The Official Jesus Morelli Thread

[KingCubsFan]

He's putting up some nice numbers so far. Is he a real prospect?

[Brett]

I know nothing about him, but I would like to hear what people have to say.

[Guest]

I have no clue if he's even remotely a good prospect.

 

I have never seen a Cubs hitting prospect who is remotely age-appropriate have this much success in the DSL (he's been flirting with a .900 OPS in a pitchers league). But on the flip side, the Cubs send all their best Latin American hitting prospects straight to Fitch (think Nelson Perez, Gian Guzman and Marwin Gonzalez recently; Felix Pie earlier this decade).

 

Either way, he's displayed good plate discipline, some power and nice speed. He'll definitely be someone to pay attention to next year at Fitch.

[craig]

As Cal said, it's hard to tell. As Cal mentioned, a few years back if a guy was perceived as a very good prospect, he'd go straight to the states, and if he started in DSL you'd know he wasn't viewed that highly. Now with the policy of keeping guys in DSL for a year, it's harder to evaluate how the team views a guy. But as cal said, that makes harder to compare; we don't have any examples of guys with his balance of average/discipline/power; is that because he's better than any Latin we've signed? Or does it only mean that he's better than any Latin who wasn't perceived to be good enough to go straight to US?

 

Most likely he's nothing special.

1. Normally somebody special starts when he's 17 or 16; Morelli is debuting at 18. If he was an obvious stud, he'd likely have been playing already last summer.

 

2. Second, usually if a guy is toolsy, he wouldn't be playing LF/DH. Many of the guys that eventually end up being corner guys eventually will still be used in center, right, or middle infield when they're 18. (For example, I remember Alou and Sammy as old, somewhat heavy and defensively limited LFers. But when they were 18-22, they were viewed as having tremendous speed and being CFers.) That Morelli is already a LFer suggests that tools-wise, he probably doesn't have much of an arm or much outfield speed.

 

Seems to me the odds are that he'll live or die with his bat. At 6'3", and obviously with some filling out left, it's possible. Given his current patience, hackaway doesn't project to be a problem, and IsoD could be a big plus. His average has been good, and consistent. He's hit with some power. His K's are a little high to be a pure hitter (an Aram type K's very little.) To make it, he'll need to pan out as a good contact hitter with walks and with power and not too many K's. Possible yes. Likely, not very. But until he stops producing, I'll keep hoping that he's the guy who can.

[TruffleShuffle]

i sure hope he's better at sports than anthony morelli.

[sneakypower]

You said it, man. Nobody effs with the Jesus.

[Post Count Padder]

i sure hope he's better at sports than anthony morelli.

I was just gonna say, Morelli is no Jesus. Don't confuse me.

[KingCubsFan]

Grand Slam bump

[KingCubsFan]

Where is he this year? I've only seen him in a few box scores so far but forget the team

[Outshined_One]

Where is he this year? I've only seen him in a few box scores so far but forget the team

 

Down in Extended Spring Training. He'll probably start the season in Mesa or Boise.