Jonathon Mota

[WrigleyField 22]

I remember recognizing this guy on the Boise Roster last year becuase he was so young. This year after putting up a .275 BA in Peoria he got a promotion to Daytona and is hitting .278. While his OBP and SLG were underwhelming, his BA gives and indication he must have a lot of natural ability at a young age, he is only 19.

 

Stats

 

For anyone who is more familiar with the minor league system and has seen guys play, does he have enough natural ability and raw skills to become a top prospect? He is obviously young and at a high level, but is there enough talent there, that with the right coaching he could flourish? Also whats his defense like?

[cbbryan]

I remember recognizing this guy on the Boise Roster last year becuase he was so young. This year after putting up a .275 BA in Peoria he got a promotion to Daytona and is hitting .278. While his OBP and SLG were underwhelming, his BA gives and indication he must have a lot of natural ability at a young age, he is only 19.

 

Stats

 

For anyone who is more familiar with the minor league system and has seen guys play, does he have enough natural ability and raw skills to become a top prospect? He is obviously young and at a high level, but is there enough talent there, that with the right coaching he could flourish? Also whats his defense like?

 

I don't know that much about him, but I found this:

 

Mota was signed by the Cubs as a non-drafted free agent in 2004 out of Valencia, Venezuela. The 18-year old appeared in 63 games last season with the Boise Hawks of the Northwest League batting .236 with no homers and 22 RBI. Mota started 20 games at second base and 43 at shortstop last season. He and Kyle Reynolds will both play shortstop in Johnston's absence.

 

Link:

 

http://www.oursportscentral.com/services/releases/?id=3301205

[texascub]

I remember when he was promoted to Daytona it was said that he would be primarily a bench player, but Daytona has played 42 games since his promotion and he's been in 36 of them so he's getting a good amount of playing time. His BABIP is fairly high at .333 and he hits a ton of ground balls so I think he'll have a hard time maintaining his numbers. His home/road splits, Park Adjusted stats, and MLE stats aren't too pretty either.

[craig]

I don't think he's viewed as serious. Serious guys they tend to avoid rushing, and they intend to get plenty of action. Roster-fill guys they put on rosters where there is a need. When the season opened, Johnston was perceived as the more serious prospect. But Mota was also placed on Peoria's roster, and played very little early on when the starters were healthy and Johnston looked exciting. We know they were serious about Johnston; if they were also serios about Mota they'd have likely kept one of them back, or used the other at 2B.

 

When a roster hole at Daytona came open, up went Mota. To fill the roster. Given how bad Daytona's infield has been, and how decent Mota has done, he's ended up getting a lot of action.

 

Sometimes young players improve a lot, especially when they have the latent talent. So if we knew that Mota was a scout's favorite, the club liked him and saw a lot of projection there, his respectable results/age would have me very hopeful. But since I'm pretty sure that he isn't a scout's favorite, and that the club doesn't really see a lot of latent untapped potential, or see a lot of projection there, I think he's just a roster filler.