The Guardians’ draft board could feature a little bit of everything on the mound, from high-upside prep arms to college pitchers who already look close to a big-league role. And after watching game footage on a handful of names Cleveland may be weighing in Sunday’s MLB draft, Matt Dallas came away with some clear preferences.
His favorite of the group was Jared Grindlinger, the 17-year-old lefty/outfielder from Huntington Beach HS in California. Dallas said, “I would draft in a heartbeat.
I don’t know where he’s mocked but that’s a kid with a clean operation and a ton of room to fill out. Frame is super projectable and doesn’t look like a Triston McKenzie-type where he’ll never bulk up.
That change up is for real, too.”
He was far less sold on Logan Schmidt, the 17-year-old left-hander from Ganesha HS in California. Dallas said, “I don’t see it.
That’s a body that lacks mobility. He’s “quad dominant” which means as he’s dropping into that back leg he’s loading into his quads and not his hammys/glutes.
That can work, but I see a super unathletic, big kid with a live arm. That means there’s lots of projection in there but he needs a TON of work.
Basically needs to transform his body.”
Among the college arms, Cole Carlon stood out as a bullpen candidate. The 21-year-old lefty from Arizona State drew this from Dallas: “that’s a reliever but there’s a darn good one in there.
That slider could get big leaguers out right now. I’m noticing a pattern and I’m loving the “lefties with size” theme.
He’d need to both clean up the control and ax the curveball and try and split the slider into a cutter/sweeper before I’d wanna see him as a starter, and even then you’re still looking at a guy without a viable changeup. But, boy, is that a guy I’d like seeing coming out of the pen.”
Dallas was even more enthusiastic about Tennessee right-hander Tegan Kuhns, calling him “a DUDE.” He added, “He’s exactly the profile I trust Cleveland with.
Super athletic, big energy, unique arm slot. That fastball is gonna play, especially if they can get a couple ticks on it (or at least get him to sit closer to his max out).
Curveball is legit, the feel he shows for it is more encouraging than the pitch itself, tells me he can tinker with it (from what I can see).”
UCLA right-hander Logan Reddeman also earned praise for his strike-throwing and polish. Dallas said, “I see reasons for encouragement.
He throws a lot of pitches, has command. Probably a little maxxed out already in terms of velo and spin, but you can optimize the movement profiles and whatnot to polish him.
He probably fits pretty well in cleveland. I’d take Kuhns first (off of 10 minutes of research) but I like what I’m seeing.”
The biggest pure talent label in the group went to Coastal Carolina’s Cameron Flukey, a 21-year-old right-hander. Dallas said, “Flukey looks like the most talented of the bunch, that fastball will eat at the top of the zone, and he looks like he’s got command and a good feel for how he moves.
There’s some injury markers in his delivery that I can see. I’d ideally want his entire arm below that red line in his takeaway but that can be cleaned up.
Injury risk aside that’s the best current product of the group.”
Dallas also laid out his own order: Flukey, Kuhns, Grindlinger, Reddemann, Carlon, with Schmidt a wide gap behind the rest. He listed the pitchers this way as well: Reddeman, Flukey, Kuhns, Grindlinger, Carlon, Schmidt.
For his personal ranking, though, he went with Flukey first, then Kuhns, Grindlinger, Reddemann, Carlon, and finally Schmidt, with a “-wide gap-” before Schmidt.
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