Arizona Fall League

DOB loved Ahmed after watching him in the AFL last year. Not saying that La Stella isn't a good prospect, but DOB (and others) gushing over Ahmed is a cautionary tale.
 
Through ten games now, Tommy hitting .364/.523/.636/1.159 with 11 walks and still no strikeouts in 44 plate appearances. His bat is definitely special.

@KevinMcAlpin: Via the great @pgammo, #Braves 2B prospect Tommy La Stella is drawing comparisons to the Cardinals Matt Carpenter. Not bad company to join.
 
It would be fracking amazing if we had the next Matt Carpenter.

Thanks for posting that skillet.
 
thethe said:
It would be fracking amazing if we had the next Matt Carpenter.

Thanks for posting that skillet.
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Let's compare minor league careers for Matt Carpenter and Tommy La Stella.

Carpenter (23-25 years old, low A through AAA) - .299/.408/.450/.858
La Stella (22-24 years old, low A through AA) - .327/.412/.496/.908

As you can see, Tommy compares at least as well if not better than Carpenter.

Now let's look at Carpenter's first year in the majors at age 26. .294/.365/.463/.828. Now Carpenter did have the benefit of playing 130 games in AAA as a 25 year old while Tommy has not yet played above AA yet, so I can see where he either could possibly use a month or two in Gwinnett to complete his seasoning, or he could have an adjustment period in the majors if he starts for us game 1. Either way, we should be very excited about the future of Tommy La Stella.
 
Matt Carpenter is an enticing comparison for La Stella. But if you took a sample of players with similar hitting results at similar ages, Carpenter would be out there at the 95th percentile or so in terms of future major league performance.

Here is another comp worth pondering. At age 23, this left-handed hitting second baseman put up slash lines of .315/.391/.460 in 409 at bats in AAA. He had 52 walks and 41 strikeouts.

For five quatloos, name this future Brave second baseman.

His ceiling ended up being well below Carpenter's, but still I'd be happy if La Stella turned out to be a similar player.
 
Here's another former Brave second baseman. At age 22 his put up slash lines of .300/.372/.797 in 440 ABs in AA. He had 50 walks and 53 strikeouts.

For eleven quatloos name this former Brave prospect.
 
And another one. At age 24 he put up slash lines of .281/.408/.809 in 480 plate appearances in AA. He had 84 walks and 49 strikeouts!

For nineteen bitcoins name this former Braves infield prospect.
 
I give hints:

The first player did not come up through the Braves farm system, had Bobby Cox as his Braves manager and is not Keith Lockhart.

The next two players were both drafted by the Braves in the same year and judging by their last names have the same ethnicity as La Stella.
 
nsacpi said:
Matt Carpenter is an enticing comparison for La Stella. But if you took a sample of players with similar hitting results at similar ages, Carpenter would be out there at the 95th percentile or so in terms of future major league performance.

Here is another comp worth pondering. At age 23, this left-handed hitting second baseman put up slash lines of .315/.391/.460 in 409 at bats in AAA. He had 52 walks and 41 strikeouts.

For five quatloos, name this future Brave second baseman.

His ceiling ended up being well below Carpenter's, but still I'd be happy if La Stella turned out to be a similar player.
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I believe this would be Jeff treadway
 
depley said:
I believe this would be Jeff treadway
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Never thought of it, but Treadway could be a comp for La Stella. La Stella's minor league stats infer that he'd walk more, but the other stats may end up being similar. If La Stella could give us something in the range of Treadway's 1990 and 1991 seasons, that would be solid.

PS--Other two guys would be Ed Giovanola and Tony Graffanino. I was surprised to see that Graffanino actually managed to get 2,800 big league ABs over 13 seasons. I expect La Stella will be better than both of these guys.
 
Many scouts and other AFL observers were surprised that Simmons was the only Braves prospect selected to play in Saturday’s all-star game, as hot-hitting second-base prospect Tommy La Stella has been one of the big stories of the fall league.

