Minor League Discussion & Boxes 7-25-10

[Guest]

1) that sucks about Vitters being out for the year. He's going to take a lot of heat about his performance at Tenn, but he really didn't swing the bat poorly at all.

 

2) What Archer is doing is impressive, but let's not overrate his performance based on the scoreless streak. His underlying performance is very good, but not really THAT exceptional so far in AA.

[wvcbxl]

Cubs.com is reporting that it is "probable" that Vitters will miss the rest of the season.

 

The Cubs should start him at AA again next year, which may not be a bad thing.

[karenmac]

while Junior had a great bat in Peoria last year, his main issue was defense. Certainly not solid there. A good arm for sure, but the whole catching the ball always seemed a struggle, then an accurate throw wasn't always in the mix either, even though his arm had plenty of power to get it there. His defense was bad enough last year that the group I sit with would just let up a big groan if we saw it hit that way.

 

Hak Ju Lee this year has been refreshing. His bat isn't the same, and he has some errors, but it's more because he's trying to make crazy plays and can't always pull them off. Junior just doesn't compare defensively.

[TruffleShuffle]

are we talking about the same junior lake who had a line of .248/.277/.365/.642 with 18 bb and 138 k in peoria last year?

[jersey cubs fan]

1) that sucks about Vitters being out for the year. He's going to take a lot of heat about his performance at Tenn, but he really didn't swing the bat poorly at all.

 

Yes he did.

 

.223/.292/.383 41k/13bb

[Guest]

Neutralized for luck: .282/.340/.459/.799

 

Neutralized for luck & park: .281/.339/.448/.787

[Rob]

Neutralized for luck: .282/.340/.459/.799

 

Neutralized for luck & park: .281/.339/.448/.787

 

Don't fool yourself into thinking that matters to Goony.

[jersey cubs fan]

Neutralized for luck: .282/.340/.459/.799

 

Neutralized for luck & park: .281/.339/.448/.787

 

Don't fool yourself into thinking that matters to Goony.

 

There's always going to be excuses for Vitters.

[Rob]

There really ought to be a feigned surprise smiley.

[jersey cubs fan]

There really ought to be a feigned surprise smiley.

 

So I can feign surprise every time somebody pretends Vitters didn't suck this year?

[Guest]

There really ought to be a feigned surprise smiley.

 

So I can feign surprise every time somebody pretends Vitters didn't suck this year?

Vitters' results in AA sucked this year. I agree with that statement completely.

 

But he still swung the bat decently. He had bad luck with the results. There's a big difference. It's one I'm pretty sure I've seen you acknowledge (repeatedly) on the major league level. Yet you seem completely unwilling to do so for Vitters.

[sandbergcubs]

if he's got a higher ceiling than a 20 year old guy hitting .300 in the majors playing the same position..This Jr. Lake must really be something...I see that his birthday is in 1990 making him 20..So what is that in Dominican years?

 

 

 

Now slugging .564 in his last 117 AB with 13 walks thrown in.

 

In the FSL.

 

At 20.

 

As a SS.

 

If you're looking for a potential Hanley comp, it's not Starlin. It's Junior Lake.

 

20

 

 

Lmao no try 24

[fromthestretch]

if he's got a higher ceiling than a 20 year old guy hitting .300 in the majors playing the same position..This Jr. Lake must really be something...I see that his birthday is in 1990 making him 20..So what is that in Dominican years?

 

The same as Castro's, since both Lake and Castro are from the Dominican Republic.

[Guest]

Neutralized for luck: .282/.340/.459/.799

 

Neutralized for luck & park: .281/.339/.448/.787

There's no way that is accurate and I don't need to see the math that made it, nobody is that unlucky. Nobody.

 

Also, I wouldn't say he was "heating up", he had a good week after piss poor play for the entire time he was in AA.

[Guest]

I'll still have Vitters rated over Jackson as a prospect this offseason, though I realize I'll be in the minority.

[woodchip2153]

Neutralized for luck: .282/.340/.459/.799

 

Neutralized for luck & park: .281/.339/.448/.787

There's no way that is accurate and I don't need to see the math that made it, nobody is that unlucky. Nobody.

 

Also, I wouldn't say he was "heating up", he had a good week after piss poor play for the entire time he was in AA.

 

There's no way that the NFC could win 14 consecutive coin-tosses in the superbowl, nobody is that lucky. Nobody.

[Guest]

Neutralized for luck: .282/.340/.459/.799

 

Neutralized for luck & park: .281/.339/.448/.787

There's no way that is accurate and I don't need to see the math that made it, nobody is that unlucky. Nobody.

 

Also, I wouldn't say he was "heating up", he had a good week after piss poor play for the entire time he was in AA.

 

Minor league splits has him as a .252 BABIP on a 18% LD%. The LD% numbers can be a bit dodgy, but there's no mistaking that he's been unlucky.

