Almost two months ago when I wrote my Brian O’Neill scouting report, I made the statement: “assigning round grades to draft prospects has become primitive to me.” I feel this way towards that specific part of this process because it’s a critical part of crapshoot narrative that many are inclined to believe the draft process is.
The draft and scouting from an independent evaluator’s perspective is not entirely random and unpredictable. There are a lot of variables and uncontrolled aspects attached to players once they’re in the hands of a team that will shape him into the player he’ll become, but that player will always be built with the same base that you can identify in college, if you know what you’re looking for.