Minor League Musings

[We Got The Whole 9]

1 hour ago, Bertz said:

Fangraphs now has Statcast data (plate discipline, velocity, etc.) for AAA players.  As Brad notes later in the thread right now I only see it for players who have also played in MLB, so guys like Busch/Morel/etc.  I'm hoping that is just a temporary thing as this is clearly WIP.

 

I don't see it for Mervis, which is interesting. 

[Bertz]

4 minutes ago, We Got The Whole 9 said:

I don't see it for Mervis, which is interesting. 

I didn't initially see it last night when Brad first posted this so there might be phased rollout or something going on.

[Bertz]

So, it looks like you can add Statcast stats as columns on your custom dashboard?  So like if I do that I can see that e.g. Ben Brown's fastball averaged 95.6 last year, Riley Thompson averaged 93.8, etc.  

[Bertz]

Lots of good nuggets in here, with the biggest probably being Owen Caissie getting some work at 1B (finally!)

 

[CubinNY]

BA has the new dude, Cruz, as a top 15 prospect in the Cubs system. That is pretty lofty

[CaliforniaRaisin]

 

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Lot of high ceiling MIFs in one picture:

 

[Sammy Sofa]

Boy, I read that acronym WAY too fast from the Active Topics page.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Good interview:

 

[CubinNY]

16 minutes ago, CaliforniaRaisin said:

Good interview:

 

Agreed. He uses a lot of scoutspeak too. He's a really smart guy. The Cubs are lucky to have him. 

[Bertz]

 

 

[CaliforniaRaisin]

 

[CaliforniaRaisin]

 

[PackLandVA]

Purchased tickets the March 15 game: Is this something new between the two ballclubs?

 Spring Breakout: White Sox prospects at Cubs prospects

Is this something new between the two ballclubs? I don't recall this game from previous seasons. Tickets were only $15 for open seating. 

 

[CubinNY]

54 minutes ago, PackLandVA said:

Purchased tickets the March 15 game: Is this something new between the two ballclubs?

 Spring Breakout: White Sox prospects at Cubs prospects

Is this something new between the two ballclubs? I don't recall this game from previous seasons. Tickets were only $15 for open seating. 

 

I don't know but it is flipping awesome. 

[Rcal10]

38 minutes ago, CubinNY said:

I don't know but it is flipping awesome. 

General admission. I will be there as well. 

[CaliforniaRaisin]

7 hours ago, PackLandVA said:

Purchased tickets the March 15 game: Is this something new between the two ballclubs?

 Spring Breakout: White Sox prospects at Cubs prospects

Is this something new between the two ballclubs? I don't recall this game from previous seasons. Tickets were only $15 for open seating. 

 

Yes, it's new across all of MLB.

[Bertz]

Thought this was good.  I thought we were going to lose these with Bryan Smith riding off into the sunset.  Two things stood out to me:

- If BJ Murray has to start back at Tenn to save room for Chase Horsefeathering Strumpf we riot

- The position player group at SB and especially MB is not great.  After two years going arm arm arm in the draft the position player side really needs some love this next draft.  A couple of IFAs beyond Rojas popping would also do the trick

[Transmogrified Tiger]

2 minutes ago, Bertz said:

- The position player group at SB and especially MB is not great.  After two years going arm arm arm in the draft the position player side really needs some love this next draft.  A couple of IFAs beyond Rojas popping would also do the trick

Not entirely disagreeing with this, and honestly a decent chunk of it is having a 1st round bat fly past both levels by the end of last season.  That said I do think there's some sneaky potential in that group. Rojas is a hot pick to break out, there's several other infielders with the talent and timeline to put themselves on meaningful MLB paths(Hernandez, Paciolla, even Howard). Plus I suspect we'll be talking up Trice similar to how we've had conversations the last couple years with Mervis and McGeary.  The outfielders are definitely rough though, if the best option is either Brett Bateman trying to summon the ghost of Tony Campana and whatever remains of Ismael Mena's derailed hype train, there's very much room for improvement.  

Do we know what the plan is for Mule?  May not be at an affiliate right away and certainly some skepticism about any future with the bat, but he'd be a fun bit of upside to throw into the mix at Myrtle Beach as a 2 way player.

