Official MiLB/Prospects Thread

[sdyment]

Just looking at some year end numbers for the 2018 draftees, and saw a few obvious trends. For pitchers k/9, BB/9 seem to be favourable regardless of the other numbers and for position players, there seem to be quite a few guys who are flirting with a 1:1 K:BB ratio.

 

And then I saw this

 

Cal Stevenson

 

G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS

59 280 214 73 79 15 6 2 31 21 1 64 24 .369 .511 .523 1.034

 

In almost 1000 innings he played all three OF spots favouring left and centre. He made only 4 errors, and had 14 OF assists.

Oh, and he also went 21/22 is SB attempts.

About the only flaw I can find is that he is slightly above average age for Rookie League. He will be 22 next week.

 

What can you guys tell me about him? Given his age and advanced numbers, I would expect him to skip a league or two next season, but is he a real thing? Has anyone see him play? Spats?

[KevinGregg]

from that Kieth Law article:

“It’s not just upper-level talent. It’s not just Vladdy and Bo, it’s an abundance. There are 13 middle infielders in our system that we are elated about. We have a lot of pitching coming and there’s been a lot of pitching that’s gotten better this year and you’ve seen some of it here on the major-league field and throughout the system,” Atkins added.

 

Any idea who the 13 middle infielders are?

Groshans, Noda, Taylor, Warmoth, Smith, Bichette, Biggio? Is he including Gurriel, Diaz, Travis?

[John_Havok]

Just looking at some year end numbers for the 2018 draftees, and saw a few obvious trends. For pitchers k/9, BB/9 seem to be favourable regardless of the other numbers and for position players, there seem to be quite a few guys who are flirting with a 1:1 K:BB ratio.

 

And then I saw this

 

Cal Stevenson

 

G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS

59 280 214 73 79 15 6 2 31 21 1 64 24 .369 .511 .523 1.034

 

In almost 1000 innings he played all three OF spots favouring left and centre. He made only 4 errors, and had 14 OF assists.

Oh, and he also went 21/22 is SB attempts.

About the only flaw I can find is that he is slightly above average age for Rookie League. He will be 22 next week.

 

What can you guys tell me about him? Given his age and advanced numbers, I would expect him to skip a league or two next season, but is he a real thing? Has anyone see him play? Spats?

 

He was just a product if a roster crunch? Maybe? I guess?

 

The numbers he pit up he should have been moved up to Lansing 2 or 3 months ago to see if he is actually interesting. Just like Noda last year, advanced college hitters should be making a mockery of rookie ball. So now next season Cal will be in Lansing all year again, just like Noda this year... and Noda hit well enough to show he probably should have been moved up to Dunedin, which he wasn't.

 

Not sure if it's by design that the FO is slowing these guys down and making them play full seasons lower thah their talent indicates so they don't get higher up until they're 24/25, and I'm crtainly willing to admit that not having seen any of them live takes a bit away from a full formed opinion, but people don't put up slash lines they those 2 did at the levels they played at without being better than the level.

[P2F]

from that Kieth Law article:

 

 

Any idea who the 13 middle infielders are?

Groshans, Noda, Taylor, Warmoth, Smith, Bichette, Biggio? Is he including Gurriel, Diaz, Travis?

 

Probably includes LGJ, at least. You can remove Noda from that list (since he's a 1B) and could add Miguel Hiraldo, Leonardo Jimenez and Orelvis Martinez. Santiago Espinal? Richard Urena? Yeltsin Gudino?

 

That's 13 names there, but who knows if it's accurate.

[King]

from that Kieth Law article:

 

 

Any idea who the 13 middle infielders are?

Groshans, Noda, Taylor, Warmoth, Smith, Bichette, Biggio? Is he including Gurriel, Diaz, Travis?

 

1) Bichette

2) Gurriel

3) Biggio

4) Groshans

5) Kevin Smith

6) Otto Lopez

7) Miguel Hiraldo

8) Orelvis Martinez

9) Leonardo Jimenez

10) Logan Warmoth

12) Samad Taylor

13) Santiago Espinal

 

Not in a particular order. There's also some guys with light bats, good contact rates with low power like Yeltsin Gudino and Kevin Vicuna

[P2F]

Good call on Otto Lopez.

[Sammy225]

1) Bichette

2)

3) Biggio

4) Groshans

5) Kevin Smith

6) Otto Lopez

7) Miguel Hiraldo

8) Orelvis Martinez

9) Leonardo Jimenez

10) Logan Warmoth

12) Samad Taylor

13) Santiago Espinal

 

Not in a particular order. There's also some guys with light bats, good contact rates with low power like Yeltsin Gudino and Kevin Vicuna

 

Groshans must be good to make it twice

[King]

Groshans must be good to make it twice

haha

[John_Havok]

from that Kieth Law article:

 

 

Any idea who the 13 middle infielders are?

