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It is Wednesday right?
Baseball America and Keith Law at the Athletic each have a mock draft up, or at least the first round of a mock draft and both have the Blue Jays taking Emerson Hancock with the fifth pick.
Law says:
Hancock seemed like a potential 1-1 candidate coming out of last spring, but was just fair out of the gate this year — not bad, just not definitively No. 1 overall good — in part due to some strange pitch calling that had him using his plus changeup far less than usual. Toronto has a new scouting director this year, but other teams expect them to keep an analytics-heavy approach, which could point to Hancock, Reid Detmers, or Max Meyer.
BA says:
Hancock is unsurprisingly efficient considering his command, and he also fields his position well with impressive natural athleticism and a clean delivery that leaves him in good fielding position. Hancock should be one of the first pitchers off the board, but teams would prefer a frontline pitching prospect to have a no-doubt, out-pitch breaking ball and Hancock’s haven’t reached that quality as consistently as scouts would like. Either way, his athleticism, frame, command, velocity, changeup and track record in the SEC all combine to provide some safety and make him difficult to pass up.
Also, in the Athletic, John Lott talks to John McDonald. It is a very nice piece. I remember watching him take infield practice and make sure each throw was perfect, straight over the top. He worked harder than any of the others I saw take fielding practice.
We went on a walk and Sutton saw a bluebird and she said “mama- maybe that’s Ace flying to say hi to us”
— Kristin Smoak (@KristinSmoak) May 12, 2020
This stuff drives me crazy, people with a vested interest saying that the players should just accept whatever the owners offer. I guess it is the way things are, we have been told that rich folks should make all the decisions for us or so long, it’s tough for some to believe we should think for ourselves.
Let’s face it, the owners have never been honest about all their revenue streams and they aren’t about to become more honest if they have to share with the players.
Mike Greenberg and Mark Texeira are two people who have seen extreme benefits from agent- and union-led negotiations. So of course, they're demanding that MLB players should just take the crumbs the owners are offering without any pushback. https://t.co/VarksOk4Dn
— Andrew Bucholtz (@AndrewBucholtz) May 12, 2020
This is the point:
Just going to put it out there and say I do not believe MLB's revenue-sharing plan would be deployed in an honest fashion. Kindly eat shit, J.B. Pritzker and Mark Teixeira. https://t.co/isra1giun1 pic.twitter.com/Jnm0SBpmSS
— Marc Normandin (@Marc_Normandin) May 13, 2020