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The Vancouver Canadians had a chance to take over first place in the North Division but Tri-City had other ideas Monday night.


Juliandry Higuera started the series finale for Vancouver Monday night.



Rodrigo Orozco comes up firing after fielding a single to left field in the fourth inning.


Bryan Lizardo gets ready at third base.


Buddy Reed steals second base as the ball is thrown away by C's catcher Javier Hernandez into center field for the game's first run.


J.B Woodman (left) runs off the field with Lance Jones after a run-saving catch in center field to end the fifth.


Gabe Noyalis strands a double in a scoreless sixth.


Rodrigo Orozco slides into third base after advancing on a wild pitch in the sixth.


Rodrigo Orozco tags up on a shallow fly ball to left.


Rodrigo Orozco is tagged out by Kyle Overstreet at the plate to keep Vancouver off the board.


This cute dog was among the 383 four-leggeders at the game that saw the C's lose 4-1 to Tri-City during the Bark in the Park event.

For more photos of this game, click here.



C-Notes

Juliandry Higuera got the call to start this crucial game as the C's were making a bid to take over first place in the Northwest League's North Division. Higuera walked Nate Easley to begin the game but he struck out Buddy Reed swinging on a 93 MPH fastball before inducing a 6-3 double play off the bat of Chris Baker to end the inning.

Lance Jones got the first hit of the game with a seeing-eye single up the middle with one out in the first but he would remain 270 feet away from home plate. That was the only mistake Tri-City starter Joey Luchessi made in his three-inning stint. He may have the most deliberate delivery I have ever seen for a pitcher. Luchessi may be the Mike Hargrove of pitchers, aka The Human Rain Delay. I think the Vancouver hitters may have gotten bored waiting for the pitch to be thrown. However, give credit where credit is due as the C's would not get another baserunner until Christian Williams managed to sneak one past the glove of Baker at short to start the fifth against reliever Evan Miller.

In between, the Dust Devils managed to get to Higuera for a couple of runs. After the C's got away with three leadoff walks in Sunday's game and another one to start this game, they were finally burned by another Easley free pass that started the fourth. A wild pitch and a Reed single put runners on the corners. Higuera struck out Baker but a throwing error by catcher Javier Hernandez at second allowed Reed to steal second and Easley to cross the plate with the first run. Reed would later score on a two-out, two-strike hit by Luis Asuncion to give Tri-City a 2-0 lead.

The C's looked to have something going in the sixth when Rodrigo Orozco walked and Cavan Biggio dropped down a bunt single. Orozco got all the way to third on a wild pitch by Chasen Ford. Jones tried to get down a bunt but popped it foul behind the plate. Had Dust Devils catcher Kyle Overstreet located the ball in time, he may have had a chance to make a play on it. It was academic anyway when Jones struck out. J.B. Woodman hit a shallow fly ball to left field and Orozco tried to score after tagging up but he was easily thrown out by Aldemar Burgos at the dish.

Burgos made an impact with the bat against Grayson Huffman in the seventh. Huffman, who took over for Gabe Noyalis, struck out the first two hitters he faced but could not get a strike three past Burgos in an 8-pitch at-bat that resulted in a double. Huffman got to two strikes on Easley but he would single home Burgos to up the Dust Devils lead to 3-0. Then a throwing error by Bryan Lizardo at third on a ground ball hit by Reed made it 4-0.

The C's tried to rally again when Williams doubled with one out and got as far as third on a wild pitch by Dust Devils reliever Mark Zimmerman on a wild pitch but Lizardo and Yeltsin Gudino both struck out to leave Williams 90 feet away.

The C's took their best shot at coming back in the ninth when Lance Jones walked and was joined on the basepaths two outs later by a Williams walk and a Lizardo single. Gudino drew a walk to bring home Jones with the first run. Hernandez had the chance to be the hero with one big swing of the bat but he was rung up by David Bednar on strike three to end the game. Bednar came in to the game after Will Stillman loaded up the bases.

