Our farm system is truly ridiculous...

[chipchildress]

Dustin Peterson was a 2nd round pick not long ago. It's been so long since the Braves have developed a hitter from scratch that it's easy to forget that a mediocre year in low A ball as an 18 year old doesn't mean the end. I can't wait to see where he goes from here...

 

[chop2chip]

Dustin Peterson was a 2nd round pick not long ago. It's been so long since the Braves have developed a hitter from scratch that it's easy to forget that a mediocre year in low A ball as an 18 year old doesn't mean the end. I can't wait to see where he goes from here...

I think Petey has a really good chance to be an average regular. The Upton trade was pretty fantastic IMO.

 

[yeezus]

I've missed the lack of common sense this board has. Someone claimed we had 4 starters that are up with the best pitching prospects in the game and claimed they were top of the rotation talent despite them all lagging way behind the very few pitching prospects in MLB that in reality have TOR talent. THen the counter argument is.....but, other people have become TOR starters!

to be fair you've made plenty of wild claims, and a lot of them seem to be optimistic as possible on the Nats side and as pessimistic as possible on the Braves side. Example being Michael Taylor will easily be a 2-3 WAR player. He's at 0.3 this year. Just saying, I'm not sure anyone here should be throwing stones.

 

[Knucksie]

Ridiculous is Gant, Smith, Justice, Glavine, Smoltz, Avery, Stanton, McMichael. Chipper, Blauser, Klesko, Javy. Nieves, Torrasco, Schmidt, Houston. Andruw, Millwood, Rocker, Chen, Odalis. Furcal, Giles, Spooneybarger,Marquis, Betemit, Marte, LaRoche. Wainwright, McCann, Franceaur, Heyward, Freeman, Simmons, Hsnsen, Kimbrel, Venters.

Look at all that talent that we graduated throughout the years. We have no one, and I mean no one, that could hold the jock straps on 90% of that list.

You're absolutely right this time. Ridiculous and McMichael belong in the same sentence.

 

[Carp]

we are talking about calling them up next year. Swanson isn't do 800 in AA.

Albies at AAA worried me.

I think eventually a 22+ y/o Albies will be a good chance at .800. Maybe Swanson too. But I don't see 850 for Swanson. I'm not sure I see it for Albies but I hope so.

Sure, it isn't likely for 2017 (though given their talent, it shouldn't be surprising if they do). But I thought you were talking about their projection over their career.

 

[Carp]

And there it is! We should sign him to a 15 year extension now and put him in the top 10 prospects of MLB because of this.

You said we had no one on the talent level of some of the top pitchers in baseball. That's simply not true. We have several with the overall talent to become TOR pitchers and scouting reports back that up. That doesn't mean they are likely to be the next Jose Fernandez, and nobody is saying that.

 

[Carp]

That is a tough expection. You have to have significant power to put up a .800 OPS. He could hit .300/.350/.425ish; a very good season, but not a .800 OPS. Expecting it is a stretch, but then again, you have no issue comparing recent 2nd round draft picks to top of the rotation starters.

Well, you know, that's what scouting reports and projections are for, but apparently you don't pay attention to those, or you just choose to ignore that information.

 

[Carp]

I'm slowly beginning to think that Peterson may wind up being the biggest steal of the rebuild and may well turn into an .850-.900 OPS guy. I know we've all been "watching" him, but I'm not sure we've been watching him closely enough. After two more 2Bs last night...

36.5% of his hits this season are for extra bases. 12 of his 2Bs have come since July 1st. Given that he's still just 21, I don't think it's much of a stretch to say that he's beginning to grow into his power.

I like Peterson a lot. When most of the board was poo pooing the trade, I was pretty happy with it and thought Peterson had some potential. Jace is already doing well and, while it's early, Fried is looking every bit of the stud we were told about at the time.

 

[Russ2dollas]

I like Peterson a lot. When most of the board was poo pooing the trade, I was pretty happy with it and thought Peterson had some potential. Jace is already doing well and, while it's early, Fried is looking every bit of the stud we were told about at the time.

If Peterson was still at 3B I'd be really excited. At LF I'm just not as excited. I think he's a good player to have. But I'd prefer my LF to be a masher. I'd like that OPS 850 or so. He's not doing that in the minors, so the majors....not so sure.

But I think he's a big leaguer and valuable while cheap.

He's still young, so maybe he grows into his power and can climb up there. If he's a 15-20 HR guy with a mess of doubles then he's playable in LF. That guy would easily be the second best hitter on our team.

 

[bravesfanMatt]

If Peterson was still at 3B I'd be really excited. At LF I'm just not as excited. I think he's a good player to have. But I'd prefer my LF to be a masher. I'd like that OPS 850 or so. He's not doing that in the minors, so the majors....not so sure.

But I think he's a big leaguer and valuable while cheap.

He's still young, so maybe he grows into his power and can climb up there. If he's a 15-20 HR guy with a mess of doubles then he's playable in LF. That guy would easily be the second best hitter on our team.

I have seen him play.. and others have echoed what I saw... But he has a smooth, easy swing. He could easily turn 40 doubles into 20 homer/20 doubles with a bit more effort. I think he has a game plan through the minors of not selling out for the homeruns and just learn to hit first.. then ramp up his swing to go for more power. He is someone to watch the next 2 years.

 

[striker42]

The thing I like about Peterson is that he's steadily improved while advancing a level a year. He's not just making adjustments to maintain his stats, he's actually improving his game and becoming a better hitter. He could be one of those guys who just keeps steadily improving until he becomes something special.

