The Red Sox agreed to deals with their top two draft choices Friday afternoon, reports Jim Callis of MLB Pipeline (Twitter links). 14th overall pick Kyle Teel received an even $4MM signing bonus against a $4.66MM slot value, while second-rounder Nazzan Zanetello landed a well above-slot $3MM figure.
Teel, 21, was viewed as the top catcher in this year’s college class. He was the second backstop off the board after Kansas City took high schooler Blake Mitchell eighth overall. Teel ranked in the back half of the top 10 on pre-draft rankings at The Athletic, ESPN, Baseball America and MLB Pipeline. That made it a bit surprising he fell to Boston at 14 and the underslot signing figure most closely aligns with the slot value for the 18th selection.
A left-handed hitter, Teel put up a .407/.475/.655 line during his final season at the University of Virginia. He hit 25 doubles and 13 home runs with a modest 12.1% strikeout rate over 297 trips to the plate. He earned the ACC Player of the Year award as a result. Evaluators credit him with a well-rounded skillset headlined by excellent athleticism for a catcher and plus arm strength.
Zanetello, a Missouri high school infielder, was selected 50th overall. That selection has a slot value of $1.7MM, which the Sox handily exceeded to sign him away from the University of Arkansas. A right-handed hitting infielder, Zanetello ranked as high as 33rd on Keith Law’s pre-draft list at The Athletic but was outside the Top 100 at Baseball America. Evaluators praise his bat speed and athleticism but raised questions about the amount of swing-and-miss in his game.
Teel is a bust in the making
You are a fool!!
Kyle Teel’s numbers in the ACC are pretty close to Henry Davis’ (No. 1 pick in the 2021 draft)numbers in the ACC:
Davis
Age 19: .280/.345/.386 in 148 PAs
Age 20: .372/.481/.698 in 52 PAs (Covid year)
Age 21: .370/.483/.663 in 228 PAs
Overall: .337/.435/.566 in 518 PAs
Teel
Age 19: .335/.416/.526 in 238 PAs
Age 20: .276/.402/.439 in 277 PAs
Age 21: .407/.475/.655 in 297 PAs
Overall: .343/.433/.547 in 812 PAs
Also, Teel looks like a better defensive catcher than Davis.
The part that has me skeptical is the drop-off from 2021 to 2022.
I guess winning ACC Player of the Year this year doesn’t impress you.
It is impressive, but one year does not a great player make.
You’re right, Teel had 2 great years
Your assessment–which is based purely on his slashline–is weak because you’re supposing that Teel’s sophomore performance is the norm while discounting his freshman and junior years
FWIW I read that he tried to change his swing/approach to hit for more power, which obviously didn’t work. Among the top 200 college hitters, only Gino Groover and Nolan Schanuel had both a higher contact rate and a higher 90th pctile EV than Teel. I think if you focused more on his contact and EV combo, his defense, and his athleticism, you’d come away with a much better impression of him.
Here’s a link to the EV and contact % chart if you’re interested:
i.imgur.com/49KHaF0.png
No, hardly saying it’s the norm, I’m just curious what adjustments were made in 2023 and weren’t in 2022. I’m hardly a prospect expert – I just don’t see a freshman – sophomore drop-off and see productive future MLB player. What I see is something closer to Mat Nelson, who also won ACC player of the year but hasn’t seen his bat carry over to the pros. Now, Teel’s numbers year to year beat out Nelson’s, but that just has me thinking Mike Zunino, which is hardly bad, but also not quite worth a guy who was floated as a guy who could go top-10.
The guy has 4 or 5 years of Minor League development ahead of him.
You see one bad year in college and you already calling a “Mat Nelson’. Wow. — Either youre the greatest scout ever or an idiot.
Short answer: Teel’s tools, build, tendencies at the plate, etc. are completely different from either Zunino or Nelson. Nelson struck out at a 24% rate in his draft year, while Teel was only at 12%, for instance.
Not saying it’s a guarantee that he’s going to be a great big leaguer, but Nelson and Zunino aren’t apt comparisons to Teel. Zunino and Nelson had more swing whereas Teel’s Achilles Heel could be his chase rate, which was merely average among college hitters instead of elite like some of his other hitting stats.
Teel’s on-base percentage was consistent. In the 2 years you are comparing, his OBP went from .416 to .402.
so literally a drop off from freshman to sophomore year is what your basing the analysis on? maybe you’d have a point if it was sophomore to junior year but if anything his ability to adapt and improve and have a stellar season at the plate and defensively should be seen as a positive not a negative. your entire is completely flawed if all you’re basing your analysis on a anecdotal evidence and this weird perceived drop off when he silenced doubters with bounce back year. Mike Zunnino is a terrible comp. He’s more like Jason Kendall type.