The victory gives Tri-City a one-game lead over Everett and Vancouver for first place in the North Division. Both the Dust Devils and AquaSox hold the tiebreakers over the Canadians thanks to winning the head-to-head match-ups. Everett took two of three over the C's at The Nat in the home opening series while the C's could not match a three-game series sweep against the Dust Devils in Tri-City at the end of June.

Vancouver will spend Tuesday traveling to Idaho to start a five-game series Wednesday against the Boise Hawks. They will play three more on the road against Spokane before returning home July 21 against the Eugene Emeralds. Blue Jays legend Dave Stieb will be at the game that night to sign autographs.

Radar Gun Rundown icon_047810_256

Juliandry Higuera had four strikeouts, three of them swinging on pitches at 90, 91 and 93 MPH. The other registered at 75. He did reach 95 on the gun and also threw offerings at 85 and 86.

Higuera faced the minimum nine hitters in the first three innings but ran into trouble in the last two frames. He was also bailed out by a nice running catch by Woodman in center field to end the fifth that saved a run. Higuera limited the damage to two runs despite issuing three walks.

Gabe Noyalis topped out at 92 and also threw pitches from the 77-80 range, pitching around a double in a shutout sixth.

Grayson Huffman caught two batters looking at 75 and 76 and threw as hard as 94. He also checked in 80-81 and 91-93 but gave up two runs, one earned, in the seventh.

Nick Hartman scraped 95 and Matt Smoral struck out the side swinging, throwing around 88-90, in their perfect frames. Smoral has reportedly been working on a new arm slot.

C-Cap Recap - Tri-City Leaves Van City In 1st Place, Doggone It! | 49 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.
finch - Wednesday, July 13 2016 @ 09:41 AM EDT (#326191) #
Random question: What happened to Mitch Nay?
#2JBrumfield - Wednesday, July 13 2016 @ 12:48 PM EDT (#326214) #
That is a hell of a good question. I don't have the answer but here is a story on him by the Toronto Obeserver back in March.
ayjackson - Wednesday, July 13 2016 @ 01:19 PM EDT (#326218) #
I haven't followed the prospects as much this year as I have in previous years, but given the AllStar Break, I thought it was a good time to try to put together a midseason Top 10 list (I think Baseball America will have their update soon).

Open to feedback, as I pencilled in Reid-Foley at 1 and then had no idea where to go next. The top three seem to have blended youth, potential and results together better than the rest so far this year.

1. Sean Reid-Foley, RHP
2. Francisco Rios, RHP
3. Richard Urena, SS
4. Vlad Guerrero Jr., 3B
5. Anthony Alford, CF
6. Rowdy Tellez, 1B
7. Jon Harris, RHP
8. Angel Perdomo, LHP
9. Connor Greene, RHP
10. Max Pentecost, C

Honorable Mentions: Justin Maese, TJ Zeuch, Joel Espinal, Cavan Biggio, Bo Bichette
ComebyDeanChance - Wednesday, July 13 2016 @ 04:11 PM EDT (#326236) #
TJ Zeuch and Zach Jackson have been assigned to Vancouver.
ComebyDeanChance - Wednesday, July 13 2016 @ 04:15 PM EDT (#326237) #
Seems like that was in the better late than....never mind.
Gerry - Wednesday, July 13 2016 @ 04:22 PM EDT (#326238) #
Starlyn Suriel up from Lansing to Dunedin.

Juliandry Higuera has been sent down from Vancouver to Bluefield to make room for Zeuch and Jackson.

Vancouver released 1B Gabe Clark.
Mike Green - Wednesday, July 13 2016 @ 04:28 PM EDT (#326240) #
The FSL has been a pretty extreme pitching environment this year, making Urena's line all the more impressive and Rios' line not quite as impressive.  Tellez has had the best year of a hitter in the Eastern League once you adjust for age and has been getting better as he goes.  I know that many scouts still doubt Tellez' ability to hit for significant power in the big leagues.

