If you’ve listened to Grant & Danny or followed Grant Paulsen on Twitter this spring and summer, you’d know that Grant was all about LSU RHP Paul Skenes as a potential target for the Nationals with the No. 2 pick in the MLB Draft.
Well, Grant isn’t here this week, as he’s in Seattle for MLB All-Star festivities, and neither is Skenes – because he went No. 1 overall to Pittsburgh, leaving teammate Dylan Crews to be selected by the Nats.
Washington ‘only’ got an outfielder that local sportscaster Jacques Doucet told Brian Mitchell might be ‘the best position player in LSU history’ – but leave it to Danny to wonder if you could, or should, be a little disappointed that the Nats didn’t get Skenes.
“All of the predictions and talk about Pittsburgh at No. 1, it means nothing – they took this electrifying, butts-in-seats pitcher in Skenes, which wasn’t the most mock-drafted move for Pittsburgh,” Danny said Monday. “It was always on the table, but not many saw that as a likely outcome.”
“I think it just came down to this: it was the Pirates’ best chance to get a Cy Young-winning, ace-caliber type of guy,” producer Ryan Clary responded. “This is someone who could be the head of their rotation for years to come, and it’s really hard for them to get guys like that.”
So with conventional wisdom out the window and Skenes not there, the Nationals took Crews – who the Pirates may have been trying to avoid based on his agent, Scott Boras, who likely would not let Crews take a below-slot bonus, or maybe even a slot-level bonus (even at No. 1), to help whichever team drafted him get more of their class signed.
That led Danny into the intricacies of the MLB teams’ draft pools and slot bonuses and how teams dip and dodge them…and then reveal that the Pirates going the anti-Crews route but taking Skenes over Wyatt Langford or one of the two high school outfielders projected in the Top 5 left him a little disappointed.
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“This is in no way a criticism of the Nationals – they did the right, smart, correct thing by taking the best bat available, a guy who has dominated at every level and can be in the Majors next year,” Danny said. “He is a stud, an awesome player…but being honest, I’m a tiny bit disappointed. I had this little heart set on Paul Skenes, and I’ve been texting members of the Nationals front office about him for two months.”
Danny Rouhier, Nationals scout? We knew Grant was on the bandwagon, but the draft went not the way Danny wanted and expected, so it’s fair he’s disappointed.
“Again, no criticism of Crews or the Nationals, but I had this vision of Paul Skenes doing what he does for the Washington Nationals, and I’m a little bit disappointed,” Danny said. "And to be honest, if the Nationals had the No. 1 overall pick, I'm not sure I would feel this way - but the way it was, I had talked myself into this."
Fair?
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