[Rob]

if he's got a higher ceiling than a 20 year old guy hitting .300 in the majors playing the same position..This Jr. Lake must really be something...I see that his birthday is in 1990 making him 20..So what is that in Dominican years?

 

 

 

Now slugging .564 in his last 117 AB with 13 walks thrown in.

 

In the FSL.

 

At 20.

 

As a SS.

 

If you're looking for a potential Hanley comp, it's not Starlin. It's Junior Lake.

 

20

 

 

Lmao no try 24

 

Actually, the league has cracked down reaaalllly hard after all the embarrassments they had back when the news broke that everybody was older than their stated ages.

[davell]

I'm sure some folks here read AZPhil's comments on Castro and Lake, but I missed them a few days ago because they were buried deep into a thread, but they were very interesting so I'll sum them up......

 

AZPhil saw them both 2 years ago for about 7 and a 1/2 months, when they were in Arizona for minor league camp, extended spring training and then the Arizona League.

 

At the time, Lake was faster, stronger, had more range, more power, and better patience. The issue was if he would grow off of SS.

 

Castro was the better hitter(less power), better fielder, better baserunner(but slower) and had the versatility to play 2B, SS, and 3B equally. In fact, at the time, SS was his weakest of the 3.

 

The separation ocurred because of HOW WELL Castro took to instruction. He may be the most coachable kid AZPhil has ever seen come through the Cubs system. He kept a diary listing every pitcher he faced and how they got him out. He even cut his ManRam curls LOL, according to him.......

 

Lake, on the other hand, was not as coachable and made the same mistakes, over and over. Part of the reason for this, according to Phil was that Lake could best be described as a "street kid", a Dominican Oliver Twist(his words) and wasn't even sure he went to school. So, he's very raw, including everyday life things, probably much moreso than most guys coming through the system. This could help explain why he's been harder to teach as well obviously. Maybe he's really starting to get the hang of things now. At least I'm VERY encouraged by reading this anyway.

 

He also says that even now, Lake has the higher ceiling.

 

That said, what in the world can the kid's ceiling be? Because I'm starting to think Castro's IS actually Jeter......

[CubsInNC]

 

That said, what in the world can the kid's ceiling be? Because I'm starting to think Castro's IS actually Jeter......

 

Sweet, that means in a few years we'll grossly overrate Castro, leave him at short, and play our best shortstop at 3B! :yahoo:

[Guest]

That said, what in the world can the kid's ceiling be? Because I'm starting to think Castro's IS actually Jeter......

 

First off, I think you're overrating Castro.

 

Anyways, Lake is slugging .610 in the second half. In the FSL. That tells you all you need to know about his power potential.

[davell]

That said, what in the world can the kid's ceiling be? Because I'm starting to think Castro's IS actually Jeter......

 

First off, I think you're overrating Castro.

 

Anyways, Lake is slugging .610 in the second half. In the FSL. That tells you all you need to know about his power potential.

\Just curious, but what's your upside for Castro at this point?

[sandbergcubs]

That said, what in the world can the kid's ceiling be? Because I'm starting to think Castro's IS actually Jeter......

 

First off, I think you're overrating Castro.

 

Anyways, Lake is slugging .610 in the second half. In the FSL. That tells you all you need to know about his power potential.

 

 

Over rating castro??? you are kidding right?

 

Let me show you something tell me if you think he's Quote "Over-Rated"

 

http://mlb.mlb.com/team/player.jsp?player_id=516770

 

From a 20 year old in the BIG LEAGUES. Not MiLB anymore.

[Outshined_One]

That said, what in the world can the kid's ceiling be? Because I'm starting to think Castro's IS actually Jeter......

 

First off, I think you're overrating Castro.

 

Anyways, Lake is slugging .610 in the second half. In the FSL. That tells you all you need to know about his power potential.

 

 

Over rating castro??? you are kidding right?

 

Let me show you something tell me if you think he's Quote "Over-Rated"

 

http://mlb.mlb.com/team/player.jsp?player_id=516770

 

From a 20 year old in the BIG LEAGUES. Not MiLB anymore.

 

I really, really hope Castro is named to 11 All Star Games, and wins 4 Gold Gloves, 4 Silver Sluggers, and a World Series MVP in a 15+ year career with the Cubs. However, saying that's Castro's ceiling is a tad bit on the far-fetched side of things.

[Guest]

Jeter was consistently a 5 win player for most of his career. When he was 20 he tore up several MiLB levels like Castro, but didn't get his shot in MLB until the next year, where he struggled. There's no reason that Castro isn't capable of providing the same type of value, albeit in a slightly different way(less OBP, more defense, maybe a touch more pop eventually). That doesn't mean it's a stone cold lock, but that's why the word ceiling was used. I mean, Castro's already on his way to a 4 WAR at age 20, and anyone can see that he's not a finished product. It's not terribly difficult to envision him regularly being slightly better than he is now.