PrOTD LHP James Paxton - Prognosis
Q. Wow. Sounds like SSI is advertising Paxton as a top-10-in-the-draft type.
A. ::shrug:: That was the consensus before the nicks, dings, and holdout -- because that specific LHP toolbox is a rare and very kewl deel-ee-oh.
Any left hand pitcher who:
- Throws with that much easy velocity
- Throws overhand
- Puts his curve in the strike zone
- Translates it into 115/20 CTL results
- Doesn't have some giant asterisk attached
... is going first round. Kershaw did, even out of high school.
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Q. Would SSI be visualizing this ML glory for Paxton, had he been drafted by (say) Billy Beane?
A. If James Paxton were joining the Oakland A's today, I'd be saying that Paxton immediately becomes their most-scary minor league pitcher.
Hey, if Paxton were an Oakland A, I might be selling him as having a 50-50 shot at a Jered Weaver, Justin Verlander fast track to their rotation.
Pineda is great but he's no longer a minor leaguer. Robles is a fascinating, quirky prospect ... after them, Paxton becomes the Mariners' glitter arm.
He's a half-season of nice results away from --- > being one of the next big ML-ready aces. That half-season might or might not occur.
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Q. Where would he rank in the M's top 10?
A. Until he pitches, he would be outside the normal system. No ranking. Maybe the newspaper is wet and there will be no combustion here at all; there's that possibility.
Let's say that he kicked the rust off for two months, and then about June-July he started smoking some AA teams...
Then it would be Ackley, Pineda, Franklin, and then him.
I'll trade you three Taijuan Walkers for one James Paxton. It's three, not eight, TW's because of Paxton's time off.
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Cheerio,
Dr D