nsacpi
Expects Yuge Games
Triple A is a strange level, a mix of real prospects, AAAA type players and organizational filler. It isn't unusual for top prospects to by-pass AAA entirely and jump to the majors straight from AA. In looking at a AAA roster it is useful to divide it up between players young enough to realistically have room to improve (which I somewhat arbitrarily define as players age 25 and under) and those who have plateaued (26 and over). Of course there are always late bloomers and some of the older players can be useful when called up due to an injury at the majors.
Anyhow this little preamble does lead to a point which I think is worth thinking and talking about. Next year's AAA team is going to be a bit unusual. It will have many more players age 25 and under than usual. Currently, the Gwinnett roster has 18 players age 26 or older. At the start of the season the number was about the same.
We don't know for sure who will be on the AAA team next year. Trades, free agent signings, injuries and other events will have an impact. But as things currently stand, we could plausibly have a team with these players:
Catcher: Bethancourt
Infielders: Mejia, La Stella, Pastornicky, Salcedo, Leonard
Outfielders: Terdoslavich, Cunningham, Constanza
Pitchers: Gilmartin, Graham, Wood, Martin, Northcraft, Hale, Schlosser, Lamm, Jaime, Harper
Three of the pitchers on this list (Hale, Lamm and Jaime) will be 26 next season. And Mejia and Constanza are older than 25 as well.
But that's a very large group of players that still have room for growth. For the most part they are not elite prospects, but they are far from organizational filler. Some will not pan out at all. But a couple will probably surprise by improving more than expected.
What are the implications of this? The first one is that we will have a terrific "second bench" in AAA. The contributions from guys like Terdoslavich this year have highlighted the importance of this. This year's AAA team was light in starting pitching that could step up. We had to keep our fingers crossed that our starting rotation would stay healthy until Beachy was ready. Next year's AAA team will have a lot of starting pitching, a lot of good bullpen arms, and good cover at all the positions.
The second implication of having this sort of AAA team might be even more important. There are a lot of major league teams that don't have much talent in the upper majors. When someone on their major league team goes down they have to scramble. Often they are willing to trade a player with more upside who is further away from being ready for someone who is close to being major league ready. Our minor league system is a little light at the moment in high upside players, especially position players. Frank Wren is going to have some opportunities to do something about that given the guys we have ticketed for AAA next year.
Anyhow this little preamble does lead to a point which I think is worth thinking and talking about. Next year's AAA team is going to be a bit unusual. It will have many more players age 25 and under than usual. Currently, the Gwinnett roster has 18 players age 26 or older. At the start of the season the number was about the same.
We don't know for sure who will be on the AAA team next year. Trades, free agent signings, injuries and other events will have an impact. But as things currently stand, we could plausibly have a team with these players:
Catcher: Bethancourt
Infielders: Mejia, La Stella, Pastornicky, Salcedo, Leonard
Outfielders: Terdoslavich, Cunningham, Constanza
Pitchers: Gilmartin, Graham, Wood, Martin, Northcraft, Hale, Schlosser, Lamm, Jaime, Harper
Three of the pitchers on this list (Hale, Lamm and Jaime) will be 26 next season. And Mejia and Constanza are older than 25 as well.
But that's a very large group of players that still have room for growth. For the most part they are not elite prospects, but they are far from organizational filler. Some will not pan out at all. But a couple will probably surprise by improving more than expected.
What are the implications of this? The first one is that we will have a terrific "second bench" in AAA. The contributions from guys like Terdoslavich this year have highlighted the importance of this. This year's AAA team was light in starting pitching that could step up. We had to keep our fingers crossed that our starting rotation would stay healthy until Beachy was ready. Next year's AAA team will have a lot of starting pitching, a lot of good bullpen arms, and good cover at all the positions.
The second implication of having this sort of AAA team might be even more important. There are a lot of major league teams that don't have much talent in the upper majors. When someone on their major league team goes down they have to scramble. Often they are willing to trade a player with more upside who is further away from being ready for someone who is close to being major league ready. Our minor league system is a little light at the moment in high upside players, especially position players. Frank Wren is going to have some opportunities to do something about that given the guys we have ticketed for AAA next year.
