Minor League Discussion & Boxes 5-18-12

[CubsWin]

Low batting average isn't such a stupid gripe in a guy's age 23 season at high A. 22 is more suitable for AA as well. It's not as if it's easy to be a .360 OBP guy in the big leagues, but over 300 ABs in High A as a .25something hitter? Really I'm being offbase with that?

 

based on what??? 22 is much younger than average for AA players. 22 is probably pretty close to the average for High A players. he's younger than 60% of the players on the daytona cubs' roster.

Throw in the fact that he wasn't a baseball only guy until the Cubs drafted him and being 22 in High-A becomes all the more appropriate.

[Little Slide Rooter]

5 pitch inning for Iowa, including Vitters and Jackson getting out on back-to-back 1st pitches.

 

Call em up. They'll fit in perfectly.

[CubsWin]

Flamethrower Jose Rosario is showing signs of possibly figuring it out in Peoria. In his last 3 starts, he's 2-0 with a 2.20 ERA. In 16.1 innings, he put up a 1.35 WHIP, 21 Ks and 4 BB. Over his last two starts, he's got a 1.59 ERA and a WHIP of 1.06. He's got a long way to go, but I'll be watching...

[PriortoTheoIhadWood]

Low batting average isn't such a stupid gripe in a guy's age 23 season at high A. 22 is more suitable for AA as well. It's not as if it's easy to be a .360 OBP guy in the big leagues, but over 300 ABs in High A as a .25something hitter? Really I'm being offbase with that?

 

based on what??? 22 is much younger than average for AA players. 22 is probably pretty close to the average for High A players. he's younger than 60% of the players on the daytona cubs' roster.

 

How about the average prospect in High A? Sure Jack Nobody could be 22, but the best future ML'ers? I've always heard 21 for high A, 22 for AA, and 23 for AAA.

 

OTOH as already stated the fact that he's only now focusing on baseball means that he might have to be looked at differently. I don't think anyone preaches athleticism more me anyway so I'm not exactly counting this player out.

[StarlinOnYou]

Jackson is downright pathetic right now. What a disappointing season thus far.

[toonsterwu]

At a certain point, I'm just not sure it's all that useful to keep on trotting out Torreyes. That said, I'm not sure what to do ... demoting him isn't the worst thing, but it also doesn't make a ton of sense either. Maybe give him an extended break on the bench ... tough to armchair figure out the best course of action.

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Szczur's been relatively solid for a month or so now. If he keeps this up for another month or so, I hope they consider giving him the bump to AA.

 

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[Little Slide Rooter]

After the rough start, Szczur is at .257/.355/.361/.717. In May, he's .286/.364/.408/.772. I suspect that somewhere between the 2 lines lurks what we can ultimately expect from him.

[Guest]

After the rough start, Szczur is at .257/.355/.361/.717. In May, he's .286/.364/.408/.772. I suspect that somewhere between the 2 lines lurks what we can ultimately expect from him.

You're selling low.

[davell]

I wish we had an idea of how Torreyes has looked. His K rate is no different than last year. Hopefully that means he's just been insanely unlucky. At any rate, he's a plus makeup guy, so I suspect he's going to be fine. His Babip is around half of what he's used to. I honestly doubt he's overmatched.

[javy knows my name]

After the rough start, Szczur is at .257/.355/.361/.717. In May, he's .286/.364/.408/.772. I suspect that somewhere between the 2 lines lurks what we can ultimately expect from him.

You're selling low.

 

I've heard very little about his D in center. I know he's crazy fast, but how are his jumps/errors?

[toonsterwu]

After the rough start, Szczur is at .257/.355/.361/.717. In May, he's .286/.364/.408/.772. I suspect that somewhere between the 2 lines lurks what we can ultimately expect from him.

You're selling low.

 

I've heard very little about his D in center. I know he's crazy fast, but how are his jumps/errors?

 

For the most part, he's viewed as at least an above average CF with above average speed, good range, and enough arm. I know there were some concerns last year, but nothing that couldn't be explained away as a kid learning to play baseball on a full-time basis, and by most accounts, he improved as the year went along (defensively). I haven't heard anything negative so far in 2012. As an aside, I don't think he's had an error yet, although I'm too lazy to check. For all the talk about Ha being potentially the better CF, Szczur is probably more consistent at running down the balls and not making mistakes.

 

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On Szczur's offense - I think it's probably still a half-season early from any real solid concrete guess as to what we can expect from Szczur. He's still developing his baseball skills, and it's evident that he's working on being a more disciplined hitter. Now, I don't think he'll ever be, say, a 15 HR guy (although you still hear people, on occasion, talk about the power he can show in BP), so maybe that narrows the range down a bit, but if Szczur's K and BB percentages are closer to what he's shown in May, then finding the mid-point between his overall and his May line might be off.

[PriortoTheoIhadWood]

After the rough start, Szczur is at .257/.355/.361/.717. In May, he's .286/.364/.408/.772. I suspect that somewhere between the 2 lines lurks what we can ultimately expect from him.

You're selling low.

 

I've heard very little about his D in center. I know he's crazy fast, but how are his jumps/errors?

 

From what I understand he's supposed to be the best defender of the CF prospects in the system that have starting CFer upside.

 

I also think simply taking his old line and then his May line, splitting the difference and calling that his ceiling is selling him short and lazy. He's got good offensive upside (potential to hit for average, get on base, show some power, and be a base stealing threat), but it might be 2-3 years before he pieces it together completely.

[rawaction]

I project Szczur to be a really good defensive CF. Everyone knows he has the speed and athletic ability to cover some ground. I've also heard pretty good things about his instincts. His arm is better than many think. He was the backup QB at Villanova. I think his upside offensively is 2010 Brett Gardner with considerably more power (Gardner has almost none).

[KingCubsFan]

At what point does Lake's improved patience become legit? A month in? I'm not expecting him to keep up the pace, but if he can show the ability to draw 45-60 walks, with a decrease in strikeouts and an increase in power, I think he starts projecting to be a regular.

[rawaction]

Lake just grounded a 2-0 pitch back to the pitcher with runners on the corners and 2 outs. 1-4 with a K.

 

Jae Hoon Ha is 2-3 with 2 doubles, he's now tied for 2nd in the Southern league with 14 doubles. Has yet to hit a HR though. If he can turn some of those doubles to HRs, and continue to make strides with patience (already 14 this year after 23 last year) he's worth keeping an eye on.

[craig]

Day behind, but several thoughts on Szczur. First, he just might not be very good. Many guys, if they aren't great in A, it just gets worse and worse with promotions and better pitching.

 

But, a .355 OBP isn't a bad starting point for a guy with serious leadoff speed and good CF defense.

 

Four reasons why his OBP might get better:

1. LHP. He's got only a .249 OBP versus lefties. That will likely improve.

2. BABIP: .306. Contact hitters with speed often have much higher BABIP's, so that may go up.

3. HR: Zero, he hit 10 last year. Even a few accidental HR's would raise the BABIP. 10 HR over 500 AB is worth 20 OBP points.

4. K-rate. 16% this year, was 11% last year. It might go down.

 

It's not easy to readjust the approach some, with the work-the-count patience stuff. It's possible that he's kind of figuring out how to balance all that and reach a new equilibrium as a hitter.

 

We'll see how the season unfolds. But .355 OBP isn't that bad a starting point, when he hasn't seemed to have much of anything (HR, BABIP...) working in it's favor thus far. I think it's more likely to get better than to get worse as the season progresses at Daytona.