I'd have SRF, Tellez and Urena as the top 3, but putting them in order would be a challenge. 

Gerry - Wednesday, July 13 2016 @ 04:33 PM EDT (#326241) #
I see #2 had the details long before me on the other thread.
#2JBrumfield - Wednesday, July 13 2016 @ 05:12 PM EDT (#326245) #
I see #2 had the details long before me on the other thread.

There's too many of my threads to keep track of! ;D

Righty Geno Encina has also been added to the C's roster. The 18th rounder from last year made his season debut in Dunedin a few days ago.
jerjapan - Wednesday, July 13 2016 @ 05:42 PM EDT (#326247) #
AYJ, that's a good list but I do agree with Mike Green that Rios is too high.  and Espinal seems like a stretch for an honourable mention, but I really don't know much about the guy - do you have any insight to share?

I know Ugly will want to see Jansen on the honourable mentions as well, although TBH, i still haven't figured out the hype around him. 

Really fun to see Biggio and Bichette off to such a fast start - the killer Bs!

ayjackson - Wednesday, July 13 2016 @ 07:08 PM EDT (#326249) #
Rios' numbers seem in line with SRF's numbers, but I'm admittedly not very familiar with him.
uglyone - Wednesday, July 13 2016 @ 11:27 PM EDT (#326262) #
I've got alford srf tellez urena as my top 4, in any order really.

probably guerrero next at 5 but not sure yet.

then a real battle for the rest of the top 10 - all of maese greene rios zeuch jackson perdomo harris pentecost bichette biggio jansen i could see an argument for in the top 10.

gun to my head right now i finish my top 10 with....maese greene rios pentecost and.....I guess zeuch but that's based on draft status only really.
Glevin - Thursday, July 14 2016 @ 03:56 AM EDT (#326265) #
BA has released their top-100 overall. Sean-Reid Foley is 84, Alford is 86 (dropping from 25 pre-season), and Greene is 90. I like Tellez more than most probably but I think a 21 YO walking and smashing the ball in AA is really nice to have regardless of a lack of defensive skills. I've always felt that AA is the biggest jump in the minors so I am more excited about players performing there. Below that, I tend to trust scouts a lot more.

Interestingly, five of the top-12 prospects are SS. Some will move off the position (Like Bregman for Correa) but combine that with the ridiculous amount of young talent at SS already (Correa, Lindor, Seager, etc...) and it's pretty amazing.
bpoz - Thursday, July 14 2016 @ 12:35 PM EDT (#326284) #
I know that M Castro and Osuna were rushed to the Jays BP in 2015 due to necessity. So how do you develop a BP arm in the minors for your ML team.

F Rios and A Perdomo are minor league starters that may be of value to the 2018 pen. They have time on their side. Rios has good control, Perdomo reasonable control. As starters they will get lots of innings.
So I jump to the conclusion that they can be the 6th, 7th man in the pen and ride the Buffalo/Toronto shuttle.
Mike Green - Thursday, July 14 2016 @ 01:37 PM EDT (#326285) #
Rios' numbers seem in line with SRF's numbers, but I'm admittedly not very familiar with him.

Rios made 6 excellent starts in Lansing and then has made 11 good but not great starts in Dunedin (with a K rate just over 6).  SRF made 11 very good starts in Lansing (K rate over 9 and W rate under 3) and then 5 superb starts in Dunedin.  His domination in Dunedin is so complete that the club might have to promote him pretty soon just to keep him on his toes. 
Mike Green - Thursday, July 14 2016 @ 01:49 PM EDT (#326286) #
Meet BA's #76 prospect- 21 year old first baseman Dominic Smith.  He's been in the same league as Tellez this year and last, and Tellez has outhit him considerably.  Smith has had more trouble than Tellez hitting LHPs. Smith may or may not have defensive/baserunning advantages and there may or may not be scouting reasons to prefer Smith's swing.  Personally, I would bet that the major thing for BA is draft order- Smith was chosen in the 1st round and Tellez was drafted much later.
uglyone - Thursday, July 14 2016 @ 02:45 PM EDT (#326288) #
as you guys well know, i have no problem asserting that jays prospects don't get the same benefit of the doubt or attention as prospects from many other orgs.