*entire argument is flawed
The part that has me skeptical is the drop-off from 2021 to 2022.
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The difference is entirely BABIP-related. 6 HRs with a 36/41 K/W is better than 9 HRs with a 37/24 K/W.
Teel looks like a better defensive catcher than Davis.
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Davis looks great, but unless he can catch, that seriously undermines his value.
Loser
Sorry I disagree with your player assessment I guess?
Based on… ?
teel is my favorite color
But it is ‘teel’ not ‘RED Sox’
Teel stain your teeth, Curly
Let’s make a teel, Zanetello looks promising
My neighbor had a teal Geo Metro in 1993. The only year teal was popular.
Huge overpay for their 2nd rounder. Nice job getting Teel signed under slot though.
They weren’t only under slot for their first round pick but many of the others they’ve signed already as well because they knew they would have to go over slot to sign Zanetello. Part of the reason he slid to the second round was signability concerns. Many evaluators had him ranked higher than where he was drafted.
Zanetello looks pretty good to me.
Nazzan Zanetello
Scouting grades: Hit: 50 | Power: 55 | Run: 55 | Arm: 55 | Field: 50 | Overall: 50
Zanetello climbed up Draft boards with a strong showcase circuit, beginning with MVP honors at the Breakthrough Series in June. He stood out in athletic testing at the PDP League in July, raked at the World Wood Bat Association World Championship in October and led Team USA in hitting (.429) at an 18-and-under World Cup qualifying tournament in November. Scouts love his five-tool potential as well as his makeup.I
Zanetello has a wiry 6-foot-2 frame with room to add more muscle, and his strong hands and wrists produce plenty of bat speed and 25-homer potential. He doesn’t have the prettiest right-handed swing but makes a lot of hard contact. He also shows good control of the strike zone and produced against quality pitching throughout the summer.
While Zanetello has clocked run times that earn grades from anywhere from 45 to 70 on the 20-80 scouting scale, the consensus is that he’ll probably have solid speed once he’s physically mature. His athleticism and strong arm help him make plays at shortstop, where he projects as an average defender. The Arkansas commit has looked solid in stints in center field and should provide similar glovework if he shifts to third base.
mlb.com/prospects/draft/nazzan-zanetello-805801
I don’t mind seeing Henry spend money. If you’re not giving it to Zanetello, I’d be interested who you’d have drafted instead of him, and, how you would’ve shaken up later picks to be better based on the savings.
They knew going into the draft, that it would take 3 mil to sign this kid.
Bobby: Probably. They might have been going to take him on an underslot deal in the 1st round and then Teel slid to them.
They might have been going to take him on an underslot deal in the 1st round
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That’s the great part about the BB draft, unlike FB. You can draft a 3rd round talent in the first round because you think you can sign the #15 overall in the 3rd round with the savings.
My overall philosophy on the draft is that almost no one in here knows anything about these guys. So how much do you really know about Zanetello? I never heard of the guy prior to the draft.
Teel can’t hit with a wooden bat and I just don’t understand why Bloom goes after so many infielders in his past few drafts all of his top picks (-Teel) are all middle infielders same with most of his trades being infielders also
Middle infielders often have the athleticism to play other positions as they mature and move through the minors.
If you want a recent albeit extreme example, Mookie Betts was a 2B that became an all-star and potential HOF outfielder. He wasn’t the only one.
You draft the tools and the best available player. Then they move around a bit on the field as they find their place. If you wind up with guys blocked but have the ability, you trade.
Exactly GASoxFan.
Take a look at the Baltimore Orioles. All Elias has done (prior to this most recent draft) is take SS and CFers. Best athletes on the field. I think that’s working out pretty well for them so far.
GASox – I can think of a much more recent example.
Jarren Duran, 2B converted to CF.
Talk about athleticism, seems like every game he either turns a single into a double or he winds up on 3B after stealing 2B.
The dude is absolutely crushing my assessment of him. This is just a great development effort both on his part and the RS. I never saw this coming at any time.
That said, I think we also drafted some skinny kid to play 2nd for us, and might’ve traded him to the LAD. He looks like he might be a keeper.
Some guy named Yaz was also a college SS IIRC.
what exactly are you basing this can’t hit with a wooden bat analysis on? his one week and 27ABs in the cape league last year?
Also guys move positions all the time. others covered this already
Can we just fire Bloom please. I am tired of the perpetual “wait until next year” and the absolute resistance to drafting any pitchers. We have 2.5 starters at the moment, yet can’t make a move for any arm despite being a few games out of a wild card spot. The man has had 3+ years to build arm depth and we have Bello (Dombrowski’s) and 1 arm with half decent upside in Drohan in AAA. Just tired of the same “throwing s**t at the wall and hoping it sticks” half plan for the pitching every single season. We all know pitching wins games, yet we have none.
they drafted nine pitchers this year. and 12 the year before….and pitchers often take a lot longer to develop.
