Cubs Top 25 Prospects Game

[ChiefsVoice]

Raisin.. do you think Samardjia stays with baseball? I don't think he will, especially if/when he has a moster year at ND this fall.

 

No I don't. I just wanted to see what Nathan thought of the two based only on their play.

 

my opinion 75% no baseball 25 % both sports. goes down if he is a 1st rounder. I cant see any NFL team letting him pitch for fun and miss all those play-learning chemistry building summer camps...

 

and from my understanding the deal reported by ESPN et al never happened. he signed a straight milb deal and got 250K bonus.

 

as for comparison, i obviously have a small sample on Jeff but he had primarily an above average fastball (93-95) a non-existant change and an average breaking ball. He didnt throw strikes early in the game and got hurt there.

 

Taylor is the opposite. Fastball is average (89-91), Breaking ball and change up are very good. He just needs to learn how to PITCH. Needs to learn its ok to waste an 0-2 pitch, make them chase. He is a contact picher, not like Veal. He walks very very few and i believe he has hit 1 this year. Complete control pitcher. Good strong body (much like Gallagher on body type, strong legs). I really like watching Scott and Mitch Atkins pitch. Both are young ST = 19, MA = 20. I still say that Atkins is the top prospect pitcher we had this year although Veal might be better now, give the 1 year age difference and Veal's tendency to be a bit wild, Atkins is more consistent but not as flashy. I think all three have very high ceilings and would have all three behind Gallagher, but above any of the others at Peoria or Daytona...

[Outshined_One]

Can someone educate me on Taylor's stuff?

 

Pros

 

-Terrific mentality. Tenacious, intimidating, and fearless on the mound. Approach to pitching kind of reminds me of Gallagher in that respect. He's also a robust 6'3, 240 pounds...almost like a linebacker.

 

-Workhorse. Despite being a year out of HS and 19 years old all season, he's pitched 131.2 IP. He's actually improved his numbers in recent starts, oddly enough.

 

-He's economical. He's averaging a little over a walk and a half for every nine innings pitched.

 

-Keeps the ball in the park. While his GO/FO is roughly 1:1, he's only allowed 8 HRs on the year.

 

-Young for his level. A 19 year old at Low A is ahead of the curve and should help him along as he advances.

 

Cons

 

-I wonder about his stuff. I believe the three best ways to judge a pitcher are by his Ks, BBs, and HRs (be it by IP or PA). Taylor keeps his BBs and HRs down...but his lack of Ks are worrisome. Perhaps it's because the Cubs have ordered him scrap a certain strikeout pitch for the season, I don't know.

 

But if something like that isn't the case, then he will have to continue keeping those two things down. I like his chances, but he will have a much harder time moving up the ladder than other pitchers who can strike out tons of guys every game.

 

-Much like Gallagher, his stuff hinders his projected ceiling. Whether or not he meets or even exceeds that ceiling is left to fate for now, but with the way guys develop, mature, and so on, he has a tough road ahead if he is to become a #1 or a #2.

 

Unlike, say, Pawelek, Huseby, Samardzija, or Ceda, Taylor doesn't project to have ace-quality stuff. Taylor has an arsenal of pitches that could see him developing into a good #3 pitcher. That's perfectly acceptable, but it hurts his prospect ranking.

 

-His BAA is a rather surprising .266, despite his BABIP being right in line with the expected norms (.292). I don't know if this is a trend that will continue or what, but it's noteworthy enough for some concern.

 

-He's already fully developed, as far as I can tell. 6'3 240 sounds pretty physically mature, no? But, it'll hurt in adding velocity to his fastball.

 

-This is a minor sticking point for me, but it still was something I had to factor in. The Midwest League has been a very strong pitchers' league this season. I'd have to wonder what his numbers would look like against overall better hitters for that level.

 

If you cornered me right now for a possible comparison, I'd say Chien-Ming Wang would be a pretty good one. Still, he's a ways away and plenty could change over the next few years.

[Mephistopheles]

Wang isnt a good comparison. He gets groundballs 65% of the time.

[otis89]

But I would DEFINITELY have Scott Taylor above ND's wide receiver.

Otis89 would agree with you. :D

 

Hey! I like the praise I'm getting! :D

[Outshined_One]

Wang isnt a good comparison. He gets groundballs 65% of the time.

 

Good call. I was focusing more on the BB/9 and HR/9 aspect than on the groundballs.

 

Hm...dunno what a good comp would be for him.

[Mephistopheles]

Well the HR part of it probably has a lot to do with it being low A. HR/F goes up as hitters mature (and weak hitters weed out).

