Minor League Discussion & Boxes 8-31-11

[Guest]

Alexander Santana. I have no idea who he is either, but CR threw out the name.

 

Santana throws 88-92 with good sink and he also throws a curveball. Should be able to add some velocity. Not sure how good the curve is since he had a pretty poor K rate but his other numbers were good in the DSL. He got a low-6 figure bonus last year.

 

Same report on Amaury Paulino and Willengton Cruz. When Cruz has had big strikeout games for Boise, the reports read like his change is doing well.

 

I know nothing about Victor Garcia but he's 19 and has a 10.5 K/9 in the DSL as a lefty. Sounds intriguing, I hope he'll come over for instructs.

[toonsterwu]

hey raisin, the Santana reports are from when he signed, right? Or are they newer?

 

I just remember when there were early reports touting Liria as a plus change, but it's been a decidedly average, at best, pitch, this year.

[Guest]

hey raisin, the Santana reports are from when he signed, right? Or are they newer?

 

I just remember when there were early reports touting Liria as a plus change, but it's been a decidedly average, at best, pitch, this year.

 

On Santana, those are the reports from when he signed.

 

I've read about 2-3 Boise newspaper stories where the opposing coach said Willengton's change was a dominant strikeout pitch. With Liria, it was just an account by a Boise beat writer.

[toonsterwu]

nah, I googled Liria and changeup and found out where the early reports of his plus change (that I recall) were from, and that was AzPhil.

 

I do wonder if we are underrating Liria's potential ceiling a tad. he has some more physical projection, enough so that seeing him hit 93-95 consistently is quite possible, and the reports on his slider are awfully good.

[KingKongvs.Godzilla]

Any young lefty that can hit the 90's and throw a change up is instantly very interesting. In a year or two one of Cruz/Liria could be the Cubs' version of Martin Perez or Manny Banuelos if things break really well.

 

Edit: Liria is a RH. Dammit.