La Stella entered Monday ranked among AFL leaders with a .364 batting average and was second in the league in on-base percentage (.523) and fourth in slugging percentage (.636).

La Stella’s double was one of three Scottsdale hits in Monday’s 4-0 loss to the Peoria Javelinas. He also flied out to the warning track in front of the 430 (feet) sign in center field at Scottsdale Stadium, and struck out for the first time in 37 at-bats this spring.

The AFL leader with 11 walks before Monday, La Stella struck out looking after falling behind 0-2, then working the count full and taking a pitch that appeared to be a bit outside.

The all-star game Saturday starts at 8 p.m. EDT and will be shown live on MLB Network.
 
Stats through 10/27:

Shae Simmons 5 G, 0 GS, 0-0, 0 saves, 5 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 5 BB, 5 K, 1.80
Northcraft 4 G, 4 GS, 1-3, 11 IP, 13 H, 7 ER, 8 BB, 13 K, 5.73
Juan Jaime 6 G, 0 GS, 0-0, 0 Sv, 8.2 IP, 8 H, 4 ER, 5 BB, 8 K, 5.40
John Cornely 6 G, 0 GS, 1-0, 1 Sv, 5.2 IP, 5 H, 4 ER, 3 BB, 9 K, 6.35

Kyle Kubitza 11 G, 33 AB, 5 R, 9 H, 1 2B, 1 3B, 0 HR, 2 RBI, .273, 14 K
Tommy LaStella 11 G, 37 AB, 6 R, 13 H, 5 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, 8 RBI, .351, 1 K, 1 SB
Elmer Reyes 7 G, 25 AB, 4 R, 7 H, 4 2B, 0 3B, 0 HR, 2 RBI, .280, 4 K
Hefflinger 11 G, 42 AB, 4 R, 9 H, 2 2B, 0 3B, 1 HR, 5 RBI, .214, 18 K
 
rico43 said:
Stats through 10/27:

Shae Simmons 5 G, 0 GS, 0-0, 0 saves, 5 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 5 BB, 5 K, 1.80
Northcraft 4 G, 4 GS, 1-3, 11 IP, 13 H, 7 ER, 8 BB, 13 K, 5.73
Juan Jaime 6 G, 0 GS, 0-0, 0 Sv, 8.2 IP, 8 H, 4 ER, 5 BB, 8 K, 5.40
John Cornely 6 G, 0 GS, 1-0, 1 Sv, 5.2 IP, 5 H, 4 ER, 3 BB, 9 K, 6.35

Kyle Kubitza 11 G, 33 AB, 5 R, 9 H, 1 2B, 1 3B, 0 HR, 2 RBI, .273, 14 K
Tommy LaStella 11 G, 37 AB, 6 R, 13 H, 5 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, 8 RBI, .351, 1 K, 1 SB
Elmer Reyes 7 G, 25 AB, 4 R, 7 H, 4 2B, 0 3B, 0 HR, 2 RBI, .280, 4 K
Hefflinger 11 G, 42 AB, 4 R, 9 H, 2 2B, 0 3B, 1 HR, 5 RBI, .214, 18 K
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Not the best of showings for Braves prospects. Obviously La Stella has done well but so has Elmer Reyes and Kubitza has a nice average but the 14 k's in 33 AB's is alarming. Shae has dominant stuff and could be special if he learns how to keep those walks down. I thought Northcraft would of had a better showing but he's getting lit up. I know Shae is no Craig Kimbrel but Craig also had a bit of a control issue in the minors that has obviously went away since becoming a ML player. I'm not a scout or know what's going on but maybe these guys are being told to work on their secondary pitches.
 
The AFL is an extreme hitters league. The pitching stats are actually not bad considering. The four guys we have pitching there all have very good arms. Mostly they need to refine control and their second and third pitches.
 
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