2019 Minor Leagues/Prospect Discussion Thread

[LBJSeizedMyID]

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-league-stew/top-blue-jays-prospect-lives-in-a-van-by-the-ocean-002109962.html

Daniel Norris and how he gets to spring training from Johnson City, Tennessee to Dunedin. He makes frequent stops to surf and lives in his van during the road trip.

"[The Blue Jays] have expressed concern as far as living in the van. For them, it's just, 'Why?' They've kind of said, 'Well, we don't think that's a very good idea.' I said, 'You've got to understand, I've been doing stuff like this my whole life,'" explained Norris.
"They've kind of said, 'Well, OK, but we don't get it,' and I'm kind of like, 'I don't expect you to get it -- that's OK.'"

Another article on MILB.com

http://www.milb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20150121&content_id=106463954&fext=.jsp&vkey=news_milb

"I had the French press out, making some coffee," recalled the Blue Jays' top prospect. "A guy hops out of his van. It was one of the old Astrovans, pretty cool -- I just have a Volkswagen -- and the guy hops out and says, 'You got any extra for me?'"

Norris did. As they sat and drank their cups of joe, the man noticed something atypical in the Volkswagen.

"I had my Blue Jays bag with all of my gear in the back," Norris said. "He looked at it and said, 'What's this?' I tried to just kind of brush it off, 'Oh, that's just my bag.' 'Blue Jays? You play for them or something?' I said, 'Well, yeah, I do... ' He was like, 'Why are you doing this? What are you living out of a van? You don't hear about that much. Usually, you guys are driving Ferraris.'"

[Bigdaddy1980]

Can anyone with insider access post a Jays related recap of Keith Law's top 100?

[Bigdaddy1980]

http://www.bluebirdbanter.com/2015/1/29/7944863/three-blue-jays-on-keith-laws-top-100-mlb-prospects For those interested

Norris #18
Pompey #42
Sanchez #51

[dagger]

How old is Vladdie 2.0?

Guy is going to have a body like Charles Barkley, with a Kardashian-like butt.

Talk about torque, little Papi!

[tweet]https://twitter.com/JesseSanchezMLB/status/564792117701013504[/tweet]

[Fairview4Life]

PAGING SCHADENFREUDE

http://www.arizonawildcats.com/ViewArti ... M_ID=30700

[satyr9]

PAGING SCHADENFREUDE

http://www.arizonawildcats.com/ViewArti ... M_ID=30700

He's really grown into the title. It's almost an onomatopoeia.

[Kinger95]

Anyone this we are actually in the Yoan Moncada sweeps?

I doubt it too but it is quite the oppertunnity as he is said to be a better prospect than all the other Cubans and his similarity to Cano is visible scouts say. He would be the no.1 pick in the draft so you know he's gonna be coveted by most clubs but he plays 2B our biggest weakness so it would be a good match for both sides. Add on top I heard the the Cubs, red sox and yanks are over the bonus allotment and can't offer a bonus over 250k. Those are usually the teams to bid up internationals so mabey we can take advantage? Doubtful...,

[Schad]

PAGING SCHADENFREUDE

http://www.arizonawildcats.com/ViewArti ... M_ID=30700

Yeah, I read that on Deadspin while I was at work, and instinctively Googled "Handsome Monica scouting report". Won't delete it from the search history in the one-in-a-million chance that someone sees it.

[satyr9]

Anyone this we are actually in the Yoan Moncada sweeps?

I doubt it too but it is quite the oppertunnity as he is said to be a better prospect than all the other Cubans and his similarity to Cano is visible scouts say. He would be the no.1 pick in the draft so you know he's gonna be coveted by most clubs but he plays 2B our biggest weakness so it would be a good match for both sides. Add on top I heard the the Cubs, red sox and yanks are over the bonus allotment and can't offer a bonus over 250k. Those are usually the teams to bid up internationals so mabey we can take advantage? Doubtful...,

This is wrong. Cubs are over, as is Texas I believe, they blew their budget last year. But BOS, NYY, and LAD have all already spent over this year, so there's literally no disincentive to keep going this year and buy Moncada, other than the huge tax anyone would pay. As long as he signs before July 2nd, and he 100% will 'cause he doesn't want LAD and NYY out of the bidding, they're in it.

