A Large Minors Rundown: 10-1
by afh4 on Jul 29, 2008 10:25 PM EDT
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10. Kelvin De La Cruz: LHP 2.36 ERA/106.2 IP/42 BB/108 K 01/08/1988 (A/A+)
2008 BA Ranking: Not Ranked
Adam: Probably should be up right next to Rondon, but I'm afraid of jinxing him. 20 years old, pitching regularly at Kinston now, and has only allowed 11 HRs in 198 minor league innings.
Andrew: It's easy to think of Kelvin as Hector's kid brother prospect but it's also easy to forget that Hector is actually a month younger and, thus, a great prospect as opposed to just a very good one. That's not to take anything away from Kelvin-he's going to finish out the year in Kinston and that's great.
Best Case/Worst Case: Tom Glavine/Jamie Walker
Trajectory: Going up
9. Jonathan Meloan: RHP 4.92 ERA/105.0 IP/60 BB/99 K 07/11/1984 (AAA)
2008 BA Ranking: #8 (LA)
Adam: As a reliever, struck out greater than 37% of the batters he faced till a AAA stop last season (where he struck out 24% of the batters he faced). His overall numbers are brought down by his numbers as a starter this season. As a reliever his worth is limited, but I'm going to guess he might become an "elite reliever" in the near future.
Andrew: Just ignore the numbers as a starter. He struck out 70 batters in 45.1 IP last year in AA. The end of the season is probably as important for Meloan as it is for any other prospect. If he pitches like he did in 2007 I have to think he's a shoo-in for the bullpen out of ST. If not, he's going to be neck and neck with Jeff Stevens and whoever they bring in through free agency. I'm pretty excited to see what he does with the return to the pen.
Best Case/Worst Case: Bobby Jenks/Lance Cormier
Trajectory: Steady
8. Carlos Santana: C .427/.556/.983 04/08/1986 (A+)
2008 BA Ranking: #25 (LA)
Adam: Reports on his conversion to catcher are very positive. If he sticks at catcher his offensive abilities make him a potentially very valuable contributor and position him as Victor's long-term heir apparent. Put up at OPS just a shade under 1.000 in the California League, which, while the league is known for its offense, is still nearly .250 points above the league average.
Andrew: There's not a lot to dislike offensively except for his hitless start in Kinston (wait! As I write this he has hit an RBI double). Barring something very strange he's going to start in Akron next year and a true 23 year old catcher in Akron is pretty exciting. I can't even look at his line without getting excited.
Best Case/Worst Case: Victor Martinez/Mike Redmond(?)
Trajectory: Going up
7. Wes Hodges: 3B .373/.464/.837 09/14/1984 (AA)
2008 BA Ranking: #4
Adam: Hodges is interesting. He falls into that solid but not spectacular category. He was pretty good in Kinston last year (.840 OPS) and he's been pretty good in Akron this year (.830 OPS), but not really great either. Probably projects as a contributor, but not a long-term impact bat. Wish he didn't have 39 errors in his 191 games at 3B.
Andrew: I think Hodges has probably become slightly overrated. He's got to keep moving up levels without losing anything off his bat and his defense has to keep him at third; not impossible but it's going to be difficult. If he can get that OPS to the bigs over .800 we have a starting third basemen for a while; otherwise we have Pedro Feliz. His defense is a big concern-if he gets moved off third I have to assume he's going to first and his bat is really going to struggle to play at first. There are also injury questions surrounding him though he's been durable this year.
Best Case/Worst Case: Chipper Jones with (way) less power/Lyle Overbay at third
Trajectory: Steady
6. Hector Rondon: RHP 3.72 ERA/109.0 IP/37 BB/114 K; 02/26/1988 (A+)
2008 BA Ranking: #28
Adam: Made a name for himself by pitching his way into this year's Futures game. As a 20-year old in A+ he's striking out 25% of the guys he faces and has a better than 3:1 K:BB ratio. If Huff is in the bigs next year, Rondon is posed to be our best minor league pitcher. With his tall frame, he could get better as well. The only thing keeping him below Miller is the time and injury risk between A-league ball the majors.