[Tim]

3 hours ago, TomtheBombadil said:

Bruh, Cubs prospect twitter stays trying to play Richard Gallardo out. He’s not going to be the 6th SP at Tennessee behind Franklin, Connor Noland, and Luis Devers. Every year with this and never even for good prospects lol 

——

Btw G. Zumach aka NAM here made a great case for Brennen Davis being a MLer in 2024 on the Cubs on Deck podcast. Essentially that high workload isn’t the goal this season but rather a healthy year so if he’s holding up early might as well work him into the OF mix see what happens

Hawkins and most outlets noted Davis’ defense has improved over time and so if he can get back to hard and hard enough flyballs you have an bench OF who can backup Bellinger eventually Crow-Armstrong in CF. Davis’ issues are less skill than injury related plus he’s been on the 40 forever so it makes sense intuitively, and I’ve been rambling about building a Rays-esque OF 5 deep since 2021 anyway. Frees up Canario and (hopefully at least a little this year) Caissie to hit ball hard 

It makes sense if (and only if) you believe that all his performance issues the past couple years are purely injury related.

I'm not sure I entirely buy that.

[Jason Ross]

I suspect we're going to look back on our lower levels and be happily surprised come the end of the season at some of the fun pop ups that come out of it. It's fair today to wonder where those prospects will come from, but there's a host of guys who have interest. We'll likely get our first extended (or even, for some, their first) looks this season at some recent draft picks like Paciolla, Mule, Wiggins, Carico, Sanders, Rosario who are very young but have some loud tools. As well, guys like Rujano, Arias, Rojas, should be a year further in their developments. The Cubs have also had some recent success finding college bats in rounds 12-20, so it wouldn't be surprising to see like, a Carter Trice, Brian Kalmer, or Jonathon Long to really break out at South Bend. 

The low levels lack the super-high draft picks right now that you're just jazzed at (thanks to guys like Shaw and Horton speed running those levels, and the recent trade of Ferris), but I think there's some real breakout candidates down there. I can't tell you which ones will or won't, but I really trust the Cubs developmental system right now and am confident we're going to find some guys to watch down there. 

[CubinNY]

I am interested in Michael Carico. He could be steal based on where he was drafted. 

[Transmogrified Tiger]

42 minutes ago, TomtheBombadil said:

Can you expand? I can see where I might agree - Davis also hasn’t played a ton of MiLB and always numbers could be cleaner and moar - but over the course a healthy Davis has demonstrated CF capable defender who can get the ball in the air with power and will take walks into the upper minors at a good age. What more is really needed out of a bench OF? 

Before being beset by injuries, Davis was excellent at AAA but only for 15 games.  Since then he has the haze of injuries clouding his performance, but only a 60 wRC+ at Iowa in over 400 PA.  It's still an open question if the bat can do even the targeted things you're mentioning at Iowa, never mind the MLB level.

[Tim]

2 minutes ago, TomtheBombadil said:

Idk even during the down years he’s maintained his ability to defend, walk (avg-double digits), and get the ball in the air (last year ran solid 40% GBs and 38% FBs) but the power got sapped (6% HR/FB last year). It shouldn’t take so long to see if he can hit the ball hard again in the day of EVs, and with the contract situations in the OF it hardly makes sense to have him spend all of 2024 in the minors hoping to get a line that would traditionally have him competing in camp for a bigger job   during 2025

 

There are serious questions whether he can demonstrate both strong contact rates and the ability to hit the ball hard at the same time. He's mostly done one or the other during his minor league career.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

20 minutes ago, TomtheBombadil said:

Idk even during the down years he’s maintained his ability to defend, walk (avg-double digits), and get the ball in the air (last year ran solid 40% GBs and 38% FBs) but the power got sapped (6% HR/FB last year). It shouldn’t take so long to see if he can hit the ball hard again in the day of EVs, and with the contract situations in the OF it hardly makes sense to have him spend all of 2024 in the minors hoping to get a line that would traditionally have him competing in camp for a bigger job   during 2025

 

He had a 49 wRC+ in Iowa last year, we can be encouraged by some of the peripherals while also acknowledging that he was far, far off the level of someone we can reasonably expect to be an MLB contributor.  And don't mistake this as me saying Davis has to be chained to Iowa all year, I think he can leapfrog Canario(who I am not especially bullish on) fairly quickly.  But on a team with competitive aspirations, I think you need to make him show that he's back in Iowa before giving him sporadic playing time in MLB, which would be 1) bad for the productivity for that roster spot and 2) not great for his long term outlook.