Chris Betts is a LH hitting HS catcher from Southern California. He has shined in showcases this summer showing off light tower power in batting practice and then producing at the plate in games. On the defensive side, he has a strong arm with a 90 MPH FB and pop times under 1.9. He's got nice size for a catcher at 6'2", 210-220 lbs. He is not a runner. His Dad was a NCAA Div 1 catcher for Oklahoma and has been teaching Chris the finer points of catching since he was a youngster. Chris has been calling his own games since he was 11.
He is committed to Tennessee because he does not dig the west coast college approach of having cleanup hitters bunting. I think it's a safe bet that if he is drafted in the top 2/3's of the first round he will turn pro out of HS. He has been comped to Brian McCann. I would say I also see a bit of Miguel Montero in him in videos of him batting. BA has him ranked as the #15 draft prospect for 2015 as does Kiley McDaniel of Fangraphs.
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From what little video I 've seen of the draft prospects.I'm hoping we pick Nikorak w/#19.
ReplyDeleteBurrows also looks like a good pick at #19 if Nikorak is gone.
ReplyDeleteWe'll get to those names. I do like Burrows a lot, and I'll explain why in his profile.
ReplyDeleteim sure you all heard that scoots is undergoing back surgery, so for all intents and purposes, his baseball career is over
ReplyDeletegood man, great teammate, great story and he gave the world one of the most iconic poses in post season history
not sure how this bodes for pagan, who sustained a similar back injury....hope sabean and company are looking hard to improving of depth
also, villalona was taken off the 40 man.....not sure what that means...except they dont seem that concerned with him being taken as a rule 5
bacci
Rule 5 draft has passed and Angel V was outrighted to Sacramento, so he's still in the organization.
DeleteCan't really comment much on Scoots situation vs Pagan's without knowing more details of both cases. Based on what we do know, I might speculate that Pagan's situation was more limited in scope and possibly required less extensive surgery, but again, that is speculation. Curious that if they think surgery will help Scutaro now, why they didn't do it sooner. This may be more about hoping to keep him comfortable in his daily life than seriously thinking it is going to get him back on the field.
DrB and/or others on here:
DeleteDo you know whether Pagan also got surgery to his knee? IIRC, in early July the reports were that he'd need surgery (after the season) to repair his torn meniscus. I'm quite aware of his back surgery, but haven't read a single word whether he got his knee fixed up, too. I get the sense it was put off. That kind of adds to my worries.
BTW, I think Betts could be an interesting one. We'd talked a bit about him on your Carson Fulmer post. I'm wondering if Betts' draft position will be closely tied to which teams are at the top of the board. If a team has a great young/potential catcher like Vazquez, Hedges, Rivera, Lucroy, Mesoraco, Salvy Perez, Schwarber, or other... Betts could fall back quite a few spots? OTOH, if he tears it up in 2014, I could almost see him reaching top-5 status!
Haven't heard anything about Pagan's knee. I guess I vaguely remember something about him maybe getting another procedure. I know Matt Cain had a bone spur taken off his ankle shortly after his elbow surgery with no change in his return date.
DeleteI would think most teams would take Betts if they thought he was the BPA regardless of the talent they already have.