Lee
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Not going to happen, I love spring training, but really have no time or desire to go to the rookie league out here, I just don't follow baseball like that.
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2018 Minor League Thread
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Not going to happen, I love spring training, but really have no time or desire to go to the rookie league out here, I just don't follow baseball like that.
sportscoach
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Slight joke, but I get ya, it would be nice if we could have someone down there watching these kids though
@EdMonix11 seems like you are the next one up! Anyone want to be a tribute for him or is he volunteered to do it? (Shoot I think any of us would do it if it paid the bills in a heartbeat lol)
BimboColesHair
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Love Tahnaj Thomas.
Easy 92-94 with movement and a decent change. Still has a long way to go, but he is very athletic for a pitcher and has a great frame. Scouting friend told me he’s just now learning how to throw breaking pitches, so he’s that raw as a pitcher...but also means his arm hasn’t been through the breaking pitch ringer while he was growing as a teen.
Feliz just has power stuff. Touching 97 at times with a power curve that plays off of it. Needs some refinement, obviously, but I can see him transitioning to a bullpen arm at some point.
And Vargas was the highest paid of those 3 for a reason. His raw stuff is crazy. Already touching 98-99, decent slider, meh change. He needs to figure out where his offspeed is going, but his natural stuff is crazy good.
It can’t be talked about enough just how crazy some of the body frames are in the lower levels right now.
sportscoach
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Krieger staying at AA to finish the year? He has hit .357 in July and seems to be in a nice groove right now with a 23 game hitting streak!
FrontPageNews
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What’s Brady Aiken up to? Haven’t heard anything about him since he was drafted. That injury must have really set him back.
sportscoach
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He hasn't pitched this season at all as far as I can tell. He is semi-active on twitter and talking about Cleveland Sports so he is at least being a fan of Cleveland.
My honest guess, maybe guys like @AZ_ and @BimboColesHair know more, is they are using this year to get him healthy, stronger and rebuilding thing from scratch. I expect him to be at low A to start next season, but we really won't see much of him this season.
sportscoach
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Okay someone else tag/message @BimboColesHair to get him in here and explain the Capel and Jhon Torres for Mercado trade for us! Capel I am familiar with the other two not as much especially Torres since he is an 18 year old 6'4 OF from Columbia.
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BimboColesHair
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Really liked Torres. He's kind of the anti-Will Benson.
Big kid with good plate discipline but still doesn't know how to use his frame to generate power that he should at 6'4.
But I think this was a "who can help me sooner" wash of a trade. I like Mercado, as he is something we don't really have in the system (a RHH OF who can play CF). Plate skills are improving, as is his power. Think he can contribute maybe late this year or early next, while the other 2 were ~3 years from contributing.
Big kid with good plate discipline but still doesn't know how to use his frame to generate power that he should at 6'4.
But I think this was a "who can help me sooner" wash of a trade. I like Mercado, as he is something we don't really have in the system (a RHH OF who can play CF). Plate skills are improving, as is his power. Think he can contribute maybe late this year or early next, while the other 2 were ~3 years from contributing.
BimboColesHair
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Saw this in the deadline thread, but figured I'd talk about it in here.
I think this is completely wrong for a few reasons, coach.
#1 being what I have heard he is trying to do with his swing. Anytime you toy with mechanics changes while playing your numbers are going to suffer, that's just how it goes. You do things one way for the first 10+ years of your baseball life, then completely change your swing, its going to be tough to produce. But what I have heard is he is shortening and simplifying his swing, bat placement is different, stride is different...the whole 9 yards. Usually when a young hitter shortens/simplifies and changes his swing, the power goes completely away, you over compensate and pull everything, and you K more than normal.
Kid is going to hit 20+ HRs, raised his balls put in play to the opposite field 10%, and will see his K rate drop 5% this season, while his BB rate has jumped 4%.
He could have chosen not to revamp his swing and produced similar numbers to last year, but I think a year like this is more beneficial than a year with his older mechanics (which I think would have capped his ceiling to a certain point) where he was "producing more". I actually think this is a needed thing from him.
#2 being his hit placement. Pretty much the same as last year. Similar LD%, FB%, GB%, pulling balls the same rate, going oppo more than he ever has...the difference between his first 2 years and this one? He had a .293 and .339 BABIP his 1st 2 years as a pro...his BABIP right now is .193. That is crazy low for someone who is putting the ball in play at the same rate as the previous 2 seasons, and hit pretty much the same place, same way, and at the same rate.
I don't think he is even close to "dropping off big time" as a prospect this year. If anything, speaking as someone who has been a bit skittish with regards to Benson because of how raw his tools are, this year actually makes me like him more as a prospect moving forward.
sportscoach
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I didn't have him as high as some people, just mostly cause his potential is great, but his current floor wasn't all that great and he needed to work on a lot of things.
Just looking at a lot of midseason rankings by a lot of scouting places his ranking has gone down, like Aiken did last season. Now it doesn't mean that what he fixed won't actually cause it to go back up in a season or two. I was referring to his value it seems like in trades, which if his stock has seemed to drop by a lot of analysts, I don't trust his value in a trade at the moment to be worth what it was when we got him.
I am sincerely hoping you are right and maybe a couple seasons of not as strong of play, helps him grow and become a better player. It is never how a player does when they are playing well, but how they adjust from playing poorly.
I apologize if I said things originally the wrong way, but I was referring to someone using him in a trade and his value seems like has dropped right now since he hasn't been producing the numbers that show improvement. I figured we wouldn't see him at AA until 22 area and thats around 2020 and once he gets to AA it will say to me if he will be ready for the pros or not. So personally for me since I cannot control things anyways, ill watch him when he makes it to AA.
