Minor League Discussion & Boxes 6-22-12

[CubsWin]

16 year old LHP Carlos Rodriguez has had an intriguing start to his DSL career. In his first 4 games (3 starts) his line reads 21 IP, 12 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 6 BB, 24 K, with a .160 opp avg. He doesn't turn 17 for about another month. He signed for $120,000 last summer. Someone to watch.

If he's 16 and signed last summer the Cubs are going to be in trouble.

He turned 16 on July 18, 2011. Don't you just have to be 16 when you sign or is it when the signing period begins?

[davell]

I don't know the cutoff date, but I know you can't sign until you're actually 16. There's been kind of a second signing period, where lots of guys sign in November. My guess is lots of these guys have later birthdays. And yeah, you can definitely gain velo at his age, my main concern, rightly or wrongly, is the height. Of course, he could still grow too, for all we know. Admittedly, I've fallen into the trap of only wanting taller pitchers, unless they throw serious heat. And I know I shouldn't look at it that way.

[Guest]

16 year old LHP Carlos Rodriguez has had an intriguing start to his DSL career. In his first 4 games (3 starts) his line reads 21 IP, 12 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 6 BB, 24 K, with a .160 opp avg. He doesn't turn 17 for about another month. He signed for $120,000 last summer. Someone to watch.

If he's 16 and signed last summer the Cubs are going to be in trouble.

He turned 16 on July 18, 2011. Don't you just have to be 16 when you sign or is it when the signing period begins?

 

If you turn 16 between July 2 and September 1, you can sign after your birthday.

[Guest]

I don't know the cutoff date, but I know you can't sign until you're actually 16. There's been kind of a second signing period, where lots of guys sign in November. My guess is lots of these guys have later birthdays. And yeah, you can definitely gain velo at his age, my main concern, rightly or wrongly, is the height. Of course, he could still grow too, for all we know. Admittedly, I've fallen into the trap of only wanting taller pitchers, unless they throw serious heat. And I know I shouldn't look at it that way.

 

The Cubs gave him $120,000 despite his height - the scouts definitely saw something.

[davell]

Vogelbach with a double, goes 2-4, in his debut. Gretzky just pinch ran for him.

[TruffleShuffle]

He's smallish(under 6ft) and doesn't hit 90. More of a "knows how to pitch) guy.

 

where do these scouting reports come from? i tried finding info on him a couple of weeks ago and there was nothing.

[davell]

That's actually posted in our IFA signings thread that's stickied.

[toonsterwu]

something tells me that the pitches/strikes data for peoria is inaccurate, unless jose rosario has somehow thrown 34 pitches in 7 innings, 30 for strikes, and all of those balls came during the 1 walk he issued.

 

Someone mentioned that pitch data below AA isn't accurate (may have been Nate Baliva).

[Shilzzz]

Fwiw I wanted candelerio as a top 7 guy last year w his age and patience after last year. Just saying.

[iowahawkeyes89]

BA on Carlos Rodriguez

 

"Rodriguez, who turned 16 on July 18, signed with the Cubs for $120,000 in August. Rodriguez isn't tall but he has a strong 5-foot-11, 180-pound frame and stands out for his feel for pitching. Scouts praise his competitiveness and ability to pitch to both sides of the plate with his high-80s fastball, which he backs up with a good changeup for his age and a curveball that reaches the mid-70s that he can throw for strikes, although at times he tends to get around the ball. Rodriguez doesn't have the cleanest delivery, as he throws across his body and he finishes with a head jerk, though it hasn't hampered his ability to hit his spots yet."

 

My guess is his fastball could sit 90-92 once he gets bigger and matures a bit.

[davell]

I asked Badler if there was a chance Candelario could make their top 100 or if it was too soon and he said it was quite possible. Conceivably, BA could have Baez, Soler, Almora, Brett, Szczur, and Candelario on their end of the year top 100. Not to mention the possibility of what we could possibly pull off for Garza or maybe if we got lucky, even Dempster.

[toonsterwu]

Honestly, if this power development is "real", and not some sort of fluke start, Candelario has a very good case to be top 100. That said, early in the year.