That's also why there's a 0.00% chance the Jays have even imagined trying to sign Moncada. Don't listen to casual conjecture, the business of MLB makes the Jays a total non-entity in the Moncada sweepstakes. Not only is it something like 80m for a prospect (40m for him and 40m for MLB) and obviously we're not set-up for that kind of commitment. The long rumored and virtually certain Vlad Jr. signing cannot happen until after July 2nd and if we were to sign Moncada we'd have to renege on that deal (the penalty you're mentioning applies for two years after you go over. They could do that I guess, but IFA stuff is still very much about relationships. Going back on a deal like that now would do more harm than just losing Vlad Jr. We usually get first dibs on Carlos Guillen's camp kids and he might not continue that relationship if we became flip-floppers (well really he'd use the leverage of that perception to get a better deal, we don't have to pretend there's a single ethical thing happening in the IFA market).

Not to mention giving away a prospect of Vlad's calibre signing for 3m in order to spend 25 times as much on a prospect like Moncada just makes no sense for a team with our financial structures.

[Kinger95]

Thanks. Is Moncada even worth that money? If you pay 40 million bonus, plus 40 million tax and then say a contract similar to Abreu/Tomas in the 6 years 68 mill range that's 150 mill for a prospect. At that cost he can't even provide that kinda value really

[satyr9]

Thanks. Is Moncada even worth that money? If you pay 40 million bonus, plus 40 million tax and then say a contract similar to Abreu/Tomas in the 6 years 68 mill range that's 150 mill for a prospect. At that cost he can't even provide that kinda value really

There's no second contract, at least not for a long time. It's like buying the first overall pick in the draft for 40m and then signing him for 40m (the only reason you're even paying the 40m tax is 'cause MLB wants IFA to be cheap on their bottom line so they discourage this kind of inflation). With that you get Moncada's development period and then 6 years of MLB control (currently that's 2-3 years at about 500k salary then 3-4 years of arbitration). Guys like Abreu, Tomas, Castillo, etc... don't qualify as amateur IFA, which is the capped signing with all the tax. They're basically just UFA for anyone to sign as they're already old enough to qualify as professionals.

[Schad]

Yeah, the bonus madness with Moncada stems from age: as an under-23 player, he is subject to the same system as the July 1st babes under the latest CBA agreement, and consequently he isn't receiving a contract with money spread over X years...he's getting a massive lump-sum bonus for nothing but his rights, the structure of which is the same as any other 'amateur' entering the system.

[Graham's Cracker]

9 months removed from Tommy John surgery, #BlueJays @hoff_23 is showing why he is already one of #MLB's top 100 prospects.
[instagram]http://instagram.com/p/zAeRochunG/[/instagram]

[satyr9]

Just based on where that's paused, I think you can see he's not going to be kind to that elbow during his career.

While a huge majority of MLBers don't really conform, 'cause it gives you some extra juice, proper form is that by the time the front foot plants, your forearm is already vertical, so you're not whipping it over and forcing all that pressure onto your elbow.

Combine the fact he's the gangliest freakazoid with like a 94 foot forearm, then unless his elbow socket gets replaced with a quantum titanium flux capacitor he stands a very good chance of blowing it out again. And of course as you all know I'm a professional scout, James Andrews' personal consultant, and Superman (for the X-Ray eyes that can see his ligaments), so you know I'm completely right about this.

[Lateral Quicks]

I don't know about the elbow, but as whole his mechanics look pretty great. Granted he's not throwing at max effort, but that balance is just beautiful. I also don't see any evidence of Shaun Marcum syndrome (pointing his forearm down during the windup).