Listen to felger n mazz much? Such a terrible outlook dude.
Oh look the Bloominati are out in full force I see. I see y’all have drank the Kool-Aid lol
your own ignorance and parroting the takes of sports hub clowns are responsible for you sounding like a buffoon.
A few years back the Angels drafted nothing but pitchers in the draft because of the overall lack of quality pitching in their minor leagues. How has that worked out for the major league team so far?
Obviously you need a balance. Where did I say only draft pitchers? I realize pitchers are higher volatility, but they constantly refuse to take any pitchers within the first 3-4 rounds consistently under Bloom. It’d be one thing if we used that prospect capital to trade for reliable arms, but we don’t even do that. We just pray stuff sticks to the wall when we throw it at the fan, for pitching at least
The closest pitchers taken after the Sox first round slot this year were 2-way High School player Bryce Eldridge who was taken 2 spots after Boston by SF and then Hurston Waldrep taken by Atlanta 10 spots after the Sox. Are you suggesting the Sox should have gambled on a high school pitcher who wants to try and be another Ohtani (and likely will fall far short of that) or taken another guy 10 slots above where he eventually went just to draft a pitcher?
This wasn’t considered to be a pitcher heavy draft. You’re criticizing Bloom for not drafting unwisely.
They literally took a pitcher with their forth round pick this year and another in the third last year. In fact since bloom has been in charge they’ve consistently taken pitchers within the third and forth round. Your arguments are getting worse with every comment you make. Frankly I doubt you’d be happy no matter what positions bloom picked. .
C’mon now just admit the Bloom ball washers are right I mean last place in 3 outta 4 isn’t that bad.
Stick with the plan like they say…they kinda sound like the Qanon tards but they think their right so go with it
Q is a stand alone. one guy. Anons are separate from Q. Maybe you should stop parroting MSM and their ignorance about it♂️
Since when is ignorance about Q and Anons a bad thing? Jeez. Get a grip.
“Since when is ignorance . . . ?”
Im going to say:
When people bring it up in a baseball conversation, and associate people they disagree with, with it.
Hayzee – Everyone over the age of 40 knows who Q is … Carlos Quintana of course!
you somehow found a way to sound like an even bigger D bag then the op and all the Q anon psychos in the same post.
acel – My post is directly above yours, but there’s no way you were referring to me … right?
Starting replies by stating the handle of the person to whom you’re responding definitely helps avoid any confusion :O)
not to you. to the guy who was overtly being a d bag. We may disagree but it’s beneath you to call someone a “tard”. I was just responding in the moment.
acel – Yeah I knew my comment was completely harmless, the posting order can get so confusing. They really need to add a quoting option.
FPG: agreed. and a sarcasm font wouldn’t hurt either
Obviously you need a balance.
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You need the best player available. There is no alternative. But just to add some details to the equation:
In 2020, the next pitcher chosen after Yorke was Jarvis, who has a 6.16 minor league ERA.
In 2021, the next pitcher chosen after Mayer was Mozzicato, who has a 4.38 minor league ERA.
In 2022, the next pitcher chosen after Romero was Schultz, who has a 2.30 minor league ERA, but only 15.2 IPs.
Drafting a mediocre pitcher just to create balance does not work.
Jake Biggar
S.Drohan (2020) AAA, Liu (sign Nov.2019) AA, G.Gambrell (trade Benintendi 2021) AA, H.Dobbins (2021) AA, I.Coffey (2022) AA, D.Rogers (2021) A+, E.Rodriguez-Cruz (2021) A, Y.Monegro (2020) A, plus C.Murphy (2019) MLB,
B.Walter (2019) MLB, B.Mata (2016) AAA IL, W.Gonzalez (sign 2018) AA, A.Bastardo (sign 2019) A+, L.Perales (sign 2019) A+, B.Blalock (2019) A+.
It is needed to take into account circumstance that 2020 a year in minor leagues was skipped from Covid and development of pitchers it wasn’t.
Bogey – in all fairness to the argument you’re trying to make against Jake, of your list only 7 guys count as coming in under the bloom regime as it took over during the offseason before 2020;
S.Drohan (2020) AAA, G.Gambrell (trade Benintendi 2021) AA, H.Dobbins (2021) AA, I.Coffey (2022) AA, D.Rogers (2021) A+, E.Rodriguez-Cruz (2021) A, Y.Monegro (2020) A,
As Dombrowski was around for the 2019 season/draft/etc, we would assign the following to him, and, it doesn’t count against someone arguing ‘who has bloom brought in to stock’…
[Liu (sign Nov.2019) AA, C.Murphy (2019) MLB,
B.Walter (2019) MLB, B.Mata (2016) AAA IL, W.Gonzalez (sign 2018) AA, A.Bastardo (sign 2019) A+, L.Perales (sign 2019) A+, B.Blalock (2019) A+.]