Groshans, Noda, Taylor, Warmoth, Smith, Bichette, Biggio? Is he including Gurriel, Diaz, Travis?

 

Elated about?

 

hmm... Gurriel could be in there, Biggio and Bichette, Smith, Espinal, Castillo, Warmoth, Vicuna, Taylor, Lopez, Lantigua, Groshans, Rivas and Martinez would be my guesses.

 

I've got Hiraldo as a 3b so I excluded him

[Dr. Dinger]

DunedinDan: Seems like Nate Pearson’s lost year hasn’t affected his prospect status as much as you’d think since he’s still on some top 100 lists. Is this because of his velo, the nature of his injury, both, neither?

 

12:38

Kiley McDaniel: Both I guess, it wasn’t TJ and his stuff was getting more consistent with each outing and apparently he hit 100 last night

[Jimcanuck]

1) Bichette

2) Gurriel

3) Biggio

4) Groshans

5) Kevin Smith

6) Otto Lopez

7) Miguel Hiraldo

8) Orelvis Martinez

9) Leonardo Jimenez

10) Logan Warmoth

12) Samad Taylor

13) Santiago Espinal

 

Not in a particular order. There's also some guys with light bats, good contact rates with low power like Yeltsin Gudino and Kevin Vicuna

 

Vicuna should be in the list, as he's likely the best defender of them all

 

Scott (Victoria, BC): Does your Christmas stocking currently weigh more than Kevin Vicuna? Dude needs to eat some turkey.

 

Ben Badler: That's always one of the tricky parts of projecting kids signed at 16 who are skinny, strength-away guys. Sometimes the strength comes later and a player takes off, other times it never comes and the player hits his ceiling in the minors. The defense is slick at shortstop and his bat control is solid, but he's going to have to focus on strength to keep it going at higher levels.

[Brownie19]

Good call on Otto Lopez.

 

where'd he come from?

[Laika]

where'd he come from?

 

Santo Domingo

[jays4life19]

from BA..

 

Tuesday's Stars

 

Nate Pearson, RHP, Blue Jays: Pearson's season officially ended almost as soon as it started. He recorded five outs in his 2018 debut on May 7 before he was hit by a comebacker that fractured his right forearm. But Pearson did return to the mound yesterday for an exhibition game between Lansing and Michigan State's baseball team. In the Crosstown Classic, Pearson hit the first batter he faced, then recorded back-to-back fielder's choices. After that he struck out the final four batters he faced. According to Lansing Lugnuts radio play-by-play man Jesse Goldberg-Strassler, Pearson touched 102 mph during his short stint. The Lugnuts are in the Midwest League's playoffs, so there is a chance that Pearson could pitch in the playoffs. Considering all the time he missed, Pearson makes perfect sense as a late addition to Arizona Fall League rosters.

[P2F]

where'd he come from?

 

I originally assumed your question was more rhetorical than anything, but just in case - he was signed out of the Dominican as part of the Blue Jays' financially-hamstrung 2016 IFA class.

[Krylian]

https://www.tsn.ca/radio/toronto-1050/law-blue-jays-do-not-have-a-top-10-farm-system-1.1167959

 

Keith Law is arrogantly boasting that Toronto doesn't have a top 10 farm, and thinks people are nuts to rate it that high.

 

Could this tool not be any more of a clown? Is our system, not, objectively top 4-5?

 

Law has always been big on high ceiling guys. The Jays do have a few of those guys, but we also have a lot of higher floor, lower ceiling guys too, which he clearly doesn't regard as highly as others.

 

Honestly though, you guys act like he just f***ed your sister with the outrage. Who cares what his ranking is.

[John_Havok]

Law has always been big on high ceiling guys. The Jays do have a few of those guys, but we also have a lot of higher floor, lower ceiling guys too, which he clearly doesn't regard as highly as others.

 

Honestly though, you guys act like he just f***ed your sister with the outrage. Who cares what his ranking is.

 

For me, it's nit that he has the opinion, it's that a major morning show gave him a platform to spew it as fact, then actually state that it was refreshing to hear something so "definitive."

 

Like it or not, a huge chunk of people that listened to that garbage will actually believe it, and those same people are probably the ones that think atkins is doing a bad job because he took over a gutted minor league system, and a major league roster with 0 depth, grossly bloated contracts on injury prone veterans and somehow expected different results than what they've received.

