Official MiLB/Prospects Thread

[Pendleton]

Would be sexy for a 17 year old in A ball. Rookie ball is full of young pitchers with no control, giving out walks like flyers at a rave.

 

A lot of uncompetitive walks.

[Jimcanuck]

Ya. I hear his arm is solid...but I'm looking at it from the 'I've never seen these kinds of tools before' standpoint. Don't think his arm is to that level.

Promising to hear that the bat has that kind of potential.

 

What does everyone put the odds at that Vladdy starts the season in Lansing?

 

50/50?

 

20/80 in favour of Vancouver, no reason to be aggressive with a 17 yr old and start his clock way before his peak. Don't we want him debutting MLB no earlier than 21, so his peak is within his years of control?

[King]

Lansing almost certainly

[Jimcanuck]

Lansing almost certainly

 

You don't think Vladdy would get more benefit from extended ST, particularly on the defense side of things?

[King]

You don't think Vladdy would get more benefit from extended ST, particularly on the defense side of things?

 

Not really. No need to hold him back in extended from April to the middle of June. He slugged like, .600 in extended and that was last season. The only logical next step for him is Lansing

[Brownie19]

Would be sexy for a 17 year old in A ball. Rookie ball is full of young pitchers with no control, giving out walks like flyers at a rave.

 

You really know how to ruin a sem don't you Greenwood.

[burlingtonbandit]

You don't think Vladdy would get more benefit from extended ST, particularly on the defense side of things?

 

Who's to say he isn't working on that right now?

[THANOS]

It's obviously good to hear but to be honest the old scout seems a bit deluded.

 

His scouting prowess is a gift from god? He calls his old signees on the phone to correct their swings with immediate results? meh.

 

Sure. But if it wasn't working I doubt he'd be winning that award. He may be old and living on an island in his own mind, but if he's getting results meh?

[Nafro]

Vladdy to Lansing please!

[spats]

Vladdy to Lansing please!

 

I'd make that drive from Niagara to watch him. Hopefully the following year he'll be in High A Dunedin and I can watch him for a month. I saw him in extended last year and was really impressed with the raw power....he also played a decent 3rd base. I've seen a lot of players in my 12+years of vacationing in Dunedin and no one stood out as much as Vladdy.

[TheHurl]

I didn't get to a Lansing game last year, will try to get there this year. Three day weekend with Great Lakes Loons (Saginaw area), Birch Run shopping and a couple Lansing games is a good weekend.

[spats]

I didn't get to a Lansing game last year, will try to get there this year. Three day weekend with Great Lakes Loons (Saginaw area), Birch Run shopping and a couple Lansing games is a good weekend.

 

Can you recommend a place to stay in Lansing and how far from Lansing is Birch Run? Thanks.

[Captain Adama]

Can you recommend a place to stay in Lansing and how far from Lansing is Birch Run? Thanks.

 

The Raddison is too damn expensive. If you don't mind some walking, the Quality Inn University in East Lansing is pretty decent and it's cheap.

[TheHurl]

Can you recommend a place to stay in Lansing and how far from Lansing is Birch Run? Thanks.

 

Stayed at the Crowne Plaza in West Lansing. There was a hotel next door called the Country Inn & Suites that looked nice and was about $40 cheaper. The East Lansing (University area) has a bunch of hotels and are closer to the stadium but the driving time is about the same. Birch Run is about an hour away. If you are considering staying longer than just a game there is a cottage which my friends rent for the for the Michigan State opener every year. About $200 a night 2 bedroom (plus a pull out couch) on a lake. I could find the info for anyone that wants it. It's about 15 minutes from the university.

 

They opened the apartments in the OF of the stadium last summer. I'll bet they are available on Airbnb eventually as well.

 

http://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/c808d308d380f5c410a5454cb30679359fb0cae5/c=264-0-4547-3212&r=x404&c=534x401/local/-/media/2016/04/29/DetroitFreePress/B9321969271Z.1_20160429173104_000_GV1E79AU5.1-0.jpg

Edited December 10, 2016 by TheHurl

[Spanky__99]

http://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/mlb/off-field-adjustments-part-challenge-blue-jays-prospect-guerrero-jr/

 

BRAYDON HOLMYARD DECEMBER 12, 2016, 2:22 PM

 

For the average 17-year-old in Canada and the United States, a home cooked meal, an ordered pizza, or a McDonalds run is an everyday event.

 

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. moved into an apartment in Bluefield, Va. with three other Dominican-born prospects and quickly discovered that finding something to eat was a daunting task. With a lack of cooking experience and a language barrier, the guys just figured it out as they went along.

 

“We worked together to cook Dominican food. It was really hard at the beginning to become independent,” Guerrero recently said through a translator. He laughed as he recalled eating the same meal every day for the first few weeks.