That said, I think there’s plenty of names off BOTH lists that you include if you’re looking at how pitching has been improved in the last 6 seasons or so.
Look guys, we’re all Sox fans here I could assume. I may have gotten a bit emotional, but all I’m really saying is Bloom has had 3+ years to build pitching depth for inevitable injuries that take place to starters/any pitcher every year. Counting on Sale, Whitlock, and Houck to stay healthy is asking a lot from guys that have shown you they have injury issues in the past. Pitching is the bedrock of any baseball organization. It is the only position in a team sport that can almost single-handedly win you a game. The inability/ignorance to build minor league ready pitching depth is what has plagued this team time and time again, not only this season but multiple seasons in a row. To invest/expect so much of previously injured arms (that have shown you injury issues in the past) I put squarely on the front office. If it was his first or second season, maybe a mulligan. But this is the 3/4th season in a row this has become an issue. Not only not building depth, but the refusal to trade for a reinforcement when we have 2.5 starters is just ridiculous for a team with a good farm system now. Especially when the team has shown you it can hit, as a unit. Im just saying it shouldn’t be viewed as acceptable. That’s all I’m saying guys.
you can attempt to shine up what you’re trying to say but you’re still wrong and display a woeful lack of knowledge of both the farm system and baseball in general. At this point just take the L and move on.
I do appreciate that you realized you were responding out of emotion though.
Acell10 Okay we’ll see who’s right eventually. Beautiful thing about baseball. But definitely don’t question my knowledge on the subject. A good farm is great and necessary but proven big leaguers win actually meaningful games. Dave Dombrowski is an excellent example. There is not coincidence his teams have all gotten to World Series under his leadership. Marlins, Tigers, Red Sox, Phillies. That is a proven track record. Prospects are great but do not always equate to wins in the major leagues. Just food for thought.
I will continue to question your baseball knowledge if you just admitted you’re wrong after everyone took turns dunking on you and if you are defending and stumping for Dombrowski. I’ve said it a million times before but it teaks zero skill as a GM to trade away all your best prospects and have a blank check to spend whatever you want which is exactly what Dombrowski did with the red sox along with every other team he’s run. I’ll take the world series but let’s not act like it takes anything more than a minimal understanding of baseball to out spend and empty a farm system to at minimum be competitive.
Also the prospects argument you are trying to make is incredibly played out. .
*can’t admit you’re wrong
@acell10 go take your booster shot
Acell10 aka incell10- again, Dombrowski has gotten to a World Series with 4 different teams in each tenure. Sure the Rays are a great sustainable model, for example, but again what has that won them? No World Series. Again, prospects are great and needed, but they are PROSPECTS. Not all will cut it, the majority won’t. Identify the ones to hold and trade the ones to not, when they have value, for proven major leaguers to win a ship. That is the goal. Win ships. Anything less in Boston is not cutting it.
Also, when did the Marlins become a big market? I wasn’t aware of their massive revenue and sales the last 20 years.
GASox – Great point!
And let’s not forget current ML pitchers Bello, Houck and Crawford were all Red Sox prospects when Bloom arrived in Boston.
again more baseball ignorance. In the 90s they spent to build that world series team and last time I checked Dumbo hasn’t run that team since then so that’s way more than 20 years…. seems like you’ve just proven again your baseball knowledge
Boxcore: go to bed. you’re sundowning again.
but the refusal to trade for a reinforcement when we have 2.5 starters is just ridiculous
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I too want him to trade for an SP. But you know how many SPs have been traded? -0-
GASoxFan
I think that 8 fellows signed at Bloom, because Liu is this first international signing of Chaim, but not herein essence.
Jake Biggar specified that Bloom not drafted of pitchers and I had to bring arguments over that it not so.
Chaim drafts and saves necessary of pitchers, that were drafted at Dombrowski.
To date there is 15 pitchers in the system of Red Sox, that, I specified higher plus from home-bred Bello, Houck, Crowford and Whitlock by rule 5.
In will run into a problem how to retain all pitchers and position players that must be added to the 40-man:
Pitchers
B.Mata AAA IL
W.Gonzalez AA
L.Perales A+
S.Drohan AAA
A.Bastardo A+
B.Blalock A+
Liu AA
Outfielders, infilders and catchers
C.Rafaela AAA
E.Paulino A+
M.Lugo AA
B.Bonaci A+
W.Abreu AAA
E.Valdez AAA
D.Hamilton AAA
B.Dalbec AAA
R.Hernandez AAA
S.Scott AAA
N.Sogard AAA
R.Fitzgerald AAA
E.Marrero AA