[Krylian]

For me, it's nit that he has the opinion, it's that a major morning show gave him a platform to spew it as fact, then actually state that it was refreshing to hear something so "definitive."

 

Like it or not, a huge chunk of people that listened to that garbage will actually believe it, and those same people are probably the ones that think atkins is doing a bad job because he took over a gutted minor league system, and a major league roster with 0 depth, grossly bloated contracts on injury prone veterans and somehow expected different results than what they've received.

 

The people that believe Law's assessment of our farm system already think Shatkins is doing a bad job.

[L54]

The people that believe Law's assessment of our farm system already think Shatkins is doing a bad job.

 

That's the problem!

[bronson44]

[P2F]

That swing was really, umm, something.

[Daniel Labude]

That swing was really, umm, something.

 

He didn't swing hard enough

[gruber92]

T.J Zeuch with another solid start.. 6IP 8H 0ER 1BB 5K (8 GO 2 FO)

 

All 8 hits given up were singles, with only 3 of them hit hard.

[Orgfiller]

That swing was really, umm, something.

 

I love it, it's so wild and untamed.

[John_Havok]

From BA's Hot Sheet

 

13. Bo Bichette, 2B, Blue Jays

Team: Double-A New Hampshire (Eastern)

Age: 20

Why He’s Here: .382/.432/.647 (13-for-34), 8 R, 4 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, 6 RBIs, 3 BB, 6 SO, 1-for-1 SB

 

The Scoop: After taking the minors by storm last year in first full professional season, Bichette put forth an excellent encore in his first test at the upper levels. His 43 doubles were one shy of the most in the minor leagues, and his 61 extra-base hits placed him among the top 10 in the sport as well. He won a championship last year in the Florida State League and now will compete for a second ring as his Fisher Cats enter the Eastern League playoffs. (JN)

 

HELIUM

Alejandro Kirk, C, Blue Jays

 

The Scoop: Signed out of Mexico in 2016, Kirk got just two at-bats in 2017 before making this year his de facto first full season. And boy, did he make an impression. He punished baseballs from open to close, finishing among the top five in the league in all three triple-slash category. He's a big boy who makes a big impact, particularly on fastballs. He knows how to work the count, too, and walked 12 more times than he struck out this season. He split his time behind the plate and at DH, and allowed just one passed ball and threw out 43 percent of runners when he strapped on the tools of ignorance. (JN)

 

Those who are curious, he's listed at 5'9" 220.

[tercet]

The Trenton starter was topping out at 90,91, Bichette also made an error on that first pitch of the game that somehow was scored as a single.

 

The NH stadium is nicer then Dunedin, man Dunedin is such a hunk of junk lol

[John_Havok]

MLB Pipeline hitter of the Year: Vlad JR

 

By Jonathan Mayo | September 5th, 2018

Over the years, there have been some contentious debates over who should be MLB Pipeline's Minor League Hitter of the Year. This year, the conversation took approximately as long as it took to say the name Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

 

Next.

 

Sure, several hitters put up very good numbers across the Minors in 2018, but choosing the No. 1 prospect in baseball as this year's winner was as easy an award-winning decision as there will be this season.

 

It's easy to run out of superlatives when describing the season that the son of the Hall of Famer had, but some of the highlights:

 

• Led the Minors in batting average (.381)

• Led the Minors in slugging percentage (.636)

• Led the Minors in OPS (1.073)

• Set career highs in doubles, home runs, total bases, RBIs, average, OBP, SLG, OPS

• Has not gone consecutive games without a hit since July 20-21, 2017

 

"I was happy with everything that transpired throughout the season," Guerrero Jr. told MLB.com's Jesse Sanchez. "I go out there on a daily basis and work hard. I fully understand that I can only control what I do on the field, but have no control over what happens off the field."

 

"My 'seat' from the third-base coaching box, I was always on high alert in case he yanked one my way," said New Hampshire manager John Schneider, who also managed Guerrero at Class A Advanced Dunedin in 2017. "It was a historic type of year. He hits the ball so hard, has such great barrel-to-ball skills, great feel for what pitchers are trying to do to him, makes adjustments from pitch to pitch.

 

"His work is so good, he's so convicted in what he's doing, and obviously he's confident. He's so talented and he's so smart in the batter's box. He's the best hitter I've seen in the Minor Leagues my whole life."

 

While Guerrero Jr. was easily the unanimous choice, there were other hitters whose performances warrant mentioning. Only prospects who spent at least half of the season in the Minors and appeared on a team Top 30 Prospects list were considered for this award.