What org is smith in? I know it's not boston but is it an NY team? cubs? braves?

wouldn't surprise me.
Mike Green - Thursday, July 14 2016 @ 03:11 PM EDT (#326290) #
Binghamton Mets.

Mets fans always complain that their organization gets less than its share of attention because of the proximity of the Yankees.  I don't know. 

dan gordon - Thursday, July 14 2016 @ 03:30 PM EDT (#326293) #
Tellez looks like a significantly better prospect to me. They're almost the exact same age, and Smith's offensive numbers look rather pedestrian compared to Tellez's. Smith doesn't steal bases and is 6' 230 lbs, so I doubt he's got a speed component to his game. His range factor looks a little better than Rowdy's but not by a wide margin, and he has made a few more errors.
bpoz - Thursday, July 14 2016 @ 04:11 PM EDT (#326298) #
Regarding Smith vs Tellez. They are both young and both look good.
But if you compare/play with the bb, K and slg numbers for both players, it tells something. It is interpreted differently by each person I suppose. Other than they are both good.

IMO Tellez is having an outstanding bb based year hitting. I think that is a significant batting indicator. In time Tellez could be a 100 bb hitter.
Nigel - Thursday, July 14 2016 @ 04:40 PM EDT (#326299) #
Let me just say that if the Jays have 10 better prospects than Maese by the end of the year, then they will have one helluva system. I only caught a few inning of his last start in Vancouver but Maese was very impressive. His sinker was pretty consistently 91-93 with fantastic late sink. Control was excellent and command pretty good. He threw a few really nice sliders too. I'll try and get out and see him again before the year's out but there's a substantial risk that he gets promoted. Frankly, even given how young he is, he looked a little too good for the league - at least in that start.
uglyone - Thursday, July 14 2016 @ 04:56 PM EDT (#326300) #
nice to hear

his numbers for his age and level this year are as eye popping as anyone in the system's.
bpoz - Thursday, July 14 2016 @ 05:47 PM EDT (#326301) #
Thanks Nigel. He has only given up 1 bb.
Mike Green - Thursday, July 14 2016 @ 06:23 PM EDT (#326303) #
Thanks, Nigel.  That is very encouraging.
bpoz - Thursday, July 14 2016 @ 06:45 PM EDT (#326305) #
Once again, thanks Nigel. I really don't mean to be negative.

But IMO prospects don't make consistent progress. I wish that they did. Sanchez for example made to me any way a practically impossible or at least unexpected leap forward this year.
ayjackson - Thursday, July 14 2016 @ 11:44 PM EDT (#326329) #
"Rios made 6 excellent starts in Lansing and then has made 11 good but not great starts in Dunedin (with a K rate just over 6)."

I think I may have misread his season line. Thanks.
SK in NJ - Friday, July 15 2016 @ 08:15 AM EDT (#326337) #
Keith Law said Tellez was not a prospect, which means he's going to be a damn fine MLB player. I was a bit skeptical since first basemen with little defensive value really have to rake in the bigs to be valuable, but if Law hates him, then that's enough evidence for me.
uglyone - Friday, July 15 2016 @ 09:59 AM EDT (#326343) #
Comparing Tellez to the 1B on BA's top 100