Andrew: His stuff is electric and the stats match the hype. The most important number in that line is the last one-20 years old. His GO/AO is pretty bad (0.88) and he's given up 8 Hrs in 109.0 IP. Not horrible but hopefully it doesn't get worse as competition gets better.
Best Case/Worst Case: David Cone/T.J. Beam
Trajectory: Going up
5. Adam Miller: RHP 1.88 ERA/28.2 IP/12 BB/20 K; 11/26/1984 (AAA)
2008 BA Ranking: #1
Adam: This is a tough one. Miller's injury issues have dramatically lowered his stock. But...what keeps him here is that if he was healthy, he could probably be pitching in Cleveland now. Until we see him in Cleveland, there aren't really any developmental issues, just health ones. His last extended healthy stretch (65 innings in Buffalo last season) he put up a FIP of 3.06.
Andrew: He's still really young. And has a hole in his finger.
Best Case/Worst Case: Ben Sheets/Mark Prior without any good years.
Trajectory: Going down
4. Beau Mills: 1B .364/.488/.853 08/15/1986 (A+)
2008 BA Ranking: #3
Adam: Similar to Weglarz with higher K-rates, lower BB-rates, and slightly more power. If he could stick at third he'd probably be the more valuable guy, but he's primarily played 1B this season. Both Mills and Weglarz seem like guys positioned to all of a sudden explode for a 35-HR season.
Andrew: If you take out an abysmal April (.714 OPS) his OPS jumps to .874 but his OBP dips. He's probably going to need to figure out how to take more walks sooner or later. Still, he was drafted as a hitter and that's what he's done; his OPS since the all-star break is .934.
Best Case/Worst Case: Paul Konerko/Ryan Shealy
Trajectory: Going up
3. Nicholas Weglarz: OF .400/.440/.840; 12/16/1987 (A+)
2008 BA Ranking: #6
Adam: Weglarz is 16 months younger than Beau Mills, has better plate discipline numbers (walks and Ks), and has shown similar power. Like Mills, probably a defensive liability and has primarily played LF.
Andrew: Well known as a physical specimen, Wegz is listed at 6'3” and 245 lbs. He turns 21 in December. Coming into this year had struck out once every 3.4 at-bats; this year that number dipped to once every 4.8 at-bats. I'm expecting a monstrous year from our giant Canadian in the very near future.
Best Case/Worst Case: Pat Burrell/Robby Hammock
Trajectory: Going up
2. David Huff: LHP 2.35 ERA/118.2 IP/20 BB/116 K; 8/22/1984 (AA/AAA)
2008 BA Ranking: #8
Adam: He's been dominating this year at both AA and AAA. Upped his K/PA% to ~25% this season, and his BB/PA% at Buffalo is a stunning 2.9%. Probably can't maintain that control, but his success in Buffalo hasn't been luck (.295 BABIP). I would think he's in line to get a long look in Spring Training with a mid-season 2009 call-up at the latest.
Andrew: Total stud. If anything, you can wish that he struck out more guys but with that control, who cares? Was considered something of a soft tosser when we drafted him but all indications that year are that his stuff has gotten pretty nasty-the Buffalo commentators seemed genuinely surprised by how good it was. Is still being handled with kit gloves after doing something to his UCL last year.
Best Case/Worst Case: Tom Glavine/Damian Moss
Trajectory: Going up
1. Matt LaPorta: OF/1B/DH .382/.532/.915 01/08/1985 (AA)
2008 BA Ranking: #27 in all of Minors; #1 in Milwaukee.
Adam: Possibly the best Indians offensive prospect since Manny and Thome.
Andrew: There's not a lot to say about LaPorta's past-his numbers speak for themselves. Has been scuffling of late but has had a number of well documented issues surrounding him: the trade, his grandfather's death, house shopping with his fiance, playing in the Futures game, and packing for Beijing.
Best Case/Worst Case: Ryan Braun/Aubrey Huff the DH
Trajectory: Going up
Organizationally, the Indians have improved tremendously not only through trades but also through player progression. A number of players are approaching big time prospect status-Mills, Weglarz, and Rondon, among others. Organizational rankings are pretty tough to do unless you have a solid knowledge of every farm, which I don't. But, for the sake of discussion, I'd say we're looking at a system in the 7-11 range. There are only two elite prospects at the highest levels (Huff and LaPorta) but there are many guys who might get to that elite status quickly.
