2012 Minor Leagues/Prospect Discussion Thread

Al_Oliver · Post #361 » by **Al_Oliver** » Tue Apr 24, 2012 3:16 pm

Jays taking a look at Rice football player...

http://www.chron.com/sports/rice/articl ... 504459.php

Graham's Cracker · Post #362 » by **Graham's Cracker** » Tue Apr 24, 2012 4:03 pm

baulderdash77 wrote:Hechavarria is still killing it in Vegas although the power numbers are normalizing with more appearances.

In 202 PA's in the PCL he's now at .356/.396/.479. Amazing for a guy to just become a good hitter after struggling to .248/.286/.351 in 775 PA's in AA.

I know he's made changes to his swing and approach but that's a 238 point increase in his OPS with the level change.

It's strange that d'Arnaud is really struggling. Hard to pine for him over JPA when he's hitting just .220 in that dustbox they call a stadium.

You wonder how much the transition to North America plays a factor in his development. It has to be tough for a player with the culture change and what not. It could take an adjustment.

flatjacket1 · Post #363 » by **flatjacket1** » Tue Apr 24, 2012 5:08 pm

baulderdash77 wrote:It's strange that d'Arnaud is really struggling. Hard to pine for him over JPA when he's hitting just .220 in that dustbox they call a stadium.

D'Arnaud is hitting the ball well and hard so far in AAA, has a BABIP of only .255, which is an all time low in the Jays system (last year his BABIP was .365, and the year before that .312.)

It's worth noting he is striking out less than he ever has in the Jays system, and walking WAY more than he ever has in the past. (11.8% compared to 7.1% in his amazing 2011).

Still a great defensive catcher with a .309 OBP this season, I would rank him above JPA to be honest. I bet he could hit for a higher average and on base percentage than JPA even if he was called up today, with much better defense as well.

Wally West · Post #364 » by **Wally West** » Tue Apr 24, 2012 5:48 pm

In order news, The Lugnuts have a day game today. Aaron Sanchez got the start and pitched three shutout innings, one hit, three walks, seven K's. Nicolino is on to pitch now.

dennistokyo · Post #365 » by **dennistokyo** » Wed Apr 25, 2012 2:47 am

Snider's starting to strike out a little more lately. I still hope they bring him up soon.

Al_Oliver · Post #366 » by **Al_Oliver** » Wed Apr 25, 2012 2:55 pm

dennistokyo wrote:Snider's starting to strike out a little more lately. I still hope they bring him up soon.

seriously, I can't take any more of Eric "Trick or Treat" Thames in LF... (Bill Simmons' old man gets credit for the nickname. He called Tony Allen that when he was on the Celtics)

Drake_02 · Post #367 » by **Drake_02** » Wed Apr 25, 2012 9:32 pm

I don't like Thames either, but really, we're 17 games in. I don't see a change happening until they get around the 40 games played mark.

Relentless88 · Post #368 » by **Relentless88** » Thu Apr 26, 2012 1:37 am

Deck McGuire with 7 earned runs on 9 hits in 3 innings. 2 strike outs and 1 walk allowed.

Lateral Quicks · Post #369 » by **Lateral Quicks** » Thu Apr 26, 2012 3:04 pm

Relentless88 wrote:Deck McGuire with 7 earned runs on 9 hits in 3 innings. 2 strike outs and 1 walk allowed.

Uggh, so much for Deck moving quickly through the system. Jenkins has looked more encouraging, and I'd expect to see him at some point this season with the big club.

Wally West · Post #370 » by **Wally West** » Thu Apr 26, 2012 5:37 pm

Andrew (Toronto)
Who has the higher ceiling between Dwight Smith Jr. and Jacob Anderson?

Klaw
Anderson. Not even close.

Post #371 » by **Schad** » Fri Apr 27, 2012 4:58 am

Relentless88 wrote:Deck McGuire with 7 earned runs on 9 hits in 3 innings. 2 strike outs and 1 walk allowed.

I might have thought less of Deck than anyone, and even I didn't see this coming. Little bit of bad luck on balls in play, but he's getting rocked on the merits at the moment.

Wally West · Post #372 » by **Wally West** » Fri Apr 27, 2012 7:30 am

Still could be too early to tell but why did we pass on Chris Sale to draft Deck McGuire if we wanted a college guy that could move through our system quickly?

SharoneWright · Post #373 » by **SharoneWright** » Fri Apr 27, 2012 6:38 pm

blackflash234 wrote:Still could be too early to tell but why did we pass on Chris Sale to draft Deck McGuire if we wanted a college guy that could move through our system quickly?

I believe his mechanics raised concerns for potential injury.

There There · Post #374 » by **There There** » Fri Apr 27, 2012 6:40 pm

Didn't see any mention here, but Kevin Goldstein had some Midwest League notes at BP yesterday.

