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Saturday, May 10, 2008

Q + W Jeff Luhnow

Pete Kozma wasn’t considered to be a “sexy” pick at the time he was drafted. A lot of different media outlets said that while he had solid tools across the board, other then power, he possessed no real standout tool. Yet so far Pete has been played extremely well. Are you surprised at how well Pete’s performed early?

If we wanted a “sexy” pick, we would read Baseball America, read Keith Law’s articles, and pick based on their opinions. But we don’t, and neither do any other clubs, because while the journalists are doing a good job of expressing their opinions based on the information they have, we have to live and die with our selections and the future of the organization is impacted by these picks. If the journalist is wrong, he just admits it (maybe) and keeps writing about the next guy or the next draft. They will still sell papers or get eyeballs. If we are wrong, we’ve missed a huge opportunity to make our organization better, and nobody wants to do that.

Pete’s performance is not a surprise to me or to our scouts. I’m happy he is doing well and I sure hope and expect he will keep it up. I know he will have his rough patches as he goes through our system, everybody except Albert does. By the way, a player with average tools across the board who plays a premium position is incredibly valuable! When we as scouts say “average”, we mean average at the major league level. Theoretically, he would be in the top 15 shortstops at the major league level if that were true. Those players get paid well because they are so valuable.

So Taguchi is My Sensei Posted: May 10, 2008 at 02:19 PM | 8 comment(s)
Related News: Minor Leagues, Prospect Reports, Scouting, St Louis

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1. philly Posted: May 10, 2008 at 05:03 PM (#2776101)

Pete’s performance is not a surprise to me or to our scouts. I’m happy he is doing well and I sure hope and expect he will keep it up.

Why would he have to "hope" he does well in the future since his current performance is not a surprise at all? ;)

Otoh, I completely agree with this:

By the way, a player with average tools across the board who plays a premium position is incredibly valuable! When we as scouts say “average”, we mean average at the major league level. Theoretically, he would be in the top 15 shortstops at the major league level if that were true. Those players get paid well because they are so valuable.

And think that plays a big part in the way college infielders tend to be mid to late rd sleepers. Scouts may do a decent job of evaluating their skills, but don't appreciate how valuable a solid and cheap player can be even if he doesn't fit the toolsy profile.

2. Darren Posted: May 10, 2008 at 05:53 PM (#2776130)

Pretty tough to parse out "hope and expect" to mean that they don't think he'll keep it up, isn't it? :)

And think that plays a big part in the way college infielders tend to be mid to late rd sleepers. Scouts may do a decent job of evaluating their skills, but don't appreciate how valuable a solid and cheap player can be even if he doesn't fit the toolsy profile.

Did you write up a study on this somewhere? I seem to recall you mentioning it before but I can't find it when I search around the internets. Any link?

3. philly Posted: May 11, 2008 at 08:00 AM (#2776535)

Did you write up a study on this somewhere? I seem to recall you mentioning it before but I can't find it when I search around the internets. Any link?

No, but I hope to before the draft.

4. philly Posted: May 11, 2008 at 08:43 AM (#2776542)

Finally getting a chance to read the actual article and holy crap that is a brutal travel schedule!

With draft day coming up, I imagine it must be a busy time for you. How are you and your crew preparing for the big day?

This is a very busy time of year. Just to give you a feel for it, I’ll tell you where I’ve been since mid-April. I saw us play the Brewers at home on the 15th of April. From there I went to Georgia, Orlando, three locations in Arizona, back to Georgia, to Jupiter, and Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Phoenix, North Carolina, Indiana, Kentucky, then back to St Louis. I was home for all three Cards-Cubs games, and then off to Venezuela, Florida (where I am now), and Saturday I head to the Dominican Republic. All of our scouts are equally busy right now evaluating players, talking to them about the upcoming draft, and writing reports. I’ve been to Memphis and Palm Beach and Extended Spring Training, and plan to visit Quad Cities and Springfield soon. We have five draft workouts planned around the county the last weeks of May plus regional draft meetings with all the local scouts.

Sox were babies complaining about a trip to Japan.

5. Keith Law Posted: May 11, 2008 at 09:55 AM (#2776564)

holy crap that is a brutal travel schedule!

It's typical. I talked to an assistant SD the other day who'd been home one day in the last 30. I was on a flight yesterday morning with three other guys going from ATL to STL, and we were all flying out in different directions last night too.

6. jwb Posted: May 11, 2008 at 10:12 AM (#2776571)

Rain outs must be incredibly frustrating.

7. philly Posted: May 11, 2008 at 11:27 AM (#2776597)

It's typical.

I can't tell you how sad this makes me.

I even bolded my little lame joke.

You know... to Jupiter as in the planet!

8. jwb Posted: May 11, 2008 at 02:06 PM (#2776706)

Yeah, we all know about the kid on Ganymede with the good face.

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Q + W Jeff Luhnow

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