Official MiLB/Prospects Thread

[Jimcanuck]

Is that what BA had them at? They'll fall back once Yoshida is ineligible, that aspect really bothers me, lol.

 

March 1, 2023 update has them at #10

 

BA keeps prospects on their list until they exhaust rookie eligibility, being under 130 at-bats, under 50 innings pitched, and have less than 45 days on the active roster. This does skew the rankings to some degree, but the skew applies to all teams.

[Spanky__99]

March 1, 2023 update has them at #10

 

BA keeps prospects on their list until they exhaust rookie eligibility, being under 130 at-bats, under 50 innings pitched, and have less than 45 days on the active roster. This does skew the rankings to some degree, but the skew applies to all teams.

 

Thanks tips, you just had to say 10, lol.

[Jimcanuck]

Thanks tips, you just had to say 10, lol.

 

I know but I'm also trying to draw Grant back in

[Spanky__99]

I know but I'm also trying to draw Grant back in

 

Grant's wrong about saying they are one of the worst farms in the MLB, he's not wrong about the SP spects being awful.

[Jimcanuck]

Grant's wrong about saying they are one of the worst farms in the MLB, he's not wrong about the SP spects being awful.

 

right. i never said anything about the SPs

[Spanky__99]

right. i never said anything about the SPs

 

I know, now that I revisited the topic.

[Jimcanuck]

I know, now that I revisited the topic.

 

Grant is one of the worst in misrepresenting what someone has posted. One of his tactics when he is proven wrong.

[Grant77]

Grant is one of the worst in misrepresenting what someone has posted. One of his tactics when he is proven wrong.

 

Go f*** yourself, Jim.

 

Several posters all called you out for your incorrect statements with well thought out arguments. You had zero people agreeing with you throughout the whole exchange amd wouldn't even address the factual statements that proved you wrong. You're a coward.

 

Put up or shut up. Actually discuss their farm system or f*** off.

[Jimcanuck]

Go f*** yourself, Jim.

 

Several posters all called you out for your incorrect statements with well thought out arguments. You had zero people agreeing with you throughout the whole exchange amd wouldn't even address the factual statements that proved you wrong. You're a coward.

 

Put up or shut up. Actually discuss their farm system or f*** off.

 

The Red Sox farm system is middle of the pack.

[gruber92]

Horowitz 4-5 with 3 doubles last night. Now slashing .321 /.455 /.462 /.917

 

Belt's resurgence may make this moot though. Great Belt injury insurance or if he falls flat on his face again for an extended period.

Edited May 12, 2023 by gruber92

[Spanky__99]

Horowitz 4-5 with 3 doubles last night. Now slashing .321 /.455 /.462 /.917

 

Belt's resurgence may make this mute though. Great Belt injury insurance or if he falls flat on his face again for an extended period.

 

*moot*

[gruber92]

*moot*

 

Yeah, f***ing typo using my phone.

[max silver]

Horowitz 4-5 with 3 doubles last night. Now slashing .321 /.455 /.462 /.917

 

Belt's resurgence may make this moot though. Great Belt injury insurance or if he falls flat on his face again for an extended period.

 

If Horwitz can at least play a passable outfield I think he could eventually be a potential Biggio replacement. The team still has both of Espinal and Merrifield to cover second base, and Biggio has been given the occasional start at first base which Horwitz could receive instead. Horwitz is on a massive heater with .411/.521/1.110 189 WRC+ over his last few weeks with a matching 19.7% k/bb rate. I think he could potentially provide an offensive spark from the bottom of the lineup to a team that's largely struggled to consistently produce offense from the bottom third.

[max silver]

Something I don't recall seeing discussed here is how AA is using a pre-tacked baseball this season. This makes it much harder to properly evaluate both hitter and pitcher performance from this league as this baseball has had a noticeable effect increasing spin rates for the pitchers. I wonder if this could be factoring in to Kloffenstein's resurgence and Orelvis Martinez's struggles this season (one could only hope).

 

Strikeouts, walks and wild pitches are up significantly in the Southern League this season with the new enhanced grip baseballs, largely because of the extreme movement the balls are generating. Spin rates on four-seam fastballs have increased and the amount of carry on four-seamers has jumped significantly, making the ball simultaneously more difficult for pitchers to control and for hitters to make contact against.

