Official MiLB/Prospects Thread

[Krylian]

It breaks and it's offspeed. If it's his splitter, cool.

 

God, I hate this f***ing place.

 

Do you need to go to your safe space with the stress ball and blankey?

[TheHurl]

1. Nate Pearson (SP) - Last thing now is to see how does without a pitch count. So close to ready. Doesn't need a full season in the minors should be in the majors for over half of the season next year.

2. Jordan Groshans (SS) - Wanted to put him number 1. The injury just doesn't allow for it but I expect that he will come out as one of the top 5 bats in the minors next season.

3. Alek Manoah (SP) - I fully expect Manoah to pitch three levels next year and be in the Pearson position at the end of next season.

4. Simeon Woods Richardson (SP) - Sim (as he wants to be known...or I want him to be known as) is the best pitcher in the world who hasn't turned 19. Numbers with runners on are not great right now. Will be interesting to see if the Jays work on him pitching from the stretch and he can react to the adjustments.

5. Gabriel Moreno © - The guy has only been catching for 4 years. He's athletic and if the catching doesn't work out, it looks like his bat plays elsewhere.

6. Anthony Kay (SP) - There is something there and he's MLB ready. A good combo. There is a lot to not like too though. He's here in my rankings cause I didn't know what else to do with him.

7. Alejandro Kirk © - I want to rank him higher. But the fattist in me won't let me. Unlike Moreno if the catching skills aren't there I'm not sure he plays anywhere else. I'm not saying the catching skills aren't there, just saying he's not a 1B option if they aren't.

8. Orelvis Martinez (SS) - Despite my previous rules of no minors allowed in my rankings. Don't delay the move to CF though. Me putting him 8 shows how much I actually like him

9. Griffin Conine (RF) - Little indiscretions over with...he showed he can just hit. Yes he feasted on pitchers younger than himself (8 HR's, 8 BB in 89 PA's) but his numbers against older pitchers were still a solid .273/.358/.530. If the K's aren't below 30% next year though the power better be out of this world

10. Kevin Smith - I just want someone to say he played hurt all season or something. Or they were trying to change the type of hitter he was it just didn't work. 8 HR's in July give me hope and I'm keeping him in the top 10.

 

I will make a proper assessment of Pardinho when he is a reliever. He's already broken and he still can't throw a change. If a move to reliever can keep him on the field I'll move him ahead of Kevin Smith.

[KevinGregg]

10. Kevin Smith - I just want someone to say he played hurt all season or something. Or they were trying to change the type of hitter he was it just didn't work.

 

https://theathletic.com/1157052/2019/08/23/his-swing-change-failed-now-blue-jays-prospect-kevin-smith-bids-to-get-rid-of-the-old-feels-and-get-the-new-ones-in/

 

Kevin Smith enjoyed a breakthrough season in 2018. His batting average and on-base percentage soared. He hit 25 home runs. He vaulted to No. 7 on the Blue Jays’ top-prospects list.

 

So naturally, he entered the offseason determined to change his swing.

 

He thought it made sense at the time. The Blue Jays’ shortstop prospect is a keen student of the game. He spends myriad hours watching video, dissecting his own game and that of big-league stars, looking for new keys to unlock his potential.

 

“Smitty is one of our most baseball-savvy and intelligent players,” said Gil Kim, the Blue Jays’ director of player development. “He’s probably one of our most analytical players, too.”

 

Therefore, even though Smith had posted a hitting line of .302/.358/.528 at two A-ball levels in 2018, he saw flaws. He delved into his hitting data and huddled with coaches. Their collective conclusions: He needed to keep his bat in the hitting zone longer. And he was vulnerable to the high fastball.

 

“I was aiming to have a better contact rate,” he said. “When I hit it last year, I hit it hard. I had a great year, but we figured that if I could make my path a little flatter through the zone, I’d be able to hit the (high) pitch better. Last year I kind of struggled with that.