 

La Bandera Dominicana – or The Dominican Flag, in English – was simple, familiar and delicious, the perfect combination for hungry athletes with minimal cooking experience. The plate consists of beans, rice, and either chicken or pork.

 

Moving to a foreign country can turn everyday tasks into overwhelming challenges. But for a 17-year-old who signed with the Toronto Blue Jays as an international free agent and travelled nearly 2,500 kilometres from the Dominican Republic to Virginia for the 2016 season, baseball provided a safety net. It is universal, and allowed some elements of his routine to stay consistent.

 

"For good luck, I listen to Christian songs 45 minutes before every game," Baseball America's top-ranked Blue Jays prospect said, "and 20 minutes before game time, I sit in the bullpen quietly by myself."

 

A creature of habit, Guerrero relied on his new job as a professional baseball player to distract himself from the difficult transition of a dramatic culture change.

 

"It was really different from home," Guerrero said from his house in the Dominican Republic, where he is spending the off-season with his family, "but I was focused on the work and just thought about that. I wanted to stay concentrated and just focus on baseball."

 

Bluefield, where the Toronto Blue Jays' Appalachian League affiliate plays, is a small town of roughly 5,000 people that teeters on the edge of Virginia and West Virginia. Home is in Don Gregorio – a community of about 6,000 people inside the city of Nizao, in the southern region of the Dominican.

 

Baseball is ingrained in the culture of Don Gregorio, so that part of the transition to the United States was seamless for the young third baseman. Learning how to live on his own required more time.

 

"It was really hard to make my own food and wash my clothes and all of that," Guerrero said.

 

Luckily, he didn’t have to struggle by himself. Having a group of Latin players around helped him get accustomed to the new team rather quickly and made the language barrier less problematic.

 

"I had a good relationship with all the guys, I felt comfortable with everyone and we talked a lot," Guerrero said. "I had a lot of friends, but mostly with the Latin guys."

 

Since entertainment options were limited in Bluefield, the four Dominican housemates spent much of their free time in their apartment listening to music, playing PlayStation, engaging in the occasional late night poker match, and talking about baseball – something Guerrero loves to do.

 

Baseball is an obsession that Guerrero Jr. shares with his father, Vladimir Sr., who was recently named to the upcoming Baseball Hall of Fame ballot. They have an extremely close relationship and spoke on the phone before every Bluefield game, often multiple times.

 

On one occasion, they were able to speak face to face.

 

In just his second minor league baseball game, Guerrero Jr. belted his first professional home run with his father in the stands. When they met after the game, Junior gave his dad the home run ball and the bat he used to hit it.

 

Guerrero Jr. and his dad have been nearly inseparable since he arrived home in Don Gregorio for the off-season, and that won’t change until it’s time to hop on a plane and head back to spring training.

 

"We are trying to be together because when I am playing and he is here, we don’t have that kind of contact," he said. "So now we spend almost all the time together."

 

The off-season will be a busy one for Guerrero Jr. He took a week off when he arrived at home to catch up with family and friends, but now he’s back to business, working daily with a personal trainer and trying to refine his defence.

 

"That was something I really wanted to improve," he said. "We have a plan we are working on."

 

The details of that plan remain unknown, but Guerrero's early track record shows he has more than enough tools. He found success at the plate (.271/.359/.449, eight home runs, 46 RBI, 33 walks, 35 strikeouts) despite being the youngest player on the Bluefield roster by almost two years.

 

He doesn’t know where he will be playing baseball to start the 2017 season, but this time those off-field adjustments promise to be a little easier.

[burlingtonbandit]

For all the talk of player development it seems they are lacking in helping out the Dominican players in the minor league lower levels. They should hire a guy to help ease the transition and take them out and show them how to do grocery shopping, laundry etc..

[Jimcanuck]

For all the talk of player development it seems they are lacking in helping out the Dominican players in the minor league lower levels. They should hire a guy to help ease the transition and take them out and show them how to do grocery shopping, laundry etc..

 

Genius

[Krylian]

For all the talk of player development it seems they are lacking in helping out the Dominican players in the minor league lower levels. They should hire a guy to help ease the transition and take them out and show them how to do grocery shopping, laundry etc..

 

Agreed. Basic life skills. Hire a chef to teach the guys about nutrition... Preparing meals... Stuff that they can actually take with them and use their entire lives.

[Angrioter]

For all the talk of player development it seems they are lacking in helping out the Dominican players in the minor league lower levels. They should hire a guy to help ease the transition and take them out and show them how to do grocery shopping, laundry etc..

I could be that guy.

[Jonn]

I could be that guy.

 

You could be there Amit! It's perfect!

