The San Diego Padres are currently mired in an underachieving season sitting at 49-53, with the third-highest payroll in all of baseball. As the team attempts to find its footing in the NL with 60 games left, they’re front office may have added a future star in the 2023 MLB Draft.
With the 25th overall pick in the draft the Padres chose the speedy outfielder Dillon Head, who stole 31 bases in 31 attempts during his senior season at Homewood-Flossmoor High School just south of Chicago.
Head, will bring an added dimension to a Padres squad that could use a jolt in the speed department, in both the minors and major leagues.
Head Officially Signs With Padres
Last week, the Padres were able to get the talented outfielder under contract with a $2.8 million signing bonus. The bonus was slightly under the recommended $3.17 million allotment, but it does pull the base thief away from his commitment to the Clemson Tigers.
Following his signing, Padres President of Baseball Operations, A.J. Preller raved about Head’s abilities on the diamond.
“If not one of the fastest, maybe the fastest player in the draft. Advertisement “It’s a real explosive burst and a guy that can impact the game with his legs defensively,” Preller said last week. “That’s one of the things over the last few years, what some of the players have in common, what some of those guys that are doing well in the minor leagues or gotten to the big league’s, Dillon has a lot of similar traits to them.”
While Head being drafted hurts the Tigers 2023 recruiting class, it immediately helps the Padres as they begin to groom him into their next great outfielder.
Head Has Elite Baseball Instincts
Dillon Head has a deal with the Padres for $2,800,000. The outfielder was the 25th overall pick. pic.twitter.com/4hPymz4G9R
Head is known for his elite speed and quickness, but he is so much more. He also possesses some of the best hand-eye coordination of any player at any level.
Leadership and maturity are also two other traits heavily associated with Head and make many believe he’ll reach the majors much sooner than most high schoolers ever would.
Cam Collier is a 17-year-old, second-generation aspiring MLBbro who was the No. 3-ranked prospect in his class. Collier, a power blasting, slick fielding 2022 MLB Draft prospect has been catching the eye of scouts since junior high school.
The 6-foot-2, 210-pounder by way of Mt. Paran Christian HS (GA), who was originally a 2023 prospect, reclassified to 2022 after advice from his former major league playing dad.
After landing at Chipola Junior College, Collier has put himself in position to be a first-round MLB Draft choice. Many believe he could even be a top five to ten selection. Collier’s work this spring has him squarely on the radar at the top of this year’s festivities.
Here’s what he had to say last August when he made the decision to reclass.
“I haven’t had the opportunity to talk to a lot of scouts yet, but it’s been cool to see where I rank and where I could maybe go in the draft. I think reclassifying is what’s best for my family and me with how well I played up this summer. For me, I just felt I was ready for the move.”
— True Temper Baseball (@truetemperbsbl) May 6, 2022
Collier’s Tutelage Comes Former MLB Dad
Growing up, Cam has been blessed to have his dad Lou who played eight seasons (1997-2004) in the majors for the Pirates, Brewers, Expos, Red Sox and Phillies. Lou was a utility player who spent time at third base, shortstop and outfield. That allowed him to show off a myriad of skills during his career. Son, Cam is a lot like his dad in that’s he’s capable of playing multiple positions, but his natural position will come at third or shortstop.
The Louisville Cardinals commit, is excited to have his dad in his corner throughout the draft process.
“It’s easier going through the draft process because he knows how it goes and has gone through it. He has helped guide me through the process, which has helped me a lot.”
His Natural Swing Is A Thing Of Beauty
Collier possesses great work ethic which is why his compact swing is impressive, advanced and effortless. That allows him to spray the ball to all parts of the field. His best strength right now is swinging the bat, not many 17-year-olds know how to work the count, but that’s already one of his biggest traits.
“I feel like my biggest strength is my ability to work an at-bat, staying off pitches and hitting my pitch. I think that’s my best trait right now.”
But he also knows he has so much room for improvement … especially defensively.
“I really think I need to improve my feet and and get them quick. I think if I can get my feet quicker, my defense will be a lot better.”
Collier’s Smooth Left-Handed Bat Has MLB Teams Salivating
Left-handed batters are more common now than in the past, but still a rarity in the grand scope of the game. That makes Collier a highly coveted prospect.
Here’s what Collier’s latest draft report had to say.
“Most of the excitement about Collier centers around his left-handed bat. He has a loose stroke with outstanding bat speed and uncanny bat-to-ball skills. For most of the summer, he squared just about everything up, using the whole field and not being bothered by premium velocity, and he continued to show professional at-bats this spring. There’s good raw power in his swing, with more likely to come. While he’s not a burner, he’s a solid runner.”
Watch out for this MLBbro because he has it all, including pedigree and power.
The Tampa Bay Rays drafted right-hand pitcher Taj Bradley in the fifth-round of the 2018 MLB Draft out of well-known Redan High School in Stone Mountain, GA.
The belief was at some point in the near future he could be a top-end starter or maybe even the ace of the Rays staff.
