The Prospect/Minor Leagues Thread

[King]

This seems like an interesting book, for anyone who's interested in prospects (like I am). Found it from the author (72 followers lol) twitter bio. Called "Five-Plus Tools: The Past, Present, and Future of Baseball through the Eyes of a Scout"

 

 

http://www.amazon.ca/Five-Plus-Tools-Present-Baseball-through/dp/1613216521

 

“Five-Plus Tools” is a scouting term that refers to a rare and elite type of amateur baseball prospect. A player with five-plus tools grades out well above average in all five skill areas, known as tools: hitting, power, running, throwing, and fielding.

 

While most baseball fans critique players who are already on the professional level, a scout needs to find raw talent and figure out if they’re the “future.” In Five-Plus Tools, Dave Perkin, who was a professional scout and is currently the Major League Baseball Draft correspondent for Sports Illustrated, breaks down not only what all scouts are looking for, but also how amateur players are evaluated and recognized.

 

Broken up into three sections, Perkin teaches the inner details of amateur scouting, using field reports on athletes he’s scouted over the years. Once the understanding of what a scout looks for is understood, Perkin delves into the current major leaguers and gives scouting insight on their game, skills, and influence on the sport. Finally, the hot-button issues in baseball are covered, including such points as Sabermetrics, baseball analysis, and an explanation of why few of yesterday’s heroes could succeed in modern baseball.

 

------

 

"This is as good a Scouting 101 book as you will find, for both casual and diehard fans who are unfamiliar what goes on in the trenches. Other scouts have tried writing books in the past but, quite honestly, few of them are literate and most paint an unrealistic picture. They simply romanticize their profession and peers. As a former MLB scout myself, I see where Dave Perkin is telling things that others don't want to; being a good friend of Perkin's over the years, I have seen many of them first hand. The book lives up to the title, sprinkled in are his views on a number of baseball issues and anecdotes of his run-ins with interesting figures like Wayne Gretzky and Frank Robinson. He gives controversial, but certainly informed, insight into how players of past eras would perform today including his opinion that the vaunted 1927 New York Yankees would go 0-162 if they were transplanted in time to 2014. (Yes, he said that!). Perkin is also dead honest with his dissenting opinion on the trends of baseball, namely the hiring of numbers people over baseball people for scouting and front office jobs. In full disclosure, I was interviewed for this book. If you know me, you may be able to pick out which bitter scout experience story is mine. (The first one talked about in that chapter, the scout who had the national supervisor who wouldn't let us consider drafting Justin Verlander with the first overall pick because "he couldn't get anybody out"."

 

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18210979-five-plus-tools

[King]

He looks like he's 12 years old. He's kinda like what i picture GD looks like in real life but without thick glasses.

 

Picture is over 4 years old, the article says.

[Orgfiller]

I look like I could be his father. f***, can the Blue Jays just randomly sign me as well?

[GD]

He looks like he's 12 years old. He's kinda like what i picture GD looks like in real life but without thick glasses.

 

I'm about 6 of him

[Orgfiller]

I'm about 6 of him

 

6 what?

[GD]

6 what?

 

Like 6 times his size, lol

 

minor exaggeration

[Abomination]

6 inches. Its average but he will never satisfy a women completely.

 

Maybe women aren't his thing. I'm sure Ang can find something more suitable for him.

[GD]

Maybe women aren't his thing. I'm sure Ang can find something more suitable for him.

 

Ang's got me set up with a very kindly goat.

[43211234]

They probably spent $5k or so on that kid. Whatever.

[Angrioter]

Maybe women aren't his thing. I'm sure Ang can find something more suitable for him.

 

Ang's got me set up with a very kindly goat.

 

With 6" dick?...... I dont think so my lovely canadian friend.

[Angrioter]

http://i.snag.gy/B4WHQ.jpg

[Sorrow]

Looks like a cast? Who is that Ang?

[King]

Looks like a cast? Who is that Ang?