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=16676

It's brief, and not all that surprising on Nicolino or Sanchez, although I thought Nicolino was more in the 89-92 range, but it's not very flattering of Syndergaard

Here's some excerpts

Sanchez, basically echoing what Law said about him in minor league camp this spring

He not only has the best statistics, but also the best stuff, with a plus curve and a fastball that ranges from 91-97 mph

Nicolino

“He could be the first to get to the big leagues, but it's hard to get too excited about a guy throwing 87-91 mph,” said one scout. “I really liked him, but it's hard to see him as more than a No. 4 or 5 starter.”

Syndergaard

Failing to impress, despite striking out 17 in 11 2/3 innings is power righty Noah Syndergaard, who has been getting into the mid-90s with his fastball, but showing little else. “He throws this low-70s breaking ball, and it just doesn't really do anything,” said one scout. “It's a 30 pitch right now and he doesn't have much of a changeup. Based on what I had read on him, I expected way more.”

Wally West · Post #375 » by **Wally West** » Fri Apr 27, 2012 7:30 pm

SharoneWright wrote:
blackflash234 wrote:Still could be too early to tell but why did we pass on Chris Sale to draft Deck McGuire if we wanted a college guy that could move through our system quickly?

I believe his mechanics raised concerns for potential injury.

Oh I see. I'd also guess him being 6'6" and weighing just 180lb scared us off as well.

Graham's Cracker · Post #376 » by **Graham's Cracker** » Sat Apr 28, 2012 3:05 am

There There wrote:Didn't see any mention here, but Kevin Goldstein had some Midwest League notes at BP yesterday.

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=16676

It's funny the scout says don't get too excited because Nicolino is effective but just throws 87-91 while don't get too excited about Syndergaard because he throws mid-90's and not much else. Guys are producing exciting results at every stop so far. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt in the meantime. VInce Horsman is getting some results from some lesser prospects as well. I'm excited to see how these guys can improve over the course of the year.

baulderdash77 · Post #377 » by **baulderdash77** » Sun Apr 29, 2012 1:17 pm

I think with hitting prospects, it's not a bad idea to look at their last 10 games sometimes

Travis D'Arnaud is hitting better. His BABIP was pretty low earlier in the season. In his last 10 he's hitting .300/.370/.525 with 2HR.

Before going down with injury (MRI was negative) Snider's last 10 was .378/.477/.622 with 1 HR. He had more walks than SO 7:5

David Cooper doing what David Cooper does 10 games : .395/.435/.674 with 1 HR but 9 doubles.

Hech still holding his own .311/.373/.422 in the last 10.

Gose continues to struggle in AAA with a .215/.305/.290. 4 SB in the last 10 games.

I don't really consider any of our AA hitters real prospects. So down in A+ we have:

Marisnick is really heating up :.365/.383/.644 with 3 HR in his last 10. Don't be surprised if he gets promoted in June as our AA team has no decent hitters.

Crouse & Knecht are doing so bad I won't post their stats.

flatjacket1 · Post #378 » by **flatjacket1** » Sun Apr 29, 2012 4:27 pm

Last night was a great night for our AAA players.

Hech: 2 for 5 with a walk and both hits were doubles
Cooper: 4 for 5 with a HR and two of his hits being doubles
Travis d'Arnaud: 3 for 5 with a HR

Carreno also did nicely,
6.1 innings, 6 hits, 1 walk, 5 strikeouts and 3 ER (That's good by Vegas standards)

Lateral Quicks · Post #379 » by **Lateral Quicks** » Sun Apr 29, 2012 6:23 pm

baulderdash77 wrote:I think with hitting prospects, it's not a bad idea to look at their last 10 games sometimes

Travis D'Arnaud is hitting better. His BABIP was pretty low earlier in the season. In his last 10 he's hitting .300/.370/.525 with 2HR.

Before going down with injury (MRI was negative) Snider's last 10 was .378/.477/.622 with 1 HR. He had more walks than SO 7:5

David Cooper doing what David Cooper does 10 games : .395/.435/.674 with 1 HR but 9 doubles.

Hech still holding his own .311/.373/.422 in the last 10.

Gose continues to struggle in AAA with a .215/.305/.290. 4 SB in the last 10 games.

I don't really consider any of our AA hitters real prospects. So down in A+ we have:

Marisnick is really heating up :.365/.383/.644 with 3 HR in his last 10. Don't be surprised if he gets promoted in June as our AA team has no decent hitters.

Crouse & Knecht are doing so bad I won't post their stats.

Gose is having just about the worst possible start you could imagine right now. You have to figure he'll turn it around sooner rather than later.

d'Arnaud, Hech, and Marisnick continue to look like very exciting prospects.

-MetA4- · Post #380 » by **-MetA4-** » Mon Apr 30, 2012 6:55 pm

According to Gerry M the piggybacking schedule for the Lansing pitchers is:

8 starts at 3 innings, 8 starts at 4 innings, remainder of starts at 5 innings. This will have them throwing 5 innings in the playoffs.

He also said that the first four pitches for Sanchez yesterday were 97, 96, 95 and 96 and that the readings didn't come from the Lansing stadium board (which tends to run hot and inconsistent). Said that Sanchez was ahead of Syndergaard from what he's seen so far.