 

The way Amaya is hitting in the early-goings also piques some interest. Curious what sort of power he shows this year. Granted, NWL, but how much power Amaya had, along with his position, were two of the main questions on him.

[Tryptamine]

I asked Badler if there was a chance Candelario could make their top 100 or if it was too soon and he said it was quite possible. Conceivably, BA could have Baez, Soler, Almora, Brett, Szczur, and Candelario on their end of the year top 100. Not to mention the possibility of what we could possibly pull off for Garza or maybe if we got lucky, even Dempster.

 

I don't think Lake is out of the question either.

[toonsterwu]

I asked Badler if there was a chance Candelario could make their top 100 or if it was too soon and he said it was quite possible. Conceivably, BA could have Baez, Soler, Almora, Brett, Szczur, and Candelario on their end of the year top 100. Not to mention the possibility of what we could possibly pull off for Garza or maybe if we got lucky, even Dempster.

 

I don't think Lake is out of the question either.

 

That's true too, as KG noted something recently about how scouts thought he had developed his offensive approach a bit.

 

Still taking more of a wait and see though - the BB rate has slipped a fair amount in June (and really, the slip started mid-May).

[craig]

Lake hasn't shown any power lately, either. In June, he's got 16 singles and only one HR, one triple, and one double, to go with his three walks. 13 errors in 37 games, so he still hasn't been able to get his games/error ratio up above three. Step-by-step, so I think there's both performance reason and scouting reason to have good hopes for him. But it's going to take some time.

 

I still kind of wish that given what a slow study he is defensively, that they'd move him over to a position he might play in the majors sooner rather than later.

[Guest]

Peoria Journal-Star[/url]"]Jose Rosario had enough left to get into the eighth inning on Friday night, but that wasn’t enough for the Peoria Chiefs in a 5-3 loss to the Quad Cities River Bandits.

 

The second-half opening loss snapped a nine-game home winning streak.

 

“I told him he pitched his butt off,” Chiefs manager Casey Kopitzke said. “Throw the results out the window, and I thought it was probably his best pitching performance of the year. Unfortunately he came out on the wrong end of the stick.”

 

Quad Cities scored two runs in the eighth behind a pair of bad breaks. With one out Neal Pritchard hit a ball that Javier Baez cut off but slipped in trying to plant his foot to throw, and the shortstop still almost threw out Pritchard.

 

Quad Cities shortstop Matt Williams lofted a fly ball to center that Pin Chieh-Chen lost in the lights and turned into a triple. Instead of being out of the inning, Quad Cities tied the game at 3 and still threatened.

 

...

 

Rosario (6-6) went 71/3 innings, allowing six hits, two walks and all four runs. The right-hander was perfect through the first 11 batters until Walsh walked. Back-to-back doubles gave Quad Cities a 2-0 lead.

 

“I was attacking the zone with my fastball,” Rosario said. “(In the eighth), their timing was catching up. I wasn’t tired at all.”

[Guest]

Boise highlights including a bit of the dust storm that gave them an 8 minute wind delay, Jeimer Candelario's HR, a couple of Gisokar Amaya RBI singles and a couple of double plays involving Amaya, Hernandez and Shoulders: www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKkuF7O3E6

[Guest]

Idaho Press-Tribune[/url]"]Jeimer Candelario is the youngest player on a Boise Hawks team that features six teenagers.

 

He just might be the best player — at any age — too.

 

...

 

Boise hitting coach Bill Buckner said Candelario is not only the team’s youngest player, but “he’s been the best. That’s a good combination.”

 

“He’s shown some surprising power. I see him down the road having power. I don’t think his body’s totally matured yet.”

 

Candelario was born in New York and moved to the Dominican Republic when he was 8 years old. Baseball American reported he signed a free-agent deal with the Chicago Cubs two years ago for $500,000, but could have been a first-round draft pick — and signed for much more — if he would have grown up in the United States.

 

The third baseman earned his roster spot with the Hawks this season after batting .337 with five home runs, 16 doubles, two triples and 53 RBIs playing with one of the Cubs’ two Dominican Summer League teams in 2011.

