Age Differences in Draft?

JMO, but I don't think that most scouts pay much attention to it. Generally they tend to go by grade, not by age and the younger players for their grade tend to be at a disadvantage, especially when it comes to the college level talents. As always, the very top talents will show through regardless. Delmon Young is a case in point as he was a young senior.

This year it will be interesting to see how Gerrit Cole does in the draft as he's young for his grade. So far the pros seem to be downgrading him for some perceived makeup issues, but that may be more a reflection of their being a bit scared of signing a 17yo pitcher early in the first round.

If you go through the PG ratings you will see that a sophmore and a junior who are the same age and post the same numbers will generally get very different ratings as the sophmore will be considered more projectable. One has to realize that the sophmore will most likely come into college ball more prepared and will generally have one more year at the top of his game in college, even assuming that the junior and the sophmore peak at the same level while in college.

In an ideal world the pro scouts would take a longer term view and the sophmore and the junior would be considered equals, but I think the reality is that the older player for his grade will tend to have an advantage with the pro scouts also.

I disagree.

Scouts do pay close attention to age. A player with tools and abilities that can play his 1st summer of pro ball at an age younger than most means alot. Take a look at high A and double A rosters and notice the younger than most players in those leagues and you can predict almost everyone of them to play in the big leagues.

As for Cole it is multi fold. Sure it can be about his age and maturity and then it can be about his projectable ability and then it can be about his present ability to pitch as oppossed to throw and then it could be about his asking price.

I wouldn't call it "percieved" makeup issues.

Pro teams, more and more, hope to get players high in the draft that are as close to the big leagues as possible. guys like Tulowiski, Longoria and Chamberlain.

swingbuilder,
You're closer to it than I am, so I'll defer to your knowledge. I have seen instances of players drafted young then given plenty of time to develop such as Mark Trumbo who was overmatched the first year I saw him play in A ball but was playing full time and has improved considerably since then.

It'll be interesting to see if PG gets involved in this discussion relative to Cole's makeup. We should all see something this afternoon and hopefully over the next couple weeks in the CIF-SS playoffs. BTW, I wasn't trying to compare where Cole goes in the draft to college pitchers, only where he goes relative to other HS pitchers such as Melville who is almost a year older.

I have wondered the same thing, maybe not so much with the draft but with the ratings from PG and the like. It appears to me that age is not considered very much across same year graduates. I presume this is true for pro scouts as well, I believe they are looking at talent (and make up) across the available prospects without much regard to try to project differences in age.

My son is one of those guys that turns 18 this summer and he has always played up in age group and I believe he is better for it. But I do believe he would have higher ratings and be ranked higher if we had held him back and was graduating next year instead of this year.

If I had it to do over again I would not hold him back.

Interesting discussion.

The age difference between top high school pitchers is a consideration, but not a real big one. Everyone wants the guy who is going to be the best pitcher. There all young enough in high school. If somehow everything else was equal, they might then choose the younger guy.

Normally I never want to get into discussions about a players makeup.

First of all, because I’ve seen some very bad makeup (IMO) guys get drafted fairly early. Makeup is the single hardest thing to judge! It’s also perhaps the most important ingredient once the necessary talent is present. The most important makeup issue with pitchers IMO is do they have confidence, do they want the ball, and do they have any fear? What one thinks is bad makeup, someone else might consider championship makeup.

That said, signability rules the early, even the middle rounds, of the draft. Boras is his advisor! Scouting departments must gauge (accurately) Gerrit Cole’s signability. Because there is absolutely NO doubt that he is a first round pitcher.

We hear the makeup comments and we have seen why they are made in Cole’s case. He is feisty and somewhat immature at times. Despite any of that… I think he has CHAMPIONSHIP caliber makeup! He is a winner! And in my opinion he has the livest arm entering this year’s draft. In fact, IMO I think he has the best HS arm we have seen since Scott Kazmir or maybe Josh Beckett! There are lots of feisty pitchers in the hall-of-fame!

Cole has been up in the high 90s this spring and he pretty much throws 94-96 routinely and it is far from straight! His slider is even better! His changeup might be his best pitch in the future. IMO he is a once in a lifetime type talent. We have seen him throw all three pitches with very good command. In fact, consistent command is the only thing other than injury that could get in his way.

His stuff is good enough to pitch in the Big Leagues today.

Will he become best buddies with all his teammates, maybe not, who knows! Will he be a guy that all his teammates want on the mound in a big game, Absolutely! Especially if his teammates have championship makeup.

He might go early. He might go a bit later and sign for a pile more than those ahead of him like last year’s top ranked (by us) HS pitcher (Rick Porcello). He might go to UCLA. Heck, he might not even get drafted. But in my mind he is the most talented pitcher in the country.

In case you haven’t figured it out… I really like Gerrit Cole a lot!

If I had it to do all over again I would have held him back entering grade school.

I think it important for readers here to know that "Make Up" is different from "Character"....being immature has nothing to do with makeup. Its has everything to do with a young persons "DEVELOPING" character.

make up is just a players ability to compete between the white lines regardless of outside intangibles like family problems and girlfriend problems among other things. Its his passion, his desire, his ethic.

Character takes time to mature. People are people. They all make bad choices its the intent of the choices and the daily reflections of living that outline a persons character.

Heck there are many adults who are immature.

What pro ball wants is big leaguers and more and more they want guys that are closer or more polished than in the past.

Cole started the CIF SS playoffs with a 2 hit, shutout victory over a relatively weak team. If Lutheran wins their next game then Cole's next outing should be against a very strong team.

Word is he was 98 to 101 last time out. That is hard to ignore.

Cole Article

PG,
You might find this article interesting if you haven't already seen it.

CADad,

Thanks for that link. I had not seen it before. Good article!

Age is not a factor when signing.
Age is a factor when released.

Not too many, if any, 28 y/o in Low A.

At AAA, age is not as significant

I remember the LAD having one birthday party every spring training to celebrate all of the Latin Americans birthdays, since it's been a culture to fib about 3-4 years off their age.