Official MiLB/Prospects Thread

[The Cats Ass]

Some part of me takes joy in seeing elite prospects from other teams come up and suck. Am I a bad guy?

 

You are a bad man. But you're not the only one. Especially prospects on the other AL teams.

[Laika]

You are a bad man. But you're not the only one. Especially prospects on the other AL teams.

 

Dude launched a f***ing clothing brand right when he got called up:

 

https://shop.kelenic.com/

 

lmao

[P2F]

The Rays also have Esteban Quiroz, who continues to lay waste to the minor leagues and should probably be given a chance at some point. No shortage of options.

[Ray]

Kevin Smith had a 2 homer day last night (as well as Richard Urena who’s having a pretty decent stretch in AAA and Vandy product Harrison Ray).

 

Smith now has a .994 OPS (161 wRC+) with a 14% walk rate and 24% K-rate.

[Krylian]

Kevin Smith had a 2 homer day last night (as well as Richard Urena who’s having a pretty decent stretch in AAA and Vandy product Harrison Ray).

 

Smith now has a .994 OPS (161 wRC+) with a 14% walk rate and 24% K-rate.

 

Is he legitimately in the mix for future 3B here or is he too far down the depth chart now (Biggio? Martin? Groshans?)

[Laika]

Is he legitimately in the mix for future 3B here or is he too far down the depth chart now (Biggio? Martin? Groshans?)

 

Toronto should graduate to a more dynamic way of thinking about roster construction, anyway. Smith can be like generic Tampa Bay rays player #1245. If he keeps hitting he'll get his chance to carve out a bench role, then a platoon role if he keeps it up, then perhaps even what is more or less a starting position player role.

 

Most of those guys can co-exist on the same future roster. Players will always fail or get hurt, traded.

 

Prospects are precious flowers to cultivate and let blossom, but they are also just ammunition to use and deplete.

[Ray]

Is he legitimately in the mix for future 3B here or is he too far down the depth chart now (Biggio? Martin? Groshans?)

 

We're gonna need a seasons worth of AAA plate appearances to figure out. If he continues on this path and keeps proving himself in AAA, I would think he has to shoot up? It's not like he's an out of nowhere guy either. He was a 4th round pick with some pedigree. He had a pretty fantastic minor league season in 2018 where he hit 25 homers and stole nearly 29 bases. Scouts were high on him afterwards, and he was even a Top 100 guy on Baseball-America's list coming into the season. He faltered in AA which is hurt his stock, then COVID happened, and now he's (maybe?) made an adjustment.

 

I love the potential power-speed combo he's showing. He's already at 9 home runs for the season, and 7 steals. And with the improvements in BB% and K% he's showing, you just can't help but be impressed here and think of the possibilities. Could be a 20-20 guy! He was heralded a defense first guy at short and I've still never read a bad thing about him there, so I think he should be at least average.

 

By the way, still only 24 since he was drafted as a 20 year old.

 

Actually, writing this out, I think I convinced myself to become the conductor of the Kevin Smith hype train. I was already a fan of him post 2018, but then thought he might be one of those guys who just never adjusted to AA pitching. But development isn't linear!

[Scion]

Toronto should graduate to a more dynamic way of thinking about roster construction, anyway. Smith can be like generic Tampa Bay rays player #1245. If he keeps hitting he'll get his chance to carve out a bench role, then a platoon role if he keeps it up, then perhaps even what is more or less a starting position player role.

 

Most of those guys can co-exist on the same future roster. Players will always fail or get hurt, traded.

 

Prospects are precious flowers to cultivate and let blossom, but they are also just ammunition to use and deplete.

 

That sentence started out beautifully, but by the end of it I just feel kind of bummed out.

[Krylian]

That sentence started out beautifully, but by the end of it I just feel kind of bummed out.

 

The blue balls of prospect philosophies.

[Virgil_Hiltz]

I think I convinced myself to become the conductor of the Kevin Smith hype train. I was already a fan of him post 2018, but then thought he might be one of those guys who just never adjusted to AA pitching. But development isn't linear!

 

Perhaps last yr in the alt site training allowed him and the Jays to do a total reset and figure things out as well for him away from the MiLB grind.

[Brownie19]

We're gonna need a seasons worth of AAA plate appearances to figure out. If he continues on this path and keeps proving himself in AAA, I would think he has to shoot up? It's not like he's an out of nowhere guy either. He was a 4th round pick with some pedigree. He had a pretty fantastic minor league season in 2018 where he hit 25 homers and stole nearly 29 bases. Scouts were high on him afterwards, and he was even a Top 100 guy on Baseball-America's list coming into the season. He faltered in AA which is hurt his stock, then COVID happened, and now he's (maybe?) made an adjustment.

 

I love the potential power-speed combo he's showing. He's already at 9 home runs for the season, and 7 steals. And with the improvements in BB% and K% he's showing, you just can't help but be impressed here and think of the possibilities. Could be a 20-20 guy! He was heralded a defense first guy at short and I've still never read a bad thing about him there, so I think he should be at least average.

 

By the way, still only 24 since he was drafted as a 20 year old.