But it was going to require some patience with the rangy 17-year-old, who spent his first two years in Rookie ball. In 2021 after some Rays brass began to question the pick Bradley, soared and proved he was worthy of the hype that preceded him.
Taj Bradley is the ace of the Minors.
The Rays prospect wins the Top Starting Pitcher MiLBY!
Bradley Struggled Early: Position Change Played A Role
Bradley was more interested in playing the outfield until his senior year in high school. But he’d shown enough in spot duty on the mound that had MLB clamoring. However, Bradley’s first appearance in the minors wasn’t impressive. In fact, his first minor league field coordinator Michael Johns had this to say.
“I remember when Taj showed up on campus he was 17 years old, and I think he was throwing 86, 87, 88 (MPH). We’re all kinda scratching our heads like, Ooookaaaay.”
That wasn’t enough for the Rays to turn away from, as they stuck with the talented but very raw Bradley. Just like most prospects, especially those who come straight from the high school game, they need time.
Bradley took baby steps in 2018 and 2019, but flourished in 2021, dominating at both Class A Charleston (S.C.) and Bowling Green (KY). In those two spots Bradley went a combined 12-3 while boasting a 1.83 ERA (best in the minors). He struck out 123 batters and walked only 31 in just over 103 innings of work.
That development catapulted Bradley into the Top 100 of three prospect ranking sites, The Athletic, Baseball America and ESPN. They even mentioned he had what it takes to become one of the Rays “great ones.”
Taj Bradley takes the phrase "student of the game" to another level.
Bradley Used 2020 Pandemic Season To Make Changes: Lost 20 Pounds While Maturing Mentally As Well
Prior to the 2020 season, Bradley ate pizza as often as he could and just didn’t have good nutritional habits. He had an epiphany during the canceled 2020 pandemic season. That’s when he put the work in and started getting into better shape
Johns had this to say about Bradley’s transformation ….
“All of a sudden, his body just forms and he gets bigger and stronger. He’s just a man on the mound. He just keeps getting better. It’s crazy.
“Some guys hit a plateau and you’re like, how do we get over that hump? And it’s, like, every week, every month, every year, he just keeps getting better and better. And not just with the (velocity), but with the pitch ability and secondary stuff, and his coachability. Just a tremendous, tremendous kid.”
“Taj Bradley is a stud.”
On top of losing 20 pounds Bradley mentions how he increased the velocity on his fastball and added to his pitching bag.
The Rays' Taj Bradley became a whole new pitcher last year.
All of those things are exactly why he’s rated No.70 on MLB Pipeline and is the Rays’ third-highest ranked prospect. With his improved conditioning, delivery and continually growing maturity, Bradley is expected to join the Rays in 2023. He hopes to follow in the footsteps of David Price, “Big Game” James Shields, Blake Snell, and Chris Archer as great Rays hurlers.
Tyrone Taylor has been balling over his most recent stretch of games and is going to have to continue to be a force after hitting his way into being a mainstay in the Brewers lineup.
Tyrone Taylor is red hot right now 🔥
With last night’s big home run, he now has 3 HR, 10 RBI and an OPS of 1.329 in his last 5 games pic.twitter.com/h92B4702h8
Tuesday night the Brewers outfielder made his biggest statement of the season with a three run game winning homer with the game tied in the sixth .
The pain in Padres pitcher Craig Stammens face reflected everyone else’s at PETCO Park, as Taylor has had that same effect on Nationals fans this past weekend.
Entering Wednesday Taylor has racked up 10 RBI, three home runs, a double and scored four times in his last five games.
Taylor got his opportunity to play every day after Andrew McCutchen went on the Injured List with a case of Covid that had him down for a few weeks.
After McCutchen’s return over the weekend their other outfielder Hunter Renfroe was placed on the Injured List, giving more reason to keep Taylor in the everyday lineup even though manager Craig Counsell is prone to platooning his batters.
World Series Champion Lorenzo Cain wants everyone to recognize and hop on Taylor’s bandwagon.
Although the defense is still there Cain has seen a decline at the plate, as has Christian Yelich making Renfroe’s injury that more difficult to deal with.
Taylor is going to have to put up big numbers throughout the rest of the season if the Brewers not only want to win the National League Central, but finally make some noise in the playoffs.
Milwaukee has been one of the best regular season teams in baseball in recent years making the playoffs in each of the last four seasons after missing them six years in a row.
They have always had the pitching with a staff that includes lock down relievers Devin Williams and Josh Hader as well last season’s Cy Young winner Corbin Burnes but the bats have never followed them into the postseason.
Taylor is one of the few Brewers in the lineup that were homegrown.
They drafted him in the second round of the 2012 out of Torrance high school in California.
He was ranked by Baseball America as the Brewers second ranked prospect before the 2014 but was not called up to the Major League roster until September of 2019.
He appeared in 22 games during 2020 where he hit two home runs and batted .237.
Last season was really when his potential finally began coming to light. He hit .247 with 12 home runs and 43 RBI in just 93 games.
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