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Krylian

By Krylian
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Abomination Buffalo Bisons

Abomination

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I'm not sure I'd want Martinez at $15-20m per year which is what he probably would ask for.

 

You'd be crazy not to take him at 15M per year over 4 or 5 years. It's likely he'll get north of 20M though, which all things being equal, I'd rather give to Donaldson.

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Went to the Dunedin Jays game tonight, specifically to see Khal Stephen but also because it was $2 Wednesday...$2 admission , beer, hot dogs and popcorn. Gotta love minor league ball. The line score f

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Anonymous 5 days ago   Did you find out any intel in who looked g

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1. Ricky Tiedemann LHP Ht: 6'4" | Wt: 220 | B-T: L-L Age: null BA Grade/Risk: 60/Extreme. Track Record: 

Bobthe4th Toronto Blue Jays

Bobthe4th

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You'd be crazy not to take him at 15M per year over 4 or 5 years.

 

Disagree, even if that would get it done (which I agree it probably wouldn't) I'm ready to move on from aging, slow outfielders who should be playing at DH.

Dr. Dinger GOAT

Dr. Dinger

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Disagree, even if that would get it done (which I agree it probably wouldn't) I'm ready to move on from aging, slow outfielders who should be playing at DH.

 

Yeah, instead let's go with athletic, cheap outfielders who can't hit for s*** and post sub 1-WAR seasons.

Bobthe4th Toronto Blue Jays

Bobthe4th

Old-Timey Member
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Yeah, instead let's go with athletic, cheap outfielders who can't hit for s*** and post sub 1-WAR seasons.

 

Haha that doesn't describe any of Zeke, Pillar, Alford or Teoscar.

P2F Toronto Blue Jays

P2F

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Kolten Wong's little bro, Kean, is having himself a game. He just smacked a grand slam to give Durham a 5-3 lead in the bottom of the 4th. He's got a single, double, and donger.
Terminator All-Star

Terminator

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Baseball's best high-upside hitting prospects of 2017

Sep 7, 2017

Eric Longenhagen

Special to ESPN.com

 

The term "upside" is used across sports as a way to describe a ballplayer's potential if he developed in a perfect world, one in which all of his skills were polished and his physical abilities were free to reign supreme. The idea of "upside" requires us to assume that technical proficiencies -- such as strike zone awareness, breaking ball recognition and fastball command -- are all learnable or teachable, while physical attributes such as arm strength, speed and power mostly are not. A prospect described as "high upside" in baseball has those physical attributes, and it is hoped that, if he lacks polish, feel, instincts or other baseball abilities, those will come with time and repetition.

 

Evaluating athletes based solely on upside can be dubious. Many athletes across sports excel due to technical proficiency more than raw physical ability. This is especially evident in baseball. Beer-drinking, chicken-eating Wade Boggs was much more effective than Bo Jackson, and Jamie Moyer evolved and survived on nothing but pitchability toward the end of his 25 years in the big leagues, while legendary flamethrower Steve Dalkowski never got there.

 

But statistical leaderboards are full of prototypical athletes with prototypical bodies and loud tools. Here are this year's examples of minor leaguers who possess the most superlative of these physical attributes at the plate, discussed here without concern for statistical performance, proximity to the majors or anything but their assumed upside. To make this list, a prospect can't be in the big leagues yet (so no Yoan Moncada here).

 

10. Bubba Thompson, OF, Texas Rangers: Thompson quarterbacked McGill-Toolen Catholic High School to Alabama's 7A state championship game. He was a multisport commit to Alabama but was drafted 26th overall by Texas and chose baseball. He began making more authoritative contact as a senior and has shown flashes of power in pro ball, and he's likely to grow into more power as his lean, 6-foot-2 frame fills out. He's still getting comfortable against pro pitching but seems to track pitches well while showing some feel for opposite-field contact. He's a long-term project, but his plus-plus speed and improving power are very exciting.

 

 

9. Will Benson, RF, Cleveland Indians: Benson was a Georgia high schooler and Duke commit who was All-Georgia second team in basketball. He drew Jason Heyward comparisons in high school because of his size, build and swing (perhaps unfortunately). Cleveland drafted him 14th overall and signed him for $2.5 million. Benson's hitting ability is raw, as he is a hulking 6-foot-5 and easily gets tied up inside. His swing was reworked this year, and he is hitting for power but is still striking out frequently. He has elite arm strength and rare baseball size, with huge power potential if he ever figures out a way to make more contact.

 

8. Jesus Sanchez, OF, Tampa Bay Rays: I think Sanchez is a slightly better overall prospect than Estevan Florial, but this list is about upside, and Sanchez is more likely than Florial to wind up in a corner outfield spot. Sanchez shows great hand-eye coordination and breaking ball recognition as well as an ability to drop the bat head and whack pitches down and in. He generates big power without overswinging, but when he really cuts loose, Sanchez produces plus-plus bat speed. He is the least athletic player on this list, but aside from perhaps Ronald Acuna, he has the most promising bat-to-ball ability.

 

7. Estevan Florial, OF, New York Yankees: Florial has high-effort, plus-plus bat speed and a bat path that allows for power to all fields, similar to Ian Happ of the Cubs. Florial is an aggressive hitter, which leads to some strikeouts, but he has 25-plus-homer potential. Many scouts think he'll stay in center field for a while. His bat profiles in right as well. After three strong months with the low-A Charleston RiverDogs, Florial was promoted to high-A and hit .300/.358/.450 there. He is headed for the Arizona Fall League.