 

Through the end of April, the number of walks per nine innings had increased 16%, strikeouts per nine had increased 10% and wild pitches per nine had increased 23% in the Southern League compared to April 2022. Compared to other Double-A leagues this season, the Southern League had the highest walk rate by a slight margin and the highest strikeout and wild pitch rates by wide margins. It also had the highest rate of hit batters.

 

Indeed, spin rates are up in the Southern League this season. Of the 63 pitchers who have thrown at least 30 four-seam fastballs in the league, 51 have seen increases in their spin rates compared to last year, according to league pitch data acquired by Baseball America. Thirty-one of the 63 pitchers, or just under half, have seen an average increase of more than 100 rpms, a significant uptick.

 

The biggest difference in how the ball acts can be seen in how much more induced vertical break, or carry, pitchers are getting on their four-seam fastballs.

 

Of the 63 pitchers, 51 have also increased the amount of carry on their four-seam fastballs from last year, according to the league pitch data.

 

The amount of those increases is what is most notable. According to officials from three teams who spoke to BA on the condition of anonymity, a pitcher can reasonably add up to two inches of carry on his four-seam fastball by making physical changes such as altering his release point, arm path or grip. Adding between 2-4 inches is significant and rare.

 

In the Southern League, the 51 pitchers who have seen an increase are averaging more than two inches of additional carry this season. Sixteen pitchers—or more than a quarter of the total sample of 63—are averaging more than three inches of additional carry.

 

https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/new-enhanced-grip-baseball-raising-concerns-strikeouts-in-double-a-southern-league/

[Orgfiller]

If Horwitz can at least play a passable outfield I think he could eventually be a potential Biggio replacement. The team still has both of Espinal and Merrifield to cover second base, and Biggio has been given the occasional start at first base which Horwitz could receive instead. Horwitz is on a massive heater with .411/.521/1.110 189 WRC+ over his last few weeks with a matching 19.7% k/bb rate. I think he could potentially provide an offensive spark from the bottom of the lineup to a team that's largely struggled to consistently produce offense from the bottom third.

 

It's very unlikely that Horwitz can play a passable outfield, since if he could they would obviously want his bat at the more valuable defensive home rather than sticking him at first where the reports already aren't too fond of his defense. He's only gotten a handful of games there probably just to see if there's anything there, but the fact that he's DH'd as much as he's played LF the last two years probably tells you enough about what they think of his ability to handle the outfield lol. Belt on his deathbed is putting up the numbers that Horwitz projects for, and Belt is only surviving due to his previous pedigree. Horwitz right now is basically a RHP platoon for when Belt or Vlad are injured or a late-inning pinch hitter for like Santiago Espinal who started against a lefty. Certainly promising that he's hit at every level at least, but he's never been young for the level and will likely need to find another gear beyond his current one offensively to have any sort of value for the MLB team.

[Orgfiller]

Something I don't recall seeing discussed here is how AA is using a pre-tacked baseball this season. This makes it much harder to properly evaluate both hitter and pitcher performance from this league as this baseball has had a noticeable effect increasing spin rates for the pitchers. I wonder if this could be factoring in to Kloffenstein's resurgence and Orelvis Martinez's struggles this season (one could only hope).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/new-enhanced-grip-baseball-raising-concerns-strikeouts-in-double-a-southern-league/

 

While not a bad theory, the irony of this is Orelvis' K rate is actually down while his power output is better than last season's, with no change in walk rate. His batted ball profile must just be god awful that this is leading into a .051 BABIP in the minor leagues. He's barely hit any line drives and every single flyball of his must be a moonshot, if only he could correct his bath path...on the surface it seems his swing decisions may be getting better, but he also could just be swinging at bad pitches and making weak pop up contact more often than last year.

[max silver]

While not a bad theory, the irony of this is Orelvis' K rate is actually down while his power output is better than last season's, with no change in walk rate. His batted ball profile must just be god awful that this is leading into a .051 BABIP in the minor leagues. He's barely hit any line drives and every single flyball of his must be a moonshot, if only he could correct his bath path...on the surface it seems his swing decisions may be getting better, but he also could just be swinging at bad pitches and making weak pop up contact more often than last year.

 

Theoretically higher spin rates on 4 seamers would make it harder to make solid contact on pitches up in the zone and increase the likelihood of getting under the baseball. This is certainly an ongoing issue with Orelvis though which is unfortunately only becoming worse over time.

