Angels select P Ryan Prager (Texas A&M) in the 3rd round-WILL NOT SIGN

[Jeff Fletcher]

I have no insight on this situation beyond pointing out that the deadline is Aug 1 so you should wait till then to freak out. 
 

I seem to recall a “Brandon Marsh says he isn’t signing” freak out too. 

[m0nkey]

7 minutes ago, Jeff Fletcher said:

I have no insight on this situation beyond pointing out that the deadline is Aug 1 so you should wait till then to freak out. 
 

I seem to recall a “Brandon Marsh says he isn’t signing” freak out too. 

[Stradling]

Imagine him telling his college and their fans that he’s coming back only to sign with the Angels after all. 

[DMVol]

10 minutes ago, Inside Pitch said:

Fwiw, kind of crazy that four of those 46 were in 2018.  The Dodgers, Braves, DBacks, and I think Pirates failed to sign their first rounders.  All of them were HS guys but still. 

 

Not sure what is going on with Prager but NIL has created a whole new landscape with college sports. And A&M and Texas have more money than anybody. 

[DMVol]

10 minutes ago, Stradling said:

Imagine him telling his college and their fans that he’s coming back only to sign with the Angels after all. 

I thought the same thing, negotiating tactic. I guess he could say “I thought we were done but they came back and sweetened the deal.”

[The Ghost of Bob Starr]

Hope he stinks. 

[AngelsLakersFan]

1 hour ago, Inside Pitch said:

Nobody has said anything remotely close to that.  He's a classic high floor guy, I'd argue he stands a better than average chance at making it to MLB, but if they had to fail to sign any of the top 5 picks he'd have been my first choice.

I don't read a lot of Nick Maronde comps on players the Angels just drafted, especially near the top of the draft. Calling a player "the guy I'd pick if I had to choose someone not to sign" is also pretty damning. Considering that most of these guys never amount to anything anyway I think it's fair to classify these statements as saying the guy sucks anyway.

[AngelsLakersFan]

55 minutes ago, Jeff Fletcher said:

I have no insight on this situation beyond pointing out that the deadline is Aug 1 so you should wait till then to freak out. 
 

I seem to recall a “Brandon Marsh says he isn’t signing” freak out too. 

Wasnt the reporting on that, at the time, that he was just holding out for a little more money?

[AngelsLakersFan]

1 hour ago, Stradling said:

Or it’s a good draft. 

BREAKING NEWS!

[Jeff Fletcher]

4 hours ago, AngelsLakersFan said:

Wasnt the reporting on that, at the time, that he was just holding out for a little more money?

That’s what I thought but plenty of other people bought it. 
 

This may very well be legit. Im not saying it isn’t. I’m just pointing out that no one is “unsigned” until Aug 1.

[Inside Pitch]

9 hours ago, AngelsLakersFan said:

I don't read a lot of Nick Maronde comps on players the Angels just drafted, especially near the top of the draft.

No you don't, normally you'd see anyone with any semblance of talent compared to Nolan Ryan or Steve Carlton instead. 

Maronde may be an even better comp than my using Ellis.  Both of them were taken in the third round like Prager, both also came out of the SEC, from noted baseball programs.  Maronde is probably the better comp due to handedness albeit he likely had the lower profile as a prospect.  Still he managed to go from being a Florida Gator to an Anaheim Angel in 18 starts..  He wasn't near ready but he had managed a combined ERA at/near 2.00 in the minors at the time of his call up.  He "knew how to get guys out."

Mostly the Maronde comp fits because he's a pitch-ability guy... I saw Prager pitch twice, named him as one of maybe five good pitchers in a weak SEC class before he was drafted by the Angels so, it's not like in my case it's Angels homerism ... If they were going going to draft a guy with limited stuff it would have been him.  Still doesnt change the reality he is a guy who despite his size isn't known for his stuff (mostly sits 90), and who for the most part was good due to his unusually high release point and ability to spot his slider, which is the pitch the Angels love.  If you read any of my posts in the draft threads I even commented I wasn't as put off by some of the picks people were bitching about because for the most part they weren't guys noted for "pitchability", it's not like that's a bad thing but a guy who's got limited stuff in college has a harder go at it as a pro.  Basically the college RP guys may still have a shot at being starters and Prager may end up going the other way because his "stuff" is fringe outside of one pitch.

Anyway, Nick Maronde/Chris Ellis may not have had illustrious MLB careers but they fit into a similar "good but not great" college pitchers mold who were in fact taken early in the draft

9 hours ago, AngelsLakersFan said:

Calling a player "the guy I'd pick if I had to choose someone not to sign" is also pretty damning. Considering that most of these guys never amount to anything anyway I think it's fair to classify these statements as saying the guy sucks anyway.

Damning if someone is reading more into it than what was being implied. 

So let me try it again and make it more clear.  If I'm the Angels, I have a limited amount of money, and I have to pick between 3/4 pitchers, I'm blowing my wad on the guys with the greatest amount of upside because you can't always teach stuff and pitchers have historically had the biggest failure rate outside of HS catchers.  If anything I'd fault the Angels for rolling the dice on a draft eligible sophomore, something I clearly wasn't aware of when I commented on him and a few others corrected me on.  To me that was a stupid move given their HS selections.

Again, he's a high floor college arm.  He's got a better than average shot at reaching MLB.  But based on stuff, he's got 5th starter upside.  There's value in that, a lot more value than most ppl realize but this isn't a case if them drafting and failing to sign a likely potential star. 

Dude may be the smartest guy in the room for choosing to go back to school because he still could end adding velocity and raising his profile, but he is what he is currently.

[arch stanton]

Words are just words. There's still a few days for him to blink. If not, lesson learned on drafting sophomores

[arch stanton]

https://sports.yahoo.com/usa-softball-player-of-the-year-nijaree-canady-reportedly-gets-a-1-million-nil-deal-to-transfer-to-texas-tech-211711137.html

 

The reality of college sports in Texas

[Chuck]

https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/ryan-prager-announces-intention-to-return-to-texas-am/

[Stradling]

Sam Blum wrote an article about this in the Athletic. Basically he had a number in mind, Angels didn’t match it, said it would have taken the perfect situation to leave, but he was open minded to listen. Said he is unsure if the Angels knew prior to the draft what he expected from a signing bonus. Said the Angels were professional throughout the negotiations.  There’s some Blumness to the article, but Prager didn’t engage in it. The article also mentions that his NIL money is well north of $500k. 

[tdawg87]

Whatever.