Another NDFA according to BA
- Mason Lytle, OF, UTSA
Jase Mitchell and Elijah Farley have told Astros Future they intend to sign. Neyens also said during his press hit on draft night that he’s going to sign. Neyens and Mitchell weren’t question marks (the Astros aren’t taking anyone in the top ten rounds without a prior agreement), but Farley wasn’t necessarily a sure thing as a 12th rounder.
Haven’t seen word on anyone else yet.
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In the limited time I saw him, I was impressed. Sort of assumed he’d be a late round pick.
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Was he their RF?
CF, leadoff hitter
Thank you for the clarification.
In fact the Astros signed a kid out of HS last year - Jagger Beck. He is pitching at the complex in Florida. He has appeared in 3 games/10 innings. He has 14 K to go with 6 walks, 9 hits and 2 HR. He is clearly being told to work on his mechanics because there have been 8 stolen bases with no caught stealing so far this year. He hasn’t pitched since May 22nd but is listed as active so I am not sure what is going one with him. He won’t turn 19 until November so a really young signee last year.
Another in the FWIW category, Kendall Rogers from D1 Baseball also liked this signing.
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Excerpts from ESPN’s draft review:
Jase Mitchell … a nice mix of hit, power and defense who was tracking as if he might get seven figures.
Nick Potter … with a touch more control the traits are here to be a middle reliever, with a plus fastball and 55-grade slider.
Ethan Frey … has played some outfield and catcher in the past, and his easy plus raw power is real.
Nick Monistere was a stats find … with 20-25 homer upside as a second baseman.
Joey McLaughlin got some late top-five-rounds buzz for his raw tools as a prep outfielder in Oklahoma.
Maybe McLaughlin goes to school unless the Astros have more change in the cushions than I think they do? He’s the only one of the HSers who hasn’t been confirmed as intending to sign yet, and I’ve just been assuming one of them would end up on campus.
Also haven’t seen anything yet re: the transfer portal guys signing.
Seems like a lot of the new additions are guys who never finish a game with a clean uni. Love it.
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I didn’t follow the draft much, and I completely forgot about this local kid. Too bad the stupid Angels took him (79th). Missed him pitching this year, but he sure looked impressive when I saw him last season.
Interesting, I never hear about Johnson City High School in sports. Which classification are they in, and who is their big rival? More importantly, what is their mascot?
LBJ High School in Johnson City is a 3A classification. I don’t know about “Johnson City High School”. Maybe that is how it is referred to to avoid confusion with other Johnson High Schools.
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Thanks, that link had it as “Johnson City High School.”
They’ve built a very nice baseball program (won state a few years ago and were ranked #1 in 2A entering the playoffs this year). They suck at everything else.
They’re officially the Lyndon Baines Johnson HS (Johnson City, TX) Eagles. Not sure if they’re in the same classification anymore, but Blanco would be their main historical rivalry. May be a more current one in their district.
Kid had some funny comments about their home field, I have no idea why they haven’t improved it. [it’s not like there’s a dearth of money around there]
https://www.kxan.com/news/slawinskis-small-town-toughness-starts-in-johnson-city/
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Haven’t listened yet, but Chandler Rome had Cam Pendino on for 40 minutes recapping the draft. I was expecting their draft episode to be a guest from Baseball America or something, great they got the scouting director himself.
ETA: alright, unfortunately they don’t spend a whole lot of time taking about the players—just Neyens, Frey, and Mitchell, and a tiny bit about Pentecost—but still interesting.
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https://x.com/AriA1exander/status/1946362997133205604
Neyens signing for slot value, as expected. Jase Mitchell may be the only over-slot guy in the first ten rounds; one or two of the college draftees will be substantially under-slot to free up cash for his bonus. HS draftees Farley and Arroyos might be signing for slot value or nominally above.
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Just read an interesting tidbit about Jase Mitchell, which I think came from the podcast (haven’t had a chance to listen to it yet). Astros were super impressed with his makeup. During the team’s initial meeting with him, a scout briefly mentioned the need to learn Spanish in their minor league system. A couple of weeks later, during the second meeting, they discovered Mitchell was using Duolingo to learn Spanish.
He’s making a strong case to be my favorite prospect from this draft.
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On3 reporting that 7th Round pick Jase Mitchell has signed for $797,500 (slot value was $267,700).
As @moriarty alluded to, that high over slot suggests several of the picks from the 6th to 10th Rounds will be significantly under slot to make this happen. Will be interesting to see what’s left over for the late round HS picks to sign. Can’t imagine the front office makes this deal without knowing what they need to sign everyone.
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