Overall, we look pretty stacked. It's going to be exciting to see if anything potentially useful comes back in a Byrd deal.
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It’s kind of cool that 30% of these guys weren’t in the system a month ago. Add the CC PTBNL and a Byrd tradee, and maybe half. The onle good result of a Season in the Tank.
What’s Rondon’s fastball hitting these days? The info I have read about his stuff doesn’t seem too exciting but I’m hoping he’s made improvements this year since he’s so young? Any additional info would be appreciated.
His fastball is sitting around 93-this jibes with the starts I’ve listened to and his showing in the futures game. BA seemed pretty impressed during the Futures game.
My respect for his stuff comes largely from listening to most of his starts-it’s certainly possible that the commentators I hear aren’t the best evaluators. He’s still got a lot of growing to do as well.
I love the comparisons. Robby Hammock? Damian Moss?
Maybe the comparison is too obvious, but I think of Morneau as a good comp for Weglarz!. Gigantic Canadian taciturn, grimly efficient OBP/SLG machines.
I refuse to relegate Wegz to first.
It’s a good “personality” comp though. In the minors, Morneau didn’t show the superhuman discipline that Weglarz has but it’s not like that’s really how I was making my comps.
A lot of times I wanted to write “Not a major leaguer” for worst case scenario but I ended up spending a long time trying to come up with these weird hangers-on.
Well, I guess it will come down to whichever of him or LaPorta can best handle LF, but I think of both of them as 1B/DH types who are juuuust athletic enough to not embarrass you in LF.
I mean, as huge as the kid is already, are you really going to want him chasing down balls in the gap with Sizemore trying to cover for him in CF? That doesn’t sound too appetizing to me.
I see that but Wegz has never even played 1B. LaPorta’s only played two games ever there. And then there’s Mills.
I guess the assumption is that first is so easy they might as well wait till whomever is going to play it is in Buffalo to teach it.
Just off the top of my head, LaPorta probably has about half of 2009 and most of 2010 (Mills/Wegz might get coffee) all by himself as a big leaguer. By the time Weglarz is ready to play, the 2011 season, his age 23 season, we should have plenty of room for all three between 1B, DH, and LF. I can’t imagine Hafner is still of any use then. I doubt they’ll make any of them the straight up DH so young, probably just a rotation or, gasp, one will get dealt.
This is all a lot of fantasizing, obviously.
I don’t know what we’re going to do. If there’s not some weird way DFA values are calulated, which I’m sure there is, if we cut him after 2010 we’d be eating 26 million. The upshot is that by that point that will probably only be like, umm, 9 years of Juan Rincon. Or something.
We haven’t even entered the extension!
I saw Akron play a double header at Altoona a week or so ago, and FWIW LaPorta was a butcher in left. He overran a ground-ball single (which allowed the winning run to score), threw wildly, threw to the wrong base, and even hurled himself ribs-first into the top of the wall vainly trying to flag down a homer that landed a good 15 feet beyond the wall. (I held my breath and said a little prayer when he did this, but thankfully he was uninjured.) Now I don’t want to draw any conclusions over one game (well, 2 games, 15 innings total), and there’s a whole raft of potential excuses as noted elsewhere in this thread, but it was not an impressive display.
"A good body with a dull brain is as cheap as life itself."
by Fiddlesticks on Jul 30, 2008 2:13 PM EDT up reply actions
Thanks for doing these posts, Adam and Andrew. It is kind of cool to see the next core of the team coming together here—Huff, Rondon, and Lord Kelvin in the rotation, Meloan and Miller at the back end of the pen, and LaPorta/Weglarz!/Mills in the middle of the order.
Also! I still think JD Martin will be an “impact” guy (to borrow a Shapiro-ism) in the bullpen.
T.J. Beam! It’s like you picked it just for me!
Hey, you know who else is really good? Mike Brantley.
Thanks, by the way. I enjoy, and agree, with these so much that I only have useless cheerleading comments.
