Minor League Musings

[craig]

B12 leaderboard: https://big12sports.com/stats.aspx?path=baseball&year=2021

SEC leaderboard: https://14powers.com/sec-baseball/2021-sec-baseball-statistics/

[craig]

.....Glad to read some positive Hearn stuff. I’m a fan of the general profile: good defensive catcher, good size, top rated amateur (#1 HS catcher in 2018), LHH, some approach including getting the ball in the air…Plenty to like moving forward, think there’s a shot at a serious prospect between the three young LHH catchers (he, Quintero, and Ballesteros)...

 

It would be super cool if Hearn would emerge with some hitting capacity. Part of the fun of prospect watching is having weird and uniquely unexpected developments happen. More often that's with pitchers than hitters, but it would just be really fun if a guy like Hearn or Quintero would pop up and hit.

 

Not sure I've ever seen a prospect K over 50% over a sample size of almost 200 AB. Hearn had 100K in 193 AB. Seems like a really nice, easy-to-like guy, I wish him all the best. Same for Howard, of course, who seems all class.

[We Got The Whole 9]

According to Brozdowski, Herz says he's gained about 10 lbs and feels like he can sit 95 now, along with the added spin-efficiency on his curve. In for a big year.

[craig]

....

Howard appears to have muscled up since his time at Myrtle Beach. He looks taller than 6-foot-2 and appears heavier than 185 pounds. His stature is imposing.... Triantos’s lower half is the opposite of Hernández’s. He’s thick and built like a tree trunk, incredibly explosive and powerful for his size. He looks like a running back more than an infielder.

 

Thanks for all those links and info, Tom. Love it!

 

On the Marquee article, they showed a little Howard film, and at one point Triantos was also in the picture. Howard was clearly taller, significantly so, than Triantos. I'd have guessed a good two inches taller? I kinda wonder if Triantos's 6'1" is a little on the high side, but if he's a full 6'1", I'd think Howard must be at 6'3". Maybe it's more 6'.05"-rounding up to 6'2.5, or something like that.

 

But yeah, Howard looks to be really in great shape, he's a physical specimen for sure.

 

The references to Triantos showing serious, explosive power is fun. Effective game power is obviously largely a function of hitting the ball square and having balanced swings that apply weight-transfer and stuff. So I guess I'd wondered whether Triantos was a guy who might hit HR's just because he's such a good hitter, without necessarily having exceptional power. But man it would be fun to combine really good power with a really good hitter both.

 

The reference to Little having lots of movement on his fastball was interesting. Sometimes the really fast guys don't have lots of life. Having both would be a cool combination. Will be curious to see how he performs this summer and what kind of command, if any, he'll be able to show. I've assumed he be a stay-in-Mesa guy; but I wonder if there's any chance he's advanced enough that they'll actually start him at Myrtle?

[Bertz]

[craig]

Franklin throwing 97-99 is very encouraging. It reminds me of the recentism nature of rankings. When a guy's been missing for a while, his ranking naturally slides. Will he come back? Healthy? Will lost development time and physical rehab ruin his command?

 

Last year, Brailyn was typically ranked 1, 2, or 3; and Franklin and Thompson were typically in the top 10 or close. Would be super cool if all three came back healthy, as fast (Brailyn) or faster than before (Franklin, Thompson), and with as good or better repertoire's than before.

 

It's kinda hard to know what guys have or haven't been able to work on during time missed. I suspect the Cubs are VERY cautious with prospects, so even when they didn't appear in games, they may still have done plenty of work and made developmental progress anyway?

 

Brailyn, Thompson, McAvene, who knows what they'll look like when they reappear. But it's not impossible that when they do, they'll perhaps look better and considerably more developed than they did before?

[craig]

Nwogu has a really strange, funky, awkward-looking stance and load in that video. I'd seen a clip of him swinging earlier in camp, and also thought his stroke looked really bizaree then too. *IF* he ever ends up being a successful major leaguer, I can't imagine he'll end up with the stance and load that he's using now.

[Bertz]

 

Lots of great stuff here, but an implication that PCA might start out at South Bend is by far the most noteworthy.

[craig]

 

Lots of great stuff here, but an implication that PCA might start out at South Bend is by far the most noteworthy.

 

The actual line from the article was: "There is still a month to go before the minor-league season starts, but there’s a chance we could see a pretty aggressive assignment for Crow-Armstrong."

 

PCA had 24 AB as a pro. To skip a full-season level and jump him all the way to A+ would be VERY aggressive. To some degree, skipping short-season and going straight to Myrtle would still qualify as being relatively aggressive for a 24-AB pro.

 

As a California kid, I wonder if they'd like to challenge him with some Midwest-league spring weather, just to experience it a little? Or if that's the last thing they'd want, for a post-injury guy, and where going up to the cold north and batting .135 for the first month could be kind of a confidence-killer?

