Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Scouting the Draft: Greg Allen

Greg Allen, OF, San Diego St.  B-S, T-R.  6'1", 165 lbs. DOB:  3/15/1993.

2012  .312/.383/.403, 2 HR, 11 SB.
2013  .299/.397/.350, 0 HR, 25 SB, 36 BB, 40 K in 254 AB.
Cape Cod League  .221, 11 SB, 11 BB, 10 K in 68 AB.

Greg Allen is a CF/Leadoff prospect with a wiry frame that has room to fill out.  He played RF last year, but moves to CF for his junior season which is where he probably has to play to have a chance of making it in the pros.  As suggested by his stat line, his BLF scouting report says he has a patient approach at the plate and grinds out AB's.  I think that's his main attraction as a guy who can do that at the top of a lineup then steal a base is a very valuable player.  He has not shown much power as yet, but should have enough gap power as his frame matures to keep pitchers from pounding the strike zone.

BA has him ranked as the #38 college prospect, so he should definitely be available in round 2 of the draft and quite possibly round 3.  He has won academic honors and plans to eventually go to law school.

7 comments:

  1. This is going to be an interesting draft. The G's seem to love to draft up the middle in the first couple rounds, and there is a lot of up the middle talent. We could go prep/college arm, prep SS, Pentacost, ect.... I want a power arm to drool over cause they're sexy, but I would not be surprised to see us go with baby Gordon or the a fore mentioned Pentecost.

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  2. In my opinion, this is the precise model of the type of player the Giants need to stay away from in the early rounds..

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    1. I would agree with you in terms of first round but I would have no problem with Greg Allen in rounds 2 or 3.

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    2. I just don't know why you would go after a guy who has an absolute derth of power with metal bats, didn't particularly impress with the BA, didn't do well in the Cape Cod League, and doesn't even play center field naturally. Add the wiry frame and desire to go to law school, and you're looking at an absolutely wasted high-round pick. The chances of this guy making it, versus the Giants finding a very good pitcher in the second round, are just abysmal - not, to be overly dramatic.

      Quite honestly, unless he's a 6th round steal, my point was that Giants have zero success developing this kind of player, and I think they need to narrow their focus for this model (wiry leadoff hitter with speed & defense) to only the absolute cream of the crop. It's just clearly much more difficult for these types to be impact players, and in rounds 1-3, I think you need to draft for starting pitchers and impact position players. Greg Allen does not profile as either.. End of story.

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    3. Rainball, dude, glad you could find an outlet for all that anger! Look, metal bats ain't what they used to be. Those BBCOR clubs absurb a whole lot of kinetic energy! Add in the baseballs with raised seams, west coast pitching, heck, there is a huge power outage all around college baseball! I think Allen's numbers look pretty darn good! He has one thing the previous Giants slap and dash hitters have not had, the ability to grind out AB's! Yes, I'd like to see what he does in this season, but I think he is a potential high OBP leadoff hitter. Also, you seem to have a very inflated notion of what kind of talent you are going to draft in rounds 2 and 3. Look up the stats, and it's not just the Giants!

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  3. Anger? You've got me all wrong DocB! Certainly I didn't post that from a place of anger, it just seems totally obvious to me that this kid's abilities are not in line with what the Giants have a history of developing with success.

    Power with OBP: Brandon Belt, check.
    Outfield defense with very solid college XBH tool: Juan Perez, check.
    Speedster leadoff guy: Gary Brown (1st rd), Calvin Murray (1st rd), Emmanuel Burriss (1st rd), Clay Timpner (4th rd), Conor Gillaspie (1st rd, but not really the same profile)...SWING AND MISS! :)

    A number of those guys have profiles very, very close to what this fella Greg Allen has showcased. A few of them had much better profiles, in fact... I'm particularly unimpressed with the BA for such a slap-and-dash guy. In looking up the top individual BA's in college, you have to go well beyond the top 200 players to get to an avg below .330. Is there something I'm missing from that picture (seriously, I don't know)? It seems that a .299 avg in college is nothing to write home about, and certainly not worth a 2nd round draft pick in a pitching-deep draft. I don't know, I don't see it here doc.

    If we're going hitting in the first few rounds, I'd much prefer an Andrew Susac (even moderate bat will be a plus at position), Christian Arroyo (plus plus hit tool), or a Rickey Oropesa, who's hit tool was better and he has the raw power to dream on.

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    1. I'll disagree with you here, Rainball. Just because prior prospects of similar profile came up short does not mean you give up on future ones. Where would the Giants be today if they had given up on drafting pitchers after the the AFW meltdown? That is certainly what a lot of fans and analysts wanted them to do! Leadoff batters who can grind out AB's, get on base then steal one are very valuable players and definitely worth going after from the second round on.

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