Minor League Discussion & Boxes 7-9-12

[TruffleShuffle]

No way is Rosario "meh"

 

a reasonable floor for him would be good set-up guy, which is pretty valuable these days

 

no decent prospect in low A ball has a floor of good major league setup guy.

[TruffleShuffle]

ugh whitenack terrible: 2.1 ip, 8 h, 5 r, 3 bb, 1 k.

[toonsterwu]

ugh whitenack terrible: 2.1 ip, 8 h, 5 r, 3 bb, 1 k.

 

I'm not really that bothered by any results from him this year. The only things I wanted to know out Whitenack's return was whether or not he still had good movement on his sinker and whether or not he was close to the fastball velocity that he surprised us with last year, and on both those counts, so far so good. Now, I'd like for him to not be terrible ... but if he's missing on his secondary stuff, I'll live with that this year.

[El Duderino]

i love timothy saunders line in the azl: 547/583/746

 

might want to just stick him in peoria already

[iowahawkeyes89]

Jose Rosario is having an average season as an older player in the Midwest league. =D>

 

He has an ERA over 4 his last 10 starts.

 

I'm baffled at the interest he gets.

[Guest]

Jose Rosario is having an average season as an older player in the Midwest league. =D>

 

He has an ERA over 4 his last 10 starts.

 

I'm baffled at the interest he gets.

 

The average age in the MWL is 22. Rosario is 21.

 

Why does Rosario get the level of interest he gets? Rosario has great stuff, better than Jensen. He has hit 98 and his slider has good potential. Nice K-rate of 8.09 for every 9 IP (a far more important statistic for a minor league pitcher than ERA) and he gets ground balls. He's obviously still a work in progress.

 

As an aside, while he has a 4.22 ERA, he has a 3.48 FIP.

[utkcub]

Jose Rosario is having an average season as an older player in the Midwest league. =D>

 

He has an ERA over 4 his last 10 starts.

 

I'm baffled at the interest he gets.

 

The average age in the MWL is 22. Rosario is 21.

 

Why does Rosario get the level of interest he gets? Rosario has great stuff, better than Jensen. He has hit 98 and his slider has good potential. Nice K-rate of 8.09 for every 9 IP (a far more important statistic for a minor league pitcher than ERA) and he gets ground balls. He's obviously still a work in progress.

 

As an aside, while he has a 4.22 ERA, he has a 3.48 FIP.

Anndd boom goes the dynamite :-$

[Guest]

btw - Alcantara goes 4-5 to raise his average to .306

[TruffleShuffle]

did anyone actually check if luis acosta could make contact with a pitched ball before they signed him for $1.1m? Jesus.

[Guest]

Dallas Beeler with a surprisingly good game - 7 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K.

[ctcf]

Dallas Beeler with a surprisingly good game - 7 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K.

 

That was mildly unexpected.

[Guest]

did anyone actually check if luis acosta could make contact with a pitched ball before they signed him for $1.1m? Jesus.

 

It's got to be some sort of skill to strike out 50% of the time in the DSL.

[iowahawkeyes89]

Rosario wasn't even close to 98 MPH Saturday night, (91-93) and couldn't throw a breaking ball over the plate to save his life, which isn't any different from the other times I've seen him.

[Guest]

Felix Pena, not Willengton Cruz, starting for Boise.

[davell]

did anyone actually check if luis acosta could make contact with a pitched ball before they signed him for $1.1m? Jesus.

Straight ball: I like it very much.

[Guest]

No way is Rosario "meh"

 

a reasonable floor for him would be good set-up guy, which is pretty valuable these days

 

no decent prospect in low A ball has a floor of good major league setup guy.

 

Every pitcher has a floor of never amounting to anything due to injury problems.

[Guest]

Rosario wasn't even close to 98 MPH Saturday night, (91-93) and couldn't throw a breaking ball over the plate to save his life, which isn't any different from the other times I've seen him.

 

Fair enough. Obviously he's a work in progress and he's all the way down in A-ball. What did he top out at? 91-93 is a bit disappointing, but do note I said he tops out at 98. The few other reports I've gotten this year primarily had him working at 93-95 and topping out at 97-98. I've heard varying reports on the quality of his breaking ball - a few outings had him with a great slider and a I know one outing had reports of a pretty bad breaking ball. With his K-rate, I think its safe to assume his breaking ball hasn't been as bad all season as you've seen and hopefully you've only seen him at his worst.