Really though we'll all need more than a crappy vine from one angle to get a better idea. I think for pretty much every pitcher it's possible to take a freeze frame of their windup at one or more spots in their delivery and find something that looks awful.

[phillipmike]

Fangraphs came out with their top 200 prospects...

Jays have 8 in the top 200 which has tied them for 8th overall with Minnesota and Colorado. The Braves and the Cubs had the most with 11.

17. Daniel Norris (FV: 60)
67. Jeff Hoffman (FV: 55)
70. Aaron Sanchez (FV: 55)
80. Dalton Pompey (FV: 50)
93. Max Pentecost (FV: 50)
119. Roberto Osuna (FV: 50)
NR. Travis and Reid-Foley (FV: 45)

The only profiled 143 prospects which mean they didnt rank the final 57. But Travis and Reid-Foley where in the top 200 but were not ranked.

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/top-200-prospects-the-process-and-introduction/
http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-fangraphs-top-200-prospect-list/

Other Notables:

19. Noah Syndergaard (FV: 60)
79. Franklin Barreto (FV: 55)
134. Tyler Beede (FV: 50)

--------------------------------------------

Baseball Prospectus came out with their organizational rankings with the Jays coming in at number 10.

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/artic ... leid=25592

10. Toronto Blue Jays
Farm System Ranking in 2014: 12
2015 Top Ten Prospects: Link
Top Prospect: Aaron Sanchez (25)
Prospects on the BP 101: 4
State of the System: Consistently known for having a deep arsenal of boom or bust prospects, the Blue Jays continue to impress the scouting community with high-ceiling talents that are beginning to reach the major-league level. Led by big-league ready prospects Aaron Sanchez, Daniel Norris, and Dalton Pompey, and the addition of first-rounder and potential front of the rotation arm Jeff Hoffman, the top of the Blue Jays system could offer some awe-inspiring talent. Coming behind that impressive group, Jays fans can look forward to the development of left-hander Jairo Labourt, right-handers Miguel Castro, Roberto Osuna, and Alberto Tirado, and the wild card that is Anthony Alford. Even with the impending graduations of Sanchez, Norris, and Pompey, the Blue Jays still should have one of the top systems in the game.
Must-See Affiliate: Low-A Lansing
Prospects to See There: Jairo Labourt, Max Pentecost, Sean Reid-Foley, Matt Smoral, Alberto Tirado

[dagger]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/jimcallisMLB/status/568083182148571136[/tweet]

His raw numbers, coming back from TJ surgery, really do jump out at you: 9BB, 62K in 63 innings and a WHIP under 1.00. If he masters Lansing, I can see him at Dunedin before too long.

[tecumseh18]

Regardless of what happens this season with the big club, I wouldn't be happy to see AA go. His 2014 draft (and signings) were terrific in terms of obtaining high upside guys, 3 of whom are already in Fangraphs' top 200 above. He made some mistakes early on, but apparently learned from them and by now has completely moved out of Riccardi's shadow. I expect no more Deck McGuire's.

[dagger]

Cribbing this from Bluejays Banter, which lifted it from an article Shi Davidi wrote for Baseball America re Dwight Smith Jr..

By no means is a position switch set in stone for the 22-year-old, who is coming off a season at high Class A Dunedin in which he hit .284/.363/.453 in 121 games and led the Florida State League in both runs (83) and extra-base hits (48).

Smith appears destined for Double-A New Hampshire in 2015, but his bat may profile better in the infield.

"(Smith) worked closely with (roving infield instructor) Mike Mordecai, and he worked at it religiously," assistant general manager Tony LaCava said. "Mordecai was pleased with how he looked, so we're going to take a look at it."

[Nights King]

Smith Jr to 2B has been a thing for a while now, he even got some in starts in the AFL at second base.


It'll be interesting, i am very high on him compared to others, his offensive profile suggests a high floor so he can carve out a big league career if he's even slightly below average at 2B.