I was just in Akron this weekend! Damn it’s hilly east of the valley! Go Aeros!
by fleerdon on Jul 30, 2008 12:06 AM EDT reply actions
Nice write-up.
Miller definitely could be and would be pitching in Cleveland if he were healthy. He could have been pitching in Cleveland two years ago.
I would have Santana much higher — he’s only four months older than Mills, playing a much tougher position at the same level, and producing much more at the plate. For that matter, he’s 19 months younger than Hodges, and considering the position and level differences basically cancel out, I think you almost have to say he’s a better all-around player than Hodges already.
Is there any way to look up the average numbers for the Cal League vs. all the other leagues? I mean, are we talking Coors Field circa 2000 here, or Coors Field circa 2007?
If you need me, I'll be senselessly rooting for Sizemore 40/40 for the remainder of 2008.
B-Ref produces league average numbers if you go to the league page. Also, on the individual player’s pages it shows what the league average OPS is. The Cal League has a league average right around .750 as I recall.
My hesitation with Santana is that he’s still switching to a new position, he’s not super big (5’11”, 170), and prior to this season his only real offensive success had come in rookie ball (GCL and Pioneer League). What he’s doing this year is certainly very impressive, but let’s see it keep up and let him do it again in Akron next year.
I agree with those sentiments, I just see what the other guys have done as substantially less impressive.
Every report I’ve read is that while Santana is only 1.5 seasons into being a catcher, he has huge raw athleticism and is considered basically a lock to succeed there.
I thought I read somewhere that Santana was a catcher as an amateur, then got converted into a 3B by the Dodgers, then switched back, so that he is relearning the position, not starting from scratch. Now, he was an amateur in Latin America, so he still has a lot to learn (explaining some of his struggles last year), but he could be further along than would otherwise be the case (such as Vic).
Weird. Chris Kline says he was signed as a 3B out of the Dominican, then switched to the OF, then to C. The Fire Ned Colletti guy says he was originally a C, but I’ve seen that tidbit nowhere else, so let’s call shenanigans on that. Suffice it to say, LA moved him around a lot.
All good points. I think I let the rolling of the year affect my evaluation of age too much as opposed to looking at true age.
I think there’s probably some bias going on in my brain with a guy like Hodges; I know what is he, I’ve looked at his numbers for months. With Santana, I’m still trying to adjust.
So, what maybe, 4th?
I don’t understand why we’re so high on Santana especially when compared to Ramirez? Is his defense that much better and that much of a deciding factor? Remember, Max has hit at every level and Santana was atrocious last year. I would hesitate as well to put him too high right now.
If Maximiliano were still in the system, he’d be higher than #8. The question isn’t whether Santana > Ramirez, but how many current Tribe farmhands rank higher. As for why some fans are excited about trading for Santana a year after trading away Ramirez, that in a nutshell, is the difference between 2007 (when we wanted to get Kenny Lofton for the stretch run) and 2008 (when we wanted to get value for Casey during a stretch run that means squat).
This is all very inexact since nobody’s ever actually seen these guys play defense but, yeah. I think the defense is a big deal. Max was never projected as a major league catcher and Santana is.
just going through both of these posts, our system with the players 1 to about 14 or 15 is pretty good. Add in another PTBNL that will surely crack our top 15 prospects and I think we’re in pretty awesome shape. Most of the guys 25-15 do nothing for me.
If I/we made horrible mistakes they’re almost certainly in that 15-25 range. That’s where you offer seen hyper toolsy young guys get stashed and I don’t have that kind of expertise or information.
I think Abner Abreu and this year’s draft class is sort of exciting. Richard Martinez, yet another catcher, looks pretty good at LCO.
once you get past 15 it’s kind of a crapshoot. on one side you have very young guys with potential, but not much of a track record of performance. then you’ve got guys with longer track records who have had periods of, if not sustained, success. finally there are guys who are near the majors and have been ok but not great who may have a hot stretch in the bigs for a little while but not much else. These are the “interesting” but not really exciting (yet or anymore) guys, and for the Tribe that could probably be extended from #15 out to #35.
and position him as Victor’s long-term heir apparent.
