I meant to do a writeup on this before, but it slipped my mind. I just read Callis talking about it again two days ago, so I guess its time to address it, even though I’d just like to ignore it and move on. In his first mock draft, posted a few days ago, Jim Callis at BA projected Anthony Hewitt heading to the Phillies at #24. Here was his writeup
24. PHILLIES. Philadelphia GM Pat Gillick built the Blue Jays’ World Series clubs on sheer athleticism, and the best athlete in this draft is Hewitt. He’s very raw, but that never has scared Gillick. Collier and Hood are two other possibilities.
Projected Pick: ANTHONY HEWITT.
This fits the profile. The Phillies love raw athletes, and they loved them even before Gillick came aboard. Hewitt is an apparent “toolshed”, ala Greg Golson, but from what I remember before Golson was drafted, Hewitt is even more raw. Golson was a highly touted prospect, ranked the 7th best prospect in Texas, which was loaded in 2004. So, how did Hewitt make it here when he wasn’t even ranked by BA in their Top 100 high school seniors?
Jim Callis addressed this very point two days ago in another edition of Ask BA.
Paul has a particular interest in Hewitt because he’s an assistant coach at the Salisbury (Conn.) School, where Hewitt stars as a shortstop. Hewitt is one of the more intriguing players in the 2008 draft, because he’s not only the best pure athlete available, but he’s also the ultimate high-risk, high-reward talent in this class. Thus there’s some difference between how we regard him as a prospect and where he might go in the draft.
Hewitt’s athleticism stood out on the showcase circuit last summer, but his performance didn’t. As a result, he didn’t make our preseason Top 100 High School Prospects list
. And though he has plenty of helium, Hewitt has yet to appear on our Draft Tracker.
Hewitt’s power potential, speed, arm strength and overall athleticism are all tantalizing. At the same time, he’s also extremely raw offensively and will have to move off of shortstop. As one front-office executive put it, “He has first-round tools. But he’s not a very good player yet, and he will need some time.”
When we release our Top 200 Draft Prospects later this week, you’ll see that Hewitt didn’t rank among the first 30 players. Yet he has a strong chance of going in the first 30 picks. I projected him to go 24th overall to the Phillies, and the Brewers (No. 16), Cubs (No. 19) and Rockies (No. 25) have shown varying degrees of interest.
At this point, just start praying the Brewers or Cubs take him and don’t give us the chance.
Phuture Phillies 
UUUUGGGGGHHH.
Maybe with a comp pick, I wouldn’t complain too much, but not with the 1st rounder. Is it b/c he’d be cheap(er)?
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You almost have to think this has no chance of happening, but then again, it is the Phillies.
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The hell of it is that I could see them concluding that Golson’s progress makes this a risk worth taking. It looks like he’s going to have more of a career than Jeff Jackson or Reggie Taylor (faint praise though that is); maybe they figure it just keeps getting better from here.
But dear lord I hope not.
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Please don’t draft another long shot toolshed…not in the 1st round!!!
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I love the idea of taking “toolshed” type guys in later rounds. Bust slot once in a while to nab yourselves a Dominic Brown, a Jiwan James, etc. Then if they don’t pan out, you’ve done nothing but lose some signing bonus money — you haven’t passed up higher probability future major leaguers.
But a guy as raw as that so early… I mean, if they really like something in the kid like his makeup, work ethic, etc., then I guess I won’t jump out the window. But I’ll be hanging on the ledge, because a team that continually takes low ceiling four-year college players in the top 10 rounds needs more of a sure thing from its early picks.
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How about a top pitcher or position player and just pay da man…how hard is that to do? The Red Sox do it every year and look at their farm system…Lester, Bucholtz, Masterson, Lowrie, Pedroia, Ellsbury, etc…its ridiculous how many blue chippers they have.
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i like to see a team take the best available player/pitcher in the 1st round, perhaps, with an empahsis on pitcher. Regardless of slot. Of course, if the player doesn’t ‘want to come here like JD Drew, don’t draft him!!
