Minor League Discussion & Boxes, 6-4-25

[craig]

20 minutes ago, Rcal10 said:

Wicks’ year has been a bust. I am not ready to call him a bust, just yet. 

Any more thoughts on that?  

What could you envision for him as a pathway to big-league success?  

Pitch-labs are always fiddling, so maybe there's a way.  Beats me.  Totally reinvent himself? Go Brad Keller, somehow add 3-5 mph and become a power pitcher?  Reinvent into a side-arm slinger?  Or do you think the existing guy is close, doesn't need to reinvent, just needs to get a tweak more consistent and locate a little bit better, and he might make it work? 

[FloridaCubbie]

1. How is Ballesteros' pitch framing?
2. If he has an ok arm and blocks well, do you need anything more defensively to play catcher in the future with PitchCom and ABS ending framing?

[mul21]

10 hours ago, FloridaCubbie said:

1. How is Ballesteros' pitch framing?
2. If he has an ok arm and blocks well, do you need anything more defensively to play catcher in the future with PitchCom and ABS ending framing?

Yeah, there's still the art/science of calling a game.  As much as I despised him all those years, Molina was probably about the best there's ever been at that and you'll hear almost every pitcher who ever threw to him say that.  Definitely still some learning to do there for Mo.

[Jason Ross]

18 hours ago, craig said:

Any more thoughts on that?  

What could you envision for him as a pathway to big-league success?  

Pitch-labs are always fiddling, so maybe there's a way.  Beats me.  Totally reinvent himself? Go Brad Keller, somehow add 3-5 mph and become a power pitcher?  Reinvent into a side-arm slinger?  Or do you think the existing guy is close, doesn't need to reinvent, just needs to get a tweak more consistent and locate a little bit better, and he might make it work? 

This is pretty "down" on Wicks and calling him a bust right now is...extreme? I don't think he needs half of what you're suggesting here. Its probably as simple as "stay healthy". He was making really encouraging progress last year and then got hurt and missed most of it. This year, he started off pretty solid, was thrown into an MLB role I don't think he's super-suited for (BP) went back to Triple-A, and then got hurt. 

As is, he's got the ingredients to be a solid, if unspectacular MLB arm. That's big-league-success. He's got a good changeup and a fastball that's ticked up the last two years. I don't think he's a star, but "capable #4" feels on the table if/when Wicks can get healthy. Maybe he can't, he's a pitcher, and pitchers are greatly impacted by injuries. And if you want to say you're unsure if he has his MLB success here I think that's a fair wonder t this stage, but not impossible in the slightest...pitchers get hurt and open spots for others pretty often. But lets get him healthy before we call a player a bust. He's 25, not 30. 

[Bertz]

Also worth noting that he is pitching in a park/league where an .800 OPS is barely above average.