I don’t want Victor to have an heir apparent. I want him to be immortal.
Great post.
Question for those who have been following these things for a while: Do the Indians tend to discount defense and speed in making draft picks? The list above, not to mention the big league roster in recent years, is heavily populated with big lugs. Our only really good defensive players (Grady, Gutz, Astrubal) came from other organizations.
Offhand, I’d say there is an organizational bias toward pitching and power (nothing wrong with these) in the draft, with attempts to compensate or balance through trades. Makes Michael Brantley seem interesting to me.
That’s an interesting question. I don’t really know the answer.
As another data point, the Twins seem to draft a lot of high speed/defensy guys who are sometimes considered stretches-Span, Revere, and Plouffe comes to mind. But I’m not positive I’m remembering Plouffe right.
If you had a ballpark of artificial turf like the Horrordome, you would overdraft speed as well – or at least I hope you would. It will be interesting to see whether their draft strategy changes now that they’re slated to have a new ballpark.
Free at last! Free at last! Andy Marte is free at last!
by woodsmeister on Jul 30, 2008 4:41 PM EDT up reply actions
Maybe the idea is that you can teach someone defense, but you can’t teach someone how to hit 30 HR’s a year.
Especially when you think about guys like Victor, Jhonny and Garko. Where they were defensively early into their careers compared to today is quite dramatic, imo.
I’m sure that’s a big part of it. Power is a seductive thing and a mighty nice attribute. But it also seems to lead to having lots of 1B/DH types, who may or may not be convertible to 3B or LF, and a chronic deficiency in good middle infielders and top-of-the-order types.
Okay, I want Brantley and Taylor Green.
But power is a little more fungible, no? If you’ve got Matt LaPorta, even if you can’t use him yourself, you’re bound to run into somebody who’s got something you want and who needs a bat. But what if you’re trying to cut a deal the Indians and your best chip is a center fielder?
by fleerdon on Jul 30, 2008 12:15 PM EDT up reply actions
Oh, I think you meant “cut a deal with the Indians.” I read it as the Indians offering the CF.
I think you are correct that power is the coin of the realm and has residual value. I guess what I’m also reacting to is the ongoing Grady-hitting-third discussion, which always ends up illustrating the fact that we just don’t have top-of-the-order guys on the team or anywhere near the big leagues. So we keep hoping Astrubal turns it around or maybe Choo fits or something. But we have no one we can point to and say he’s an Ian Kinsler type.
Ian Kinsler should probably be hitting third.
by afh4 on Jul 30, 2008 12:36 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
Right. “With,” not “as.” Sorry about that.
by fleerdon on Jul 30, 2008 12:37 PM EDT up reply actions
Hmm. I suspect they’ve got a series of MLE-style formulas that help them compare prospects apples-to-apples. And the co-efficient for power on that formula is probably larger than the co-efficient for defense, particularly outside of the skill positions. You seem to be asking if the difference between the two has increased of late. To me, I think the emphasis has been more about focusing on the qualities that translate to the big league - health, discipline, quality contact - and as a pleasant side-effect of that policy, you’re seeing a little more pop in the system.
To use a crudely rendered example, I think the Indians drafted Lonnie Chisenhall as a result of what’s gone wrong with Mike Aubrey or Brad Snyder.
It could also just be that our luck is turning a little bit. It feels like we’ve had a rough stretch, at least for position players. Maybe our prospect-picking BA/bip is sliding in the other direction.
by fleerdon on Jul 30, 2008 12:12 PM EDT up reply actions
I think the Indians drafted Lonnie Chisenhall as a result of what’s gone wrong with Mike Aubrey or Brad Snyder.
Can you explain that a litte?
Well, it’s my own theory, I guess. The essential ingredients of a major league hitter seem to be (1) healthy, (2) disciplined (at least in swinging at strikes, if not taking walks), and (3) putting the meat of the bat on the ball. That’s Chisenhall to a T (at least theoretically). Snyder had/has lots of things Lonnie doesn’t - raw power, premium defense, speed - but that’s just the fixin’s on the veggie burger. He hasn’t been able to stay healthy, and he’s still a bit of a windmill. Lonnie’s got the soy, you know?
