Minors report 812: Leonard Having Exceptional Season At 3B

rico43

rico43

<B>Director of Minor League Reports</B>
A poster or two in recent weeks was assessing the prospect status of third baseman Kyle Kubitza with Lynchburg, and there are some who have raved about the former third-round pick's defense.

Kubitza, to date, has made 22 errors with Lynchburg, He's played 104 games at third with 264 total chances, 19 double plays and a RF/G (range factor) of 2.33, down slightly from his 2.40 last year at Rome. His fielding percentage stands at .917, virtually the same as a year ago in 90 total games.

One of the posts I read also assumed that Joe Leonard's defense at third base for Gwinnett must have slipped.

That wrong in a big, big way. Joe Leonard is turning in one of the best defensive season EVER for a minor league third baseman.

The big (6-5, 220) former Pitt Panther has built on his minor league Gold Glove award in a big way. A year ago, he was honored for his defense by committing just 10 errors in 115 games (280 chances, 24 double plays and a range factor of 2.35.

But 2013 has been something else again. Overlooked because of his .220 average for a sucky Gwinnett team. But in 87 games at third thus far, 238 total chances, he's turned 24 double plays, had only ONE error and the best range factor of his career, 2.72.

One error at third base; watching Chris Johnson bumble his way through the year and seeing the staggering number of errors "top third base prospect" Edwin Salcedo has left behind him like so miuch scorched earth (40, 42, 25 so far this year) allows you to appreciate Leonard all the more.

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MONDAY'S SCORES

CLASS AAA

(52-72, 4th place, 24.5 back, eliminated)
Gwinnett 5, Lehigh Valley 4

SP: Poveda 6 IP, 8 H, 4 ER, 0 BB, 5 K.
WP Buchter (2-0) 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K. Obispo (Save, 7) 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K.
Mejia 1-4, RBI; Pastornicky (2B) 2-3, R; Cunningham 2-4, R, SB (19); Gosselin 2-4, R; Leonard 1-4, 2B.

CLASS AA

SOUTHEN LEAGUE
(27-23,. 2nd place, 2.5 back)
Mississippi, idle

ADVANCED CLASS A

CAROLINA LEAGUE
(20-26, 3rd place, 7 back)
Lynchburg 3, Winston-Salem 2

SP: Hinson 6 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K.
WP: Cunniff (1-0) 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 3 K. Fish (Save, 2) 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K.
Rohm 3-3, 2B, R, SB; E. Reyes 2-4, R; Castro 1-3, 2B, RBI.

CLASS A

SOUTH ATLANTIC LEAGUE
(23-27, 6th place, 7 back)
Rome, idle.

SHORT-SEASON

GULF COAST LEAGUE
(20-25, 4th place, 8 back)
GCL Yankees 8, GCL Braves 3

LP: Weber (rehab, 0-1) 2 IP, 5 H, 4 ER, 0 BB, 1 K.
Sanchez 1-4, 2B; Livesay 0-3, R, HBP, SB (16); Morel 1-3, RBI.

APPALCHIAN LEAGUE
(24-25, 3rd place, 7.5 back)
Suspended Game
Elizabathton 7, Danville 4

SP: Flores 4.1 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 4 BB, 3 K.
LP: Gil (1-2) 3.2 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 1 K.
De La Rosa 1-2, R; Caratini 3-5, R, 2 2B, RBI; Piloo 0-4, RBI.

Scheduled Game
Elizabethton 2, Danville 1

LP: Dettmann (1-4) 5 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 2 K.
Otero 2.1 IP, 1 H, 0- R, 1 BB, 3 K. (0.00).
Camargo 3-4, RBI (.331); V. Reyes 0-4; Caratini 1-4, 2B (.329); De La Rosa (0-4, 4 K).

DOMINICAN SUMMER LEAGUE
(24-34, 3rd, 15 back, eliminated)
DSL Tigers 5, DSL Braves 4

SP: Matos 3 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 0 K.
Jesus Jones 3 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 4 BB, 1 K.
Azuaje 2-4, R, RBI; Castro 1-3, 2B, RBI; Chin 1-3, R, RBI.
 
I'm glad to see Leonard's defense has not slipped. His bat has been slow to develop, but I think it will eventually improve enough so that he makes it to the majors as a backup infielder.
 
Errors in the minors should be taken with a grain of salt though. Elvis Andrus had a lot too of course he had crazy range as well. What separates Edward Salcedo from Leonard and Kubitza is age and he actually has potential to hit. He also has showed much better range at 3B then these gentlemen. Just needs to be polished up and he'll be fine as a defender.
 
Obispo continues to shine as the G-Braves closer. He's not been walking batters as he had been too much earlier this season. He's still striking out plenty though. I think that's 9 strikeouts and three saves in his last four innings/games now.

