Official MiLB/Prospects Thread

[Jimcanuck]

https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/top-100-mlb-prospects-updated-for-may-2018/

 

Updated BA list, anyone have access?

[Jimcanuck]

Jeff Hoffman struck out 8 over 5 innings of no hit ball.

[BTS]

Jeff Hoffman struck out 8 over 5 innings of no hit ball.

 

Jeff Hoffman suxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

[Terminator]

Kevin Smith 2 for 3 with another HR.

 

Kevin Smith will rank higher on our team list next year than Logan Warmoth will. Calling it now

[Jimcanuck]

Jeff Hoffman suxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

The next elite multi inning reliever

[saskjayfan]

Jeff Hoffman struck out 8 over 5 innings of no hit ball.

 

Why do I care about a guy who is no longer with the jays?

[Dr. Dinger]

I want to commend you for trading Rodgers for him. Don't think that trade would've been on the table much longer.

 

I believe I offered that soon after I acquired Soto and BTS scoffed it off. I hesitated on pulling the trigger this spring, but I don't like to overreact too much to a small sample. Soto looks like an excellent hitter, but I still think park factors and positional eligibility will make it difficult for me to lose this trade in the long run. Soto will be OF-only and he'll really have to mash to out-earn Rodgers, who has turned it around lately and is poised to be a triple IF eligible dude at Coors. Trevor Story has run a 98 wRC+ and has a .345 wOBA to show for it, and Rodgers projects as a significantly better pure hitter. Both Soto and Rodgers should be excellent dynasty assets going forward.

 

Since the date of the trade Rodgers has gone .339/.379/.508 with substantially improved K and BB rates.

[Jimcanuck]

Why do I care about a guy who is no longer with the jays?

 

Read the title of this thread.

[BTS]

The next elite multi inning reliever

 

I just can't muster any interest in Rockies pitchers.

[Boxcar]

I believe I offered that soon after I acquired Soto and BTS scoffed it off. I hesitated on pulling the trigger this spring, but I don't like to overreact too much to a small sample. Soto looks like an excellent hitter, but I still think park factors and positional eligibility will make it difficult for me to lose this trade in the long run. Soto will be OF-only and he'll really have to mash to out-earn Rodgers, who has turned it around lately and is poised to be a triple IF eligible dude at Coors. Trevor Story has run a 98 wRC+ and has a .345 wOBA to show for it, and Rodgers projects as a significantly better pure hitter. Both Soto and Rodgers should be excellent dynasty assets going forward.

 

Since the date of the trade Rodgers has gone .339/.379/.508 with substantially improved K and BB rates.

 

Rodgers may not even get SS, though.

[Dr. Dinger]

Rodgers may not even get SS, though.

 

He'll start 2019 with SS in Yahoo, without a doubt, and then probably earn 2B by May 2019 since DJLM is a free agent. From there he just needs to start SS at 5 games when Story is sitting to get it again for 2020, which seems very doable, and/or overtake Story on the depth chart which is also plausible since Story isn't actually good. The Rockies are splitting Rodgers' time in AA across 2B, SS, and 3B right now, sort of the Gleyber Torres deal.

[Brownie19]

Why do I care about a guy who is no longer with the jays?

 

Shockingly - some people here like baseball in general.

[Ray]

Biggio and Clemens boys are still killing it.

 

Biggio: 2/3 with a walk and a HR

 

Clemens: 1/4 with a HR.

[Dr. Dinger]

I've not made a Juan Soto post in a week, so it's time to annoy all of you again: he has a 177 wRC+ through his first 35 A+ plate appearances on a 0.269 BABIP and walked 5 times and struck out twice. If he keeps it going for a couple months he could be the latest 19-year old to reach AA. Possibly on the Vlad/Acuna trajectory.

 

Lol calm down BTS...

 

Cruze

2:11 Is Juan Soto the next prospect to ascend to the Vlad/Acuna tier?

Kiley McDaniel

2:12 Not quite that level of tools, but could turn into 60 bat/power and 50 D in RF. Short track record so waiting to see a bit more, but there's top 10-15 overall prospects (60-65 FV) that are that type of player.