 

“So in the offseason, I really worked on it and liked where I was. But you really don’t know whether it’s going to work or not until you start facing live pitching.”

 

It didn’t work.

The degree to which it didn’t work was spectacular. By the end of June, in his first season at Double-A New Hampshire, Smith’s line was .183/.244/.346. His strikeout rate was 32 percent. His line-drive rate was way down, his fly-ball rate way up. And fewer of those balls in the air were leaving the park. Many weren’t even leaving the infield.

 

Before the season started, he thought his offseason labours had programmed the new swing into his subconscious mind. But gradually he began to realize that his subconscious mind was confused. The old and new swings were pulling in different directions.

 

“My muscle memory was doing two different things,” he said. “It didn’t understand what was happening. I thought I was doing one thing, but in the box, I was doing something else. That’s why I watch a lot of video, so I can see what I’m doing versus what I’m feeling.”

 

Video and feelings told him he should try to put the toothpaste back in the tube. That’s hard to do at the best of times and virtually impossible for a player competing in a game-pressure atmosphere every night.

 

At the All-Star break, Smith went home to suburban Albany, N.Y., and tried to revive his old swing. For two days, he spent long hours in a batting cage with his dad. They also studied video of himself and others, mainly Ronald Acuña Jr., the Braves’ slugging, spray-hitting young star.

 

Rousing results came almost immediately. In July, he batted .333/.370/.708. He hit eight home runs, matching his total for the previous three months.

 

Then, his muddled muscle memory interrupted his reverie. His August line stood at .161/.224/.258 with one homer entering Thursday’s action. This is going to be a process.

 

“Looking at yourself, it’s easy to see what’s happening, but you can’t just go in the box and take something you’ve been doing your whole life and change it,” he said. “That’s why it took me so long this offseason to put in the changes that I wanted to make. It takes just as long to take them out again.”

 

With 11 games left in New Hampshire’s season, he is hitting .213 with a .691 OPS — albeit with 19 homers.

 

Two of them came Thursday night. The second hit the top of the batter’s eye at Northeast Delta Dental Stadium in New Hampshire. Smith’s 19 homers left him two shy of the league lead.

 

So what sort of player will Kevin Smith eventually become?

 

On their surface, his two full pro seasons seem the product of different players. At Lansing and Dunedin last year, he looked like a prospect on the fast track. At New Hampshire this year, he has been slogging through swampland, save for that surge in July.

 

His 2018 numbers were gaudy, but there were warning signs, too.

 

 

 

He played 47 of his first 64 games at Low-A Lansing, the rest at High-A Dunedin in a pitching-rich league. His BABIP — batting average on balls in play — was ridiculously high in the first half, suggesting good luck complemented the good things he was doing at the plate. In the second half, his BABIP sat firmly in the average range, suggesting luck did not play a part.

 

This year his BABIP is .267, indicating that a degree of bad luck is aggravating his struggles.

 

No doubt Smith’s analytical bent told him his second-half performance last year, while certainly not cause for panic, called for some adjustments. Thus, his vow to improve his swing over the winter.

 

Always his own chief critic, he relishes analyzing his work.

 

“I think I’m a great self-evaluator,” he said. “I kind of do it too much at times, like in this offseason.”

 

His penchant for self-diagnosis clearly has the approval of his handlers.

 

“Kevin is constantly thinking about how to make himself better, constantly thinking about his hitting and his swing, and constantly working at it,” Kim said. “We appreciate how much he cares and how much he burns to get better.”

 

For Smith, consuming a steady diet of video is one key to getting better. Growing up, as he aspired to shortstop stardom, he analyzed Derek Jeter’s swing and defensive moves, and even the way the Yankees captain handled media interviews.

 

Lately, Acuña, a kid, and Edgar Martinez, a newly minted Hall of Famer, have absorbed his attention.