 

6. Jordon Adell, OF, Los Angeles Angels: Adell has plus-plus bat speed and hit .562/.667/1.437 with 25 homers and 21 steals for Ballard High School this spring. He was drafted eighth overall by the Angels and continued to dominate in pro ball, earning a promotion to the Pioneer League after a month in the Arizona League (AZL). Pro scouts haven't seen him play defense, as Adell has only DHed, but many consider him the best prospect they saw in a talent-packed AZL this year. Amateur scouts had concerns about Adell's throwing arm this spring, which was odd considering he was clocked throwing up to 93 mph on the mound the previous summer. Assuming whatever is going on with Adell's arm can be remedied, he projects as a plus defensive right fielder with a plus arm, and some scouts think he runs well enough to play center field.

 

5. Luis Robert, OF, Chicago White Sox: Both U.S.-Cuba relations and MLB's international free-agent rules have been changing in recent years, and Cuban ballplayers exited the island en masse in anticipation of the current CBA, which greatly limits their earning power. Luis Robert will likely be the last of these international amateur free agents to be paid anything close to what the market would pay them without restriction. He netted a $26 million bonus (and Chicago paid nearly that in overage tax) and has been playing in the Dominican Summer League for the White Sox since midyear.

 

Robert looked heavy and sluggish when I saw him with the Cuban national team during a Can-Am tour in the summer of 2016, but he looked sleek and explosive during workouts for teams after he defected, running well and hitting for power against workout pitching. He has a rare combination of power and speed, but he's old for the Dominican Summer League (DSL), so his performance there means very little. Stateside scouts were hoping to get a look at him during the instructional league, but he isn't on the roster I have seen. We might have to wait until next spring.

 

4. Daniel Flores, C, Boston Red Sox: Flores was signed out of Venezuela for $3.1 million in July. He turns 17 in October. Teenage catchers are notoriously risky prospects, but we don't care about that for this exercise, so let's examine Flores' gifts. He's an advanced defensive catcher with promising receiving skills and rare athleticism and mobility for a catcher. That quickness allows him to exit his crouch and release the ball quickly on throws to second base, allowing his already plus arm strength to play up a bit. These are the uncooked ingredients of an elite defensive catcher. Flores is a switch-hitter with power, and he might have plus raw pop at maturity. Catchers typically take a while to develop because of the burden placed on their development by their defensive vocation, and switch-hitters often take longer to develop because there are two swings to work with. Flores is both. It might take a while, but elite defensive catchers with power are perennial All-Stars, and Flores has a chance to be one.

 

3. Monte Harrison, OF, Milwaukee Brewers: Harrison excelled in three sports in high school. In addition to his baseball prospectdom, he averaged 17 points and nine rebounds per game in basketball and caught 13 touchdowns and ran for 12 as a senior wide receiver in football. He was committed to play football and baseball at Nebraska but was Milwaukee's second-round pick in 2014 and signed for $1.8 million. Harrison's early pro career was dotted with injuries and uneven performance when healthy, but he has finally gotten regular reps this year and has broken out, hitting .270/.350/.480 with 21 homers and 27 stolen bases between low-A and high-A. He's a plus runner with plus raw power and elite arm strength. His expansive approach might eventually become an issue.

 

2. Fernando Tatis Jr., SS, San Diego Padres: The Padres acquired Tatis from the White Sox in exchange for James Shields early in 2016. Tatis hadn't yet played a game for a Chicago affiliate and had been seen by only a handful of scouts in the U.S., who saw him during extended spring training. He showed acrobatic defense at shortstop, present power and a 6-foot-3 frame that promised more. Tatis turned 18 in January, and a few months later, he was the starting shortstop at a full-season affiliate. He thrived on both sides of the ball, making highlight-reel plays at shortstop, hitting for power and showing patience at the plate. He was promoted, aggressively, to Double-A for the season's last few weeks. There's some concern that Tatis will outgrow shortstop eventually, but he could be an elite defender there. Certainly, some teams would live with a fringy defender at short if he's hitting 25 homers.

 

1. Ronald Acuna, CF, Atlanta Braves: Acuna is a dynamic power/speed threat who has mashed his way from A-ball all the way to Triple-A at age 19. He takes his share of bad at-bats, which is fair to expect from a prospect this young in the upper levels. But he has also shown bat speed, a quick adjustment to breaking balls, an ability to move the barrel around the zone and a natural, power-producing uppercut in his swing. He runs well enough to stay in center field for a while, and his plus-plus arm will prevent extra bases if he needs to move to right field. It appears that Acuna will hit for average and power while playing a premium defensive position. He is hitting .338/.388/.536 at Triple-A and will go to finishing school in the Arizona Fall League.

 

Others considered: OF Pedro Gonzalez, Texas Rangers; OF Seuly Matias, Kansas City Royals; C M.J. Melendez, Kansas City Royals; OF Heliot Ramos, San Francisco Giants; SS/CF Royce Lewis, Minnesota Twins

KevinGregg Draft Eligible

KevinGregg

Verified Member
Posted
Posted
Here are this year's examples of minor leaguers who possess the most superlative of these physical attributes at the plate, discussed here without concern for statistical performance, proximity to the majors or anything but their assumed upside.

how on Earth does Vlad not make that list?

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