-- Tellez (21/AA): 13.9b%/18.4k%, .329bip/.293avg, .210iso, 150wrc+
11.Gallo (22/AAA): 17.5b%/28.9k%, .310bip/.254avg, .308iso, 145wrc+
24.Bellinger (21/AA): 10.8b%/22.4k%, .311bip/.263avg, .182iso, 127wrc+
38.Bell (23/AAA): 11.4b%/15.3k%, .358bip/.324avg, .212iso, 170wrc+
41.Devers (19/A+): 8.7b%/14.3k%, .305bip/.259avg, .141iso, 102wrc+
54.Bauers (20/AA): 12.1b%/15.1k%, .313bip/.283avg, .145iso, 133wrc+
64.Bradley (20/A+): 15.0b%/31.4k%, .335bip/.247avg, .237iso, 137wrc+
72.Hayes (19/A): 5.8b%/18.5k%, .304bip/.263avg, .130iso, 102wrc+
76.Smith (21/AA): 8.2b%/15.2k%, .302bip/.277avg, .160iso, 116wrc+
83.Shaw (22/A+): 9.2b%/23.0k%, .326bip/.285avg, .259iso, 141wrc+
100.Naylor (19/A): 6.9b%/17.6k%, .288bip/.256avg, .171iso, 107wrc+


Without any exaggeration at all, Tellez is arguably having the best season of any 1B prospect in baseball. And this isn't a non toolsy hitter maxing his skillset yet - there's still plenty more power projection left in there for him to hopefully tap into.

Not only should he be on the list, but he should be well up the list.

Even better - Richard Urena, a good glove SS, is having a better year at the plate than most of these 1B, and also is not some untoolsy guy maxing out his skillset yet.

Jays prospects simply get overlooked.
Mike Green - Friday, July 15 2016 @ 10:13 AM EDT (#326345) #
The prospect rankings only matter (and then only marginally) if you want to trade them.  The Jays have no interest in trading either.  There is likely to be a need for Tellez' bat within a year, and Urena is probably another 2 years away at least and the club does not really have an option behind Tulowitzki other than him.  They are much more likely to be offering up a pitching prospect.
Spifficus - Friday, July 15 2016 @ 10:17 AM EDT (#326346) #
Ummm, that's a very interesting list of "1B" on your list. Gallo has only seen 17 minor league games at 1B, and his only crime is not being Adrian Beltre, and the easiest current opening is supplanting Fielder or Moreland (vs Choo/Rua or Mazara). Similarly, Bell was moved to 1B because he was never going to be a CF in a corner like Marte or Polanco, and only has the Jaso-height bar to clear at 1B. Devers hasn't played a game at 1B yet, and it sounds like he can stick (but not "wow") at 3B.

Unlike those guys, Tellez (and Smith and Bradley) are 1B-only types. Heck, it sounds like Tellez had to work hard to just get to there. I love Dan Farnsworth's physical description of him "Tellez reminds me a lot of David Ortiz athletically. Sew a super athletic upper body with good rotational mechanics onto a stiff, unathletic pair of legs, and you get Ortiz and Tellez." I can see why that'd turn off scouts a bit during the projection-heavy phase of development, but as he climbs the latter, he answers more questions on the bat. It's not that he's a Blue Jay that he gets underrated, he's just more along the lines of a Paul Goldschmidt of a guy who is doing it while looking a little different, making the scouts slow to warm up to him.
Mike Green - Friday, July 15 2016 @ 10:38 AM EDT (#326349) #
Tellez is listed at 245 lbs.  In recent video, he looks quite a bit leaner than that.  Here's an article from 2015 with picture suggesting that he is now 220. 

It's nice of him to share with Aaron Sanchez!  From each according to his girth, to each according to his needs.
uglyone - Friday, July 15 2016 @ 10:38 AM EDT (#326350) #
I consider those guys 3B in the same way Vladdy Jr. is a 3B.

