Updated writeup…
16th rounder and 478th overall pick RHP Nic Swanson out of Northeastern State in Oklahoma would be the second Jim Stevenson pick of the draft. The D2 pitcher had the second best ERA in the nation at 1.55 and struck out 106 in 87 IP with 22 BBs. Not on the BA Top 500 draft prospects list nor on their state of Oklahoma draft list. Listed at 6’2" 180 lbs.
18th rounder and 538th overall pick 2B Will Wagner is a lefty swinger who slashed .333/.399/.538 for Liberty U this spring. Billy’s son also put up decent numbers in the wood bat NECBL in the summer of 2019 at .329/.416/.557 in 173 PAs. Not on the BA Top 500 draft prospects list but was at #25 (out of 25) in their state of Virginia rankings. Listed at 6’0" 180 lbs.
19th rounder and 578th overall pick SS Hector Nieves was not on the BA Top 500 draft prospects list but was #2 on their top draft prospects out of Puerto Rico. Lefty hitter. Like Alex Ulloa played in the MLB Draft League and in fact was a teammate on the Frederick Keys. Hit .214/.303/.214 in just 28 ABs there with 14 strikeouts. Committed to Northwest Florida State JC. Listed at 6’4" 185 lbs.
20th rounder and 608th overall pick OF Jackson Linn out of Cambridge Lindge & Latin HS in Massachusetts who was ranked at #484 on the BA Top 500 draft prospects list. Decent pop at the plate apparently but has swing and miss issues says BA. That pub also says he projects as a corner guy . Tulane commit. Listed at 6’3" 215 lbs.
NDFA signee RHP Jacob DeLabio has had quite the journey as he’s about to begin his professional career. He went to D3 Carthage College and wasn’t even good enough to join the varsity team his first 2 years there. His bio on the Carthage website says he was on the JV team his freshman and sophomore years. And when he finally did join the varsity squad in 2019 in his junior year the numbers were bloody awful. In 35.2 IP he posted a 1.99 WHIP (41 hits and 30 walks allowed) and 7.57 ERA. He did though strike out 47. 2021 brought improvement as he posted 56 Ks vs just 12 BBs in 36.1 IP. From there it was on to the MLB Draft League where he dominated. HIs 43 whiffs were 4th best in the league. He recorded that in just 24.2 innings. And with just 5 walks allowed his K/BB ratio of 8.6 ranked 2nd among pitchers with at least 20 IP. He also posed a 1.46 ERA and .167 BAA. PBR reported that he was touching 96 with his FB and a spin rate that maxed out at 2603 rpm. His slider was ranked as one of the best in the league with a spin rate touching 2774 rpm and averaging 85-87 mph. Overall in their rankings PBR listed him as the 14th-best pitcher there. Listed at 6’5" 205 lbs.
NDFA signings now up to 5 with the addition of pitcher Walker Brockhouse out of U of Memphis. While the number of such signings will likely significantly increase in the days ahead, the Astros thus far ranks second in NDFAs signed behind only the Angels who have 12 (largely position players to offset all those pitchers they took in the draft).
20th rounder OF Jackson Linn is playing in the wood bat Futures Collegiate Baseball League. In just his second game there he did this…
About the FCBL…
WHO PLAYS IN THE FCBL?
Any student-athlete who wishes to play in the FCBL must be currently enrolled in a NCAA- or NAIA-sanctioned college or university, be in good academic standing, and have at least one year of collegiate eligibility remaining. While the vast majority of summer collegiate leagues require players to have completed their first year of eligibility, the FCBL allows top incoming freshmen to participate as well. The league has attracted additional talent from top New England programs like Boston College, UConn and Northeastern, as well as national powers like Vanderbilt and Virginia, as a result of this rule.
NDFA writeups continue (incorporates a bit of what Snuffy posted above)…
NDFA signee RHP Deylen Miley is the 4th player the Astros drafted or signed who played this summer in the MLB Draft League. In college he initially attended D2 Tiffin where he pitched in relief and occasionally saw action as a utility player his freshman and sophomore seasons (during the latter he was a teammate of Cody Orr who was signed by the Astros last year as a NDFA and is now at Asheville). Moved on to Bellarmine U where in 2019 he made a few relief appearances but was primarily a position player starting 40 games. In 2020 he moved into the starting rotation but still was a starting position player on days he wasn’t pitching until COVID ended the season. This spring Bellarmine moved up to D1 and Miley saw his position playing career come to an end as he concentrated solely on pitching. Posted 86 Ks vs 33 BBs in 64.2 IP. And from there it was on to the MLB Draft League where again you saw the pattern of lots of strikeouts but also lots of walks (37 and 14 respectively in 24.1 innings). PBR ranked him 27th-best pitcher in the league noting a FB at 92 with a 2300 rpm spin rate and a slider at 84 with a 2100 rpm spin rate. Listed at 6’2" 210 lbs.
