Official MiLB/Prospects Thread

[gruber9292]

It looks like left fielder Yohendrick Pinango in AA New Hampshire, whom we got in the Nate Pearson trade to the Cubs, should be put on the watch list. Just turned 23 a few days ago and so far in 31 games is raking. Signed out of Venezuela at 17 years old, the left handed hitting outfielder is coming into his own. He had a good rookie season in the DSL followed by three years of mediocrity. He always flashed a good walk / strike our ratio and now the power has emerged. 

So far he's slashing .355 / .458 / .600

He's got a nice looking swing and the power looks real. 

[Laika]

Pinango is supposed to be a fancy stats guy. Some good data as far as his contact and power go. Doesn't scout well, probably due to his body, maybe he sucks in the OF I dunno. Another weirdo LHB for the lottery bucket, get in on there and say hi to Will Wagner and Alan Roden 

[gruber9292]

We'll see how he turns out. We have to hit on one of these guys ffs. He's listed at 5'11, 170 lbs. Not sure if that was his size when they signed him or not but he does have a good chunk of stolen bases so I would assume he's decently athletic. 

[Spanky__99]

20 hours ago, gruber9292 said:

We'll see how he turns out. We have to hit on one of these guys ffs. He's listed at 5'11, 170 lbs. Not sure if that was his size when they signed him or not but he does have a good chunk of stolen bases so I would assume he's decently athletic. 

Yes, those numbers posted are when he signed, he's much bigger now. Hopefully the breakout continues.

[John_Havok]

Yesavage, Stanifer and Stephen all promoted to Vancouver.

[gruber9292]

Pinango hit his 7th HR tonight in 33 games. 

[Pendleton]

14 hours ago, gruber9292 said:

Pinango hit his 7th HR tonight in 33 games. 

 

 

[John_Havok]

8 hours ago, Pendleton said:

 

 

That looks like a guy ready and willing to swing at centre-cut mistakes. 

I like him already

[Spanky__99]

Rangers signed Korean Ohtani, damn. No financials mentioned, I know the Jays had plenty of money left to spend on him, not sure what the Rangers had left in their pool...
 

Quote

Kim, a shortstop and right-handed pitcher, is in his final year at Gwangju Jeil High School in South Korea and will graduate in January 2026, at which point he will join the organization.

“We're so excited about Seong-Jun Kim, a world-class talent and also a world-class person,” said Rangers senior director of international scouting and

Kim, a shortstop and right-handed pitcher, is in his final year at Gwangju Jeil High School in South Korea and will graduate in January 2026, at which point he will join the organization.

“We're so excited about Seong-Jun Kim, a world-class talent and also a world-class person,” said Rangers senior director of international scouting and development Hamilton Wise. “We've been so impressed with him defensively at shortstop and in the batter's box, but also on the pitcher's mound. We have full intent as an organization to develop him as a two-way player.

“We believe he has the qualities and ingredients for that challenge. But more than anything, we're so excited that this is a player and a person who represents our organizational values as the Texas Rangers. He's a world-class competitor. He has the character and mental makeup to impact the game in this organization positively for many years to come.”

Hamilton Wise. “We've been so impressed with him defensively at shortstop and in the batter's box, but also on the pitcher's mound. We have full intent as an organization to develop him as a two-way player.

“We believe he has the qualities and ingredients for that challenge. But more than anything, we're so excited that this is a player and a person who represents our organizational values as the Texas Rangers. He's a world-class competitcome.”

I don't know why this won't paste correctly, faaack

 

[John_Havok]

Yesavage shoved in his first Vancouver outing.

4 IP, 10 Ks. 

[Orgfiller]

3 minutes ago, John_Havok said:

Yesavage shoved in his first Vancouver outing.

4 IP, 10 Ks. 

I hope he doesn't enjoy Vancouver too much, he won't be there long.

[spats]

I watched him play a couple games in Dunedin in April and he was very impressive. But so was Pearson and Tiedeman. I'm trying to temper my enthusiasm.

[John_Havok]

1 hour ago, spats said:

I watched him play a couple games in Dunedin in April and he was very impressive. But so was Pearson and Tiedeman. I'm trying to temper my enthusiasm.

