I've talked and watched myself into Hill as the pick I want if the Pirates drop to 1.2. His ceiling is crazy high and a lot of untapped potential. He throws 97/98 smooth and easy and has very nice separation and movement on his slider.
I'm unsure if Leiter's fastball can survive advanced hitters moving forward. It's not terrible, but it's not explosive or heavy and doesn't have much life on it.
The people I know who follow prospects all like Hill the most, even including Rocker. I'd be pretty happy with him based on the little I've been reading, though obviously, with anybody, you'd like to have a somewhat normal sheet of starts to go by. I guess it's feasible that college baseball could dial in a somewhat normal season, assuming the kids are taking classes online etc.
I have fully accepted we will drop to 1.2. Everything is clicking right now, especially the pitching, and truth be told I don't think the Indians are all that good. However, the Indians are in a dogfight to make the postseason and still have a shot at winning their division. I think sometimes that can go either way, in the sense that if they take charge, they could get back to wrecking us in this series, but if some balls fall our way tonight, they could end up looking as sometimes frustrated, sometimes listless as the Cubs did this week.
Our attitude / rooting has no bearing at all, of course. I'm willing to basically say that I want to see Keller finish his season strong tonight even at the "cost" of winning a game. Something in the vicinity of 6IP, 2 R or less, with a healthy amount of Ks. I don't feel too differently about Musgrove or Brubaker tomorrow. The pitching is obviously extremely dialed in right now, but I don't see it as guys pitching over their heads drastically so much as finally finding a groove and flashing what could be possible, at least for some of them, going forward. That's not an empty thing to be excited about in this pointless season, even if it's going to piss a lot of people off.
I should be clear: I firmly want Rocker first and foremost as a player who will be fun to root for. I am not too convinced that he's the clearcut frontrunner, in that things could shuffle around a bit between now and the draft, which isn't really the case when you have generational talent available. Obviously, you still want to be in control of taking your pick when the time comes, but the most important thing for me has always been that we stay firmly in the top echelon of the draft, 1.1 or 1.2, with Hill for me as 1.3 early on.
I think if there's a season, there could be genuine buzz that Hill is in the mix for 1.1 based on what I've read. Leiter could really pop out, or Rocker could slam the door. One thing that I don't know is talked about enough is that Rocker also missed the chance to showcase himself last summer and take a step forward. Even though some are down on the lack of projectability, he's still in some ways the safest type of pick, IMO, because with the stuff he currently has, he'll be able to anchor the middle of a rotation as long as he stays healthy for a long time. The upside probably in part comes down to just how good you rate the slider as well as the development of a third pitch.
Anyways, tldr; , the fact that Hill has a somewhat polished changeup despite so little coaching is quite intriguing. I think if he even starts to flash the slider as plus on top of staying healthy, he'll get some chatter at 1.1 if nobody else is slamming the door shut. The other thing that's in theory possible is that Texas gets pick #1 and takes a prep shortstop or Fabian, leaving us our pick of the college pitchers anyways.