 

Jays strength and conditioning camp for minor leaguers

[KingKat]

http://www.canadianbaseballnetwork.com/articles/didier-signs-bcs-stephens-jays-contract/

 

John Stephens is a diamond in the rough.

That was the description longtime scouting legend and Toronto Blue Jays senior advisor and pro scout Mel Didier got from his son Bob Didier about the 21-year-old outfielder. Stephens didn’t come with much baseball experience, but he had a quick bat with some pop and Bob felt he was worth taking a look at.

After taking in a few of his workouts, and bringing Toronto scout Bob Fontaine in for a second opinion, the elder Didier and the Blue Jays signed the native of Surrey, BC to a minor-league contract, making it official on Sunday.

“He can swing the bat,” Didier said. “He’s got great bat speed and the ball jumps off his bat real good; better than most kids. Having not played a lot, we took one of our ex-professional pitchers and we threw him against [stephens] and he held his own.”

Stephens played during his high school days at Earl Marriott High School in Surrey, but he left early to help take care of his mother who

http://www.canadianbaseballnetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/stephens-pic.jpg

 

had fallen ill. When he did complete his secondary schooling, he moved on to a community college before once again leaving to assist his mother, who has since recovered.

Between then and now, his baseball resume appears to draw a blank, searches only resulting in his British Columbia Premier Baseball League player page with statistics from 11 games with the Vancouver Cannons almost four years ago.

But Stephens is playing now, and he first met Bob Didier when the former big-league catcher made a trip up north last summer to work with a group of local players in Vancouver. Bob is currently running baseball schools and passing on his knowledge of the game to the next generation, and his trip up north was to do just that.

A group of those same players ventured out to Phoenix, Az., for continued instruction in the fall, just before American Thanksgiving in November. The 6-foot-1, 195-pound righty was one of them, and he made enough of an impression on the former backstop that Bob made his first call to his father.

“He worked out with Bob and about the third day he had worked outside Bob calls me and he said, ‘You ought to come by and see this guy,’” Didier said. “’He can really swing the bat.’ He said, ‘He hasn’t played much baseball. He’s sort of a diamond in the rough.’ That’s what he called him…

“He had not played baseball because his mother was very ill and he left high school before his senior year, when he was about 17 years of age. He took care of her, quit school and all of that…He hasn’t played a lot of baseball. He’s very inexperienced but he does have an outstanding bat.”

In Mel Didier’s initial look, he was impressed. It wasn’t enough to keep him from walking away that afternoon in the fall, but it was enough to make him think twice about Stephens.

“I went out and I looked at him playing and I watched him, and then the Canadian kids went home,” Didier said. “And I got to thinking about it. I’ve signed a thousand [plus] guys…and I was walking away from a guy who can really swing the bat. The most difficult thing to do in the game is to find good hitters. I thought this guy has a chance.”

Bob informed his father that Stephens was going to be back in the Grand Canyon State after Christmas for five or six days, so if he wanted to take another look, he could. Mel did just that, and brought local scout Fontaine with him this time.

“Lo and behold, he was exactly what I thought of him,” Didier said. “He can really swing the bat. Now, this was batting practice…[but] he has a really quick bat. He’s like a young boy coming out of high school because of his lack of playing experience; playing time. So I looked at him again and I got one of our other scouts, Bob Fontaine, who lives here, to come over and watch him.

“He said, ‘We ought to sign him.’ We have nothing to lose – he’s a Canadian kid, he looks like he’s got a good attitude, he’s got good size, he swings the bat really well – so we’ll bring him to spring training, let him stay with the young kids and just play games every day…and then we’ll decide where he goes and what he’ll do. But we’re going to try to let him get game experience and that’s the biggest thing.”

Stephens will get an early start at spring training, reporting to Toronto’s mini-camp beginning on Feb. 26. Usually reserved for more high-level prospects, the outfielder’s appearance at the camp is just to get him more time on the diamond heading into spring training and then extended spring training.

“He’s going to the mini-camp as a favour to me because I want to try to give him as much experience [as possible],” Didier said. “I want to give him the experience of being there with the guys we have, learning something about the game, what it’s all about, the meetings you hold, the talk about the game itself, the actual coaching and techniques; all of that.”

