Official MiLB/Prospects Thread

[Trouba95]

Will Harris be moved up to Dunedin?

 

And is Pompey hurt or something?

[Sorrow]

Will Harris be moved up to Dunedin?

 

And is Pompey hurt or something?

 

Pompey has had turf toe since spring training.

[Angrioter]

BA mock draft

 

21. Blue Jays: The Jays are expected to take a much more conservative approach in this year’s draft and are said to be looking for a safer college package. They could jump at Pitt righthander T.J. Zeuch, who has helium, but the lefthanded bat of Virginia catcher Matt Thaiss fits better considering his track record and selectivity (32-8 BB-SO ratio in 183 ABs). PICK: Matt Thaiss, c

[HERPDERP]

sweet, more Deck McGuires and Chad Jenkinsins

[flafson]

sweet, more Deck McGuires and Chad Jenkinsins

 

Or Stroman.

I guess you could argue that even though he came from college, he wasn't a very conservative pick.

[KingKat]

Or Stroman.

I guess you could argue that even though he came from college, he wasn't a very conservative pick.

 

He was conservative in the sense that was considered a fairly safe bet to sign but the height thing made him a potentially undervalued asset with real potential to outperform his draft position. A perfect pick if there ever was one. Deck on the other hand was kind of the anti-Stroman. He certainly has a great pitcher's body (6'6", 220 lbs) but it turns out he's not actually a great pitcher.

[Cyborg]

Or Stroman.

I guess you could argue that even though he came from college, he wasn't a very conservative pick.

 

Stroman had excellent college numbers and projections would have loved him. I dont think it was that risky.

[THANOS]

BA mock draft

 

This was the only thing I was hoping Shatkins wouldn't change..

 

The last thing I want is a shift back to the drafting philosophy of the Ricciardi Era.

 

If there's one place to take risks, it's in the 1st round of the draft where potential is the highest.

[burlingtonbandit]

Yeah I don't want to go the "safe" College route unless its the clear BPA. Harris, Pentecost, McGuire were all "safe" picks and have been busts so far.

[crazy47larry]

Yeah I don't want to go the "safe" College route unless its the clear BPA. Harris, Pentecost, McGuire were all "safe" picks and have been busts so far.

 

you could certainly argue harris and even pentecost were BPA picks though. i cant really comment on mcguire cuz i cant remember draft rankings that far back.

[KingKat]

you could certainly argue harris and even pentecost were BPA picks though. i cant really comment on mcguire cuz i cant remember draft rankings that far back.

 

Pentecost might not have been BPA but he was definitely a solid looking pick. He was the best defensive catcher in the draft which gave him a pretty solid floor. That floor has been completely shattered by injuries but I don't think you can blame anyone for not seeing that coming. Harris was a bit more suspect. This is easy to say with the benefit of hindsight of course but the fact that he was from a small school and didn't face quality competition should have caused pause.

[King]

Chad Hillman ‏@HillmanChad 14m14 minutes ago

Rios was 94-95 in the first. Threw a couple sliders. Hissey setting up on the outer half on just about everything.

 

Chad Hillman ‏@HillmanChad 14m14 minutes ago

Second start I've noticed Hissey setting up on the outer half for Rios. I'm guessing they're working on FB location low and away with him.

 

Chad Hillman ‏@HillmanChad 2m2 minutes ago

Rios just dropped a nasty CB. Good two plane break.

 

Chad Hillman ‏@HillmanChad 1m1 minute ago

If you can't tell, I love this kid. He's my favorite of the arms in Lansing this season.

 

Rios: 2IP 0H 0ER 1BB 6K

 

 

[Angrioter]

Pentecost might not have been BPA but he was definitely a solid looking pick. He was the best defensive catcher in the draft which gave him a pretty solid floor. That floor has been completely shattered by injuries but I don't think you can blame anyone for not seeing that coming. Harris was a bit more suspect. This is easy to say with the benefit of hindsight of course but the fact that he was from a small school and didn't face quality competition should have caused pause.

99.99% in this board wanted Pentecost over Trea Turner. The hate for Turner in this forum was unbelievable.

[Angrioter]

Ríos bandwagon baby. Kid is good

[King]

Rios night is over. Looks like a max pitch count of 90

 

5IP 1H 0ER 3BB 10K

 

Decent.. decent.

[Jimcanuck]

Rios night is over. Looks like a max pitch count of 90

 

5IP 1H 0ER 3BB 10K

 

Decent.. decent.

 

Osuna had some games like that

[THANOS]

Rios night is over. Looks like a max pitch count of 90

 

5IP 1H 0ER 3BB 10K

 

Decent.. decent.

 

Wow.

[King]

http://www.milb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20160506&content_id=176675934&fext=.jsp&vkey=news_milb&sid=milb

 

http://www.milb.com/assets/images/6/8/4/176677684/cuts/rios_cropped_qtatid46_djnq90e3.jpg

 

As of Friday, Francisco Rios (2-0) is legally able to buy a drink in the United States. He definitely earned one.