 

Also, you said Jensen topped out at 95 - what was he working at today?

[iowahawkeyes89]

Jensen was 92-94, and has great sink on his FB. Commands fastball well on both sides of the plate, throws inside.

 

I just think Jensen has a good understanding of how to pitch, a good baseball IQ, which I think is SO important for a pitcher.

 

He's not going to be a #1-2 or anything, but I could see him as an average #3 or 4 starter.

 

I think fans sometimes forget that 98 isn't a big deal if you can't command you're off speed pitches. Big league hitters can time anything.

 

I've seen Rosario twice this season (once in Peoria and today in CR) and he strikes me as one of those pitchers who throws harder when he gets in trouble, which is a bad habit. Maybe I've caught him on a couple of bad starts. Who knows.

[Little Slide Rooter]

And yes, the Peoria managers were mad, and threw a trash can on the field after the game. (which was probably a bit over the top)

 

Outside of Baez, Jensen and Reed, Peoria is pretty "meh" right now.

 

When I think "meh" I think respectable but uninspiring. Hitters with the potential to become Jeff Baker. Pitchers with the potential to become Casey Coleman. Then again, they could also become Bobby Scales or JR Mathes (yes Truffle, he's still my standard in career AAA filler) Like virtually every farm system, ours is full of "meh" with quality prospects sprinkled in. However, young, high ceiling guys who havn't quite hit their stride don't classify as "meh" in my book.

[Guest]

Shawon Dunston with a pinch hit triple. Trey Martin is 2/3 with 2 singles. Rock Shoukders hit a 9th inning HR. Hope these three break out of their massive slumps.

[toonsterwu]

If Nate comes around, someone can double-check with him on Rosario's velocity, but for the most part, his 4-seamer, from what I understand, has largely been in that 93-95 range. It seems quite likely, although I don't know for certain, that he might be working with some sort of 2-seamer as well. Maybe it's a cutter of some sort, and I think that's where you get the lower readings on his fastball. I think the quality of Rosario's slider has improved this year, but the command comes and goes at times. The change-up is still a work in progress.

 

Gun to my head, yeah, I've said it before, but I think Rosario, long run, might be a pen arm, but his ceiling as a starter is ... higher than a lot of Cubs arms (we can debate whether or not it's more than mid-rotation, as I think there's a case to be made that it is, but ... well, it's better than a lot of Cubs arms). He's got a better chance than say, Marcos Mateo did, to stick as a starter, as Rosario's shown an early propensity to be able to generate groundballs, but a lot of work to go.

 

______

 

iowa, do you really think Jensen has great sink on his fb? Had heard it was decent movement, but great seems ... like high praise. Also, how often was he at 94? Had heard he was more low 90's most of the year.

 

Said this earlier, but Jensen's ceiling as a starter (well, heck, overall ... Rosario has some late inning potential, I'm not sure if Jensen does) is lower than Rosario's (Jensen, if a lot goes well, might have a mid-rotation ceiling). He's a lot more polished than Rosario, though, and he's probably got an overall better chance to make it as a starter.

[jumbo]

Could someone help me find the ignore feature? I did a little looking but didn't find it quickly.

Thanks

[toonsterwu]

Shawon Dunston with a pinch hit triple. Trey Martin is 2/3 with 2 singles. Rock Shoukders hit a 9th inning HR. Hope these three break out of their massive slumps.

 

I imagine Almora heads to Arizona, with a shot of Boise later (barring struggles), so I'm mildly curious what happens with Martin/Dunston Jr. One of them probably can stay in Boise, but do they keep all three in Boise? Seems likely that they would want them to get as many AB's at possible, irrespective of the level, so it may behoove them to shift on back to Arizona.

 

Both are fascinating raw talents in their own right, but Almora really pushes them to the backburner, so they better step it up.

[Little Slide Rooter]

How am I just taking notice of DSL catcher Jhonny Pena? He's in his 2nd season, but in 55 AB at .418/.577/.618 with 20 BB to 9 K. And Kelvin keeps hiting too.

[Clem Fandango]

Wait...

 

We have a prospect named Rock Shoulders?