The veteran scout is looking forward to seeing what his latest sign will be able to do, and how much progression he can make over a full season of baseball. And then, who knows?

“I like his attitude; I like his hitting ability,” Didier said. “But of course, a lot will depend on how much he can absorb from spring training through next August, and that’s why we signed him…

“We hope that John makes it. It’d be a storybook kind of thing.”

 

 

---------------------------

 

 

lol

 

Kind of reminiscent of the Scott Richmond story. He'd be very lucky to make the majors like Richmond eventually did but if he does well, he might land some national team gigs and those seem like great fun especially for someone who had basically abandonned baseball.

[43211234]

http://i.snag.gy/B4WHQ.jpg

 

Who is in this picture? I don't recognize a single person.

[StroShow]

Pentecost centre, SRF 2nd from right, McBroom(?) in front of SRF

[King]

Who is in this picture? I don't recognize a single person.

 

http://i.imgur.com/WfzI4Wo.png

 

Matt "4 wRC+ and poor defense" Morgan

[King]

[BigBounceyBlueBalls]

Who is in this picture? I don't recognize a single person.

 

When did we sign the Jose Canseco look alike or is the Bruce banner? Lol who's the big dude?

[King]

When did we sign the Jose Canseco look alike or is the Bruce banner? Lol who's the big dude?

 

Might be Dan Lietz..

[Laika]

Projected Bonus Pools for 2015 draft

 

Astros $17,977,283:eek:

Rockies $14,549,880

Dbacks $14,176,076

Rangers $9,469,174

Braves $8,702,808

Yankees $8,205,043

Reds $8,094,981

Brewers $8,058,934

Orioles $7,986,953

Giants $7,820,504

Pirates $7,692,588

Twins $7,691,684

Cardinals $7,691,345

Cubs $7,547,609

Indians $7,528,625

Royals $7,499,358

Tigers $7,403,534

Phillies $7,363,080

Dodgers $7,235,955

Marlins $7,043,968

Rays $6,861,925

Red Sox $6,480,889

Athletics $5,668,645

Blue Jays $5,634,745:(

White Sox $5,540,051

Angels $5,418,011

Padres $5,393,603

Mariners $4,362,817

Mets $3,741,204

Nationals $3,697,360

[Angrioter]

Projected Bonus Pools for 2015 draft

 

Astros $17,977,283:eek:

Rockies $14,549,880

Dbacks $14,176,076

Rangers $9,469,174

Braves $8,702,808

Yankees $8,205,043

Reds $8,094,981

Brewers $8,058,934

Orioles $7,986,953

Giants $7,820,504

Pirates $7,692,588

Twins $7,691,684

Cardinals $7,691,345

Cubs $7,547,609

Indians $7,528,625

Royals $7,499,358

Tigers $7,403,534

Phillies $7,363,080

Dodgers $7,235,955

Marlins $7,043,968

Rays $6,861,925

Red Sox $6,480,889

Athletics $5,668,645

Blue Jays $5,634,745:(

White Sox $5,540,051

Angels $5,418,011

Padres $5,393,603

Mariners $4,362,817

Mets $3,741,204

Nationals $3,697,360

 

but, +12M Int draft

[GD]

 

hoffman fap fap fap

[burlingtonbandit]

He's got some nice run on the fastball. Curveball looked really good too.

[Laika]

 

hoffman fap fap fap

 

holy f***

 

he "looks the part" too.

[RIPEXPOS]

 

hoffman fap fap fap

 

That curveball. Wow.

[Angrioter]

I like Hoffman's makeup

 

[JuniorFelix]

Looks like he throws a nasty 2-seamer. Nice breaking stuff too. Wow.

[ace3113]

Daniel Norris

 

 

Roberto Osuna

 

 

Devon Travis

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTmemk_BzFQ

 

Aaron Sanchez

 

 

Dalton Pompey

 

[flafson]

Osuna looks nasty with all that movement.