Official MiLB/Prospects Thread

[spats]

Went to the Dunedin Jays game tonight, specifically to see Khal Stephen but also because it was $2 Wednesday...$2 admission , beer, hot dogs and popcorn. Gotta love minor league ball. The line score for Khal was okay, 5 hits, in 5 IP with 5 k's,but he does not stand out.His breaking balls are his strength but his velo topped out at 92. Hope to see Yesavage later this week.

[Brownie19]

Spats - always appreciate hearing your updates/reports.  Thanks!

[Terminator]

16 hours ago, spats said:

Went to the Dunedin Jays game tonight, specifically to see Khal Stephen but also because it was $2 Wednesday...$2 admission , beer, hot dogs and popcorn. Gotta love minor league ball. The line score for Khal was okay, 5 hits, in 5 IP with 5 k's,but he does not stand out.His breaking balls are his strength but his velo topped out at 92. Hope to see Yesavage later this week.

Thanks spats. Your scouting report tracks some of the critical posts I've seen on Twitter.

He's a polished 22 year old facing worse competition than he did in college. He's 65% fastballs right now and that pitch which will get hammered in MLB unless his velo picks up. He throws his slider the most after that but it's got insanely low spin rates. 

[Terminator]

Jake Bloss looked much better today.

4.2 IP, 6 hits, 0 BB and 7 Ks

They would probably like to see him do this more than once before he gets the nod but his start does track Easton Lucas' spot in the rotation

[Brownie19]

On 4/17/2025 at 1:50 PM, Terminator said:

Thanks spats. Your scouting report tracks some of the critical posts I've seen on Twitter.

He's a polished 22 year old facing worse competition than he did in college. He's 65% fastballs right now and that pitch which will get hammered in MLB unless his velo picks up. He throws his slider the most after that but it's got insanely low spin rates. 

C'mon - Khal Stephen already sucks?  That isn't good at all.  

[Terminator]

8 minutes ago, Brownie19 said:

C'mon - Khal Stephen already sucks?  That isn't good at all.  

Haha I wouldn't say he sucks I'm just preaching a little caution with regard to his crazy hot start.

[Spanky__99]

11. Khal Stephen

RHP

Ht: 6'4" | Wt: 215 | B-T: R-R

Age: 22

BA Grade/Risk: 45/High.

Track Record: A standout athlete and native of Indiana, Stephen spent two seasons at Purdue, working as a reliever as a freshman before moving into the starting rotation as a sophomore. Stephen entered the transfer portal prior to his junior season and enrolled at Mississippi State. He experienced a standout season in 2024 despite making the sizable jump to the Southeastern Conference. There, he made 16 starts and posted an 8-3 record, 3.28 ERA and 107 strikeouts to 21 walks over 96 innings. Following the season, the Blue Jays selected Stephen in the second round and signed him for a bonus of a little more than $1.1 million. Stephen did not pitch following the draft. He will debut in 2025.

Scouting Report: An above-average athlete with a prototypical starter’s build at 6-foot-4, 215 pounds, Stephen’s delivery is smooth and athletic. He repeats it well and gets over his front side consistently. He uses a higher three-quarters arm slot with a quick snap at release. Stephen mixes five pitches: a four-seam fastball, slider, curveball, changeup and cutter. His fastball sits 92-93 mph and touches 96, with up to 20 inches of induced vertical break regularly. His primary secondary is a slider with some ride and sweep that sits in the low-to-mid 80s and generated whiffs at a rate of 40% in 2024. Stephen’s didn’t throw his changeup much in 2024 but it showed good results and boasted a 23% swinging-strike rate and a 61% groundball rate. Stephen throws a Bugs Bunny-style changeup that mimics fastball movement. He also mixes a curveball and a cutter, but neither is used regularly. Stephen shows above-average command of his pitch mix.

The Future: Stephen has midrotation upside but is more than likely a No. 5 starter with a middle relief floor.

[Spanky__99]

He doesn't suck, lol.

[wewlad]

Pretty good youtube account, regularly posts videos of Jays prospects:

https://www.youtube.com/@Jays_Prospects

[gruber9292]

Nimmala with another HR so far today. That's three games in a row with a HR for five on the year. Looking good for a 19 year old in high A. 

[HomeRunHomer]

 

[Orgfiller]

12 hours ago, HomeRunHomer said:

 

Talk about minor league ballpark dimensions lol, 357 to straight CF. It's no wonder Nimmala made that stadium look small, his HR cleared the fence by 25 feet vertically. He's looking good down there, K's are in check if not altogether down, big power still there, 138 wRC+ as a 19 year old.

[AMS528]

New Hampshire is hitting a collective .197 with a .587 OPS. 

That is so remarkably bad that it's hard to believe. Their hitting numbers are obviously dead last, and the difference between them and the next worst team is the same as the difference between the second worst team and the next 6 teams. 

[mphenhef]

On 4/27/2025 at 9:29 PM, gruber9292 said:

Nimmala with another HR so far today. That's three games in a row with a HR for five on the year. Looking good for a 19 year old in high A. 

Shouldn't he be sacrificing that power to put it the other way?

[Laika]

22 hours ago, AMS528 said:

New Hampshire is hitting a collective .197 with a .587 OPS. 

That is so remarkably bad that it's hard to believe. Their hitting numbers are obviously dead last, and the difference between them and the next worst team is the same as the difference between the second worst team and the next 6 teams. 

The farm system rebuilding strategy is off to a terrible start. 

I guess "stat scout a bunch of guys that other teams don't value and trade for them" is not a market inefficiency in 2025 

[gruber9292]

Nimmala went 3-5 with 2 doubles last night. 

[Terminator]

 

[Terminator]

Also, Stefanic keeps piling up the hits and after playing SS most of the year he is now starting to play 3B.