 

“I’ve been watching video of Acuña and trying to mimic his swing, seeing what he was doing versus what I was doing, why he and Edgar Martinez and Mookie (Betts) and all those guys do what they do, looking at what my body was doing compared to what they were doing,” Smith said, his passion evident in his tone.

 

“I do that with everyone. I look at Francisco Lindor at shortstop and Carlos Correa and their pre-step and how they turn double plays and stuff like that. I’m always studying and trying to get better. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, but at least I’m not staying the same.”

 

Entering Thursday night’s game in New Hampshire, Smith was mired in a 6-for-45 slump. Then he went out and had a 3-for-4 night with a double and two home runs. The second one traveled an estimated 425 feet.

 

 

 

Through his batting woes, he remains a solid defender at shortstop, and occasionally at second and third. And despite those woes, he has no regrets about trying to change his swing last winter.

 

“I’m happy now that I tried it because if I went a few more years and then tried it, it would’ve been a way worse situation,” he said.

 

Kim concurs.

 

“Players at this high of a level who have such high standards, they always expect to succeed and they always expect to perform,” he said. “But it’s almost more encouraging in the developmental process to have them tested like this because it’s bound to happen at some point. We would hate to see that happen for the first time in the big leagues, where there are so many other pressures and things going on.”

 

Smith’s Double-A season ends on Labor Day. His numbers — except for the homers — will pale alongside his 2018 totals.

 

Kim is unworried. He says Smith’s struggles will benefit him in the long term. And Smith also sees the season as a glass half full.

 

“I’m still trying to get rid of the old feels and get the new ones in,” he said. “But it’s fun to go out here every night and face great pitchers — the best pitching I’ve ever seen in my life so far. To be able to make changes and to have sparks here and there where I feel comfortable with my swing, that’s success to me, especially with how the first half went.”

 

The sparks he ignited Thursday night served as a reminder of the player Smith has been, and what he might be yet again. Maybe those first-half feels are finally gone.

[Krylian]

[glory]

So much disrespect for El Capitan

 

Yeah I was debating putting him 7th ahead of Pardinho and Kay, but went with the pitchers instead. I'll say 7-10 is interchangeable for me depending on preference.

[Dr. Dinger]

Julian Merryweather is like 34 and has thrown 4 pitches in the last 3 seasons.

[Dr. Dinger]

And wasn’t even good so

[sdyment]

1. Nate Pearson (SP) - Last thing now is to see how does without a pitch count. So close to ready. Doesn't need a full season in the minors should be in the majors for over half of the season next year.

2. Jordan Groshans (SS) - Wanted to put him number 1. The injury just doesn't allow for it but I expect that he will come out as one of the top 5 bats in the minors next season.

3. Alek Manoah (SP) - I fully expect Manoah to pitch three levels next year and be in the Pearson position at the end of next season.

4. Simeon Woods Richardson (SP) - Sim (as he wants to be known...or I want him to be known as) is the best pitcher in the world who hasn't turned 19. Numbers with runners on are not great right now. Will be interesting to see if the Jays work on him pitching from the stretch and he can react to the adjustments.

5. Gabriel Moreno © - The guy has only been catching for 4 years. He's athletic and if the catching doesn't work out, it looks like his bat plays elsewhere.

6. Anthony Kay (SP) - There is something there and he's MLB ready. A good combo. There is a lot to not like too though. He's here in my rankings cause I didn't know what else to do with him.

7. Alejandro Kirk © - I want to rank him higher. But the fattist in me won't let me. Unlike Moreno if the catching skills aren't there I'm not sure he plays anywhere else. I'm not saying the catching skills aren't there, just saying he's not a 1B option if they aren't.