i.e. not
Spifficus - Friday, July 15 2016 @ 10:56 AM EDT (#326351) #
Well, Devers is in his third season at third, Gallo, again, has only had 24 of 442 games at 1B (all but 7 this year, when replacing Moreland and Fielder... I missed the previous 7 for my earlier post). And Bell was looking up at an OF of Mccutchen, Marte and Polanco, so he was converted to 1B in 2015. These aren't "Oh, let's try it and see if we find money in the sofa cushions." These are players shifting positions (or not, in the case of Devers) due to the needs of their parent clubs, not due to being incapable of playing other positions. Tellez is 1B-only. I don't see any reason to put these three in the same category.
uglyone - Friday, July 15 2016 @ 11:12 AM EDT (#326352) #
I think if you read current scouting reports you'll find that gallo is barely considered to have a future even at 1B and fits best at DH, that Bell was moved from the OF because he wasn't good and is still struggling badly at 1B, and that devers, who already tends to the soft side, already lacks mobility for 3rd at a young 19 and only projects to get less mobile going forward.

Mike Green - Friday, July 15 2016 @ 11:21 AM EDT (#326353) #
My issue with Gallo is, unsurprisingly, his strikeout rate.  It is possible to succeed with exceptional power and an extremely high strikeout rate (see Ryan Howard, Rob Deer and Dave Kingman), but the overall record of these guys isn't great.  He wouldn't be as high on my list for that reason.

Incidentally, it seems that he was decent in left-field during his major league work there last year.  I agree that he has more defensive value than a 1B only player like Tellez. 
Spifficus - Friday, July 15 2016 @ 11:53 AM EDT (#326354) #
When I read scouting reports, I didn't get the impression that they were gold glovers, but could at least adequately man their positions. I definitely didn't read that about Gallo, and Devers' range diminishing sounds like a down the line thing, in the Corey Seager moving off SS in his late 20s way. Kiley McDaniel said last year that Bell would have been best suited for RF, and, nope, his transition to 1B does not sound like it's gone perfectly, but the positions emphasise different skills (reaction time and balance vs running speed and arm). Again, the positional shift for Bell and the presumptive one for Gallo are a function of the quality of defenders (and players overall) in front of them in their current organization, not due to their incapability of playing their former/current position. Gallo just can't 3B as well as Beltre. Bell can't RF as well as Polanco. I'm shocked! Devers is in the "If he grows too large" boat that hasn't happened yet, and may not for some time.

Of course, this all makes me wonder why we feel the need to throw crap at the scouts with our right hand but embrace them with our left. Their reports, and stats, are all information, from which we form composites of what a prospect is.
Mike Green - Friday, July 15 2016 @ 12:04 PM EDT (#326355) #
Of course, this all makes me wonder why we feel the need to throw crap at the scouts with our right hand but embrace them with our left. Their reports, and stats, are all information, from which we form composites of what a prospect is.

Agreed.  My beef with BA concerns the quality of the composition.  It's easy to see that Yoan Moncada and Alex Bregman are great prospects, but I often don't learn much from the descriptions of the names lower down.
uglyone - Friday, July 15 2016 @ 01:03 PM EDT (#326356) #
I think you're giving too much credit to nominal positions for prospects who are most definitely expected to end up at the bottom end of the defensive spectrum. Large sluggers who may have some athleticism at this young age but not much, and are expected to lose even that in fairly short order. None of Gallo, Bell, or Devers is being ranked based on defensive value - these are all-bat prospects. Nobody likes limiting a prospect to just 1B so they'll try hard to see if they can develop anywhere else. In Gallo's case he does seem to have a good arm which is why they try him at 3rd despite poor footwork and why he might play in the OF. But the fact is he's a huge man and as his body matures he's gonna have an adam dunnian difficulty having defensive value. From what I've read Bell hasn't played the OF in 2 years now because he was really not good there, and hasn't been good at 1b either. As for devers the defense and body comp most used is Panda, and given how it was rather unbelievable that Panda was actually decent defensivel for a little while, that doesn't bode well for devers' chances.

Scouts weren't high on Carlos Delgado because be was a catcher, for example.

