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Another mock vs. real draft thing I noticed . . . lack of catchers. After Kevin Parada was selected 53rd overall by the Brewers not a SINGLE catcher was taken. By my count only 6 catchers were taken total. 4 of those 6 were taken within 9 picks of each other.

Outside of last year (weak catching crop) you typically see around 8-10 catchers selected and usually a few in the late 2nd-3rd round. I'm going to predict that we see a few more catchers taken in that range with a focus on the college guys. Seems like a few of those 100+ overall ranked catchers get popped earlier than expected every year. Jackson Miller, Casey Opitz, Michael Rothenberg are prime candidates.

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That's a great call Brian. DEFINITELY a mock vs real thing. All teams need a billion catchers because of the ton of bullpen work every minor league staff is doing developing their pitching staffs -- it's the position where the most value is gained from guys with no chance of beign big leaguers. But because of this, it's the least sexy position for mockers like us (which reminds me of the Ringo Starr quip from Hard Day's Night: "are you a Mod or a Rocker?" "Neither, I'm a mocker."

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The other scouting credo I've heard (thanks to PBR) is "You spin to win." After a few days of watching video and reading scouting reports, I'm enamored with Alex Santos. Agree with your takes on Jones and Rosario. I'm tepid on Wilcox due to his control issues dating back to high school, and the way his arm trails behind the rest of his delivery as he prepares to spit high velo makes me concerned for his shoulder in the future, though he's had no such injury history.

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No, no - not at all. Perhaps you couldn’t hear the enthusiasm in my typing - I love this stuff. (I am here, after all).

So I’ll have more questions after my wife gets off the computer (working from home - she hates it) and I can get to it, to read some of these links on a full size monitor instead of squinting at my iPhone.

And I assume that Jones’ age does not bother you?

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Wow - a lot to digest here. It sounds like a lot of fun, and I think I agree that the Giants need to lean heavily towards pitching in this draft.

Does Jones’ she concern you at all? He’s old for his class.

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I translate your comment to mean: "please edit yourself, Roger!"

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Auto-correct fail; does Jones’ AGE concern you?

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Not particularly -- I think age is less of a factor with pitchers than with hitters. Pitchers facing older hitters doesn't necessarily bring the same value that hitters facing older pitchers does.

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Oops - how did I miss this? Please ignore the repeated question.

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