1-10: LHP Reid Detmers, Louisville
3-82: OF David Calabrese, St. Elizabeth HS (ON)
4-111: SS Werner Blakely, Detroit Edison HS (MI)
5-141: LHP Adam Seminaris, Long Beach State
It was a smaller class for the Angels, as they lost their second round pick after signing Anthony Rendon, and they used their four picks on two left handed college pitchers and two high school hitters. Both Reid Detmers and Adam Seminaris are much more about pitchability than stuff, with extremely polished games that should enable them to move quickly. Meanwhile, both David Calabrese and Werner Blakely are toolsy, athletic players who will need some refinement going forward and may take a little longer. Overall, I definitely like the class they put together and I think they'll get good value out of it. However, my endorsement of the class is damped a bit because they only picked up one low profile player on the undrafted free agent market, which means either a) they don't care about building up their prospect depth or b) they can't sell themselves as a good system to play in.
Full index of team reviews here.
1-10: LHP Reid Detmers, Louisville (my rank: 8)
To start things off, the Angels picked up a really interesting lefty in Reid Detmers. Detmers grew up just outside of Springfield, Illinois, where he went to the same high school that gave us Jayson Werth. After a solid freshman season at Louisville, he's been absolutely untouchable over the past two seasons, going 16-4 with a 2.53 ERA, a 0.93 WHIP, and a 215/39 strikeout to walk ratio over 135.1 innings (in 2020 alone, it was a 1.23 ERA and a 48/6 K/BB). The 6'2" lefty doesn't have much velocity for a first round arm, sitting in the low 90's with his fastball and scraping 94, but he gets good riding action on the pitch and misses more bats than you'd expect with it. His best pitch is a plus curveball with extreme depth, enough that he could start it in the upper outside corner to a righty and snap it all the way down under the lower inside corner. Even though it too lacks velocity, even for a curveball, hitters can swing and miss it by embarrassing margins. Detmers also throws an average slider and changeup, but he doesn't use them much and instead focuses on the fastball and curveball. He also brings plus command that itself plays up because of the extreme confidence he puts in it – he doesn't just locate pitches, he controls at bats. His ability and willingness to attack hitters, challenge them, and keep them off balance means that he is always in control of the strike zone and the count, traits that seem to be a little bit of a lost art in today's game of triple digit fastballs and 94 mile per hour sliders (don't get me wrong Max Meyer, I love watching that too). As a cherry on top of his profile, he's very young for a college junior and only turned 21 yesterday (as of this article's release). This profile fits even better with the Angels, who seem to have just the absolute worst luck with keeping pitchers healthy, and that is completely separate from Tyler Skaggs' tragic death last year. With all the busts and injuries in that rotation, having a sure-thing, workhorse starter who may not be an ace, but who is a high probability #2/#3 guy, is a really good thing. Detmers signed for $4.67 million, which was $70,000 below slot value. Pre-draft profile here.
3-82: OF David Calabrese, St. Elizabeth HS, ON (my rank: 60)
Skipping down to the third round, the Angels have a chance to get some real value here. David Calabrese is a high school outfielder from the Toronto area who was originally slated to be a member of the 2021 class, but he reclassified and was one of the youngest players available. A lefty hitter, he's a bit undersized at 5'11" and pretty skinny at that, but he has a really loose, natural swing a penchant for making very consistent hard contact against older pitching. I won't go out and project him for 20+ home runs a year, but I think there is enough wiry strength in there to expect maybe 10-15 per season, with which his ability to get on base, makes for a valuable hitter. Combine that with true plus-plus speed that enables him to wreak havoc on the bases, and you have a pretty complete offensive profile. That speed also helps him in center field, where he projects to be an above average defender. Out of a kid who won't even turn 18 until September, that's some really nice upside, especially here in the third round. I'm personally a fan of Calabrese and I think he has a good shot at reaching his potential, so I really like this pick. Committed to Arkansas, he instead sign for slot value at $744,200. Pre-draft profile here.
4-111: SS Werner Blakely, Detroit Edison HS, MI (unranked)
First of all, that's a great baseball name, I dig it. Detroit isn't the biggest baseball hotbed around, and most prospects from the area come out of the suburbs, but Werner Blakely is looking to put inner-city Detroit on the baseball map. A product of the Detroit Edison Public School Academy in the shadows of Comerica Park, Blakely has an explosive swing from the right side that produces decent power for now, but at a very projectable 6'3", he should grow into at least average power. The hit tool is fairly raw and there is swing and miss in his game, so overall, he's a project at the plate. It's a similar story in the field, where he shows great athleticism and range, but he's inconsistent overall. A plus runner as well, if he pulls it all together, he has five tool potential, but the Angels will have to be patient. That will come from streamlining his swing a bit, helping him bulk up a little, and generally just giving him reps on the field. Committed to Auburn, the Angels instead went well over slot to sign him for $900,000, which was $373,400 abot slot value.
5-141: LHP Adam Seminaris, Long Beach State (my rank: 115)
After starting out with players from Illinois, Ontario, and Michigan, the Angels came back home for their last pick and brought on Long Beach State's Adam Seminaris. A product of Ayala High School in Chino Hills, just 16 miles northeast of Angel Stadium, he's steadily improved with the Dirtbags, dropping his ERA from 4.84 as a freshman to 3.35 as a sophomore. He was at his best in the shortened 2020 season, putting up a 1.23 ERA, a 0.55 WHIP (!!), and a 36/3 strikeout to walk ratio over 22 innings, including absolutely dominant starts against Cal (6 IP, 0 ER, 11 K's) and Mississippi State (8 IP, 0 ER, 10 K's). He's actually fairly similar to first rounder Reid Detmers, but with even less stuff. His fastball hovers right around 90, and he adds in a curveball, slider, and changeup. Out of everything, his changeup is probably his best pitch with nice sink and fade, though he gets some nice two plane depth on his solid average curve as well. The stuff is far from overpowering, but like Detmers, he has plus command. An interesting distinction between the two, though, is that Detmers gets by by attacking the zone with two pitches, while Seminaris mixes speeds and locations with four pitches to an elite level, perhaps even more adeptly than Detmers. That enabled him to pitch very well in the Cape Cod League as well, and it will continue to serve him well as he goes up against professional lineups that don't get knocked off balance so easily. With a loose, low three quarters arm slot, he gets some deception as well and could potentially add a little bit of velocity. If he wants to stick as a starter, he probably will need to add that tick to his fastball, and overall he probably profiles as a #4/#5 at best given the unremarkable offspeed stuff. He signed for $140,000 with his hometown team, which was $250,400 below slot.
Undrafted: OF Elijah Greene, Cal Poly (unranked)
The lone undrafted free agent in this class, Greene, like Seminaris, is from Chino Hills. A graduate of Chino Hills High School, he started off at San Diego State but transferred to Mount San Antonio College without playing a game for the Aztecs. A strong 2018 season on the junior college circuit landed him a spot at Cal Poly, where he has been a decent hitter for two seasons, slashing .265/.327/.300 with a 41/24 strikeout to walk ratio over 69 games. There isn't a ton of impact in his left handed bat, but he has really quick hand makes very consistent contact. He has somewhat of a two part swing with a hitch, so getting that smoothed out could help him stand up to pro pitching a little bit better. Overall, I see the senior sign as more organization depth than anything else, but he could work his way up as a fourth or fifth outfielder at his ceiling.
No comments:
Post a Comment