2010 BA Hot Sheet / BP Monday Ten Pack

[TruffleShuffle]

Brett Jackson got honorable mention for CF in BA's midseason All Stars list.

 

pretty hard to beat out mike trout for that list (not to mention the other two outfielders)

[Guest]

From the chat:

 

Mike (Indianapolis): How about Hak Ju Lee at shortstop? He is having a solid year in the Midwest League as a hitter, and he shows plus speed and defense.

 

 

Jim Shonerd: Lee's been solid (.262/.322/.328), but Franklin and Cumberland are both having louder years. Chris Owings, who's hitting .298/.323/.447 with the Diamondbacks' low Class A club, likely would've been the third-team shortstop if we'd gone that deep.

[Outshined_One]

Brett Jackson is the only Cub in BA's midseason Top 50.

[Outshined_One]

Josh Vitters was on the not-so-hot sheet this week.

 

•Josh Vitters, 3b, Cubs: Vitters continued his rough transition to Double-A Tennessee with a 2-for-16 week from the plate. Both hits were just singles and, through 51 games in the Southern League this season, Vitters is slugging just .331. The Cubs are probably hoping he can start to flash more power, as would be expected for a corner infielder selected with the No. 3 overall pick. His K/BB ratio is also 3:1, which is slightly worse than it had been at the lower levels.

[jersey cubs fan]

Oh sure, give up on him, why not just release him?

[Outshined_One]

John Manuel's Midseason Prospects Chat

 

Brent (Appleton): Which players listed 26-50 just missed making the Top 25?

 

John Manuel: The aforementioned Lamb and Myers; Cosart and Vizcaino, whose recent shutdowns with elbow pain kept them off; Jonathan Singleton, who is one of the minors' more exciting hitters; Brett Jackson, who got some Curtis Granderson comps.

 

mlbpark (Korea): What do you think about hak ju lee? Is he near the midseason ranking 50?

 

John Manuel: I'm excited to see him at the Futures Game, but I didn't see him as a Top 50 guy right now, would like to see more out of the bat. Too much projection, not enough production to rank him that high yet.

[CUBZ99]

I take it that Cashner doesn't qualify for this list because he is in the majors now?

[inari]

Is Vitters a total bust at this point?

[Outshined_One]

Is Vitters a total bust at this point?

 

Nah. He's really young for AA and has had stretches of dominance at Peoria and Daytona. His status as a prospect took a hit this year, but to call him a bust would be quite premature.

[Little Slide Rooter]

Is Vitters a total bust at this point?

 

Nah. He's really young for AA and has had stretches of dominance at Peoria and Daytona. His status as a prospect took a hit this year, but to call him a bust would be quite premature.

 

I think the kid needs some serious 1 on 1 time with a legit hitting coach. Im not saying send him to Iowa, but Von Joashua might be a guy who can help him out.

 

Also, we have to remember how raw of a prospect he is. He essentially skipped an entire step, going from high school to the minor leagues, so while most guys his age are facing college pitching, hes facing professionals.

[TruffleShuffle]

most guys in the minors leagues skipped that step (college). but yes he has been rushed stupidly, to nobody's surprise.

[risico]

There was no reason to promote Vitters to Tennessee IMO. He should be in Daytona at this point in his career. But hopefully he'll learn this year and hit well next year.

[jersey cubs fan]

Is Vitters a total bust at this point?

 

Nah. He's really young for AA and has had stretches of dominance at Peoria and Daytona. His status as a prospect took a hit this year, but to call him a bust would be quite premature.

 

Didn't that status take a hit last year? I thought he was considered a top 40-50 guy early in his career but then after stupidly being promoted to Daytona too early and then not hitting at all for a couple months most people bumped him down lists.

[CubColtPacer]

Is Vitters a total bust at this point?

 

Nah. He's really young for AA and has had stretches of dominance at Peoria and Daytona. His status as a prospect took a hit this year, but to call him a bust would be quite premature.

 

Didn't that status take a hit last year? I thought he was considered a top 40-50 guy early in his career but then after stupidly being promoted to Daytona too early and then not hitting at all for a couple months most people bumped him down lists.

 

He dropped from 51st in 2009 to 70th in 2010. That's in large part to the fact that they thought he would be a quick mover in 2009 (they had his ETA in 2010) and by next year they moved his ETA back to 2012.

 

Sickels had Vitters as a B+ in 09 and a B+ again in 2010 (although he said he was borderline to possibly be a B)

 

So he dropped a little bit after last year but not much.

[jersey cubs fan]

He dropped from 51st in 2009 to 70th in 2010. That's in large part to the fact that they thought he would be a quick mover in 2009 (they had his ETA in 2010) and by next year they moved his ETA back to 2012.

 

Who had him arriving in 2010? That was incredibly dumb.