I do agree that I wish he was still at third. If he could play third with an OPS around .800, I don't think anyone would complain.

 

[Southcack77]

Then they much all be! We should just expect all our picks to be them! I just wonder why all these other teams passed on Jose Fernandez in the first round this year.

You get a TOR, you get a TOR, we all get TOR starters!

You could make the same criticism against any player that was drafted and any player that remains in the minors.

None of them are Jose Fernandez until they get called up and perform like him.

That's a conversation ending comment really.

 

[Southcack77]

If Peterson was still at 3B I'd be really excited. At LF I'm just not as excited. I think he's a good player to have. But I'd prefer my LF to be a masher. I'd like that OPS 850 or so. He's not doing that in the minors, so the majors....not so sure.

But I think he's a big leaguer and valuable while cheap.

He's still young, so maybe he grows into his power and can climb up there. If he's a 15-20 HR guy with a mess of doubles then he's playable in LF. That guy would easily be the second best hitter on our team.

He leads his level in doubles and has already shown fair HR power (8/400AB).

Keith Law said he had upside of 15+HRs today in his chat, though I think that is fairly evident based on the HRs and 2B he has hit at his age.

I think there is a reasonable chance that he develops into a better than average LF -- if his improvement curve continues, he might be better than that at his peak.

I think he's a legit LF.

 

[Southcack77]

Ridiculous is Gant, Smith, Justice, Glavine, Smoltz, Avery, Stanton, McMichael. Chipper, Blauser, Klesko, Javy. Nieves, Torrasco, Schmidt, Houston. Andruw, Millwood, Rocker, Chen, Odalis. Furcal, Giles, Spooneybarger,Marquis, Betemit, Marte, LaRoche. Wainwright, McCann, Franceaur, Heyward, Freeman, Simmons, Hsnsen, Kimbrel, Venters.

Look at all that talent that we graduated throughout the years. We have no one, and I mean no one, that could hold the jock straps on 90% of that list.

I think that's a solid 25 years of drafts and trades that went into your list, so I'm not so sure it is fair to compare it to what is essentially the last two seasons of work by this front office.

Also, there is a pretty wide range of quality amongst the players you list.

 

[emk418]

Just have to give it time. We have Riley, Demeritte, Ruiz, Davidson, Peterson, Maitan, plus all the other international signees and the draft picks. Very likely we'll get an impact bat among this group, even if they're 3+ years away.

Maitan is 16. He could be special but lets not put any labels on him. I highly doubt Ruiz, Davidson, Peterson will ever be impact players. Doesn't mean that can't be productive, but few people expect them to be impact players. Demeritte could if everything clicks but he has more questions then answers at this point as to what he'll be. Still a fantastic trade for him though. Riley is way too young to know either.

 

[smootness]

There are no more frustrating things from fans talking about prospects than:

1. Assuming a prospect's current status is the definitive answer on his potential. I'll take an 18-year-old ranked around #150 with a high ceiling than a 24-year-old sitting at #85 in the top 100 all day. Just because a player isn't a top prospect does not in any way mean they don't have similar potential to those guys. But there's a reason that most of the top 20-30 prospects in baseball tend to be at least 20-21 years old. A ton of our top prospects are between 18-19 years old, and one is 16. When people say 'depth' when talking about our system, they don't mean a bunch of future utility players. They mean a ton of young, high-ceiling talent.

2. The tendency for fans to try to make firm predictions on a farm system. The very reason our system is so exciting is because even if a majority of our prospects bust, we still have enough guys with enough talent to begin filling the major league team with legit talent.

There's a reason Law said we could built a powerhouse if we play it right. And it's not because we have a bunch of Jace Petersons and Aaron Blairs.

Let's take Jose Fernandez as an example, who keeps being mentioned. He wasn't in the top 100 prospects immediately after being drafted, or to start the following year. When he was finally ranked pre-2013, he was suddenly a top 10 prospect. Did he have much less potential pre-2012 than pre-2013? No...but prospect rankings will generally take it a little slow until you actually show consistently good performance. That takes time.

 

[zbhargrove]

Maitan is 16. He could be special but lets not put any labels on him. I highly doubt Ruiz, Davidson, Peterson will ever be impact players. Doesn't mean that can't be productive, but few people expect them to be impact players. Demeritte could if everything clicks but he has more questions then answers at this point as to what he'll be. Still a fantastic trade for him though. Riley is way too young to know either.

Agree on everyone but Peterson... He has really turned the corner and just continues to l rake. Once he got hot he never stopped. He's got a crap ton of doubles, has a lot of room to gain muscle, and is young for his level. He will show more power. Some of those doubles will start to go over the fence. Peterson is the real deal

 

[Carp]

If Peterson was still at 3B I'd be really excited. At LF I'm just not as excited. I think he's a good player to have. But I'd prefer my LF to be a masher. I'd like that OPS 850 or so. He's not doing that in the minors, so the majors....not so sure.

But I think he's a big leaguer and valuable while cheap.

He's still young, so maybe he grows into his power and can climb up there. If he's a 15-20 HR guy with a mess of doubles then he's playable in LF. That guy would easily be the second best hitter on our team.

While I admittedly haven't seen much of Peterson, the one player he constantly reminds me of is Kelly Johnson. If he becomes another KJ, I'd be very happy, regardless what position he plays.