 

Actually, writing this out, I think I convinced myself to become the conductor of the Kevin Smith hype train. I was already a fan of him post 2018, but then thought he might be one of those guys who just never adjusted to AA pitching. But development isn't linear!

 

I think it's a fair take. I think there's room for optimism for sure. I clearly remember them talking about how he changed his approach at the plate and that didn't work at all and lead to a horrible year in AA. He clearly has lots of tools (power, speed and very good defense IIRC) and players, more than ever, now have all the information necessary to make tangible adjustments to their swings/approaches to maximize those tools. Let's hope he keeps it up and becomes a player.

[Krylian]

Samad Taylor continues his torrid hitting.

 

[Krylian]

2 Homer night for Samad

 

[Scion]

It would be cool if he just turned into the Brewers version of Carlos Gomez.

[z3r0s]

SWR only IP tonight, any deets?

[metafour]

SWR only IP tonight, any deets?

 

It was a continuation of the game yesterday. He pitched yesterday.

[z3r0s]

It was a continuation of the game yesterday. He pitched yesterday.

 

ah, tanks!

[connorp]

Jo Adell making the sabr crowd cringe:

 

"I'm not here just to get tap balls and get little base hits here and there, I want to do damage," Adell told KSL.com Thursday. "So I'm working on honing in on those pitches I know I can do damage on and making it happen."

 

Gotta love the alpha coming through but that walk rate probably isn’t going up.

[RustyTrombone]

Jo Adell making the sabr crowd cringe:

 

"I'm not here just to get tap balls and get little base hits here and there, I want to do damage," Adell told KSL.com Thursday. "So I'm working on honing in on those pitches I know I can do damage on and making it happen."

 

Gotta love the alpha coming through but that walk rate probably isn’t going up.

 

How is this making the sabr crowd cringe? Isnt this the approach that all teams these days tell their hitters to take. Swing hard in case you hit it type of thing. I thought this was what the analytics said was the most efficient way to score runs.

[connorp]

How is this making the sabr crowd cringe? Isnt this the approach that all teams these days tell their hitters to take. Swing hard in case you hit it type of thing. I thought this was what the analytics said was the most efficient way to score runs.

 

I guess if the K rate wasn’t so high and the bb rate so low

[connorp]

It’s a pretty extreme profile. I’m a bit worried as I was traped acquiring him

[RustyTrombone]

I guess if the K rate wasn’t so high and the bb rate so low

 

That's just Adell having a poor overall approach at the dish lol. He's swinging hard at everything regardless of if he should swing or not it seems. Haven't seen his atbats on video or anything but my guess is he's being fooled on sliders and changeups out of the zone and still chasing cause he has a poor eye and just crushing the meatballs AAA pitchers are throwing up.

[Orgfiller]

Jo Adell making the sabr crowd cringe:

 

"I'm not here just to get tap balls and get little base hits here and there, I want to do damage," Adell told KSL.com Thursday. "So I'm working on honing in on those pitches I know I can do damage on and making it happen."

 

Gotta love the alpha coming through but that walk rate probably isn’t going up.

 

Byron Buxton literally said the Twins had him focusing on hitting weak tappers to the opposite field. That makes the sabr crowd cringe. Jo Adell saying he wants to murder baseballs very much does not.

[Laika]

Jo Adell making the sabr crowd cringe:

 

"I'm not here just to get tap balls and get little base hits here and there, I want to do damage," Adell told KSL.com Thursday. "So I'm working on honing in on those pitches I know I can do damage on and making it happen."

 

Gotta love the alpha coming through but that walk rate probably isn’t going up.

 

uhhhhh you are completely backwards and wrong, wow

[connorp]

uhhhhh you are completely backwards and wrong, wow

 

I can respect being corrected by dudes like RT, no need for your pompousness

[Scion]

Byron Buxton literally said the Twins had him focusing on hitting weak tappers to the opposite field. That makes the sabr crowd cringe. Jo Adell saying he wants to murder baseballs very much does not.

 

It's so hard to make a judgement call with so little context. Maybe the Twins are telling Buxton to focus on hitting weak tappers the other way because it keeps him within his mechanics, maybe teams are shifting and pitching him away to exploit a weakness. I don't know, there could be a million potential reasons that I am not privy to. In my experiences the worst assumptions are the ones in which people conceive of others as idiots because their ideas don't conform to their own. Very rarely have I actually found someones justification for doing something that they are retarded. I should elaborate that this has been my experience professionally. The reverse seems to be true on the internet.

[Spanky99]

Jo Adell making the sabr crowd cringe:

 

"I'm not here just to get tap balls and get little base hits here and there, I want to do damage," Adell told KSL.com Thursday. "So I'm working on honing in on those pitches I know I can do damage on and making it happen."

 

Gotta love the alpha coming through but that walk rate probably isn’t going up.

 

DERP!

 

cf

[Daniel Labude]

[InvincibleTiger]

Moreno Grand Slam, 2-4.

[Ray]

Moreno is mad that he was only ranked #64 in the latest Fangraphs ranking.