[BTS]

Lol calm down BTS...

 

Cruze

2:11 Is Juan Soto the next prospect to ascend to the Vlad/Acuna tier?

Kiley McDaniel

2:12 Not quite that level of tools, but could turn into 60 bat/power and 50 D in RF. Short track record so waiting to see a bit more, but there's top 10-15 overall prospects (60-65 FV) that are that type of player.

 

I do not respect Kiley McDaniel and would not ask him a prospect question.

[P2F]

I do not respect Kiley McDaniel and would not ask him a prospect question.

 

What? Were you not a big fan of his during his first tenure with FG?

[BTS]

What? Were you not a big fan of his during his first tenure with FG?

 

I've soured on him since he came back. The two have published a lot of things recently that I've perceived as being stupid (ex. 30 current hit on Bichette, 40 current hit on Vlad, Yonny Chirinos as the 22nd best Rays prospect despite contributing in the majors this year and projecting as a league average SP). The fact that he's really arrogant and sure of himself makes him intolerable now. I don't remember him being quite so bad before leaving for the Braves.

[Terminator]

I've soured on him since he came back. The two have published a lot of things recently that I've perceived as being stupid (ex. 30 current hit on Bichette, 40 current hit on Vlad, Yonny Chirinos as the 22nd best Rays prospect despite contributing in the majors this year and projecting as a league average SP). The fact that he's really arrogant and sure of himself makes him intolerable now. I don't remember him being quite so bad before leaving for the Braves.

 

His work product began to suffer once Jen Ramos became a co-worker. It's pretty understandable.

[L54]

I've soured on him since he came back. The two have published a lot of things recently that I've perceived as being stupid (ex. 30 current hit on Bichette, 40 current hit on Vlad, Yonny Chirinos as the 22nd best Rays prospect despite contributing in the majors this year and projecting as a league average SP). The fact that he's really arrogant and sure of himself makes him intolerable now. I don't remember him being quite so bad before leaving for the Braves.

 

This is accurate. These nerdy baseball guys who turn into smug pieces of s*** are unbearable. I liked his work before he left for Atlanta but now he's got a Dave Cameron feel to him.

[ColdPint]

Wow, SRF is really putting it together so far this year. Another great start today, lots of K’s lately.

 

He’ll be up this year if he keeps this going.

[Laika]

This is accurate. These nerdy baseball guys who turn into smug pieces of s*** are unbearable. I liked his work before he left for Atlanta but now he's got a Dave Cameron feel to him.

 

It's funny how arrogant some of them get once they miraculously land a $10k part time job and sit in it for a couple years.

 

Having people interact with your tweets must go straight to your head

[metafour]

Ben Badler answered my Kevin Smith question!

 

J. Walter Weatherman (The O.C.):

Kevin Smith is crushing the ball in Lansing and the strikeouts are considerably down. Should Toronto fans get a bit excited that he's potentially figured something out? I know that he was a potential 1st round pick after his Cape Cod performance before imploding in his JR season at Maryland.

 

Ben Badler:

It’s a very good sign. It’s still only a month, and it’s a college player in Low-A, but it’s a a lot of very encouraging signals early on.

[Terminator]

It's funny how arrogant some of them get once they miraculously land a $10k part time job and sit in it for a couple years.

 

Having people interact with your tweets must go straight to your head

 

Yeah and if the peons are that full of themselves imagine what some of the big wigs are like. I'm sure a lot of them are fine but when I dabbled my toe in the industry I wasn't all that thrilled with it.

[BTS]

Juan Soto is 2-2 with a double and 3 walks. Promote him to AA. A+ can not contain this young lion.

[Jimcanuck]

Juan Soto is 2-2 with a double and 3 walks. Promote him to AA. A+ can not contain this young lion.

 

You beat me to it. What's his ETA, you figure?

 

I'm hoping I have all of Soto, Riley, and Jesus Sanchez on my BORED team sometime in 2019.

[gruber92]

Is Cavan Biggio legit?