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i dont think hewitt would be a bad selection in the 2nd round if he drops to that. I think he might be a bit of a stretch with the comp pick, but totally plausable knowing the phillies. I DO NOT want to see him taken in the 1st round.
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He’d be a fine 2nd round pick afte they have already made 2 other selections…I’m sick of picks like Roberson and Golson…they are such long shots to develop.
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“Hewitt won’t even be available at 24.”
HELLO Brett Wallace!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Wallace wont be available either.
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Hey in a world where a Hewitt can move up like this why can’t a Wallace fall like that? And I do realize that he’s probably not goign to be there but a man can dream can’t he?
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BA’s Top 100 out today and Hewitt checks in at 41. And it indicates that you may have to go overslot to sign him because he’s got a Vanderbilt scholarship. I don’t want a toolsy HS player but if the Phillies are determined to take one – I’d go with Collier (assuming Hicks is off the board). I still like Havens or Gillaspie at 24 followed by 4 straight signable HS selections and a safely signable college player at 109.
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Yeah I’d take Collier too.
I just can’t see Havens at 24, just feels like he’d be going too soon, but who knows.
I think its almost a lock that they’ll take a college SP, probably a senior, in the 2nd or 3rd round, and probably another college pitcher with their comp pick for Workman.
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I don’t like the Hewitt pick either, but think you’re all overreacting a bit. This is a very weak draft class, especially at the top. Outside of the top 10, this first round looks like a second round. Considering the overall weakness of the college class and lack of dominant high school pitchers, I’d consider going for “helium” early. Hewitts the wrong guy, but I wouldn’t necessarily mind a young player with a high ceiling.
Callis mentions three toolsy players:
OF Zach Collier
SS/OF Destin Hood
SS/OF Anthony Hewitt
Of these three, I’d prefer Collier or Hood. All three are great athletes, Hood and Collier look more comfortable on the field. Honestly, I don’t see why Hewitt is ranked so highly. Hewitt may be a great athlete, but he lacks instincts that cannot be taught. I’d be okay with Hood or Collier- young corner outfielders with quick bats, smooth swings and nice approaches at the plate. Both Collier and Hood make good contact and have huge power potential. Of course the later you draft a player, the better his value, but I wouldn’t draft Hewitt before the 3rd round. He simply lacks the instincts for the game.
A team can never have too much pitching, but this organization needs some talented position players. There simply don’t appear to be many elite prospects in this draft class. I’d even consider taking a quality college reliever, like Josh Fields…
With the first few picks, I don’t want: catchers, another “projectible” #3 LHP, college middle infielders, speedy CFs, 1st basemen who can’t play another position, corner infielders who can’t make contact and raw highschoolers who can’t hit. This basically leaves: hard throwers, outfielders with pop and 3rd basemen who make good contact. With such a limited wish list, I’m sure I could come up with some names fairly quickly.
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Baxter:
1. I also prefer Collier then Hood and then Hewitt.
2. I sort of share your wishlist though I don’t have a problem taking a college first baseman with pop.
3. If you want a college 3B who makes good contact you’re probably going to have to use 24 or 34 to get that I think. Darnell maybe at 51 but his .315ish average doesn’t seem to qualify as one who makes good contact.
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All the players above were legitimate high draft picks who signed for slot money. There’s two more you missed in those bumper crops, Bowden and Bard , both of whom signed for slot money, too. Except for Ellsbury, the rest were supplemental picks or second rounders. Lots of teams missed them.
Where the Sox bust slot is on high schoolers, especially position players with power potential, who fall due to college commitments and higher bonus demands. They’ll miss on a lot of these but thru attrition come up with a gem or two, which is what they are looking for. Lars Anderson, Ryan Kalish and Anthong Rizzo fit the bill.
This is the Sox modus operandi the last few years.
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“baxter Says:
May 21, 2008 at 5:01 pm
I don’t like the Hewitt pick either, but think you’re all overreacting a bit. This is a very weak draft class, especially at the top. ”
Wow, my impression is the exact opposite.