 

The Blue Jays prospect celebrated his 21st birthday by allowing one hit and recording a career-high 10 strikeouts over 5 2/3 innings as Class A Lansing blanked visiting Quad Cities, 6-0.

 

"It's a very special day for me," Rios said. "Yesterday [Cinco de Mayo], was a great and important day in Mexico and today is important for me, so I feel so happy to do so well on this day."

 

The 21-year-old right-hander got off to a flying start for the Lugnuts, striking out the side in the top of the first. All three punchouts came on swing-and-misses. After walking Connor Goedert leading off the second, he fanned the next three batters.

 

"I am so happy right now because I am working so hard in my first long season," Rios said. "And it is great that I am starting the season well and the work is paying off."

 

The Mexico native built his successful start by changing levels with his fastball and using all parts of the strike zone to keep the River Bandits off-balance.

 

"The fastball away and the fastball up and in were working all night for me," he said. "And when I was ahead in the count, I could use the slider in the dirt."

 

Rios (2-0) spent all of 2015 with Class A Short Season Vancouver, where he was 3-6 with a 4.27 ERA in 15 games, including 12 starts. He's made a seamless transition to full-season ball, allowing four earned runs in 30 innings for Lansing.

 

"In the short season, you can rest at times," he said. "But at this level, you need to work hard every day. We are practicing or working hard on something every day, like our mechanics or fastball command. I am also working on developing my changeup to complement my fastball and slider."

 

The 6-foot-1, 180-pounder not only is working hard on adjusting to a new level but also to a new language and culture. He said the Lugnuts coaching staff and batterymate Ryan Hissey have done wonders to ease the transition.

 

"My teammates work so hard behind me and my catcher knows the game so well," Rios said. "Every start, the coaches just tell me to be aggressive and get ahead with the first pitch."

 

Now that the business part of his birthday is over, Rios said he's looking forward to the celebratory meal that awaits him at home.

 

"I am going to go celebrate with my paisanos and my house family," he said. "We are going to eat a great dinner to celebrate my birthday, Cinco de Mayo and this game."

 

Josh DeGraaf and Colton Turner combined to work the final 3 1/3 innings, striking out two apiece, to complete the Lugnuts' fifth shutout of the season.

 

Juan Kelly hit Lansing's first home run since April 24 when he took Ralph Garza deep for a solo shot in the seventh. The 21-year-old catcher also hit the Lugnuts' last long ball.

[Atothe]

Thanks for keeping us updated king

[TheHurl]

you could certainly argue harris and even pentecost were BPA picks though. i cant really comment on mcguire cuz i cant remember draft rankings that far back.

 

it's become an incorrect narrative of late, that "expected to quick to the majors" as safe picks low ceiling picks. I don't agree at all. As for the OP, I don't think Pentecost or Harris even come close to belonging in that category.

[Cyborg]

Rios and Perdomo really giving the system a needed kick, especially with Greene's mediocre start.

[TheHurl]

sweet, more Deck McGuires and Chad Jenkinsins

 

or Chris Sale's...or Joe Panik, Sonny Gray, Kolten Wong, Kyle Gibson, AJ Pollock, Michael Wacha, Garrett Richards, etc. Just about every College player outside of the top few guys get thrown into this "safe" category.

[King]

Perdomo starts for Lansing again tonight.

[Spanky__99]

Perdomo starts for Lansing again tonight.

 

? Isn't that to much work.

[King]

? Isn't that to much work.

 

His last start was May 2nd, so no.

[TheHurl]

His last start was May 2nd, so no.

 

In Spanky's defense he's missed 2 days since then

[King]

Borucki couldn't make it out of the 3rd inning. 2IP 7H 8ER 3BB 4K (3HR) 73p-46s

 

and... Perdomo couldn't make it out of the 1st inning on his birthday. 0.2IP 1H 4R (2ER) 3BB 1K, 34p-13s

[Cyborg]

[spats]

Borucki couldn't make it out of the 3rd inning. 2IP 7H 8ER 3BB 4K (3HR) 73p-46s

 

and... Perdomo couldn't make it out of the 1st inning on his birthday. 0.2IP 1H 4R (2ER) 3BB 1K, 34p-13s

 

Is it time to drop Borucki from the top 30 list. I watched him pitch a few games while I was in Dunedin...he even looks worse than his numbers if that's possible. Borucki is yukky.

[King]

Clutchlings ‏@Clutchlings77 10m10 minutes ago

#BlueJays prospect Francisco Rios promoted from Lansing to Dunedin.

 

http://clutchlings.blogspot.ca/2016/05/a-look-at-francisco-rios.html

 

The Blue Jays International Free Agent class of 2012 was a decent one. Not as good as the 2011 class, which featured Roberto Osuna, Jairo Labourt, Dawel Lugo, Jesus Tinoco, and Alberto Tirado, but a quality one just the same.

