Recapping the Baseball Prospectus Event at Miller Park

Miller Park

This past weekend while all of the Washington D.C. area was celebrating the magnificent accomplishments of Bryce Harper and Paul Pierce, I travelled to Milwaukee to attend the Baseball Prospectus event at Miller Park, home of the Milwaukee Brewers.

Before the event even started, Saturday afternoon I was fortunate enough to meet up with Baseball Prospectus members Jordan Gorosh and Nick Faleris. Jordan and I recorded a new episode of THE NatsGM Show, outside of a bar no less, in which we discussed scouting, Kris Bryant, and a few prospects. Look for this interview in the next few days on the site.

Following that interview Nick and I met up for an adult beverage and to discuss this year’s MLB Draft class, which has received mixed reviews from critiques about the overall level of talent available. Nick has promised to come on the Podcast before the June draft to analyze and discuss the top prospects available this year.

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After this, I made my way over to Miller Park in time for the start of the BP Milwaukee event. The session began with a Question-and-Answer session hosted by Milwaukee front office member Matt Kleine, who specializes in contracts and arbitration cases. While Matt had to be careful with how much he could say, for obvious reasons, he immediately grabbed my attention when he said “arbitration is about paying for past production, not what they will achieve in the future”. Another intriguing thing he mentioned was about how an arbitration case goes – in my mind I thought it was 2-3 lawyers, the player and the arbitrator in a small conference room. However, this is not the case, as Mike stated that there are often 50 or more people in the room when an arbitration case is heard, including representatives from other major league teams.

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One final point that caught my attention was when someone from the audience asked why it feels like the player and team fight over a relatively small amount of money in the general scheme of the overall payroll. Mike made a great point that arbitration is a consistent comparison of players, and each time you “give in” and pay the player more, you have now reset the entire pay scale throughout baseball. So it may not be the difference of $50,000, it is establishing a precedent for players in the future.

Next about 12 members from Baseball Prospectus formed a panel and held a casual Question-and-Answer session with the audience. Surprisingly, many of the questions focused on the Chicago Cubs, their prospects and their options this forthcoming offseason, no doubt because Cubs expert Sahadev Sharma was in attendance. In addition it was nice to hear from many of the new owners of the site, who all came across as very smart business men and passionate baseball fans. Finally, I was able to crowbar one question to the panel, asking them which players could make a monster jump up prospect rankings this year. Interestingly the names that were mentioned by the prospect team were Cubs Dan Vogelbach, Yankees Jorge Mateo, Boston’s Rafael Devers and Nationals prospect Wilmer Difo.

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After this 30-45 minute discussion, we then made our way into the stadium where we were treated to watching the game from the ATI club, which is directly behind the right field fence. Although the game was rather uncompetitive, a 12-4 victory for the Brewers, we were treated to Kris Bryant’s 1st major league home run and David Ross’ first pitching appearance in the major leagues.

In conclusion I want to publicly thank Baseball Prospectus for putting together such a terrific and unique experience in conjunction with the Milwaukee Brewers. I hope the new owners continue to have more events similar to this one, (DC would be a great spot) and I look forward to attending more get-togethers in the future. So long from Milwaukee!

THE NatsGM Show Episode 35 – Special Guest Baseball Prospectus’s Ryan Parker

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For Episode #35 of THE NatsGM Show, I am proud to welcome back friend of the site and Baseball Prospectus Hitting Guru Ryan Parker.

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A Special Thank You to our sponsor, Amazon.com, and to my super-producer Josh Owens for their help with the show each week.

THE NatsGM Show Episode 34 – Guest MLB Agent Joshua Kusnick

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This week on Episode #34 of THE NatsGM Show, I am proud to have former guest and Major League Baseball Agent, Joshua Kusnick, return to the Podcast.

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Enjoy this extremely fun interview about the Business of Baseball!.

Scouting the MLB Draft – University of Maryland 2B Brandon Lowe

Brandon LoweUniversity of Maryland Draft-Eligible Sophomore 2B Brandon Lowe

Date Scouted:  20+ Times In-Person, Most Recently 4/18/15

7-Word Scouting Report: Pure Second Baseman, Potential Plus Hit Tool

The University of Maryland has burst upon the college baseball landscape in the past few seasons and has firmly established their program as a perennial top-25 team. Certainly many individuals deserve credit for this meteoric rise, in particular and most especially the coaching staff led by Head Coach John Szefc. That said one player who has had a major role in changing the culture is leadoff hitter and second baseman Brandon Lowe.

At the plate Lowe is a terrific all-around hitter, showing above-average bat speed and quick wrists throughout his short, compact left-handed swing. He features excellent balance throughout the swing and is rarely fooled at the plate. Lowe uses the entire field and shows more power to center field and right field than one would expect from a 6-0 185lbs middle infielder. In addition Lowe has a mature approach at the plate, as he hunts fastballs and swings only at offerings in the strike zone. Lowe has excellent barrel-to-ball ability and has a good eye in the batter’s box. I am confident putting an above-average on his future hit tool and he could develop some additional power as he continues to mature physically.

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Defensively Lowe has a pure second base profile, as he does not possess the elite athleticism or arm strength to play shortstop as a professional. This is not to denigrate his defensive aptitude at the keystone, as Lowe shows good footwork, athleticism, and a solid arm at the position. Lowe makes all the routine plays defensively and shows excellent grit and toughness when turning the double play. While he does not possess the tools to be an elite defender, there is little reason Lowe cannot be an average or slightly above-average defensive second baseman.

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Unfortunately as a draft prospect this June, Lowe does have a couple knocks against him – first, as a draft-eligible sophomore, he does have the leverage to return to school for another season. In this age of hard slotting in the draft, this option could leave teams weary of using a Day 2 pick on him. Secondly, because he is limited to the right side of the infield, his prospect profile and potential ceiling are not typical with players selected inside the top-5 rounds of the draft.

Those negatives aside Lowe has the potential to have an above-average to plus hit tool with some below-average to fringe-average power at the plate. In addition he makes all the routine plays at second base and profiles as an average defender at the position. Along with a true “gamer” mentality and constant hustle, Lowe will get everything out of himself and his teammates.

While my brain tells me to slow down, my heart has fallen for Brandon Lowe like a teenage boy with his first crush. I completely believe in his ability to hit and think he will be a bargain to the team that eventually signs him, whether that is this summer or sometime in the future.

Projected Draft Status ->   If Signable, 5th to 8th Round

https://youtu.be/EXJ9o23hMF8