 

• Rays first-base prospect Nathaniel Lowe won his organizational triple crown by hitting .330 with 27 homers and 102 RBIs across three levels.

• Astros outfielder Kyle Tucker finished with a .332/.400/.590 line in the Minors to go along with 24 homers, 93 RBIs and 20 stolen bases.

• White Sox outfield prospect Eloy Jimenez finished with a .337/.384/.477 line with 22 homers and 75 RBIs in 108 games.

• Mets first baseman Peter Alonso topped the Minor Leagues in RBIs (119) and shared the MiLB home run title with 36 long balls.

• Twins outfielder Alex Kirilloff led all Minor Leaguers with 296 total bases, hitting .348/.392/.578 with 20 homers and 101 RBIs across two levels of A ball.

 

Still just 19 years old, Guerrero Jr. flirted with hitting .400 for much of the 2018 season. He was up to .410 in Double-A when the only thing that could stop him, an injury, sidelined him. A strained patellar tendon in his left knee in early June kept him out of action for five weeks, not to mention meaning he couldn't play in this year's Futures Game. He ended up at .402 when he was promoted to Triple-A Buffalo.

 

There, he "slumped," hitting just .336/.414/.564 to bring his average down to .381 for the year. He set those career highs in all of those counting stats despite playing in just 95 games and compiling 357 at-bats. He'll be heading to the Arizona Fall League to make up for some of those lost reps.

 

"My move from Double-A to Triple-A was just another step closer to the ultimate goal," Guerrero Jr. said. "I feel baseball is baseball. The only thing that is different was better quality of players, faster players, faster pitchers and many players that have already made it to the bigs."

 

That streak of games without consecutive 0-fers, now at 135 games? The last Major League player to have a streak that long was Ichiro, who went 180 games from during the 2008 and '09 seasons. Guerrero Jr. managed this with a combination of an innate ability to barrel up the baseball and his incredibly advanced approach at the plate. He struck out just 9.3 percent of the time in 2018, while walking 9.1 percent. And while his average was lower in Triple-A, he actually upped his walk rate (11.7) and lowered his K rate (7.8) compared to Double-A, and he still has more walks than strikeouts in his career.

 

"It was certainly encouraging to see the consistency of approach and plate discipline as he moved up each level," Blue Jays farm director Gil Kim said. "What was most encouraging was to see the level of commitment to improving his defensive footwork and athleticism, and how he'd consistently challenge himself to be the best teammate, athlete and third baseman he could possibly be."

 

This wasn't a fluky year, one where he found holes and hit a bunch of flares. In 61 games with Double-A New Hampshire, he hit 83 balls with an exit velocity of 100 mph or higher, with a maximum of 120 mph. That came on a single to left Schneider remembers vividly.

 

"I looked at the third baseman, he looked at me," Schneider recalled. "We both had wide eyes. We were both thinking, 'Thank God that wasn't at one of us.'"

 

There are stories about Guerrero Jr. that border on myth: Getting thrown out at second on balls off the left-field wall that normally would be easy doubles but turned into outs because he hit the ball so hard -- in consecutive at-bats. Or the time in Hartford when he turned on a two-strike, 96-mph fastball down and in and hit it out of the park down the left-field line so hard that the umpire couldn't get in position quickly enough and initially called it a foul ball. The crew conferred and reversed the call.

 

"People shouldn't be able to do that," Schneider said. "Everything he hit was hard, almost everything was ridiculously hard."

 

"I was never trying to reach .400, I just went out there to give it my all on a daily basis," Guerrero Jr. said. "I was very selective in waiting on a pitch that I felt was my pitch and put good wood on the ball. I tried to use all fields, just put the ball in play. Now I will go home, continue to work hard in the next three weeks and come back ready for the Fall League, to continue on my ultimate goal and finish line, God willing."

 

Aside from the innate ability to hit, that's what separates Guerrero Jr., his tireless work ethic. He has a passion for the game that comes out both in how much fun he has playing the game and how willing he is to put in the time to become great.

 

"For as funny and loose and good as he is, he's very driven, focused and works hard towards what he wants to accomplish," Schneider said. "The cool part is he knows exactly where that line is. Let's stay loose, let's have fun, but at the same time, let's get our work done. He's a pro about it. He wants to be an All-Star and Gold Glover at third base."

[TheHurl]

[jays4life19]

To be fair all gingers do look the same

[TheHurl]

To be fair all gingers do look the same

 

Spanky should change his name to Brady Feigl too