 

Led by top signing SS Franklin Barreto, who is now Oakland's top prospect after being the centrepiece of the Josh Donaldson deal, the Jays also inked SS Richie Urena (now one of Toronto's top prospects), and LHP Jonathan Torres to six-figure signing bonuses.

 

Lost in amongst the signings that year was one that took place several months later (and for far less bonus money) of RHP Francisco Rios, out of Monclova, a city of just under 200 000 in northern Mexico, not far from the border with Texas.

 

Late IFA signings are the guys who didn't have enough (or show enough) to warrant signing during the Teenaged free agent frenzy that is the July 2 signing date. They might be older, or not toolsy enough, or lacking in physical traits. In Rios' case, at 6'1", his height most likely led to him being overlooked.

 

The Blue Jays saw enough in Rios' athleticism to sign him. While his numbers have not been spectacular, the organization saw enough physical and emotional maturity in him to skip him over the GCL in favour of the Appalachian League when he made his stateside debut in 2014, and advanced him to Vancouver last year, where he was a regular in the C's starting rotation.

 

This year has been a huge coming out party for the righthander. Rios has been brilliant at Lansing in his first shot at full season ball, striking out 12.9 batters per 9 innings, to go along with a tiny 1.20 ERA.

 

After following Rios for much of last year, I wasn't expecting a great deal this year. After finally getting eyes on him during his May 1st start against Wisconsin, I'm now a believer.

 

Rios has a polished delivery which he repeats consistently, and throws from a three-quarters arm slot. He commands both sides of the plate with his fastball - his two seamer has good sink and some tailing action. He throws a four seamer up in the zone with two strikes on a hitter in order to get some swings and misses, but had trouble commanding it during this start. His slider is emerging as a potential wipeout pitch, starting out looking like a fastball, then diving for the outer half of the plate to barrel-dodging country at the last moment with good depth. Three of his 5 strikeouts on the day came on that pitch. Rios also throws a 12-6 curve, which is a work in progress, and threw one or two changeups on the day. His fastball is his bread and butter, however, and while he only topped 93 with it in this start, his ability to pound the lower part of the strike zone with it sets up that slider.

 

Rios breezed through the first four innings of this start against a Wisconsin team that is not loaded with top prospects, but does contain some mid-level bats like Jake Gatewood and Monte Harrison. Rios faced only one batter over the minimum through four, needing only 45 pitches to do so. He attacked the strike zone, consistently getting ahead of hitters over that stretch, never reaching a three-ball count.

 

In the 5th, Rios gave up his first hits and hard contact on the day, but left a pair of runners stranded.

 

Things came a bit undone for him in the 6th. Facing Rios for the second time, Wisconsin hitters turned more aggressive, and were going after his first pitches with regularity. Lansing SS JC Cardenas had to field a grounder on the second pitch of the inning on a short hop, and rushed his throw to first, where converted Catcher Juan Kelly was unable to come up with it for the out. A Rios wild pitch put the runner into scoring position, and he came around to score on a solid line drive base hit. Another single put runners on first and third, and Lugnuts C Ryan Hissey had a bit of a brain cramp, as he failed to check the runner on 3rd before throwing to 2nd to try to throw out the runner attempting to steal. The runner from 3rd came in to score easily. Rios was out of the inning a few batters later, having given up a third run. He gave up some contact in that inning, but his defence let him down a bit - two of the runs were unearned.

 

On the day, Rios threw 82 pitches, 59 for strikes. He had 9 swinging strikes, and was ahead in the count after three pitches to 22 of the 25 hitters he faced. Rios threw 7 ground ball and 7 fly ball outs - while he only gave up two fly balls that could be considered to be of the loud variety, he was helped by the strong Wisconsin spring wind blowing in from rightfield.

 

It was not televised, but Rios had an even more dominant outing on his 21st birthday, May 6th. Rios allowed only one hit in 5.2 innings, fanning 10. He struck out the side swinging, and K'd 6 of the first 7 hitters he faced. Chad Hillman, a Michigan-based prospect hunter, had him hitting 95 with his fastball.

I haven't seen a lot of Rios' fielding skills, but his fast-twitch reflexes were on display in an earlier start against Lake County:

 

Rios has struck out 43 batters (2nd highest total in the MWL) in 30 innings this year, and has walked only 8. After three seasons of only moderate success in the minors, it would appear that a bit of an uptick in velocity, more bite on his slider, and improved fastball command have made things look ridiculously easy for him - MWL hitters are simply overmatched when they face Rios. I'm as enthused as anyone about Rios' performance so far this season, but with lower level arms, you have to take a more patient approach, and see how they fare second time around the league, and after that, how well they make adjustments at the next level, where hitters can get around on a fastball better, and have improved pitch recognition. With Rios, Angel Perdomo, Sean Reid-Foley, and a rapidly improving Jon Harris in the rotation, Lansing is a must-follow team at the moment.