But if, as an organization, you stick to those essentials, I think good power hitting overlaps with them a lot: You’re more likely to get mistake pitches and balls if you’ve got pop, and obviously you’re no power hitter if you can’t square it up.
Does that make sense? Does it answer your question?
by fleerdon on Jul 30, 2008 12:33 PM EDT up reply actions
I can see that, especially with Snyder. It’s making some pretty big assumptions about Chiz but I see what you’re saying.
I don’t get it as much with Aubrey. Didn’t Aubrey profile with the veggie burger abilities?
Aubrey would be the “health” issue, as would Snyder, though to a lesser extent. The question, of course, is how well the Indians were able to predict that at the time, versus how well they can predict it now. My thinking is that they’ve worked hard on health as a foreseeable attribute. That would also explain to me in part why they might have been so clearly unimpressed with all the so-called first-round talent that they left on the board when they took Lon Cheneyhall.
by fleerdon on Jul 30, 2008 12:40 PM EDT up reply actions
It doesn’t look like Aubrey missed many games in college due to injury but I don’t really remember his durability rep.
Aubrey struggled with a back injury during his sophomore season in 2002, but still managed to hit .316 with seven home runs and 52 RBI while going 8-1 with 36 strikeouts in 60.2 innings on the hill.
So a back injury at age 20. Hindsight is 20/20 I guess.
Yeah, it is. I followed Tulane a little when Aubry was there and I don’t recall anyone being concerned about his health. He was a blue-chipper all the way as far as I remember.
"A good body with a dull brain is as cheap as life itself."
by Fiddlesticks on Jul 30, 2008 2:05 PM EDT up reply actions
Hello everyone,
I think virtually all publications (or most, at least) thought Aubrey was a blue-chipper; I also don’t remember anyone being concerned about his health at the time. I didn’t even know about the back injury during his sophomore season – probably most didn’t think of that as a prelude of injuries to come at that time.
Just my 2 cents.
The "cream of the crop" doesn't always rise to the top.
Hello Sam,
As Andrew mentioned, an interesting question. (Kudos again to Adam and Andrew for making this list).
Lately, the draft picks for the Indians seem to be leaning in the directions you’ve stated. To add to that, the few speed guys they do have in the system have either been injured (Crowe, and to a lesser extent this season, Constanza), ineffective for a period of time (Crowe and Constanza), and old for their leagues (Crowe and Constanza, though Constanza got a bit of a late start, since he didn’t play his first professional season in the States until age 21 in 2005 at Mahoning Valley).
The other possible speed guys like Chisenhall and one or two others are farther away, so it’s hard to get a read on them yet. I don’t think the Indians discount speed entirely, but lately, they’ve been focusing more on power. Likewise, instead of drafting many HS arms, they’ve been drafting more college arms of late, probably partly due to the fact that the 2001 Draft that was made up mostly of HS arms (the early rounds anyway) failed to materialize (though Martin still has a chance to make an impact of some sort, probably from the bullpen) and the fact that the Indians believed that the college arms they picked were better – that has had mixed results to this point (though Huff, Wright, and a few others may help to make that more of a positive draft result).
I too find Michael Brantley interesting and would like to see us acquire him, but at this point, the chances are probably dwindling a bit because he hasn’t played in a game since July 20, and has only had 4 ABs (I believe) since the All-Star Break (virtually the same as the ML All-Star Break), so unless the Indians are totally convinced about Brantley, I suspect they’ll pick the second prospect (likely Taylor Green, who wouldn’t be a bad acquistion in his own right).
Only time will tell on that – if Brantley can show he’s healthy for the month of August and can excel (his BB/K ratio is excellent, and was very solid even at age 20 in AA – 29 BB/25 K, and that was in his first expsoure to the league), Brantley may still be the PTBNL.
Just my 2 cents.
The "cream of the crop" doesn't always rise to the top.
Excellent stuff, guys. I’m consistently amazed at the quality and quantity of great stuff both of you contribute to this site. If I could contribute one thing half as good as this, I’d call it a career.
Burn on, big river, burn on...