You're right to do so, it's really advanced A where ya can start to see the long term possibilities.

 

[spats]

1 hour ago, John_Havok said:

You're right to do so, it's really advanced A where ya can start to see the long term possibilities.

 

When I saw Pearson and Tiedeman Dunedin was advanced A

[John_Havok]

18 minutes ago, spats said:

When I saw Pearson and Tiedeman Dunedin was advanced A

Pearson yeah, but Tiedman pitched there in 2022 and it was A ball by that point. Vancouver became high A in 2021.

[AMS528]

Roden has been absolutely raking and hitting with plenty of power since he was sent down. No strikeouts and still walking at a good rate. Hopefully he's not just AAAA guy who's too good for AAA but not quite good enough to hack it in the show. 

Small sample but he was a decent fielder and neutral baserunner when he was up here, so he doesn't need to much more than average with the bat to stick around. 

[AMS528]

Nimmala's got another HR, back into the league lead with 9. Single and a double as well, OPS is up to .940 apparently. 

He's on a heater, he's going to rapidly rise on the lists.  

[saskjayfan]

8 hours ago, AMS528 said:

Nimmala's got another HR, back into the league lead with 9. Single and a double as well, OPS is up to .940 apparently. 

He's on a heater, he's going to rapidly rise on the lists.  

I mean is .409 babip is unsustainable, but he's still killing it.  Move him to AAA.  

Nimmala on the other had has a much more reasonable .315 babip and a .935 OPS with 9 bombs.  He's also 19 while Pinango is 23.  I assume the only reason Nimmala isn't being promoted is because of the South Asia night planned in Vancouver on May 27th.  For goodness sakes once that's done move both these kids up a level.  

[Orgfiller]

1 hour ago, saskjayfan said:

I mean is .409 babip is unsustainable, but he's still killing it.  Move him to AAA.  

Nimmala on the other had has a much more reasonable .315 babip and a .935 OPS with 9 bombs.  He's also 19 while Pinango is 23.  I assume the only reason Nimmala isn't being promoted is because of the South Asia night planned in Vancouver on May 27th.  For goodness sakes once that's done move both these kids up a level.  

High BABIPs in the minors for prospects usually indicate hitters that crush the ball at that level. Minor league defenses aren't as good and they're not used to facing MLB calibre exit velos, so top prospects and guys with big power tend to have elevated BABIPs.

Look at Jackson Holliday and Roman Anthony as recent examples: 

• https://www.fangraphs.com/players/jackson-holliday/31781/stats?position=2B
• https://www.fangraphs.com/players/roman-anthony/sa3020211/stats?position=OF

[AMS528]

2 hours ago, Orgfiller said:

High BABIPs in the minors for prospects usually indicate hitters that crush the ball at that level. Minor league defenses aren't as good and they're not used to facing MLB calibre exit velos, so top prospects and guys with big power tend to have elevated BABIPs.

Look at Jackson Holliday and Roman Anthony as recent examples: 

• https://www.fangraphs.com/players/jackson-holliday/31781/stats?position=2B
• https://www.fangraphs.com/players/roman-anthony/sa3020211/stats?position=OF

Or for a slightly hopeful comp for Nimmala, look at Corey Seager's BABIPs through the minors. Regularly higher than .350 to above .400. 

[gruber9292]

Yesavage second start for Vancouver tonight 

4 IP 0 ER 1 H 3 BB 9 K

 

[Brownie19]

Charlie Condon has 1 professional HR to date and is hitting for almost no power.  The Rockies literally screw everything up don't they?

[Pendleton]

Decided to start dabbling in card collecting, but I don't want to be bothered ripping packs and ending up with tons of cards I'll never do anything with. Instead I've decided to try and "buy low" on exclusive 1st Bowman autographs for prospects who seem interesting but haven't gained any name value yet. 

 

Started off with Sam Shaw - 20 year old Jays prospect and Canadian kid who is off to a fantastic start at Dunedin. Bought a somewhat exclusive version (299) of his first Bowman auto. 

[saskjayfan]

Quote

 

Nimmala was 3 fo 6 last night with a double on South Asian heritage night in Vancouver.  He now has a .917 OPS.  Now that, the South Asian Heritage night is over, can we move this kid up to AA.