[CubColtPacer]

He dropped from 51st in 2009 to 70th in 2010. That's in large part to the fact that they thought he would be a quick mover in 2009 (they had his ETA in 2010) and by next year they moved his ETA back to 2012.

 

Who had him arriving in 2010? That was incredibly dumb.

 

BA did after the 2008 season.

[jersey cubs fan]

He dropped from 51st in 2009 to 70th in 2010. That's in large part to the fact that they thought he would be a quick mover in 2009 (they had his ETA in 2010) and by next year they moved his ETA back to 2012.

 

Who had him arriving in 2010? That was incredibly dumb.

 

BA did after the 2008 season.

 

Why would they do that? He had about a week in low A ball by then. Did they just know the Cubs would promote him at the first sign of success? He should have been almost all of 2009 in Peoria, and then almost all of 2010 in Daytona. The earliest he should have seen AA is late this year, and the majors never should have been on the radar.

[SouthSideRyan]

He dropped from 51st in 2009 to 70th in 2010. That's in large part to the fact that they thought he would be a quick mover in 2009 (they had his ETA in 2010) and by next year they moved his ETA back to 2012.

 

Who had him arriving in 2010? That was incredibly dumb.

 

BA did after the 2008 season.

 

Why would they do that? He had about a week in low A ball by then. Did they just know the Cubs would promote him at the first sign of success? He should have been almost all of 2009 in Peoria, and then almost all of 2010 in Daytona. The earliest he should have seen AA is late this year, and the majors never should have been on the radar.

 

Once you're in AA majors is on the radar

[jersey cubs fan]

He dropped from 51st in 2009 to 70th in 2010. That's in large part to the fact that they thought he would be a quick mover in 2009 (they had his ETA in 2010) and by next year they moved his ETA back to 2012.

 

Who had him arriving in 2010? That was incredibly dumb.

 

BA did after the 2008 season.

 

Why would they do that? He had about a week in low A ball by then. Did they just know the Cubs would promote him at the first sign of success? He should have been almost all of 2009 in Peoria, and then almost all of 2010 in Daytona. The earliest he should have seen AA is late this year, and the majors never should have been on the radar.

 

Once you're in AA majors is on the radar

 

But he had one week of low A ball at the time, and the closer he got to AA the further his MLB ETA became. So that still doesn't make any sense.

[Guest]

Well, Jason Heyward was drafted out of HS that same year and made it to the bigs in 2010. BA probably saw an advanced HS swing and the fact that Vitters faced relatively tough HS competition and thought he could advance quickly. In hindsight, it's easy to see that Heyward's advanced approach at the plate was more important (and it's not like needing only 2 full years in the minors for a top 10 HS bat is unheralded).

 

And Vitters' injuries didn't help.

[jersey cubs fan]

Well, Jason Heyward was drafted out of HS that same year and made it to the bigs in 2010. BA probably saw an advanced HS swing and the fact that Vitters faced relatively tough HS competition and thought he could advance quickly. In hindsight, it's easy to see that Heyward's advanced approach at the plate was more important (and it's not like needing only 2 full years in the minors for a top 10 HS bat is unheralded).

 

And Vitters' injuries didn't help.

 

It's not really hindsight. Plenty of people thought Vitters had a hell of a lot to work on back then, and the smart ones realized he shouldn't be promoted too quickly.

[Guest]

I'm not saying I know any more than "the experts" but IMO Vitters had huge, and I mean huge red flags when the Cubs drafted him. First and foremost, his production in high school wasn't that great. Second, he had mono or something and missed most of his senior season. Then after they drafted him he didn't sign right away and missed almost an entire season of development time. I also doubt whether he's 6'2" unless Brett Jackson is 6'7" and they are listed at the same height. I saw them standing next to one another and Jackson was at least 3 inches taller.

 

I'm not saying he won't pan out, but he's had brief flashes of promise and at every juncture he's been promoted as if whomever is making the decisions is trying to justify the draft.

[Guest]

Not signing till August 15th and missing approximately 2 months of the season he was drafted in isn't a big deal. That also happened to Price, Moustakas, Wieters and Porcello from that draft alone (I'm sure there were others). I can't see it being a red flag.

 

He had good HS production before his senior year and returned from being sick to hit well to end his senior year.

 

The Cubs promotion schedule with Vitters is ridiculous and is probably hurting him a lot.

[Guest]

Not signing till August 15th and missing approximately 2 months of the season he was drafted in isn't a big deal.

To me it was a big deal because he missed so much time his senior season. It's impossible to blame him for the Cubs promotion schedule.

[SouthSideRyan]

 

Once you're in AA majors is on the radar

 

But he had one week of low A ball at the time, and the closer he got to AA the further his MLB ETA became. So that still doesn't make any sense.

 

Because a year later he hadn't progressed as quickly as they thought. They were probably thinking late season callup to Daytona in '09, midseason to Tennesee in '10, September to majors