Thank you, gentlemen. Immensely entertaining. The only thing that I’m having trouble with is the best case/worst case projections for Lord Kelvin. I just don’t see Tom Glavine and Jamie Walker at all. KDLC looks more like a left-handed Fausto to me (and I guess the jury is still out on whether that’s a good or a bad thing).
by ken from alexandria on Jul 30, 2008 4:56 PM EDT reply actions
Fausto’s G/F in the majors lives over 3, mostly over 3.25. I don’t have his minors numbers but I have to imagine it was similar if not more pronounced.
Kelvin’s Minor League G/F is 1.73 and 1.89 in his sustained run of dominance in Lake County.
Glavine’s career G/F is 1.43.
I don’t really have any reason to think Kelvin is Glavine (in an extremely perfect world) except that he’s big, lefty, and might see his K’s go down as he goes up. But I don’t really see any reason to think Kelvin is Fausto.
That sinker is Fausto, plain and simple. Kelvin doesn’t have it.
Pretty much any lefthanded starter is getting a lefty situational reliever as a worst case.
Hello Andrew,
When you call Glavine “big,” do you mean performance-wise or size-wise – he was only 6’0”? I presume you mean “performance-wise” – he had his moments (especially against us in the 1995 WS, when arguably, he got a few inches off that outside corner), but I think I’d put him a notch or two below Clemens, Johnson, and even Pedro Martinez.
Glavine was certainly very good, but I don’t know if I’d put him in that class above – I think he falls a notch below that, probably because his stuff wasn’t quite as good as those three, and as a result, didn’t have the numbers those three did.
Just my 2 cents.
The "cream of the crop" doesn't always rise to the top.
I meant physically big.
He’s 6’1”. Maybe?
Whatever. I never meant to really say Kelvin was going to be Tom Glavine.
Hello Andrew,
Thanks for clarifying.
The Baseball Cube lists him as 6’0”, but I don’t know how accurate that is.
I know he’s a lefty, but to me, that seems a bit short. It pretty much is for a RHP. Like I said, for a lefty, that’s a good size, but most RHP would need to be bigger, so I don’t know if I’d think of 6’0” or 6’1” as being big, even for a lefty. I would think average, maybe slightly above.
Just my 2 cents – no offense.
The "cream of the crop" doesn't always rise to the top.
Hello Andrew,
From what I recall of Fausto’s Minor League numbers, I’m pretty certain they were over 2 to 2.5 for sure, and may have been higher, so you’re correct that his GO/AO numbers were very noteworthy.
I too don’t see Kelvin as Fausto; I think Kelvin has the ability to be a front-line starter, but more in the dominant, high strikeout mode rather than a dominant, “beat-the-ball-weakly-into-the-ground-and- splinter-your-bat” mode.
Just my 2 cents.
The "cream of the crop" doesn't always rise to the top.
Yeah, Finley seems better than Glavine as best case. Worst case maybe Arthur Rhodes? Basta!
by ken from alexandria on Jul 30, 2008 11:43 PM EDT up reply actions
So you’re saying that you think Kelvin may one day get his ass kicked by his wife . . .
The Shin-Soo Choo of LGT.
by Buckeye Brad on Jul 31, 2008 9:26 AM EDT up reply actions
Even without the PTBNL+, I’m more excited about this top ten than I’ve been for any other of our prospect groups since ~2003 or so.
Hello jhon,
I think they have more potential and higher ceilings than those previous groups. Outside of Miller and Lofgren (at least the first season after he put together that great year at High-A Kinston), the rest of them didn’t seem to be more than just “solid” players with average or decent ceilings, but nobody that really screamed “great” or potential “blue-chip” prospects, whereas I think more of these guys qualify for that (at LaPorta, Rondon, and De La Cruz, and you could argue possibly Meloan and Stevens as well – relievers probably aren’t considered blue-chip prospects very often, but with their sometimes ridiculous numbers, I think they would at least be considered, and certainly, be considered more highly-thought of than any of our other reliever prospects in the last few years, outside of a healthy Sipp, who himself put up ridiculous numbers until he went down with TJ surgery).
Just my 2 cents.
The "cream of the crop" doesn't always rise to the top.
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