[Brownie19]

While not a bad theory, the irony of this is Orelvis' K rate is actually down while his power output is better than last season's, with no change in walk rate. His batted ball profile must just be god awful that this is leading into a .051 BABIP in the minor leagues. He's barely hit any line drives and every single flyball of his must be a moonshot, if only he could correct his bath path...on the surface it seems his swing decisions may be getting better, but he also could just be swinging at bad pitches and making weak pop up contact more often than last year.

 

Silver lining is that I think it's way easier to fix a swing path issue than it is to improve swing decisions...

[Pendleton]

Something I don't recall seeing discussed here is how AA is using a pre-tacked baseball this season. This makes it much harder to properly evaluate both hitter and pitcher performance from this league as this baseball has had a noticeable effect increasing spin rates for the pitchers. I wonder if this could be factoring in to Kloffenstein's resurgence and Orelvis Martinez's struggles this season (one could only hope).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/new-enhanced-grip-baseball-raising-concerns-strikeouts-in-double-a-southern-league/

 

Unless I'm missing something, I believe it's only the Southern League testing that ball and not all of AA, so it wouldn't apply to our NH guys who play in the Eastern League.

[max silver]

Unless I'm missing something, I believe it's only the Southern League testing that ball and not all of AA, so it wouldn't apply to our NH guys who play in the Eastern League.

 

Oops looks like it's me that missed that point. Still interesting discussion but that certainly removes any concerns over Jays performance in AA. Good catch on your part/poor reading comprehension on my part.

[John_Havok]

If Horwitz can at least play a passable outfield I think he could eventually be a potential Biggio replacement. The team still has both of Espinal and Merrifield to cover second base, and Biggio has been given the occasional start at first base which Horwitz could receive instead. Horwitz is on a massive heater with .411/.521/1.110 189 WRC+ over his last few weeks with a matching 19.7% k/bb rate. I think he could potentially provide an offensive spark from the bottom of the lineup to a team that's largely struggled to consistently produce offense from the bottom third.

 

Horwitz cannot play a passable OF.

[Jonn]

I feel Howritz is one guy likely to be traded to improve this current roster. I don’t see where a 1B/DH fits moving forward.

[G-Snarls]

It's very unlikely that Horwitz can play a passable outfield, since if he could they would obviously want his bat at the more valuable defensive home rather than sticking him at first where the reports already aren't too fond of his defense. He's only gotten a handful of games there probably just to see if there's anything there, but the fact that he's DH'd as much as he's played LF the last two years probably tells you enough about what they think of his ability to handle the outfield lol. Belt on his deathbed is putting up the numbers that Horwitz projects for, and Belt is only surviving due to his previous pedigree. Horwitz right now is basically a RHP platoon for when Belt or Vlad are injured or a late-inning pinch hitter for like Santiago Espinal who started against a lefty. Certainly promising that he's hit at every level at least, but he's never been young for the level and will likely need to find another gear beyond his current one offensively to have any sort of value for the MLB team.

 

We don't have any room in the OF right now anyway

 

Keirmeier

Springer

Varsho

Merrifield

 

Maybe next year... or if there's a LOT bad injury luck

[John_Havok]

I feel Howritz is one guy likely to be traded to improve this current roster. I don’t see where a 1B/DH fits moving forward.

 

Horwitz is basically Ryan Noda if you cut Noda's K rate by a third, but also reduce his power by a ton.

 

If Oakland didn't already have Noda, they'd probably give up something for him.

[Stangstag]

We don't have any room in the OF right now anyway

 

Keirmeier

Springer

Varsho

Merrifield

 

Maybe next year... or if there's a LOT bad injury luck

 

We’ll desperately need 2 adequate outfielders next year. Need a 3rd and 4th OF. Assuming Springer goes down at some point the OF would be Varsho + blank + blank

[max silver]

We’ll desperately need 2 adequate outfielders next year. Need a 3rd and 4th OF. Assuming Springer goes down at some point the OF would be Varsho + blank + blank

 

I could see Kiermaier being resigned for a couple of years if he manages to stay mostly healthy this season. He's bounced back fully defensively and has managed to chip in offensively as well.

[Pendleton]

[Jonn]

 

Now up to 9 homeruns but still hitting .132 f***ing wild lol. Good to see him surging though.

[WryNGinger]

Now up to 9 homeruns but still hitting .132 f***ing wild lol. Good to see him surging though.

 

9HR's with an obp under .200. That is a crazy statline. Hard to have a lot of expectation for him but also hard to give up on him as well.

[Pendleton]