[THANOS]

Ben Badler answered my Kevin Smith question!

 

As well as some others:

 

David (Toronto):

What are your thoughts on Bo Bichette so far this season?

 

Ben Badler: Extremely impressed. Tremendous swing, drive the ball with impact to the middle of the park, very advanced hitter's mindset. The bat isn't a surprise but his defense has been. He put in a ton of work on the defensive side this offseason and you can see the difference this year. Some of whether he stays at shortstop is going to be circumstantial, but he looks like he can play shortstop at the big league level, which is a change in his talent level from 2017 and the reason we gave him a slight bump in our new Top 100.

 

Casey (NJ): Will we see vlad g jr this year?

 

Ben Badler: Maybe. The Blue Jays don't know what they're going to do yet, and I'm sure they would like to milk another year of service time control out of him if they can. As a hitter, he's major league ready right now. That sounds wild to say about a 19-year-old, but my goodness, I don't know how you pitch to him because he is such a complete hitter. In BP, he's hitting line drives to RCF that carry to the wall and smoking balls out of the stadium to his pull side. Then in the games, he has such incredible bat control and plate discipline. He's one of the best teenage hitters I've ever seen. But defensively, he does need work at third base. You can't bring him up at DH him because that would legitimately stunt his long-term development; wherever he plays, he needs to be playing third base every day to get better on the defensive side. But wow is he incredible to watch when he's in the batter's box.

 

Barry (Halifax): Does Reid-Foley’s performance so far indicate a small sample size or that something has clicked?

 

Ben Badler: A little of each. I've seen two starts of his this year, including today's when he struck out 10 with no walks. His slider looked sharp both times, flashing plus to work as a putaway pitch, and today he was up to 95 mph. The thing last year with Reid-Foley was consistency. Not in the wishy-wash way teams use sometimes to talk about their own players, but legitimate consistency start to start and within a start, where the slider, curveball or changeup might be there some nights and not others, or things would suddenly collapse on him within an outing. So I want to see him hold this over a larger body of work, but I've definitely seen an improved player from 2017.

 

Matthew (DCA): Who would you rather pick to build a team with; Vlad Jr or Acuna?

 

Ben Badler: Vladdy.

[BTS]

You beat me to it. What's his ETA, you figure?

 

I'm hoping I have all of Soto, Riley, and Jesus Sanchez on my BORED team sometime in 2019.

 

He's pretty much on the same trajectory as Acuna if he keeps going. Unless he struggles at AA for some reason, you have to think we see him in 2019.

 

As a fellow Sanchez owner, I don't think there's any way we see him in 2019, and I'd be surprised if we see him in 2020. The Rays take their time, and there are still things he can improve on in A. The K/BB isn't good. I bet he stays most/all of this year in A+.

[Terminator]

Keith Law's 2018 Mock Draft 1.0

Keith Law

ESPN Senior Writer

 

We're 32 days away from the 2018 Rule 4 draft, which means it's really still too early for a first-round projection, but I can't procrastinate too much longer on this. Please remember that this is not a ranking of player abilities or values (here is my most recent ranking of the players in this class), but a best guess as to which player each team might take in this scenario, based on the best information I could glean from industry sources right now.

 

1. Detroit Tigers: Casey Mize, RHP, Auburn. It is entirely possible the Tigers don't take Mize, cutting a deal with someone else, but at this point there's no real indication they're taking someone else. Imagine if the Tigers could trade this pick to a team in contention right now, though, given how advanced Mize is and the possibility he could work out of an MLB bullpen in September and October.

2. San Francisco Giants: Brady Singer, RHP, Florida. Singer has been very up and down this season, but so have all of the other candidates for this pick after Mize. I've also heard the Giants associated with Shane McClanahan, Joey Bart and Carter Stewart.

 

3. Philadelphia Phillies: Alec Bohm, 3B, Wichita State. I've heard they’re primarily interested in college bats, including Bohm and Bart -- but not Nick Madrigal.

 

4. Chicago White Sox: Joey Bart, C, Georgia Tech. Also hearing them mostly associated with picking college players, but as with the Phillies they're unlikely to take Madrigal given their MLB middle-infield duo.