Not sure if that means anything but they have to be considering a callup for him at some point.

[John_Havok]

1 hour ago, Terminator said:

Also, Stefanic keeps piling up the hits and after playing SS most of the year he is now starting to play 3B.

Not sure if that means anything but they have to be considering a callup for him at some point.

You mean the 29 year old who's 5'9 with 0 power. Has good contact and walks a bit? Has over 250 PA in the bigs with the Angels and has like a 0.030 ISO? 

Forgive me if I'm unenthusiastic about this profile.

[Terminator]

2 hours ago, John_Havok said:

You mean the 29 year old who's 5'9 with 0 power. Has good contact and walks a bit? Has over 250 PA in the bigs with the Angels and has like a 0.030 ISO? 

Forgive me if I'm unenthusiastic about this profile.

Yes, that's the guy. He's the UT infielder that has an 80-grade hit tool and an OBP of nearly .420 in his career in the minors. He's also projects for a 117 wRC+ in the bigs. 

I wish I could suggest someone in AAA who has some power but unfortunately the organization doesn't have many options there.

[John_Havok]

16 minutes ago, Terminator said:

Yes, that's the guy. He's the UT infielder that has an 80-grade hit tool and an OBP of nearly .420 in his career in the minors. He's also projects for a 117 wRC+ in the bigs. 

I wish I could suggest someone in AAA who has some power but unfortunately the organization doesn't have many options there.

Fair enough. He just doesn't bring what the Jays need in their lineup. Yeah he'd likely be an okay fill-in short-term, or a guy thye could call up for a doubleheader as the extra man, but...nothing exciting. 

[gruber9292]

Nimmala 2-4 with another HR (6). 

.303 / .940 

[AMS528]

8 hours ago, gruber9292 said:

Nimmala 2-4 with another HR (6). 

.303 / .940 

Future top 10 prospect. 

[Laika]

53 minutes ago, AMS528 said:

Future top 10 prospect. 

future as in, next week? 

you could probably argue for him right now. Sasaki, Jobe, Crews all graduating. Basallo can't stay healthy right now. Mayo can't even make the team. 

10 months younger than Max Clark and has a higher OPS, few months younger than Colt Emerson and crushing him at the same level... 

[Brownie19]

Yesavage, Stephens and Watts-Brown are all pitching well to start the season.  It will be interesting to see how aggressive we get with them.  Could all 3 be in AA by the end of this season?

[Orgfiller]

4 minutes ago, Brownie19 said:

Yesavage, Stephens and Watts-Brown are all pitching well to start the season.  It will be interesting to see how aggressive we get with them.  Could all 3 be in AA by the end of this season?

To be honest, Yesavage and Stephens should be in A+ yesterday, they're way too advanced for Dunedin. At this rate it would be disappointing if all 3 weren't at least at AA by the end of the year.

[AMS528]

On 5/2/2025 at 12:52 PM, Laika said:

future as in, next week? 

you could probably argue for him right now. Sasaki, Jobe, Crews all graduating. Basallo can't stay healthy right now. Mayo can't even make the team. 

10 months younger than Max Clark and has a higher OPS, few months younger than Colt Emerson and crushing him at the same level... 

I think he might be at this point. He has over 100 plate appearances this year and he's striking out at a 18.7% rate which is a pretty remarkable improvement.

He's 19 so I'm sure they don't want to rush him up to AA, but as we know strikeout rates start communicating good info pretty early, so he's probably figured out something here. He keeps this up through June and maybe he should get some AA at bats by July/August. 

[Laika]

50 minutes ago, AMS528 said:

I think he might be at this point. He has over 100 plate appearances this year and he's striking out at a 18.7% rate which is a pretty remarkable improvement.

He's 19 so I'm sure they don't want to rush him up to AA, but as we know strikeout rates start communicating good info pretty early, so he's probably figured out something here. He keeps this up through June and maybe he should get some AA at bats by July/August. 

Something about his K rate and whiff rates is not computing. I wonder if there is still a lot of noise or luck. 

2024 - A ball - 31.3% K rate and 13.8% whiff rate

2025 - A+ - 18.7% K rate and 12.8% whiff rate 

The six qualified MLB players with a SwStr% between 12.6% and 12.9% last year were Adames, Cowser, Mountcastle, Suarez, McMahon, and Chisholm. 

Their K rates ranged from 22.5% to 30.7%. The main variable being how aggressive they are. Mountcastle is more of a 55% swinger and he has the lower rate, Cowser is very patient with just 44% swing rate and he had the highest strikeout rate. 

But Nimmala's 2024 to 2025 swing rates are within a point or two. 

So I think he's getting weirdly lucky on strikeouts and isn't really exhibiting core skills that would make you think he has made a fundamental adjustment. But who knows. He is making a bit more contact and swinging a hair more often. 

[John_Havok]

1 hour ago, Orgfiller said:

To be honest, Yesavage and Stephens should be in A+ yesterday, they're way too advanced for Dunedin. At this rate it would be disappointing if all 3 weren't at least at AA by the end of the year.

Davidi had an article up somewhere a day or two ago, basically said the only reason Yesavage and Stephens started in Dunedin was to ensure they could get regular turns in the rotation and not get rained out a bunch like what typically happens in Vancouver in early spring. He seemed to indicate that both would be moving up to Vancouver in the near future. 

[Spanky__99]

13 minutes ago, John_Havok said:

Davidi had an article up somewhere a day or two ago, basically said the only reason Yesavage and Stephens started in Dunedin was to ensure they could get regular turns in the rotation and not get rained out a bunch like what typically happens in Vancouver in early spring. He seemed to indicate that both would be moving up to Vancouver in the near future. 

Yesterday, read it on BA and he also put in SN...