[Brownie19]

23 hours ago, Pendleton said:

Decided to start dabbling in card collecting, but I don't want to be bothered ripping packs and ending up with tons of cards I'll never do anything with. Instead I've decided to try and "buy low" on exclusive 1st Bowman autographs for prospects who seem interesting but haven't gained any name value yet. 

 

Started off with Sam Shaw - 20 year old Jays prospect and Canadian kid who is off to a fantastic start at Dunedin. Bought a somewhat exclusive version (299) of his first Bowman auto. 

That's awesome - I love the idea.  Even if it doesn't pan out as a "money maker" for you, it's a neat hobby that will provide all kinds of interesting memories.  I suspect you'll have all kinds of stories about prospects thought were "for sure" going to make it big, who ultimately flopped, leaving you with a worthless card and other stories about guys who you successfully bought low on who became stars.  I have a display cabinet full of autographed baseballs.  I ought to do a better job labelling who's who, but I know I've collected several young prospects along the way with a similar mindset.  I don't expect to make any money off it, but the memories will last a lifetime.

I don't know much about card collecting, but are these Bowman autographs the best ones to go after?

[Brownie19]

5 hours ago, saskjayfan said:

Nimmala was 3 fo 6 last night with a double on South Asian heritage night in Vancouver.  He now has a .917 OPS.  Now that, the South Asian Heritage night is over, can we move this kid up to AA.

Stats scouting suggests this kid is on a trajectory to be an absolutely star at the ML level (not to jinx it).  He's cut like 12% off his K rate, which is down to 18%, while maintaining a 10% BB rate and a .250 ISO.  148 wRC+ at A+ ball at age 19 is sexy.

It will be interesting to see how aggressive they get with him.  He'll certainly get to AA this year, but he may start in AA next year before moving to AAA.  Good chance he's playing for the Jays by age 21 (if not age 20).  If he continues like this, he's going to be a Top 20 prospect in MLB by the end of the year and pushing the Top 10 (Top 5?) by next year.

[Pendleton]

13 hours ago, Brownie19 said:

That's awesome - I love the idea.  Even if it doesn't pan out as a "money maker" for you, it's a neat hobby that will provide all kinds of interesting memories.  I suspect you'll have all kinds of stories about prospects thought were "for sure" going to make it big, who ultimately flopped, leaving you with a worthless card and other stories about guys who you successfully bought low on who became stars.  I have a display cabinet full of autographed baseballs.  I ought to do a better job labelling who's who, but I know I've collected several young prospects along the way with a similar mindset.  I don't expect to make any money off it, but the memories will last a lifetime.

I don't know much about card collecting, but are these Bowman autographs the best ones to go after?

Yeah less of a moneymaker and more of just a hobby with some potential for pay off - not all that different from sports gambling. 

 

I like the first Bowman autographs because they are essentially their first (major) autographed cards after turning pro. If the goal is to get in at the ground floor, I like to collect the card that basically introduced the player to the market. 

[Brownie19]

1 hour ago, Pendleton said:

Yeah less of a moneymaker and more of just a hobby with some potential for pay off - not all that different from sports gambling. 

 

I like the first Bowman autographs because they are essentially their first (major) autographed cards after turning pro. If the goal is to get in at the ground floor, I like to collect the card that basically introduced the player to the market. 

I love it - I'd love to periodically hear how that's going for you.  ie, what new cards you've been able to land.

[Laika]

I bought my first few retail boxes of cards this year. Bowman sets are fun if you are really into baseball, like the dynasty side of baseball, because of the prospects.

I got a numbered Tink Hence /250, Didier Fuentes /75, and Charlie Condon /499 along with a bunch of parallels including two Condon parallels, a Bryce Rainer reptilian, Franyerber Montilla reptilian, and a red chrome refractor Rhett Lowder rookie card. 

Basically if the LOD floats your boat you would have fun with Bowman even if it's a big money burn just like all other baseball cards. 

[Brownie19]

Are companies finding a way to make baseball card collecting popular again?  I mean stuff like Pokemon continues to be big business (I think?).  I'd love to see my kids get into collecting cards like I did when I was young.