[phildouglas7]

Chris Robinson, Chris Shaver?

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Can someone educate me on Taylor's stuff?

 

Pros

 

-Terrific mentality. Tenacious, intimidating, and fearless on the mound. Approach to pitching kind of reminds me of Gallagher in that respect. He's also a robust 6'3, 240 pounds...almost like a linebacker.

 

-Workhorse. Despite being a year out of HS and 19 years old all season, he's pitched 131.2 IP. He's actually improved his numbers in recent starts, oddly enough.

 

-He's economical. He's averaging a little over a walk and a half for every nine innings pitched.

 

-Keeps the ball in the park. While his GO/FO is roughly 1:1, he's only allowed 8 HRs on the year.

 

-Young for his level. A 19 year old at Low A is ahead of the curve and should help him along as he advances.

 

Cons

 

-I wonder about his stuff. I believe the three best ways to judge a pitcher are by his Ks, BBs, and HRs (be it by IP or PA). Taylor keeps his BBs and HRs down...but his lack of Ks are worrisome. Perhaps it's because the Cubs have ordered him scrap a certain strikeout pitch for the season, I don't know.

 

But if something like that isn't the case, then he will have to continue keeping those two things down. I like his chances, but he will have a much harder time moving up the ladder than other pitchers who can strike out tons of guys every game.

 

-Much like Gallagher, his stuff hinders his projected ceiling. Whether or not he meets or even exceeds that ceiling is left to fate for now, but with the way guys develop, mature, and so on, he has a tough road ahead if he is to become a #1 or a #2.

 

Unlike, say, Pawelek, Huseby, Samardzija, or Ceda, Taylor doesn't project to have ace-quality stuff. Taylor has an arsenal of pitches that could see him developing into a good #3 pitcher. That's perfectly acceptable, but it hurts his prospect ranking.

 

-His BAA is a rather surprising .266, despite his BABIP being right in line with the expected norms (.292). I don't know if this is a trend that will continue or what, but it's noteworthy enough for some concern.

 

-He's already fully developed, as far as I can tell. 6'3 240 sounds pretty physically mature, no? But, it'll hurt in adding velocity to his fastball.

 

-This is a minor sticking point for me, but it still was something I had to factor in. The Midwest League has been a very strong pitchers' league this season. I'd have to wonder what his numbers would look like against overall better hitters for that level.

 

If you cornered me right now for a possible comparison, I'd say Chien-Ming Wang would be a pretty good one. Still, he's a ways away and plenty could change over the next few years.

 

Great stuff. Any reports on his fastball velocity? What are his secondary pitches and what quality are they?

[Outshined_One]

Chris Robinson, Chris Shaver?

 

Shaver I was back and forth on. Most of what I've heard about him suggests that he'll apparently end up as a back of the rotation starter. His numbers are really weird. Having a .258/.326/.363/.689 AVG/OBP/SLG/OPS, a 1.36 WHIP, and a Line Drive % of <17.5% typically brings about bad results...yet here we are. He keeps the ball out of the park and has a decent K rate, to his advantage, but there is not much about him really gets me excited.

 

I might include him in my Top 25 if he can sustain this level of success, but I'm skeptical. Every pitcher on this list has a much better ceiling than him, imo.

 

I'm unfamiliar with Robinson and posted this list not too long after the trade, so I omitted him. Once I become more familiar with him, I'll probably include him on this list.

[Outshined_One]

Fastball is average (89-91), Breaking ball and change up are very good. He just needs to learn how to PITCH. Needs to learn its ok to waste an 0-2 pitch, make them chase. He is a contact picher, not like Veal. He walks very very few and i believe he has hit 1 this year. Complete control pitcher. Good strong body (much like Gallagher on body type, strong legs). I really like watching Scott and Mitch Atkins pitch. Both are young ST = 19, MA = 20. I still say that Atkins is the top prospect pitcher we had this year although Veal might be better now, give the 1 year age difference and Veal's tendency to be a bit wild, Atkins is more consistent but not as flashy. I think all three have very high ceilings and would have all three behind Gallagher, but above any of the others at Peoria or Daytona...

 

That should help ya TT. :D

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Muchas gracias

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

I'd put Moore ahead of Colvin.

[Shavo]

Not objecting, but why is Colvin so high? I thought the board didn't really like Colvin ...

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Not objecting, but why is Colvin so high? I thought the board didn't really like Colvin ...

 

I know Outshined hasn't complained much about the pick (as long as Tyler sticks in CF) - the same with me. I'd have preferred others, but will give Wilken the benefit of the doubt. All the same, it's a telling statement on the Cubs' farm system.