Minor League Discussion & Box, 4-14-24

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Scheduled Game (Central Time):

Iowa at St. Paul, 2:07 pm
Tennessee at Chattanooga, 1:15 pm
South Bend vs. Wisconsin, 1:05 pm
Myrtle Beach at Columbia, 4:05 pm

Probable Starters:

South Bend RHP Tyler Schlaffer (3 IP, 0.00 ERA, 5.66 FIP, 1 K, 2 BB)

[muntjack]

Think we'll see Rojas in some top 100 lists this summer?

[Hrubes20]

Matt Shaw is ridiculous. Took a walk in the 1st and hit a solo bomb in the 3rd. Both against former 1st rounder and top 100 prospect Chase Petty.  Been fine at 3B defensively as well. He’s a monster.

[Hrubes20]

Make that 2 bombs for Shaw. First one to right center. This one to left center. As I said, monster.

[sneakypower]

23 minutes ago, Hrubes20 said:

Matt Shaw is ridiculous. Took a walk in the 1st and hit a solo bomb in the 3rd. Both against former 1st rounder and top 100 prospect Chase Petty.  Been fine at 3B defensively as well. He’s a monster.

first HR he ambushed first pitch for an oppo blast, 2nd HR was on 1-2 offering, neither one the OFs tried chasing down in earnest; he rules

[Hrubes20]

On the flip side, Alcantara looks lost up there

[Bertz]

You probably have to push Shaw to Iowa right?  Like it's less than 30 PA's but he's got an OPS north of 1.500 with even Ks and BBs as I type this.

[Hrubes20]

10 minutes ago, Bertz said:

You probably have to push Shaw to Iowa right?  Like it's less than 30 PA's but he's got an OPS north of 1.500 with even Ks and BBs as I type this.

Definitely soon. It would be great to see how he handles some of the junkballers in AAA

[Illiterate Scholar]

My early season overreaction (is it?) would be that Shaw is the #1 prospect in the system 

Edited April 14, 2024 by Illiterate Scholar

[Bertz]

4 hours ago, Illiterate Scholar said:

My early season overreaction (is it?) would be that Shaw is the #1 prospect in the system 

I really hate swinging my opinions too much on such small samples but damn if I'm not just about here too

[Jason Ross]

4 hours ago, Illiterate Scholar said:

My early season overreaction (is it?) would be that Shaw is the #1 prospect in the system 

I think he's got an argument. It's not a winning argument IMO over Horton or PCA...yet. But he's got an argument. 

[Cubs420psd]

5 hours ago, Hrubes20 said:

On the flip side, Alcantara looks lost up there

Alcantara always seems to start really slow but yeah yikes.

[NOLA]

1 hour ago, Bertz said:

I really hate swinging my opinions too much on such small samples but damn if I'm not just about here too

horsefeathers that.  Shaw and Busch are going to be the best corner IF since Ramirez and Lee.  

But seriously, if PCA could ever figure it out that’s a fun nucleus.
 

 

[JBears79]

I'm not worried about KA yet. He always seems to start slow as he adjusts to a new league and then he explodes. Hopefully that pattern continues.

[Hrubes20]

15 hours ago, NOLA said:

horsefeathers that.  Shaw and Busch are going to be the best corner IF since Ramirez and Lee.  

But seriously, if PCA could ever figure it out that’s a fun nucleus.
 

 

You forget about Bryzzo so quickly?

[Transmogrified Tiger]

16 hours ago, TomtheBombadil said:

Is it messed up to go against the vibe and say Shaw’s not blowing up expectations? The leap in K rate isn’t worrysome in a “he’s going to be bad” way but more in a “I’d like to see everything all at once to react big” way. Taking walks and much fewer GBs on offense is nice but we’re a ways away from things settling down. 

I'd like to see the K rate a little lower too, but for it to go down without sacrificing BB would put him at a 1:1 K/BB, and I don't think he has to be at that level for me to consider him beating expectations.  Plus if he's making better swing decisions we'll expect the Ks to marginally increase along with the BBs as a function of more deep counts.  But zoom out a small bit and he's putting up cartoon results while demonstrating progress in the 2 big questions people have(swing decisions and IF defense).  Maybe AAA is the level where things get harder but it seems very fair to me to be pretty excited as things stand today.

[NOLA]

2 hours ago, Hrubes20 said:

You forget about Bryzzo so quickly?

KB peak time with the Cubs was pretty brief compared to D Lee and Aramis.

[squally1313]

4 minutes ago, NOLA said:

KB peak time with the Cubs was pretty brief compared to D Lee and Aramis.

Bored, putting off work, etc. 

D Lee/Aramis spent the entirety of 2004-2009 at the Cubs corner infield combo. Lee was traded late in 2010. For my own laziness, just going to look at the complete years. In that 6 year stretch, Lee put up 21.4 fWAR and Aramis put up 21.6 fWAR. 43 fWAR total. 

KB and Rizzo were the combo from 2015 (technically like 2 weeks into 2015 with the service time crap but we're counting it) through 2020 (covid), so basically 5.5 years. In that time, KB put up 27.9 fWAR and Rizzo put up 22.4 fWAR, 50.3 fWAR total. Really goes to show how elite KB was for a few years there. Here's to hoping Busch/Shaw can join them. 

[NOLA]

Who was the jerk that ran into D Lee in the base path and hurt his wrist?  He never really recovered from that.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

1 minute ago, NOLA said:

Who was the jerk that ran into D Lee in the base path and hurt his wrist?  He never really recovered from that.

Furcal

[Hrubes20]

1 hour ago, Transmogrified Tiger said:

Furcal

And Marcus Giles took out Prior.  Maybe that's why I subconsciously root against the Braves.

[NOLA]

13 minutes ago, Hrubes20 said:

And Marcus Giles took out Prior.  Maybe that's why I subconsciously root against the Braves.

Dusty Baker would like a word.  
 

But yeah, hated the Braves since Maddux left.

[Thusly Boned]

1 hour ago, NOLA said:

Dusty Baker would like a word.  
 

But yeah, hated the Braves since Maddux left.

On a related note, I was recently watching an interview with David Samson (former president of the Marlins) where he was asked about game 6/Bartman and he quickly said it shouldn't be called the Bartman game (or Alex Gonzalez), but said the game and series should be laid at the feet of Dusty Baker. Specifically his (ab)use of pitchers, Prior in particular. Specifically pointed at Prior throwing 120 pitches in the game 2 blowout.

I mean certainly nothing we don't already know very well, but was as little surprising coming so candidly from a former executive.

[We Got The Whole 9]

24 minutes ago, XZero77 said:

On a related note, I was recently watching an interview with David Samson (former president of the Marlins) where he was asked about game 6/Bartman and he quickly said it shouldn't be called the Bartman game (or Alex Gonzalez), but said the game and series should be laid at the feet of Dusty Baker. Specifically his (ab)use of pitchers, Prior in particular. Specifically pointed at Prior throwing 120 pitches in the game 2 blowout.

I mean certainly nothing we don't already know very well, but was as little surprising coming so candidly from a former executive.

Hmm, no mention of 21 year old Josh Beckett throwing 115 higher-stress pitches in do-or-die mode game 5?

[Thusly Boned]

6 minutes ago, We Got The Whole 9 said:

Hmm, no mention of 21 year old Josh Beckett throwing 115 higher-stress pitches in do-or-die mode game 5?

No, you know it's always easier to spot the flaws of others than our own.

But allowing a dominant Beckett to throw 115 in an elimination game that was only 2-0 until the almost the end was far more defensible than Prior going 116 in a 12-0 game 2.