league pitcher will be an ace

1:08

There's 8-12 at any given time and so there's only a new one every couple years....so the odds are reeeaaallly low it's any one player, no matter how good they are.

Guest

1:08

How much velo does a typical HS prospect gain between 18-22? Is there info on that?

Kiley McDaniel

1:09

Varies greatly player to player. Strasburg went from 88 to 98. Some have gone the opposite way.

Mike

1:09

thanks for the article post prospect scouting reports. I'd really like to see a few more of these throughout the season.

Kiley McDaniel

1:10

That is a focus of ours, to follow that beat more closely

Billy Beane

1:10

What separates Rhys Hoskins and Matt Olson for you in the PV/FV rankings? Olson hit better in MLB in a (slightly) larger sample size. Hoskins had better MiLB numbers but Olson was also younger at every level because he did AAA twice. Also, Midland and NAshville are places where LHH fly balls go to die, so that probably affected the raw stats.

Kiley McDaniel

1:10

Hoskins is a much better pure hitter. Olson has always been seen as a fringy to average contact guy and he's leaning into it. That's a high variance approach in most cases.

Erik

1:10

Eric mentioned yesterday that you guys had Ohtani as only a 45 or 50 as a hitter. That seems crazy low for a guy who was considered one of the top hitters in Japan, and who some say is actually a better hitter than a pitcher. Could you go into a little more detail there?

Kiley McDaniel

1:12

I have yet to find a human that thinks he's a better hitter than pitcher. He's performed some in a lower league and has big tools, but will always be used as pitcher first, so will only give hitting some attention and get some reps when he isn't pitching. There were contact concerns in Japan but there aren't as many 95+ arms there. Will be a real problem early on here, even with some tape-measure shots mixed in.

Joe.

1:12

Why no hype a Jordan Luplow and Austin Slater? They both seem to have good track records in the minors and both have a shot at playing time.

Kiley McDaniel

1:13

Me and Eric disagree on some guys and I'm definitely the high guy on Jordan Luplow. Never really been on Slater much but I think Luplow could be a 45 FV that has a 50 FV season once and hangs around for awhile

Conan

1:13

I prefer to think Valentine's Day is about crushing your enemies and seeing them driven before you, but when you think about it, that's really every day isn't it?

Kiley McDaniel

1:13

Feels like we're getting close to the end

Person

1:14

Thank you for updating the Cards' list with Munoz and Schrock! Really appreciate that

Kiley McDaniel

1:14

We are doing these things

Stlscott

1:14

Fangraphs has so much great FREE content. In no particular order, you and Eric rock! Being only 2 hard working humans, how do you two get so much information? Even with Jedi mind tricks, you can't be everywhere. How many different scouts do you talk to you? Aren't they busy? Simply curious...

Kiley McDaniel

1:15

They are! Being at games just like them usually makes it easier to relate and maybe help them with info. I get more info at games than on the phone. And not being a bad person helps. Also scouting is kinda solitary and some teams don't listen to their scouts.

Matt

1:15

In your opinion, is "Chad Green is a starter" anything more than "eh, we could use some depth, might as well see if all the experience in the 'pen translates"?

Kiley McDaniel

1:15

Yes

Seth

1:15

Is Touki Toussaint’s success at AA a turning point or just a flash in the pan?

Kiley McDaniel

1:16

Made substantive changes, so I think it's real

Jack

1:16

FV on Jharel Cotton?

Kiley McDaniel

1:16

we discussed 50, so it's more borderline

Oddball Herrera

1:16

See, the tepid response to Granite is why I'm so interested in the widespread love for Verdugo. They have basically the same bat profile but Granite more consistently has stolen bases in the minors. I get that Verdugo is a lot younger, but I just don't see them as, in the long run, turning out to be very different players. Thoughts?

Kiley McDaniel

1:17

Age relative to league is a really big factor when you're looking at two performers and trying to decide which one will be better

and having real tools is another one

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