8. Orelvis Martinez (SS) - Despite my previous rules of no minors allowed in my rankings. Don't delay the move to CF though. Me putting him 8 shows how much I actually like him

9. Griffin Conine (RF) - Little indiscretions over with...he showed he can just hit. Yes he feasted on pitchers younger than himself (8 HR's, 8 BB in 89 PA's) but his numbers against older pitchers were still a solid .273/.358/.530. If the K's aren't below 30% next year though the power better be out of this world

10. Kevin Smith - I just want someone to say he played hurt all season or something. Or they were trying to change the type of hitter he was it just didn't work. 8 HR's in July give me hope and I'm keeping him in the top 10.

 

I will make a proper assessment of Pardinho when he is a reliever. He's already broken and he still can't throw a change. If a move to reliever can keep him on the field I'll move him ahead of Kevin Smith.

 

Really starting to love our 2024 rotation Now that the sell off is over the next great challenge for Shatkins is to bridge the gap from our 3.5 current starting to that dominant rotation in a few years. At least they’ve got lotso payroll space to work with.

[Jimcanuck]

Jays in the AFL this year.

 

Cullen Large

Logan Warmoth

Kevin Smith

 

meh.

[Krylian]

Julian Merryweather is like 34 and has thrown 4 pitches in the last 3 seasons.

 

Ya, but we were told that he was a sleeper arm and was hitting like 130 mph during rehab.

[Spanky99]

Jays in the AFL this year.

 

Cullen Large

Logan Warmoth

Kevin Smith

 

meh.

 

Did they say who was going to the DWL?

[Angrioter]

Did they say who was going to the DWL?

Posibly, Alford, and Julian M....

[Jimcanuck]

Did they say who was going to the DWL?

 

No, this was a BA AFL report only.

[Ray]

Josh Winckowski: 6.2IP, 5H, 1ER, 0BB, 3K, 79 pitches

 

His K-rate has been affected in High-A, but he's still doing pretty well.

[THANOS]

Josh Winckowski: 6.2IP, 5H, 1ER, 0BB, 3K, 79 pitches

 

His K-rate has been affected in High-A, but he's still doing pretty well.

 

Will be interesting to follow his progress over the winter. Hopefully he goes to driveline and works on the spin rate of his breaking pitches.

[Daniel Labude]

Syndergaard getting hammered tonight

[gruber92]

Don't forget the Vancouver Canadians game will be on SNP tonight at 10 pm, Kloffenstein on the mound.

[Jimcanuck]

Syndergaard getting hammered tonight

 

Is Thor a prospect again?

[Jonn]

Is Thor a prospect again?

 

Yea his name is Nate Pearson.

[Daniel Labude]

Is Thor a prospect again?

 

I clicked the wrong thread lol

[Orgfiller]

Kloffeinstein is destroying these hitters with several of his pitches. Good fastball, filthy changeup, and a nice overhand curve which is catching hitters off-balance.

[Orgfiller]

Fastball 93-94 according to the broadcast.

 

Edit: it's more of a sinker, not a 4-seamer, although I'm not sure if he also features a 4-seam fastball

 

Edit 2: he's definitely throwing a high 4-seamer

[Orgfiller]

Disgusting curve. 5 strikeouts in 3 innings, just struck out the side. Swings and misses for days.

[glory]

Kloff with 5 K's through 3. Looking good.

[gruber92]

Kloffenstein looks composed and has good command of his fastball, curve and change up. Fastball sitting at 93-94 which should get a bit harder in a few years.

 

He just turned 19 a few days ago.

[jaysguy44]

Kind of crazy that Kloff isn't even a top 5 SP in our farm system, the future is bright my friends.

[Slade]

Kloff looks advanced for this league, his command has been excellent. His sinker has really really good downward movement that he's still able to keep in the zone and he has broken off some nasty curves.

 

Edit: Damn he just had a 7 pitch inning.

[gruber92]

A.J Burnett comps being thrown Kloffs way.

[Orgfiller]

Ah, you gotta love the low minors defenses lol.

[Slade]

A.J Burnett comps being thrown Kloffs way.

 

Such a terrible comp, they aren't even close.