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This is fairly deep draft class, but I don’t see a huge difference between late 1st round and early 3rd round. The drop off starts somewhere in the teens…
Its a good draft to have 5 selections in the first 100…
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I actually think the draft class is kind of weak. One true impact talent in Alvarez, the college pitching class is strong only in numbers, as I don’t think Matusz or Crow profile as true #1’s, and the best prep RHP is still TBD, as Melville hasn’t really taken charge, and guys like Cole and Martin have flaws. The strength of the class is 1B, which is kind of odd.
In 5 years, I think Smoak is going to be looked at as the best player in this draft, but thats just a gut feeling.
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We should probably think about drafting a 1B fairly high as we will likely need one in a few years.
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you cant draft based on needs, yes if there is alonso or wallace available then it would be awesome if we could grb one of those.
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I was making the point that it is a strong draft for 1B so it might make sense if the best player is a 1B to actually take him as opposed to living in a dreamworld where Howard is the long-term 1B on the team…which it seems he won’t be. I just don’t see them agreeing on a long-term deal with him.
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Do the Phillies really “love raw athletes”? I see very little evidence that would support that claim.
In spite of my semi-defenses of Golson on this site, I don’t think he was the best pick that could have been made, and obviously Reggie Taylor and Jeff Jackson were mistakes. But those are three guys in almost twenty years, and they were each chosen by three different GMs. Is that a significantly higher rate of toolsiness than other teams’? How much higher could it be?
Perhaps they’ve picked a lot of raw athletes in the lower rounds, although that hasn’t been my recollection. In fact, I recall that most of the criticism that’s been directed at the Phillies for their lower-round picks is that they’ve drafted too many low-ceiling college players.
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In Keith Law’s latest blog on ESPN he said that a senior Phillies scout said the Phillies will be taking Jason Knapp from Jersey with possibly their first round pick but definitely their supplemental round pick, if he is there. Law said he throws hard, has an ugly delivery and OK command. Thoughts?
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I’m okay with a guy who throws hard and has good command, and I’m sure they could improve the ugly delivery. I just wonder if he draws his velocity from his delivery or if the phils coached him to improve it he could possibly gain a few mph.
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Woops. That should have said two different GMs. Lee Thomas picked both Jackson and Taylor. Ed Wade picked Golson. Pat Gillick’s top picks have been Mike Costanzo (2nd round), Kyle Drabek, and Joe Savery. To the extent Mike Arbuckle matters, he’s been around since 1993 and thus had a hand in Taylor and Golson, but not Jackson.
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Gillick wasn’t here for Costanzo.
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Yes, that’s correct. Revise accordingly.
Anyway, the point is that the Phillies don’t appear to be particularly tools oriented. They are arguably slightly more toolsy than would be optimal, but no more than that. For a real tools-oriented approach, you’d have to look at a team like the Detroit Tigers of the late ’80s/early ’90s under Bo Schembechler (sp?), when they were literally drafting football players and basketball players (like Tony Clark, who didn’t turn out so bad) with high picks in several different drafts.
This is not to say they’ve been a very good drafting team, but any blame for that clearly has to lie elsewhere.
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Very interesting about Jason Knapp. The guy who purports to be the scout over at the phillies.com website posted on May 20th that the Phillies sent their heavy hitters to see RHP Jason Knapp of North Hunterdon HS in New Jersey and surmised they might use the comp pick on him. PGCrosschecker has him at #119 overall and BA doesn’t have him in the Top 200. So taking him at 24 or even 34 seems a little rich. If true, you wonder whether the Phillies are overdrafting him so that the slot bonus is enough to get him to sign.
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Command can be taught…power cannot. I’ll take a guy who throws hard over the guy who gets by on hitting his spots in college.
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Well taco pal, Marti Wolever disagrees with you, but I wouldn’t necessarily consider him a believable source
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I can’t tell if you’re being sarcastic, but if Wolever makes a comment somewhere and the record doesn’t support the substance of that comment, then it’s the record that should take precedence in one’s analysis. In any event, the statement that you quote is more than vague enough that it doesn’t justifiably compel any sort of strong conclusions. I’m sure every team wants to maximize athleticism all other things being equal. That doesn’t pinpoint where athleticism stands in the order of priorities.
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