4/14 Minor League Player Hot Sheet

[smootness]

Interesting that our first round draft pick from 2014 Braxton Davidson is not included in your list - perhaps because he might now be considered "filler?" If still considered a prospect (#27 in the Braves system), he would certainly be in your "The Bad" category.

.229/.367/.343, 3 2B, 3 HR, 22 BB, 48 SO
46 % strikeout rate with no real power numbers, no speed, and nothing special defensively says he is trending his way out of the system (and maybe professional baseball).

While his K rate is certainly terrible, and everything you've said is pretty much true, it's not quite that terrible. It's 'only' 37.5%.

[smootness]

Also, looks like it's time to add Ricardo Sanchez to the pitcher list.

[Southcack77]

Also, looks like it's time to add Ricardo Sanchez to the pitcher list.

Saw this on Twitter:

On the season for Ricardo Sanchez
3.27 ERA
33 K
13 BB
33 IP
Oh and he turned 20 a month ago

[Tapate50]

The early Badler reports on his stuff seem to be coming to fruition.

And he was WAY off when we acquired him.

[thethe]

The early Badler reports on his stuff seem to be coming to fruition.

And he was WAY off when we acquired him.

He is an example of a non top 100 prospect that has more upside than maybe 99% of other non 100 prospects. They are not all equal.

[Preacher]

Wanted to take a look at our top-30ish prospect list and highlight the 5 prospects that IMO have increased their stock the most and the 5 prospects that have fallen the most.

Biggest Risers

1. Ronald Acuna - .356/.435/.593, 3 2B, 1 3B, 3 HR, 9 SB, 5 CS (AA stats)
How can it not be Acuna? The 19 year old is blistering AA and while the league will certainly adjust to him, the most encouraging thing here is since arriving in AA, he's walking at a career best clip of 13% and his strikeouts are down from his early season struggles. I feel like maybe I should temper expectations, but I also feel like maybe 'f that' this is one of the best prospects in baseball and could easily find himself in top-10 lists by the end of the year. Power, speed, defense, arm..... potential star.

2. Kolby Allard - 54 IP, 1.83 ERA, 7.67 K/9, 2.83 BB/9, 1.11 WHIP
Part of a trio of 19 year olds in AA, Allard has been fantastic despite the aggressive promotion. Even with a drop in his strikeout %, he's been effective by improving his BB% and generally keeping the ball in the park. He's also been extremely consistent, never allowing more than 3 ERs in a start.

3. Mike Soroka - 48.2 IP, 2.96 ERA, 9.43 K/9, 2.59 BB/9, 1.01 WHIP
The third member of the trio of young stars at AA, Soroka continues to prove he belongs with the upper-echelon pitching prospects in the system. His strikeout numbers have improved considerably from A ball last year (+1.56 K/9) and he's done so without sacrificing control. Biggest issue has been a spike in home runs, but everything is nitpicking when a 19 year old is in AA pitching as well as he and Kolby have been doing.

4. Cristian Pache - .290/.343/.364, 2 2B, 5 3B, 11 SB
He's young for his league, he's basically the age of a HS senior and playing very well while manning a premium defensive position. The speed certainly plays and he's bumped up his BB% slightly from last year. Strikeouts are getting a little high, but there's a lot of upside here.

5. Alex Jackson - .301/.359/.575, 12 2B, 10 HR, 5.4% BB, 26.9% SO
I know he's on the DL with an injury, but reportedly its a minor thing, considering how far Jackson's stock had fallen since he was the 6th pick in the draft, I can't help but be thrilled with what we've seen so far. The power is very very real and he's doing major damage while also getting readjusted to catching. Sure the SO/BB ratios aren't great, but his best case is probably always a guy who strikes out quite a bit, albeit with significant power - if he can bring the BBs up just a bit and keep hitting for power, the SOs will be fine.

HM - Wiegel, Anderson, Gohara

Biggest Fallers

1. Max Fried - 45.2 IP, 5.72 ERA, 4.49 FIP, 8.87 K/9, 3.94 BB/9
Just hasn't been able to get untracked, he's had two starts giving up 6 ERs and only one really great start on the season. His HR rate has ticked up and his SOs are down slightly, his BABIP is high (.318) and both his FIP/xFIP are lower than his ERA, so probably some bad luck here. Needs to start stringing some good starts together.

2. Derian Cruz - .167/.207/.237, 6 2B, 1 3B, 2.4% BB, 28.2% SO
Just a disastrous start to the year for the former high-profile international signing. Truth be told, the Braves have been very aggressive with a lot of guys and for the most part its worked, but this was probably a case where it backfired. Last thing I would add with Cruz; he's 18 years old, with PLUS speed and the Braves thought enough of him to sign him for $2million two years ago, still a lot of time for him.

3. AJ Minter - Injured
Sometimes its not the kids fault, but if you can't stay healthy, your stock goes down -- especially when we are talking about a pitcher who already has an injury history.

4. Braxton Davidson - .221/.358/.346, 5 2B, 4 HR, 17% BB, 37.6% SO
Still listed on top-30 lists coming into the year, his start should all but extinguish any lingering hope. Repeating a level, his SO rate is still WAY to high for a guy who isn't mashing. Combined with mediocre defense and no real speed, I think we can close the book here.

5. Aaron Blair/Matt Wisler -- AAAA
Obviously neither of these guys are prospects anymore, but wanted to include them, both to show how fickly prospects are and to acknowledge that coming into the season there was still hope that at least one of these guys could rebound at AAA and claim a spot in the ML rotation. Clearly this hasn't happened. Blair has a 5.79 ERA at AAA which looks really bad, and then you contrast that with Wisler's 6.19 ERA... egads.


Another thing I noticed when going through this list (our top 30).... the system as a whole has done really well this year, there isn't a lot of guys on that list that you can say have really dropped their stock... but aside from the guys I listed as STOCK UP, you can also talk about the good work Gohara, Wentz, Demerritte, Seymour, Harrington, Wilson, and Riley have done. You can also talk about the improvement Touki has made and the stretches of strong play from Sims/Newcomb.