Minor League Discussion & Boxes 8-9-11

[Guest]

After going 3-5, Candelerio is hitting .342/.911. Will he be making his way up to Boise, or even Peoria any time soon? One thing our system really seems to lack is 3B prospects, especially at the A levels.

 

Yes, he'll be there in 2012.

 

Geiger is an ok prospect and he's at Peoria.

[KingCubsFan]

so assuming that nobody on this board wants koyie hill back next year, who's our backup catcher in 2012? i'm kind of partial to clevenger - very low K rate, bats lefty and hits RHP very well. seems like a perfect complement to soto; can start against RHP on occasions when a night game is followed by a day game.

 

I don't know who in their right mind would want Koyie Hill back, besides Jim Hendry. So, if Hendry is back again next year, this could be a moot point. Regardless, wouldn't you rather Clevenger playing every day down in the minors than backing up Soto? Unless, they traded Soto and had Clevenger and Wellington Castillo battle for the starting job in ST and brought in a better veteran catcher than Koyie to be the backup.

 

not really. he'll be 26 years old and he profiles as a backup; it's not like he's joe mauer junior just not getting ABs. this is pretty much as good as he's going to get.

Yeah he always profiled as a good backup. Plus he can play first base.

[toonsterwu]

I think Clevenger is likely a backup backstop ... but if the right opportunity presented itself, I don't see why he couldn't be a starting backstop in the pros. The biggest issue that led to him being profiled as a backup backstop for the last couple years was the fact that his defensive receiving work was only viewed as average, and couple that with an average-ish arm, he seemed like a backup backstop. I think most have thought that, offensively, he could probably do enough in the bigs with his contact ability.

 

That said, all the reviews on Clevenger's work behind the dish this year has been markedly better. If he's an above average defensive guy who has enough to above average offense for the position, well, there are starting backstops in the bigs that don't have that combination.

[jersey cubs fan]

What's wrong with the word "catcher"?

[Little Slide Rooter]

What's wrong with the word "catcher"?

 

it's racist.

[Rob]

I think Clevenger is likely a backup backstop ... but if the right opportunity presented itself, I don't see why he couldn't be a starting backstop in the pros. The biggest issue that led to him being profiled as a backup backstop for the last couple years was the fact that his defensive receiving work was only viewed as average, and couple that with an average-ish arm, he seemed like a backup backstop. I think most have thought that, offensively, he could probably do enough in the bigs with his contact ability.

 

That said, all the reviews on Clevenger's work behind the dish this year has been markedly better. If he's an above average defensive guy who has enough to above average offense for the position, well, there are starting backstops in the bigs that don't have that combination.

 

I don't know that I buy that he can be above average offensively... though I don't think he'll be much below average either.

 

That said, nobody took him in the Rule 5 last year even though he was unprotected, so I have to imagine that other teams don't think too highly of his bat either.