Note, one inning he pitched they were losing big so not a save situation. But still a scoreless inning by him.
 
I think there will be room to add both Obispo and Poveda to the 40 man roster after this season. Usually we don't add older guys like that, but that changed a bit last year with Ernesto Mejia added to the 40 man. We don't have a lot of new guys that need to be protected against the Rule 5 draft, so might as well hold on to a couple older guys who excelled in AAA.
 
Caratini is doing about as well as a newly drafted player can do. I'd really like to see him moved up to Rome because if he excels there they might be able to start him in Lynchburg next year.
 
The Danville manager (Jonathan Schuerholz) indicated at the start of their season that they were playing Caratini at third because the main priority this season was to get him as many at bats as possible. He indicated that the plan was still to move him back to catcher in instructs and next year. Maybe he sticks there, maybe he doesn't, but obviously a catcher with that kind of a bat is more valuable than a third baseman. I think he'll be in Rome next year if they stick to the plan Schuerholz outlined, just so he has an opportunity to develop defensively at a level that isn't too challenging for him.
 
nsacpi said:
I think there will be room to add both Obispo and Poveda to the 40 man roster after this season. Usually we don't add older guys like that, but that changed a bit last year with Ernesto Mejia added to the 40 man. We don't have a lot of new guys that need to be protected against the Rule 5 draft, so might as well hold on to a couple older guys who excelled in AAA.
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Poveda is only 25 so not that old, plus he's healthy again. Obispo is 28 with a unique story, minus it he'd probably been in the Majors by now. I would hope both get added to the 40-man by Sept. We have room for both and I don't see a reason to wait.
 
I think they'll be pretty sparing with the Sep callups. Pastornicky and maybe an outfielder. And an extra pitcher or two. My guess is Hale will be called up. He's had a solid year for Gwinnett and is already on the 40-man.

Gearrin by the way has not pitched since being sent down and is now on the Gwinnett DL with tendinitis in his shoulder. I suspect he is done for the season. Hope he rebounds next year.
 
nsacpi said:
I think they'll be pretty sparing with the Sep callups. Pastornicky and maybe an outfielder. And an extra pitcher or two. My guess is Hale will be called up. He's had a solid year for Gwinnett and is already on the 40-man.

Gearrin by the way has not pitched since being sent down and is now on the Gwinnett DL with tendinitis in his shoulder. I suspect he is done for the season. Hope he rebounds next year.
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Hale and Mejia should both get a call-up, both doing well and already on the 40-man roster. But I still hope to see Poveda and Obispo too. If I had to guess I'd expect Obispo is the more likely if only one. Though Poveda could work out of the bullpen too. We'll have six starters with Maholm's return soon making Poveda getting a shot in Sept. harder. I just don't want to lose either him or Obispo for nothing after the year. That's the main issue as far as I see it.

Also, I heard about Gearrin and not surprised at all. I think you and I both pretty much called it earlier this season. It's interesting how folks turned on him not considering he was obviously pitching hurt a while. He got warmed up when not pitching too and that went on for basically a whole month long. I do believe that led to his injury and later ineffective pitching after a great month or so. Hopefully Gearrin comes back better than Linebrink did from such abuse.
 
Looks like Caratini will have an OPS north of 900 after today.

Looks like a great pick so far.
 
Camargo has had a great stateside debut season, especially considering he skipped the GCL and went to Danville. If he can stick at short, he'll shoot up the prospect lists pretty quickly. I'd put him about #15 right now among Bravos prospects.
 
While I'm not enamored with Salcedo's defense, I don't think looking at errors is the best way to go, especially at the hot corner. The less excellently groomed fields, the lesser talent fielding your throws, not to mention you're still learning and developing. My few casepoints against using errors as a defensive judge are.

1. Scott Rolen arguably the best defensive 3B of this generation committed 38 errors in A ball.

2. Adrian Beltre another great defender committed 37 errors in A ball

I love defensive metrics because they allow you to have eyes in games you didn't see but stats like errors are always risky to go by cause one man's error is another man's hit.
 
Do you guys see LaStella as a prospect? I see that he's already 24 and in A ball. If we could dump Uggla at the end of the year ( hypothetical ) could he be a candidate?
 
BravesfanMike said:
Do you guys see LaStella as a prospect? I see that he's already 24 and in A ball. If we could dump Uggla at the end of the year ( hypothetical ) could he be a candidate?
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He's in AA right now Mike and will HOPEFULLY be on the big league club in September.
 
BravesfanMike said:
Do you guys see LaStella as a prospect? I see that he's already 24 and in A ball. If we could dump Uggla at the end of the year ( hypothetical ) could he be a candidate?
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He's the anti-Uggla. Low strikeout rate. Not much power. 2 home runs in AA so far this year. I think Pastornicky is a better prospect and also a better near-term alternative to Uggla. He's a year younger than La Stella.
 
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