As for throwing crap at the scouts - I read the scouting reports as carefully as I can, using the stats as reference, and keep my eye out for "cheat" words where I get the sense that they might be polishing a resume a bit when it might not be justified. Oftentime you can sense when a scouting report is making excuses for a guy they want to be better than they are. Sometimes you can find one prospect criticized for something when another is not, even when that prospect is perhaps more guilty of it. I don't really care about the rankings much anymore, but i definitely care about the scouting reports themselves, to help me understand when a prospect's stats might be him maxing out skillsets or whether there's untapped potential there.
Spifficus - Friday, July 15 2016 @ 02:08 PM EDT (#326362) #
I'm not giving credit for nominal positions. I'm just not seeing anything in what I've read to say that they need to be relegated to 1B based on their skills. Two of them just happen to be close to the majors and in orgs with highly talented defensive players (that can also hit a wee bit) at their more natural defensive homes. Sure, they might require work (either footwork, or some conditioning), but Tellez required the conditioning just to get to where he is. Important thing to note: there's a difference between a Bat-First prospect (Gallo, Bell, Devers) and an All-Bat prospect (Tellez and Vogelbach, who are already at the bottom of the defensive spectrum, and can only shift themselves off).

Scouts weren't high on Delgado because he was a catcher with a lot of work that had to be done to catch up to his bat (ie to make him passable in the majors when his bat was ready), and the increased risk of injury and added rest required which that particular position brings. Bat-First catchers are moved quite often due to the particular physical demands of the position.

I do think it's very easy for being selective to inadvertently give way to cherry picking, and that's something anyone needs to be cognisant of when they're weighing information. "He might get bigger" can be as much a cop-out as the resume polishing you were talking about. In some cases, though, it's legit, as are the supposed cheat words. That's where the reports from prospect rankings (not the # itself) comes in handy - they're aggregating the various opinions they hear, as well as offering what they also see (when they've had the opportunity). I just don't get why we get to discount Tellez' scouting reports (which have improved as his conditioning has) while hugging the ones that think Devers could get bigger. There seems to be a cognitive dissonance at play here.
Mike Green - Friday, July 15 2016 @ 02:11 PM EDT (#326363) #

Scouts weren't high on Carlos Delgado because be was a catcher, for example.

I don't remember that.  After Delgado's monster season in Dunedin in 1992, he was BA's 4th best prospect in baseball behind Chipper Jones, Brien Taylor and Cliff Floyd.  My recollection was that the scouting consensus was something like: "great hitting prospect- beautiful swing and results, and a catcher, but it is unclear whether he will be able to remain at the position...he'll hit enough to play anywhere".  I've never seen BA have a player at #4 who scouts were not high on...
Spifficus - Friday, July 15 2016 @ 02:19 PM EDT (#326365) #
Thanks Mike, you made me realize I phrased my response wrong. They were high on him as a player, but down on him as a catcher. Usually, they even refer to the position as holding the bat back more so than any other place on the diamond, so a move was pretty much inevitable.
uglyone - Friday, July 15 2016 @ 02:22 PM EDT (#326366) #
trying to find links from just this year...


http://www.scoutingbook.com/players/p3063

"A nominal third baseman, Texas prospect Joey Gallo should probably be considered a first base or DH prospect, as his fieldwork isn't anything that will get him close to anything golden anytime soon. "

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/evaluating-the-2016-prospects-pittsburgh-pirates/

"Defensively limited to first base, he still has enough offensive value with his hard contact and excellent plate discipline to profile as an above-average regular. "

http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/ron-cook/2016/07/11/Ron-Cook-Josh-Bell-s-time-with-the-Pirates-will-come-just-not-right-now/stories/201607110055