 

Candelario said he set his sights on making the Hawks’ roster this season and wants to make another leap to the Cubs’ High-A team in Daytona, Fla., next year.

 


“He was ready, he deserved to be here,” Buckner said. “There’s no set age limit, if you can play, you can play. He’s definitely the (Hawks’) best third baseman at this level.”

[Guest]

MiLB.com[/url]"]"My fastball was really working for me tonight," said Del Valle through translator Carlos Figueroa. "I was throwing it good, but also hard. I was able to get them to swing and miss."

 

Del Valle felt a blister on his thumb during the fourth inning and did not return after the sixth.

[davell]

We didn't see a two level jump from anyone this year, did we? Maybe Candelario counts, going from DSL to NWL? I kind of wonder if this group doesn't curtail that sort of thing and is much more cautious when promoting players.

[rawaction]

Lake hasn't shown any power lately, either. In June, he's got 16 singles and only one HR, one triple, and one double, to go with his three walks. 13 errors in 37 games, so he still hasn't been able to get his games/error ratio up above three. Step-by-step, so I think there's both performance reason and scouting reason to have good hopes for him. But it's going to take some time.

 

I still kind of wish that given what a slow study he is defensively, that they'd move him over to a position he might play in the majors sooner rather than later.

 

To be fair, he has walked 3 times in his last 10 games. All his XBHs in June have come in the last 10 also. Not anything stellar, but he had 1 BB and 3 XBHs in his previous 17 games. I'm not too concerned about where he plays defensively right now. He still has plenty of time. Plus, if he has to play 3B in the majors, he is getting reps there. If he plays 2B or OF in the majors, the transition is much easier. The key is getting his bat ready. If it's good enough the glove can wait.

[Guest]

We didn't see a two level jump from anyone this year, did we? Maybe Candelario counts, going from DSL to NWL? I kind of wonder if this group doesn't curtail that sort of thing and is much more cautious when promoting players.

 

Candelario and Marco Hernandez jumped 2 levels.

[Quakers]

16 year old LHP Carlos Rodriguez has had an intriguing start to his DSL career. In his first 4 games (3 starts) his line reads 21 IP, 12 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 6 BB, 24 K, with a .160 opp avg. He doesn't turn 17 for about another month. He signed for $120,000 last summer. Someone to watch.

 

hell i hopped on that bandwagon after his second start. didn't know what his signing bonus was but sometimes you can hit it big on those raw lower bonus guys (castro, pie). nice to see him pitching so well against older competition and missing plenty of bats.

He's smallish(under 6ft) and doesn't hit 90. More of a "knows how to pitch) guy. Keeps me from getting too excited over him. Your other guy is the one I want to know more about. Paulino is 6'2 at least, so he's got a projectable frame. No one has answered a question from me yet on him, so I've got no clue what he throws. But he's the pitcher, for now anyway, until we find out stuff, to keep an eye on down there.

 

 

What I saw of Paulino was someone who topped out around 93. Nice fastball. Needed to work on his secondary pitches. His control was off.

[Guest]

16 year old LHP Carlos Rodriguez has had an intriguing start to his DSL career. In his first 4 games (3 starts) his line reads 21 IP, 12 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 6 BB, 24 K, with a .160 opp avg. He doesn't turn 17 for about another month. He signed for $120,000 last summer. Someone to watch.

 

hell i hopped on that bandwagon after his second start. didn't know what his signing bonus was but sometimes you can hit it big on those raw lower bonus guys (castro, pie). nice to see him pitching so well against older competition and missing plenty of bats.

He's smallish(under 6ft) and doesn't hit 90. More of a "knows how to pitch) guy. Keeps me from getting too excited over him. Your other guy is the one I want to know more about. Paulino is 6'2 at least, so he's got a projectable frame. No one has answered a question from me yet on him, so I've got no clue what he throws. But he's the pitcher, for now anyway, until we find out stuff, to keep an eye on down there.

 

 

What I saw of Paulino was someone who topped out around 93. Nice fastball. Needed to work on his secondary pitches. His control was off.

 

That's a different Paulino. Davell is talking about Jose Paulino down in the DSL and you're talking about Amaury Paulino at Boise.