 

5. Cincinnati Reds: Nick Madrigal, 2B, Oregon State. I've heard mostly college bats are in the mix for Cincinnati, since none of the prep hitters have shown well enough this spring (yet) to merit going in the top five. If someone wanted to jump on a prep arm in the top five, my guess would be the Reds pick Matthew Liberatore here.

 

6. New York Mets: Jonathan India, 3B, Florida. I’m also hearing they'd prefer a college player, hitter or pitcher, here, although this might be a little high for India by the standards of the rest of the industry.

 

7. San Diego Padres: Carter Stewart, RHP, Eau Gallie HS, Melbourne, Florida. Stewart’s curveball has the highest spin rate ever recorded and he’s been throwing up to 98 mph, but he's faltered a little in his past two starts while dealing with a wrist issue. I've also heard the Padres associated with Liberatore, and saw A.J. Preller at starts by Ethan Hankins and Ryan Weathers.

 

8. Atlanta Braves: Nolan Gorman, 3B, Sandra Day O'Connor HS, Peoria, Arizona. I've heard this connection a few times already. Gorman has the best raw power in the draft and Atlanta doesn't really have anyone like him in its (loaded) farm system.

 

9. Oakland Athletics: Travis Swaggerty, OF, South Alabama. I've heard Bart and Madrigal would stop here if they fell at all. Swaggerty was a top-five pick coming into the spring but has hit just .305 in a bad conference, albeit with high walk and power outputs (.468/.565).

 

10. Pittsburgh Pirates: Matthew Liberatore, LHP, Mountain Ridge HS, Peoria, Arizona. The Pirates have had a lot of success lately with prep arms in high picks and I have heard them also being in on Libby and Stewart.

 

11. Baltimore Orioles: Logan Gilbert, RHP, Stetson. I've heard them with college arms -- Gilbert, McClanahan, and Ryan Rolison in particular.

 

12. Toronto Blue Jays: Shane McClanahan, LHP, South Florida. I've heard them with the same three guys as Baltimore. McClanahan came out strong early this spring, but since the outing against UConn (allowing six earned runs after giving up no earned runs prior to that) he's been inconsistent and there are concerns he's potentially a reliever.

 

13. Miami Marlins: Trevor Larnach, OF, Oregon State. This would be a dramatic departure from recent Marlins drafts -- they've taken high school arms with their first picks in three of the past four years, and just one college position player in the first round since 1996. But it's a new regime, and they've been linked to Larnach by several sources.

 

14. Seattle Mariners: Ryan Rolison, LHP, Ole Miss. Jerry Dipoto has had five first-round picks while general manager of the Mariners or Angels, and all five selections were four-year college players, so while I wouldn't rule out high school guys here, it does seem like college first and high school second (often over slot) is the Mariners' strategy. They've also been heavy on Miami-area high school shortstop Xavier Edwards.

 

15. Texas Rangers: Jarred Kelenic, OF, Waukesha (Wisconsin) West HS. Kelenic went to Lakeland, Florida, to work out for the Tigers before the season, spawning rumors of a deal at 1-1 that don't appear to have any foundation. He's played only a handful of games so far due to weather, however, so he could still hit his way into the top 10; at the moment, I haven't heard him strongly anywhere above this.

 

16. Tampa Bay Rays: Noah Naylor, C/3B, St. Joan of Arc HS, Ontario, Canada. I've heard Naylor in consideration with only a few teams so far, none above this pick. I've also heard the Rays associated with some high school hitters, including Jordyn Adams, Connor Scott and Alek Thomas.

 

17. Los Angeles Angels: Ryan Weathers, LHP, Loretto (Tennessee) HS. The son of longtime big leaguer David Weathers started his spring late after leading Loretto to the state Class A basketball championship, winning tournament MVP in the process; he hit 95 mph his first start but has pitched more with average velocity since. The interest in him seems to start in the mid-teens. The Angels are one of a few teams I've heard, with Adams, too.