[craig]

Drew Gray had TJ surgery. Bummer, there was SO much enthusiasm about him. Too bad.

[craig]

Brailyn, Vizcaino, and Espinoza are three pitchers who I'm glad will be able to get into camp and start pitching. Glad for them the CBA is resolved.

 

Canario and Velasquez are probably the hitters for whom I'm most glad they can get back to work.

[Bertz]

 

Lots of great stuff here, but an implication that PCA might start out at South Bend is by far the most noteworthy.

 

The actual line from the article was: "There is still a month to go before the minor-league season starts, but there’s a chance we could see a pretty aggressive assignment for Crow-Armstrong."

 

PCA had 24 AB as a pro. To skip a full-season level and jump him all the way to A+ would be VERY aggressive. To some degree, skipping short-season and going straight to Myrtle would still qualify as being relatively aggressive for a 24-AB pro.

 

As a California kid, I wonder if they'd like to challenge him with some Midwest-league spring weather, just to experience it a little? Or if that's the last thing they'd want, for a post-injury guy, and where going up to the cold north and batting .135 for the first month could be kind of a confidence-killer?

 

Those 24 ABs we're in full season ball though, and he looked great. I think Myrtle Beach has been the expectation. I definitely double taked when I saw the line, but the implication is certainly South Bend IMO.

[craig]

Thanks Bertz, great catch. I hadn't actually appreciated that those 24 AB were already in full-season ball. Good take.

[craig]

I hope PCA ends up being good. Seems like when a guy gets so hyped like this, sometimes the reality isn't quite as awesome. But sure would be fun if the guy can hit.

[CubinNY]

I'll also add for Crow-Armstrong's potential assignment, even before 35 full season PAs, that the quality of elite HS baseball in this country is at least on par with Rk ball and maybe even arguably very close to A ball given what we saw from 2020 HS draftees even Howard. We got a great in-house example with Triantos seamlessly translating last season, bringing the fun contact and power combo he showed on the HS circuit. High A would be aggressive but really it's still the low minors anyway, he's got the defense to give him a higher floor and maybe faster track than most, so on

No

[UK]

I always missed the collegiate equivalency to minor league debate.

 

The Friday stater and #3 hitter of a collegiate powerhouse likely can have the same tools as a SS/low A player but it's a broad brush to apply it every college player.

[sneakypower]

my expectations for PCA are set to: Denard Span

[Tim]

I'll also add for Crow-Armstrong's potential assignment, even before 35 full season PAs, that the quality of elite HS baseball in this country is at least on par with Rk ball and maybe even arguably very close to A ball given what we saw from 2020 HS draftees even Howard. We got a great in-house example with Triantos seamlessly translating last season, bringing the fun contact and power combo he showed on the HS circuit. High A would be aggressive but really it's still the low minors anyway, he's got the defense to give him a higher floor and maybe faster track than most, so on

No

 

I don’t think its close to a hard no these days, historically duh. It was almost standard esp in the back of the 2010s for a top HS player to come in, handle Rk ball after the draft then open in a full season league during their first full year with an org. Pretty much every HS first rounder from 2020 jumped straight to A ball and, as a whole, they did awesome. Top players, the ones you see in the first round esp, tend to have played against the best players in their age group on a national level for years and years before the HS draft let alone college

 

 

I’d also say college ball is on par with at least A ball if not a little better. Top prospects at that level during the last CBA even a little bit of the 2000s often opened up their first full season in High A

 

OTOH I do talk out of my ass

I don't think they're quite there. The best players routinely destroy HS baseball. They may have really good stats in rookie ball, but few put up the ludicrous numbers they do in HS. Same with college players and A ball.

[Bertz]

Beignet and the Jets: It’s the time of the season for backfield “buzz” on teams’ youngest prospects. I saw the Bleis writeup last week on the Red Sox list. Any other prospects immediately spring to mind as impressing evaluators enough to shoot up boards?

 

Kevin Goldstein: Peter Crow-Armstrong making some buzz in Cubs camp.

[Banedon]

[Bertz]

 

YES!

[CubinNY]

Vizcaino Taken off the 40 man and put on the restricted list.

[Bertz]

I think we already assumed Triantos would go to MB, but this makes it seem that much more likely to be the plan

 

[craig]

Vizcaino Taken off the 40 man and put on the restricted list.

 

I have vague and small-sample memory of what this might involve. Visa issue? PED suspension? Criminal/legal issues? Care for alcoholism or mental health?

[Bertz]

Vizcaino Taken off the 40 man and put on the restricted list.

 

I have vague and small-sample memory of what this might involve. Visa issue? PED suspension? Criminal/legal issues? Care for alcoholism or mental health?

 

I believe it's a catch-all for anything non baseball related? Given that he's on the 40 man and was locked out, visa issues seem very likely.