2022 Minor League Thread

Benson has done this before. His career is like a yoyo.

2017...A-....236 PAs...146 wRC+.
2018....A ball...flopped.
2019....A....259 PAs....171 wRC+
2019....A+...255 PAs....flopped.
2021....AA...332 PAs....131 wRC+
2021...AAA...107 PAs...flopped.
2022...AAA....344 PAs so far....146 wRC+

Lets see what happens the rest of this year.

There is a major difference with this season, though. His K rate is down and his walk rate is up so far. Thats a very good sign...IF it lasts.

This is a kid who has struggled to translate his batting mechanics changes into game situations for a few years and tried to play as much as he possibly could during the Covid non-season (hence his appearance in the Roger Clemens league) to try and work on that muscle memory. Finally starting to stick in game consistently for him. Andy Tracy has been a godsend for the Jones', Gonzalez's, Benson's of the cast-off prospect world and reaching into some untapped areas or weaknesses

Past numbers don't mean much unless you think he'll lose his mechanical changes in game, which is possible, has happened before.

BimboColesHair said:

This is a kid who has struggled to translate his batting mechanics changes into game situations for a few years and tried to play as much as he possibly could during the Covid non-season (hence his appearance in the Roger Clemens league) to try and work on that muscle memory. Finally starting to stick in game consistently for him. Andy Tracy has been a godsend for the Jones', Gonzalez's, Benson's of the cast-off prospect world and reaching into some untapped areas or weaknesses

Past numbers don't mean much unless you think he'll lose his mechanical changes in game, which is possible, has happened before.

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OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO WE

#pleased

So, the question is, when do we see him playing for the GUARDS?

Unless there are more injury’s , I would expect Benson to be brought up in September. The more ABS in AAA the merrier.

Years ago the benchmark for hitting prospects used by the old TeamOne scouting site was 2000-2500 ABS in the minors for high school prospects. College kids less. Benson has about 1850 or so.

BimboColesHair said:

This is a kid who has struggled to translate his batting mechanics changes into game situations for a few years and tried to play as much as he possibly could during the Covid non-season (hence his appearance in the Roger Clemens league) to try and work on that muscle memory. Finally starting to stick in game consistently for him. Andy Tracy has been a godsend for the Jones', Gonzalez's, Benson's of the cast-off prospect world and reaching into some untapped areas or weaknesses

Past numbers don't mean much unless you think he'll lose his mechanical changes in game, which is possible, has happened before.

Click to expand...

Is there any Andy Tracy hype to take over for Tito when that time comes or is that already promised to Sandy?

Tondo said:

Is there any Andy Tracy hype to take over for Tito when that time comes or is that already promised to Sandy?

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I would expect a big league manager is different than a minor league manager in how you relate to different type of players. If Tracy is good at connecting with players/prospects on their last leg ... then why not make him in charge of baseball hitting operations or some supped up title like that and give him that $1 million salary to make up for that fact that his is more valuable to the Oscars, bensons, ... than the Joses. Yet, it will be up to him if $1 million in a low key organization role is worth not ever going after the MLB manager role with all the pressure but more money and notoriety attached.

Think of this way ... if he can convert 1 player a year from the near scape heap to a mlb starter ... he is worth $1 million to organization. And, if he can be happy in role for 20 years ... he can make more money than trying the a couple million as mlb manager and possibly flame out due to different personalities need coddling.

Mcreek said:

Unless there are more injury’s , I would expect Benson to be brought up in September. The more ABS in AAA the merrier.

Years ago the benchmark for hitting prospects used by the old TeamOne scouting site was 2000-2500 ABS in the minors for high school prospects. College kids less. Benson has about 1850 or so.

Click to expand...

Benson is 4th in the International League with a .929 OPS. The guy who was 2nd, Vinnie Pasquintino at .948, just got promoted to the Royals. Nolan Jones is at .917 after 23 games and he's already here. So Benson has the numbers to justify a promotion, but where are the at-bats, especially with Call, Jones, and Oscar Gonzalez already up? Not to mention Straw and Kwan.

We've got outfielders coming out of our ears.

Benson would have to be added to the 40-man so somebody would have to go. Bryan Shaw gets my vote.

Gson said:

As I've said on more than one occasion... the word on Cody Morris, this time.. is that there are results.. He started an ACL game, pitched one inning.. two K's.. seven pitches..

Most important..there are results..

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So what you saying is he struck out two batter throwing 3 pitches each, and got the next batter out on 1 pitch …….Probably had to go to the bullpen to get more pitches……

cliffdawg said:

So what you saying is he struck out two batter throwing 3 pitches each, and got the next batter out on 1 pitch …….Probably had to go to the bullpen to get more pitches……

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@cliffdawg

W/R to the # of pitches.. kind of.. I was more jazzed by the fact that he had ANY results.. good, bad or indifferent.. He walked to the mound, pitched an inning against live hitters then left the game..

How close is Benson now making any prospect lists ? Being a former 1st round pick and his speed (along with rare physical measurables ) can’t hurt his case relative to being a fast climber. Being 24 may however.

CATS44 said:

Benson has done this before. His career is like a yoyo.

2017...A-....236 PAs...146 wRC+.
2018....A ball...flopped.
2019....A....259 PAs....171 wRC+
2019....A+...255 PAs....flopped.
2021....AA...332 PAs....131 wRC+
2021...AAA...107 PAs...flopped.
2022...AAA....344 PAs so far....146 wRC+

Lets see what happens the rest of this year.

There is a major difference with this season, though. His K rate is down and his walk rate is up so far. Thats a very good sign...IF it lasts.

Click to expand...

Hard to measure stats from his 19-20 year old self vs today. He's evolving and tapping into hidden potential within. You're too big into IF's and the not.

Mcreek said:

Unless there are more injury’s , I would expect Benson to be brought up in September. The more ABS in AAA the merrier.

Years ago the benchmark for hitting prospects used by the old TeamOne scouting site was 2000-2500 ABS in the minors for high school prospects. College kids less. Benson has about 1850 or so.

Click to expand...

Its going to be interesting to see how Sept gets handled...
The roster is only able to expand to 29 players & AAA Columbus does have SCHEDULED games thru Sept 28th....

Would it be nice to Benson playing in CLE? Yes.
But unless he is playing almost everyday. he would likely get more at-bats & playing time staying with the Clippers..

Niklex316 said:

How close is Benson now making any prospect lists ? Being a former 1st round pick and his speed (along with rare physical measurables ) can’t hurt his case relative to being a fast climber. Being 24 may however.

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His run up to his 2nd year in AAA wasn't pretty most of the time and pushed him down with each new season.. That said, he did hit 4 homers in one game which is one the coolest batting feats IMO. I like him, especially as a 4th/pinch type for starters, but like his ascent to AAA... ML pitching maybe a bit much to handle, at least initially. Seem to have a knack of losing it once promoted, though that is nothing to worry about.

He definitely will end up playing ML ball now, and I honestly doubted he had any chance to do that pre-covid. But look at him now, just needs a spot....... Somewhere.....

Maybe the real answer to this "dilemma" is to......

SELL HIGH ON BENSON!!!

hypothetically speaking