Walter Ford woke the scouting world up last month when he announced that he was reclassifying from the 2023 draft to 2022.
The 6-3, 198 pound 16-year old is a legitimate two-way player capable of throwing a 97 mph fastball at you and finishing you off with a towering home run when he comes to bat.
He was originally projected to be the 2023’s 6th top prospect, so this reclassification made all of us draft nerds run to our boards and start shifting names on two positions.
But enough about me talking about Ford. Let’s let the Alabama commit tell you about him yourself.
Mack - Hey Walter. First of all, thank you for giving us the opportunity to bring the baseball world up to speed on your ever improving game. Let’s leave the reclassification question to the next one and ask you to fill in to the readers your journey so far through this game, people around you that have helped you improve your game, and the experience you are having at Hoover?
Walter - Thank you for having me on! It's been a wild journey but one I've worked for all my life up till this point. The long rides to tournaments, grinding through the summer heat, only to critic my shortcomings, work and do it all over again. I wouldn't change any of it though, I'm in love with the process and the game.
I have had several people help me improve my game and try to learn a little from everyone I'm around, teammates included. Most recently the entire staff of the 18u USA National Team was absolutely amazing. Hoover and Coach Adam Moseley was a great experience Coach Moseley taught me a lot not only on the field but off as well. I feel that my years with him helped shape me to the person I am today. With the reclass though, without boring everyone, I will have to relocate back to my hometown of Pace FL, and will finish at Pace HS. Which is really cool, those guys I grew up with playing with and against so it's kind of a homecoming of sorts.
Mack - Moving on to the reclassification, I know this decision could have been around education, or it simply was a baseball thing. Fill us in on the details please?
Walter - It was more of an athletics decision. I always had good grades, so I knew that wouldn't be a problem, it would just require a lot of work and I'm used to that. After grinding through the summer "showcase" circuit, going against the best of the best, who were a year older than me and having great success, we decided as a family I was ready for the next level. Whatever that level may be.
Mack - Let’s say I am a chief scout for a major league team and I meet you at your home for a sweet tea with you and your family. Tell me what I would get if I drafted you in the first round next summer?
Walter - Funny thing is I got this question from a club that came to visit last week, and I'll tell you the same thing I told them. You are getting a complete player that is in love with all aspects of the game and has a great baseball IQ. I'm not afraid of work and def not afraid of competition, I thrive on it. And I am ready to do what it takes over the next few years to get to the big leagues.
Mack - Regarding the chance of being a two-way player in the majors, let’s say you only could play one position. What would you want that to be and why?
Walter - I understand the scouting industry really likes my arm strength and analytics when it comes to pitching, but I also love to hit. I’m still 16, I’m a competitor and I love to be on the field. I feel like I have a lot of untapped potential offensively and I want to do both as long as possible. I hope I have the opportunity to do so, but whatever gets me to the big leagues the fastest I’ll be good to go! Deep down I hope an organization puts me on the Ohtani development plan haha.
Mack - You have one more year left of high school baseball. What are you working on during this off-season to make you even better on the field in 2022?
Walter - After a long spring and summer, I'm currently shut down and just focusing on lifting, getting stronger, and getting my nutrition back under me as well. I have a journal that I'm tracking everything in so I can look back and see what's working and what's not and make sure I'm progressing with each workout. I will start swinging it again toward the end of the month and start to slowly build back into throwing first of November. I'm looking forward to a great 2022 and building on the success I had in 2021, it just takes work and dedication to the game, things I've been doing since I was 5.
Mack - And lastly, back to the couch in your house. I just drafted you in the first round and handed you a five figure signing bonus check (I ask this to all the prospects I interview). What is the first thing you are going to spend cash on once the check has cleared?
Walter - I'm a big car guy and my favorite is the fox body Mustang. I'd probably splurge and get one of those.
Thank you Mack for reaching out and asking me to do this Q&A. I know for some I'm the new kid on the block. Hopefully they will read this and will help the reader know a little more about me and what I'm about.
Visit https://mlbdraftdatabase.blogspot.com/ for daily prospect information.
6 comments:
Great interview with Walter Ford. A June first rounder?
Oh yeah
Good interview Mack and I LOVE the work ethic and now on to another subject. My take on the state of the team going forward is we very much lack the player who is "that guy" or put another way the player who you want up in clutch situations. Take the Braves for example as they have no fewer than 4 players I would call "that guy" in Freeman, Albies, Riley and Acuna or look at it like this: what Met would make their starting lineup? Maybe Nimmo but that's about it and having them in our division is scary going forward as they seem to do the right things when needed unlike us of course. Losing Acuna and Osuna and so quickly replacing them and not missing a beat is very impressive and the players respond like they know the FO has their backs or simply put a winning organization and one we have to emulate. The Rays are another example as they replaced their top 3 starters that took them to the playoffs in 20' and made the playoffs again in 21'. Can you even imagine that happening to us...90 losses probably. We lost Jake and tanked with no idea how that will play out next year so the smart play here is make a couple of bandaid moves and go forward with Stevie's 3 to 5 year plan and prepare to make the tough choices now with the forward thinking of getting our top propects ready AND not making any moves that cost us draft picks. Your thoughts guys.
Gary, I sure would love to keep our top 4 offensive prospects. I want to win, too. Not everyone has years to wait. Except for 1986, we’ve waited for 52 years.
Great question Gary, and one I’ve had in mind for weeks, so I’ll take a stab.
It looks like the only person capable of giving this team a chance at retooling correctly is Josh Byrnes. Everyone else has already been eliminated. I keep the top prospects and sign players to shorter term deals at a higher AAV. For example: signing Mark Chana to 2/$45 rather than 5/$80, for example. It buys me time yet keeping my team competitive. That’s what I would do.
Guys
This was a DRAFT post.
Please try to pay respect to the kids I interview.
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