Minor League Musings

[Bertz]

https://twitter.com/lindseyadler/status/1367295970313199620?s=19

 

https://twitter.com/lindseyadler/status/1367300760237670400?s=19

[CaliforniaRaisin]

https://twitter.com/lindseyadler/status/1367295970313199620?s=19

 

https://twitter.com/lindseyadler/status/1367300760237670400?s=19

 

I saw the A’s were considering moving their alt site/AAA group from San José last year to Stockton in hopes they could scrimmage with the Giants group who are in nearby Sacramento.

 

I wonder if the Cubs would move their alt site to Chicagoland this year to more easily be able to play the White Sox.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

[CaliforniaRaisin]

2 Breakout Prospects from every Team:

 

Chicago Cubs

 

Yohendrick Pinango, OF — The Venezuelan teenager shows all the traits you want to see from a young hitter. He consistently gets the bat to the ball, makes hard contact, doesn’t strike out and controls the strike zone at a level mature beyond his years. He is set to make his stateside debut in 2021 and has the potential to be the best pure hitter in the Cubs system.

 

D.J. Herz, LHP — The athletic lefthander saw both his velocity and spin rates jump after he made a delivery adjustment to get more on-line to the plate last year. If he shows he can maintain those gains over a full season, it won’t be long before he’s one the Cubs’ top pitching prospects.

 

https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/two-2021-breakout-mlb-prospects-for-every-farm-system/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=email#Cubs

[ddwyer]

Tom - Thanks for the list of BA players 31-40. I think you are missing one player as you only have 9 listed.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Tom - Thanks for the list of BA players 31-40. I think you are missing one player as you only have 9 listed.

 

Oops, Yonathan Perlaza...Part of the comment was that he was a favorite of opponent scouts

 

Do you have a link for their 31-40 or is it in their handbook?

[Named After Maddux]

Thanks for that Tom. That’s interesting.

 

I guess Max Bain has some seam shifted wake on his cutter (and not a 2-seam/sinker). He gave the go ahead that I could share. He’s just such an intriguing guy this year. If anyone is really interested in Max, Bryan Smith is doing more of a deep dive on him soon. I can’t wait to read it personally.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

[CubinNY]

---

 

Does Burl Carraway have 9th inning upside?

 

Eric A Longenhagen: yes

I don't really see the point of that.

[Bertz]

 

I know bat speed =/= exit velocity, but it's still interesting to me that every number you can find says Amaya's bat is legit, but scouts keep hemming and hawing about it.

[craig]

The "middle-of-the-order bat, with potential power" line was interesting.

I've thought of him as a potential pure hitter who hopefully has enough power to be OK. Or whose HR/doubles production might be more decent than his BP-power might anticipate, just because he hits the ball square more often than guys with light-tower BP power who rarely get to that in games.

 

But to have one or two of Law's scouting friends say they think he might have middle-of-the-order power, based on some instrux BP and a couple of games, suggests that maybe even his raw BP power potential looks decent.

[CubinNY]

Law is one of those guys who are down on everyone because that is the safest place to be. It's easier to bag on every prospect because more times than not it's a good bet. But he always really seems to be down on the Cubs, maybe rightly so, but he's kind of a dick about it ALL THE TIME.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

 

Hello

[Bertz]

 

Hello

 

No velo readings on the Cleveland broadcast but I thought he looked really good just now too

[CubsWin]

 

Hello

 

No velo readings on the Cleveland broadcast but I thought he looked really good just now too

Yeah, no readings or mentions by the broadcasters on Keegan's velocity, but they did mention Megill hitting 97 on one pitch.

[craig]

..

Yeah, no readings or mentions by the broadcasters on Keegan's velocity, but they did mention Megill hitting 97 on one pitch.

 

I heard them mention a 99 for Megill.

[CubsWin]

..

Yeah, no readings or mentions by the broadcasters on Keegan's velocity, but they did mention Megill hitting 97 on one pitch.

 

I heard them mention a 99 for Megill.

Nice! I must've missed that one. With 3 option years left, he's got plenty of time to continue refining his command of that velocity without being DFA'd. He can be given opportunities when the 26-man roster needs an extra reliever and see how he does. He seems to have late-inning/high leverage potential. If he stays healthy (which has been an issue in the past) and improves his command a bit, he has a shot at replacing Kimbrel as the Cubs next closer. Will be fun to follow.

[jersey cubs fan]

[Bertz]

 

[OleMissCub]

Maybe if teams paid minor leaguers a living wage they wouldn’t resort to being a drug mule

[CaliforniaRaisin]

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Yeesh on the no official games at the complexes.

 

[Bertz]

Yeesh on the no official games at the complexes.

 

 

I'm curious how much of this is shoved down Baseball Ops' throats versus how much they agreed was a good idea. Like, do they think with kids that young it's better to have loosely defined "games" and mostly focus on weights/mechanics/nutrition/etc.? I'm guessing no, but I'd believe yes?

 

And I probably need to sit on it more, but I think I like the changes to the calendar in future years. I've liked how in ST this year there's been a higher proportion of "real" players in each game. Like as fun as a stray inning or two from Kohl Franklin would be, I'm happy that the lineup isn't dominated by 26 year olds ticketed for High A by the end of every game. And I've always hated the minor league season ending so much earlier than the major league one, so I'm unequivocally happy on the back end.

[CubsWin]

I don't subscribe but saw this bit on BN:

 

https://theathletic.com/2456688/2021/03/17/brennen-davis-and-the-cubs-stacked-2018-draft-class/

 

A future reliever, Roberts has opened some eyes with videos he’s posted online during the shutdown that show some impressive velocity gains. Once sitting around 89 mph and occasionally touching 93, Roberts has been seen touching 96-97. That’s indoors and not facing hitters, so the Cubs want to temper expectations before they see what he can do when he gets to minor-league camp. But he certainly wasn’t doing that before.

 

His fastball is unique and plays through the zone. He also has a slider and changeup, with the breaking ball being the better of the two secondaries as it plays well off the elevated, rising fastball. That gives Roberts two plus pitches for someone who’s shown to be a solid strike-thrower. The pitching development staff is excited to get him in camp, and there’s a chance he could be a fast mover if he continues to progress.

 

FTR he topped out at 98 and during one of those max effort throws topped 100. He's one of the more skilled pitchers in the system, looking forward to seeing what he does in 2021

Me too.

 

Roberts is one of a growing list of relievers with reported off season velocity jumps (Brendon Little, Bryan Hudson) and arms that were already throwing in the mid-to-upper 90s (Burl Carraway, Manuel Rodriguez, Hunter Bigge, Luke Little, Max Bain, Ben Leeper, etc.)

 

Along with Roberts and the reliever crowd, there are some really interesting young starting candidates that have an opportunity to establish themselves as prospects to watch. Heading up that list for me is Benjamin Rodriguez. Also interested to see if guys like Richard Gallardo, DJ Herz, Yovanny Cruz and Tyler Schlaffer can take a noticeable step forward. Does Jeremiah Estrada have his pre-injury stuff? How advanced is Koen Moreno?

 

Should be a fun season!

[craig]

Assuming there is just camp ball, instrux, but no Az League games this summer, we'll need to count on Az Phil to give us some notes on the developmental guys. Ben Rodriguez, Montero, DJ, Schlafer, we're not going to get any box-score games for those guys. Pretty much depending on instrux-type feedback from Az Phil to get any buzz on those guys.