Minor League Thread

CJ9 said:
Spencer Schwellenbach named to the Futures Game. Does every team need a representative in the game or something? That’s a weird one.
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I think everyone gets at least one on one of the teams. When it was initiated, I think each franchise sent one domestic and one international player to the game. I could be wrong on that one.
 
OF Ethan Workinger promoted from Augusta to Rome. Was an undrafted free agent signed in 2020 after the short draft. Hitting .289/.380/.507 as a 21-year-old at Low A so far this year.
 
Another big day for Guanipa. 3-5 with two doubles and it’s the sixth inning. He’s hitting .333 with a .971 OPS.
 
CJ9 said:
Another big day for Guanipa. 3-5 with two doubles and it’s the sixth inning. He’s hitting .333 with a .971 OPS.
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I've been impressed with a lot of the guys down in the DSL. Hard to know from the two-dimensional stats in a league with a wide variation in pitching talent, but it's a marked improvement in performance (and contact rate) from the last few teams we've had down there.
 
50PoundHead said:
I've been impressed with a lot of the guys down in the DSL. Hard to know from the two-dimensional stats in a league with a wide variation in pitching talent, but it's a marked improvement in performance (and contact rate) from the last few teams we've had down there.
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This Angel Nieblas kid from Mexico is off to a blistering start. .404 avg with 1.069 OPS in 52 AB. 1:1 BB / K ratio.
 
50PoundHead said:
I've been impressed with a lot of the guys down in the DSL. Hard to know from the two-dimensional stats in a league with a wide variation in pitching talent, but it's a marked improvement in performance (and contact rate) from the last few teams we've had down there.
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Let's hope so considering they're actually spending money now.
 
Southcack77 said:
Let's hope so considering they're actually spending money now.
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I think this is the second group of international signings without bonus penalties. Last year's group is in the Florida Complex League. The two prominent signings from that group (Benitez and Glod) are muddling along of sorts. Glod is showing good power numbers with an iffy contact rate. Benitez' contact rate has improved from last year, but he's not ripping it up. IF Leiker Figueroa is off to the best start in terms of surface-level stats with an .845 OPS that is somewhat fueled by a .429 OBP. RHP Didier Fuentes from that group started the year in Augusta. He's back with the FCL team but has yet to debut. Always hard to tell with younger guys.

Guanipa was the featured signing this go-round and he's been really solid in the DSL. Looks to have a really good combination of hit tool/power/speed. Doesn't appear to be a lot of pitching on the DSL entry, but, in addition to Guanipa, the previously-mentioned Nieblas, OF Estevez, INF Cordero, and C/1B Parababire are faring well with the bat to this point. I've also read good things about SS Baez.

Always difficult to discern with exactitude what's happening, but it's nice to see some OPS >.800 when the only guy that got close to that last year was IF Luis Sanchez (who is now in the FCL) with a .778. No one on last year's team had an SLG > .400. There are three so far this year. It's early, so maybe the performances for some of these guys doesn't hold up and two-dimensional stats don't tell the whole story, but at least the box scores are more interesting.
 
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For anyone that has seen him, what do you make out of Javier Valdes?

Obviously he is a little old for the league, but his production over the last 2 years seems tough to ignore. Since the start of 2022 he has a 14% BB rate, 16.5% K rate, and 4.3% HR rate. No matter the age, those are some pretty eye popping stats for a guy that has less than 700 professional PAs.
 
Carp said:
For anyone that has seen him, what do you make out of Javier Valdes?

Obviously he is a little old for the league, but his production over the last 2 years seems tough to ignore. Since the start of 2022 he has a 14% BB rate, 16.5% K rate, and 4.3% HR rate. No matter the age, those are some pretty eye popping stats for a guy that has less than 700 professional PAs.
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Interesting guy. Was a middle infielder in college and he was a freshman All-American (Collegiate Baseball magazine) at Florida International. His stats weren't eye-popping for his college career and he didn't really hit in the pros until last season. Only thing I've read is that his defense behind the plate is still a bit unpolished (which is to be expected because he didn't catch much until he turned pro). Like you say, can't really ignore what he's done the past two seasons. Catcher is another position where we're pretty light in terms of prospects, so who really knows.

Gwinnett Stripers are in St. Paul and the stadium is about 5 miles from where I live, so I hope to get down and catch a game over the weekend.
 
Carp said:
For anyone that has seen him, what do you make out of Javier Valdes?

Obviously he is a little old for the league, but his production over the last 2 years seems tough to ignore. Since the start of 2022 he has a 14% BB rate, 16.5% K rate, and 4.3% HR rate. No matter the age, those are some pretty eye popping stats for a guy that has less than 700 professional PAs.
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I have been "Meh" on him but I have noted a lot of improvement to his overall game. He's always been a bat first player but he never overwhelmed me. At first. He's got some in game power and a pretty good presence behind the dish. I'm too lazy to do the stat thing, but in the few games I've seen, opps were running on him with decent success. His game calling and handling of pitchers is a lot better than the first time I ever saw him though. But it'll be brutal if his cs rate hovers at 10%.

I'm not worried about him hitting wise, I think he has a pretty decent chance of doing that, and he's showing some sound approach. He never looked lost at the plate and had an idea of a strategy in each at bat. Depending on what you like in a catcher, you can dream on him.
 
Deester11 said:
I have been "Meh" on him but I have noted a lot of improvement to his overall game. He's always been a bat first player but he never overwhelmed me. At first. He's got some in game power and a pretty good presence behind the dish. I'm too lazy to do the stat thing, but in the few games I've seen, opps were running on him with decent success. His game calling and handling of pitchers is a lot better than the first time I ever saw him though. But it'll be brutal if his cs rate hovers at 10%.

I'm not worried about him hitting wise, I think he has a pretty decent chance of doing that, and he's showing some sound approach. He never looked lost at the plate and had an idea of a strategy in each at bat. Depending on what you like in a catcher, you can dream on him.
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I wonder if there a reason we haven't tried him somewhere else on the diamond? He played all over the place in college and if he's catching every day, he must have a decent enough arm to play 3b. Obviously value wise, you would prefer he stick at catcher if the bat is legit, but considering the big league depth at C maybe a corner spot in the OF or IF wouldn't be a better long term path.
 
Also, I didn't see it posted anywhere on here or news reports, but Ethan Workinger was promoted up to Rome on Tuesday. He was a having a very good year in Augusta. Like Valdes, I've never seen him play, but his numbers definitely pop on the stat sheet.
 
Carp said:
Also, I didn't see it posted anywhere on here or news reports, but Ethan Workinger was promoted up to Rome on Tuesday. He was a having a very good year in Augusta. Like Valdes, I've never seen him play, but his numbers definitely pop on the stat sheet.
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I posted something about Workinger a while ago. Seems the type that doesn't look good or great doing it, but he gets it done. I like him enough.

I went down the rabbit hole of stats for catchers and the average cs% is 32%. Murphy is at 29% but he is 5th in catcher throwing. The stats I think take into account just 2b, pop time, etc. This also indicates the
Braves pitchers are horrific at holding runners on but I digress. I bring it up to further your point Carp and it's a good point. His (Valdes) bat would potentially play at another position...LF? That 10% cs rate is scary for for a catcher. There's more to catching than that, I didn't review framing, yada yada so the stats are cherry picked..

The eye test says he's just ok as a catcher.
 
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