There’s also the matter of Bell’s defense. Bell, a former outfielder, talked of being much better at first base now that “hundreds of reps have turned into thousands of reps.” But Huntington called him a work in progress. “The goal is that we get a nine-inning defender. We still have work to do before we get a nine-inning defender with Josh.”
Nigel - Friday, July 15 2016 @ 02:25 PM EDT (#326367) #
My complaint with online scouting reports is that they generally don't tell you how much in person scouting lies behind it. By way of simple example. I've been to the Nat twice this year for about 11 innings total. I formed the impression from the July 2 scouting reports that Lizardo was a bat first prospect that, due to his size, probably would end up without much defensive value. What I have seen is the exact opposite of that. He looks to be an above average defender, maybe even a real plus defender but looks like a hot mess at the plate. Based on 11 innings I have no idea if that impression is right. What would I write?
uglyone - Friday, July 15 2016 @ 02:31 PM EDT (#326368) #
Mike - i meant that Delgado was ranked high based on his bat, even though they knew he wouldn't stick at C. It was the bat that ranked him.

speaking of delgado, it's hard to compare different eras but rowdy's 21 yr old season in AA is starting to look a lot like delgado's. only difference is carlos walmed a bit more.
uglyone - Friday, July 15 2016 @ 02:42 PM EDT (#326369) #
Nigel - absolutely a huge issue. especially when you realize that the guys doing online ranks are not necessarily any more qualified than many people here.
Spifficus - Friday, July 15 2016 @ 02:55 PM EDT (#326371) #
I could get into a link-war, but that's the low-side I've heard on Gallo (mind you, the upside is still below average at 3B, and playable in the OF). As for Bell, yeah, he didn't handle 1B well (Law's line is "Where Bell does truly struggle is on defense, where he played first base as if he were fighting some sort of private war, even backing up through the bag on routine throws from the shortstop."). Of course, we're talking about his ability to play the OF, which was met with far more optimism prior to his move (or just after). But again, he wasn't going to beat out Marte or Polanco.

And then with Devers, the only question is how the body matures, but the present skills work well there.

Also, I didn't know Bellenger was tried (apparently successfully) in the OF, but the scouts feel that he's too good at 1B to try to move him up the defensive ladder.

So that's one guy who you can hope wouldn't hurt you with work, one guy that would have been left at his former position in an org with an opening, and one guy that can play the more demanding position, but may not be able to down the road if conditioning becomes a problem. And then there's Tellez, who again, had to really work on his conditioning for scouts to even see him staying on the field, and has no hope of moving any further up the ladder. And Vogelbach, who, well, he's just awaiting his plane ticket to an AL city near you.

Weirdly, I think I had remembered Gallo as being slightly more plausible at 3B, but maybe I'm thinking of last year's reports. Still, questions that he can handle a tougher position are better than no doubt he can't.
Spifficus - Friday, July 15 2016 @ 03:05 PM EDT (#326373) #
Don't forget that Delgado also had that monster year in Dunedin the year before, so that was really just confirming the awesome, whereas Tellez looks to be taking a step forward. I mean, that's definitely a good thing, but it might require some mental adjusting until we see how his consolidation (or even the rest of the year) goes. Also, something else to note is that NH seems to be quite the park for LH power. I'm not trying to be negative on Tellez, just trying to get a good view of what he is (which at this point looks like an above average bat at 1B/DH, which will be useful).
uglyone - Friday, July 15 2016 @ 03:54 PM EDT (#326375) #
I don't know if this says anything at all, or if it says something bad about his offseason conditioning, or if it says something good about his learning curve, or if it means he's actually better than his overall lines indicate, but I'm struck by how in every single year tellez has started slow for 20-30gms then improved dramatically.

2013

Rk 1st 16gms: 52wrc+
Rk 2nd 18gms: 152wrc+

2014

Rk+ 1st 25gms: 56wrc+
Rk+ 2nd 28gms: 184wrc+
A only 12gms: 176wrc+

2015

A 1st 19gms: 89wrc+
A 2nd 49gms: 146wrc+
A+ all 35gms: 143wrc+

2016

AA 1st 27gms: 67wrc+
AA 2nd 54gms: 195wrc+



Mike Green - Friday, July 15 2016 @ 04:17 PM EDT (#326376) #
I guess that they won't be calling him up until mid-May at the earliest.  They would probably do that anyway for service time reasons.
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