Men UConn and the 2023 MLB Draft

[huskymedic]

 

[huskymedic]

 

[dbmill]

Going to be an interesting few days coming up.

 

[huskymedic]

 

[storrsroars]

Staples' Hiro Wyatt could go in Rd 5-6 if $ can lure him from USC, but more likely a team with a high pool balance lures him tomorrow.

Big East probably shut out until R4 when someone takes Jake Bloss. Sadly, he's the only BE guy on this list of top 500 draft prospects. Only other BE guy I've seen on any list is Nick Boyle. Hard to fathom.

 

[huskymedic]

Staples' Hiro Wyatt could go in Rd 5-6 if $ can lure him from USC, but more likely a team with a high pool balance lures him tomorrow.

Royals like CT kids…

 

[CtBaseball]

Who do we think has the best potential to be drafted this year? Smith? Fogell?

 

[BaseballDog]

Who do we think has the best potential to be drafted this year? Smith? Fogell?

Possibly Morton or Sears. Cooke is a draft eligible sophomore.

 

[scotty0330]

Who do we think has the best potential to be drafted this year? Smith? Fogell?

To me those are the most likely. Morton would surprise me despite his raw tools. Sears and Cooke no way can I see being drafted.

 

[BaseballDog]

To me those are the most likely. Morton would surprise me despite his raw tools. Sears and Cooke no way can I see being drafted.

Sears drafted by Detroit in Round 10.

 

[BaseballDog]

Sears drafted by Detroit in Round 10.

 

[BaseballDog]

 

[Shortking98]

To me those are the most likely. Morton would surprise me despite his raw tools. Sears and Cooke no way can I see being drafted.

Sears is the kind of power lefty that teams like to dream on. The results haven’t caught up to his stuff yet but he could make a jump as a pro with his stuff

 

[scotty0330]

I’m shocked. Happy for kid but wasn’t blown away with his stuff or stamina. Scouts must see something that can be developed.

 

[dbmill]

To me those are the most likely. Morton would surprise me despite his raw tools. Sears and Cooke no way can I see being drafted.

Raw tools are a very important thing in the MLB draft, especially these days. Before the season started, Morton was pretty much considered the position player with the most potential on the team. He ended up batting 9th in the order quite a bit, but he still has a very good speed/power combination in his talent mix.

Sears is sort of the Morton of the pitching staff, also helps that he is a lefty pitcher. Sears was getting a lot of draft attention prior to the start of the season, so in that regard, it is not surprising he got drafted. Still, on pure performance during the season, I would not have expected him to get drafted, but he was taken.

One thing to remember, both Smith and Huber were eligible for the draft last season but were not picked. They are now another year older, but we will see what happens. As I've mentioned before, Smith this season was able to show he can play multiple positions in the field and play them well, both in the outfield and infield, and that defensive flexibility is something that is certainly desirable.

Have to think Fogell is a pretty good candidate to get drafted as well. However, being a Grad Transfer, he is a year older than most seniors, so I have to think that might work against him in getting picked.

 

[PASTE04038!]

I’m shocked. Happy for kid but wasn’t blown away with his stuff or stamina. Scouts must see something that can be developed.

could see him out of the bullpen once he refines his skills. He doesn't turn 21 until October. Very young and projectable with size and a lower arm slot. A bunch of stinker starts this year but 93 from the left side will always get a shot in pro ball

 

[huskymedic]

 

[Shortking98]

could see him out of the bullpen once he refines his skills. He doesn't turn 21 until October. Very young and projectable with size and a lower arm slot. A bunch of stinker starts this year but 93 from the left side will always get a shot in pro ball

I could see that too. Might be able to pick up a few ticks on the FB in shorter stints and then you are looking at a true power lefty out of the pen which is worth a flier in the 10th round. Rooting for the kid to go places

 

[gioff2323]

I’m shocked. Happy for kid but wasn’t blown away with his stuff or stamina. Scouts must see something that can be developed.

Must be thinking - what if I waited 12 minutes to post that!

 

[huskymedic]

 

[huskymedic]

 

[MarkyMark]

I thought Sears was the most draftable player for Uconn given his high ceiling being a lefty who consistently hits 92-93 on the gun with movement. I think at the next level if they can work with him by tightening up his delivery (don't fully eliminate the herky-jerky stuff but tweak it)/working on pitching from the stretch and increasing velo there's a shot there. But Detroit needs to invest the time with him. If I had to draft one Uconn-eligible player in this draft it would be Sears.

I was always a Sears optimist during the past season (if he wasn't sick I wanted him to pitch that Florida game over Coe), however, with that being said, I was surprised with the 10th round. Thought he'd be in the 12-14 round range. Petey went in the 9th round last year by way of comparison. If you're results-oriented that one-round difference is a headscratcher but ceiling matters.

Will be an interesting one to follow.

 

[CtBaseball]

I thought Sears was the most draftable player for Uconn given his high ceiling being a lefty who consistently hits 92-93 on the gun with movement. I think at the next level if they can work with him by tightening up his delivery (don't fully eliminate the herky-jerky stuff but tweak it)/working on pitching from the stretch and increasing velo there's a shot there. But Detroit needs to invest the time with him. If I had to draft one Uconn-eligible player in this draft it would be Sears.

I was always a Sears optimist during the past season (if he wasn't sick I wanted him to pitch that Florida game over Coe), however, with that being said, I was surprised with the 10th round. Thought he'd be in the 12-14 round range. Petey went in the 9th round last year by way of comparison. If you're results-oriented that one-round difference is a headscratcher but ceiling matters.

Will be an interesting one to follow.

Peterson fit the big East perfectly because his combination of style and stuff relied heavily upon getting called strikes that were one or two balls off the plate. Tough to do that in Supers or the pro ball. Still super impressive.

 

[huskymedic]

-> “I did not know until five, 10 picks before and I thought I was going to go to a different team,” Sears said. “Another team already had me later in that round and then Detroit called me before they could with a better number.” <-

-> Sears was in steady contact with up to 15 teams over the last month and was ultimately picked in a slot with a suggested signing bonus of $170,300. <-

 

[dbmill]

Sears made a big impression with his talent potential on the UConn coaching staff and on MLB scouts during fall ball last year. That positive impression trumped his on and off year this past spring season. UConn in the last couple of seasons has been bringing in a number of transfers, but Sears was one of the few who was not a grad transfer when he arrived at UConn. The spring season was his junior year, and no doubt because he was a bit younger than others who had big seasons was probably a big positive in the eyes of people involved in the MLB draft.