 

http://img.lum.dolimg.com/v1/images/open-uri20150422-20810-1rdrcs8_c251b67b.jpeg

[bendera3]

Agreed. Basic life skills. Hire a chef to teach the guys about nutrition... Preparing meals... Stuff that they can actually take with them and use their entire lives.

 

This really should happen. I don't know how many guys my age (30) still have no ability to follow instructions to cook something and these players are barely old enough to drive a car legally. I wonder if the Blue Jays presence in Latin America grows if they would consider using their complex as a baseball factory/school were these kids can be taught how to cook, manage money, English, etc.

[TheHurl]

This really should happen. I don't know how many guys my age (30) still have no ability to follow instructions to cook something and these players are barely old enough to drive a car legally. I wonder if the Blue Jays presence in Latin America grows if they would consider using their complex as a baseball factory/school were these kids can be taught how to cook, manage money, English, etc.

 

every Dominican complex these days do that supposedly. But they are often dealing with a very blank slate. Many of these kids are pulled from school at 11 or 12 to play ball. You have that year or two before they hit short season ball in the states to teach them simple things like reading at a 4th grade level (in Spanish even), speaking a little English. Simple banking and ordering food. Buying groceries, cooking, using cell phones. All while trying to develop ball players. This is why I say the Buscones (at least the bad ones) have to go.

[bendera3]

every Dominican complex these days do that supposedly. But they are often dealing with a very blank slate. Many of these kids are pulled from school at 11 or 12 to play ball. You have that year or two before they hit short season ball in the states to teach them simple things like reading at a 4th grade level (in Spanish even), speaking a little English. Simple banking and ordering food. Buying groceries, cooking, using cell phones. All while trying to develop ball players. This is why I say the Buscones (at least the bad ones) have to go.

 

Yah I remember reading this. It's such a shame that these kids really get the short end of the stick. Unless they are well regarded prospects they will be at a disadvantage the rest of their lives.

[TheHurl]

I could be that guy.

 

Perfect they would learn things like loving a burro and posting on BJMB. For some reason I'm okay with this.

 

Ang what is your opinion of the Buscones, International Draft and academies in the DR? I know we once talked about the quality of some of the facilities or lack of some facilities but what about the system itself. Are there good systems out there for kids before they sign?

[Brownie19]

Christ - just make them watch GGG, Chopped and Cut-throat Kitchen all the time like I do. I can cook a mean steak sandwich on a branding iron with one arm tied behind my back now!

 

 

Seriously though - you'd think the Jays would do a bit more to help these guys adjust.

 

And is that a picture of Ang?

[bendera3]

Christ - just make them watch GGG, Chopped and Cut-throat Kitchen all the time like I do. I can cook a mean steak sandwich on a branding iron with one arm tied behind my back now!

 

Seriously though - you'd think the Jays would do a bit more to help these guys adjust.

 

And is that a picture of Ang?

 

I'd imagine that most teams don't because they realize that only a small percentage of these prospects will even make it to the states so they want to keep their investment down. I feel like it's similar to what Dirk said in one of his books where the pregame meal spread was a small plate of cold cuts (or was it PB&J)?

[Angrioter]

Perfect they would learn things like loving a burro and posting on BJMB. For some reason I'm okay with this.

 

Ang what is your opinion of the Buscones, International Draft and academies in the DR? I know we once talked about the quality of some of the facilities or lack of some facilities but what about the system itself. Are there good systems out there for kids before they sign?

 

I'm one of the few people who supports the draft internationale. The current system does a lot of damage to the Dominican nation. Buscones take kids out of school for full-time baseball, and most of these children end up on the streets without knowing how to make a work for a living.

 

I know that with the draft the numbers of Dominican players will be reduced, but at least we will be a more educated country.

[Angrioter]

Perfect they would learn things like loving a burro and posting on BJMB. For some reason I'm okay with this.

 

Ang what is your opinion of the Buscones, International Draft and academies in the DR? I know we once talked about the quality of some of the facilities or lack of some facilities but what about the system itself. Are there good systems out there for kids before they sign?

 

The Dominican government will be forced to invest in school sports after the international draft. I f***ing hate the current system

[Brownie19]

I'd imagine that most teams don't because they realize that only a small percentage of these prospects will even make it to the states so they want to keep their investment down. I feel like it's similar to what Dirk said in one of his books where the pregame meal spread was a small plate of cold cuts (or was it PB&J)?

 

I mean once they're in the US.

[TheHurl]

I'm one of the few people who supports the draft internationale. The current system does a lot of damage to the Dominican nation. Buscones take kids out of school for full-time baseball, and most of these children end up on the streets without knowing how to make a work for a living.

 

I know that with the draft the numbers of Dominican players will be reduced, but at least we will be a more educated country.

 

We miss your Dominican insight Ang! We need you posting more frequently again.