 

18. Kansas City Royals: Jordyn Adams, OF, Green Hope HS, Cary, North Carolina Adams is a two-sport guy, committed to play baseball and football at UNC, where his father is the defensive-line coach; there's strong interest in him in the late teens and a few spots in the 20s if he indicates he'll sign and give up football. I've heard the Royals all over the place, but mostly interested in prep outfielders and pitchers.

 

19. St. Louis Cardinals: Cole Wilcox, RHP, Heritage HS, Ringgold, Georgia. Wilcox's delivery is unorthodox, but he's one of the only pitchers, prep or college, in this draft class who has improved his standing over the course of the spring, pitching well and consistently from start to finish. He faces Kumar Rocker on Thursday afternoon in a second-round playoff game in Ringgold.

 

20. Minnesota Twins: Jackson Kowar, RHP, Florida. I've heard the Twins linked to every manner of player and think it's best player available, with Kowar probably fitting that description well at this point -- and it wouldn't hurt that he's a college arm who could move quickly through their system anyway.

 

21. Milwaukee Brewers: Ethan Hankins, RHP, Forsyth Central HS, Cumming, Georgia. Hankins was probably going in the top five before a shoulder issue ruined his coming-out party, and hasn't showed the same stuff since returning while appearing to pitch at something less than 100 percent effort as well. Sources with drafting near the end of the round felt that he wouldn't get to their pick, even with a commitment to Vanderbilt.

 

22. Colorado Rockies: Kumar Rocker, RHP, North Oconee HS, Bogart, Georgia. Rocker is an outstanding two-way high school player whose fastball sat in the mid-90s much of the spring, losing a little velocity after a hamstring injury cost him a few starts, but he can also show a plus curveball.

 

23. New York Yankees: Cole Winn, RHP, Orange Lutheran HS, Orange, California. I've heard the Yankees mostly associated with college guys and a few premium high school athletes, but Winn is the only high school arm I've heard here, perhaps because he'd fit with longtime scouting director Damon Oppenheimer's affinity for polished prep arms from Southern California.

 

24. Chicago Cubs: Grayson Rodriguez, RHP, Central Heights HS, Nacogdoches, Texas. The Cubs seem likely to go for upside with this pick, with a young and relatively full major league roster but lacking potential stars in the system; Rodriguez has some of the best pure stuff in the draft class and is one of the very few pitchers you might project as a potential No. 2 starter or better.

 

25. Arizona Diamondbacks: Matt McLain, SS, Beckman HS, Tustin, California. The D-backs have been all over McLain this spring, with GM Mike Hazen going to see him at least twice. They could also be targeting him for their competitive-balance pick at No. 39.

 

26. Boston Red Sox: Brice Turang, SS, Santiago HS, Corona, California. Turang is a premium defensive shortstop with power but a questionable hit tool; a team taking him in the first round is likely hoping to work with his swing to get that power to play more in games. I think Boston will go for some upside with this pick, depending on who falls this far, but is unlikely to take a prep pitcher.

 

27. Washington Nationals: J.T. Ginn, RHP, Brandon (Mississippi) HS. I could also see the Nats taking Hankins or Turang if either falls here.

 

28. Houston Astros: Kris Bubic, LHP, Stanford. Bubic has surpassed teammate Tristan Beck, who missed all of last year with a back injury, with a better performance this spring, and worked himself into potential late first-round consideration along with other college arms like Kentucky's Sean Hjelle and Mississippi State's Konnor Pilkington.

 

29. Cleveland Indians: Connor Scott, OF, Plant HS, Tampa, Florida. I've heard Cleveland with a mess of high school players, including Scott and Thomas, who by the way...

 

30. Los Angeles Dodgers: Alek Thomas, OF, Mount Carmel (Illinois) HS. ... is also in the Dodgers' mix, as is Scott. I've also heard Stanford shortstop Nico Hoerner here; he or Missouri State shortstop Jeremy Eierman could slip into the back of the first round.

[Terminator]

Law says he's heard that the O's and Jays are hot on 3 college arms: Gilbert, McClanahan, and Ryan Rolison.