NDFA signee RHP Kasey Ford didn’t exactly post great numbers during his 5 years at Kansas State with a 1.59 WHIP and just 163 Ks in 211 IP. Looked like he was turning things around this spring–after 13 appearances and 45.1 IP his WHIP was just 1.06. But over his last 4 games things blew up on him as he walked 15 and surrendered 20 hits in 14.1 IP. In the summer of 2019 he had 28 Ks vs 9 BBs in 29.2 IP pitching in the wood bat Northwoods League. Touches 95 on the fastball. Looks every bit of his listed 6’6" 275 lbs.
NDFA signee RHP Ray Gaither struggled with control during his time with Dallas Baptist, handing out 83 walks in 153 IP. Over a three year span (2018-2020) he made just 12 appearances for the Patriots due to undergoing TJS and the pandemic. Mid-90s fastball. Listed at 6’4" 224 lbs.
NDFA signee RHP Walker Brockhouse racked up a ton of strikeouts in his time with the U of Memphis with 88 Ks in just 60 IP which included 55 in 33.2 innings this spring. But that came with a lot of walks as well–49 during his 3 seasons with the Tigers including 27 in 2021. Listed at 6’4" 197 lbs.
Two more NDFA signees, both pitchers and both out of the California juco ranks. Astros with 7 NDFA signs now, still in second place behind the Angels who are now up to 19 NDFA signees.
I guess I’m a bit surprised to see so many UDFAs this year. I am under the impression with fewer MiLB clubs, they would be need to cull some folks after the draft. I guess they feel better about these guys than the ones they will presumably let go.
I have been wrong about quite a few things this year but one thing I did suggest (if you scroll up the thread) is I thought they would go heavy with NDFAs because of lacking 1st and 2nd round picks, a truncated draft for the second year in a row and more guys willing to sign NDFA deals because of the resulting backlog of players at the college level.
As far as a post-draft culling, maybe that will in fact occur. However I’ve written in the FCL thread that I don’t think many of this year’s draftees will see an assignment to an affiliate but rather will spend time in an instructional league setting. And while that 180 player Domestic Reserve list (again see the FCL thread) does limit how many players an org can have under contract, there seems to be an exception for current year drafted players. They will only count against the 180 player limit if they get assigned to an affiliate.
Thanks, that clarifies things.
NDFA signee RHP Marshall Hunt is a 2018 Chico HS grad who spent 3 years in the juco ranks. 2019 was spent at Northwest Florida State College where he was used sparingly with just 5.2 IP as a reliever. Returned home to California and spent the next 2 years at Sacramento City CC. COVID limited him to just 4 appearances and 4.2 relief innings in 2020. Moved into the starting rotation for 2021 where he K’d 24 in 23.2 IP while walking 16. Listed at 6’3" 200 lbs.
10 of the 19 players drafted have signed per reporting by Baseball America. A number of players have reported verbal agreements (Ulloa, Loperfido) that aren’t yet reflected as signed.
TY, Walt Bond, for this update.
Rookie questions: Did Quincy have an agent? Did the 'Stros get a bargain or waste a pick?
Time will tell, but trying to und why he would sign for $300K less than slot value.
Per these comments, a savings was expected, but $300K?
Snuff, he would have had an adviser not an agent so as not to run afoul of NCAA rules. From Hamilton’s perspective, you can kind of understand why he agreed to that relatively small bonus. He’s already 23. He’s from a small school in a lightly-regarded baseball conference. He had a breakout year that he probably had no hope of repeating had he returned to Wright State for his final year of eligibility. And he and his adviser would certainly have had some idea what the industry thought of his talents (that ranking of #431 on the BA draft board implies someone likely to go in rounds 11-15).
From the Astros perspective, it’s now becoming clear how much overslot they had to go to sign Tyler Whitaker (or perhaps Whitaker and Alex Ulloa). And the bottom line was they needed to roughly $750K in underslot savings from rounds 4-10 in order to achieve that. And signing Hamilton for $47.5K was simply a means to that end. In my view it’s impossible to talk about Hamilton on a standalone basis and claim he’s either a bargain or a wasted pick. Unless you want to pick apart the Astros entire draft and start arguing who they should have taken in the 3rd round instead of Whitaker because that largely drove what the club was doing subsequently throughout the remainder of the first 10 rounds.
Beautiful answer to rookie question, WB! It was snarky but I was not really trying to nit pick. Wanting to understand. Your response nailed it for me. Thank you!
Did I correctly recall reading somewhere that lower level draftees and UDFR should only be signing for $20K ~ ?
Thank you, Walt Bond!
