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Given that he posted a combined 2.07 ERA from 2015-16, right-handed reliever Jeff Manship’s decision to sign in Korea last week came as a surprise. However, Manship told Ben Lindbergh of The Ringer it was a “no-brainer” to head to the Korea Baseball Organization, where he’ll play for the NC Dinos.
“From what I had heard, a couple of the teams were only interested in minor league deals with spring training invites, and then a couple others were interested on a major league deal, it’s just nothing had happened yet,” said Manship, whom the Indians non-tendered last month.
Manship will make more in Korea than he did from 2009-16 in the majors, Lindbergh writes in a fascinating, highly recommended piece. As Lindbergh points out, Manship’s unappealing advanced statistics overshadowed the superb run prevention he displayed over the past couple seasons, thus leading to tepid MLB interest. In 2016, for instance, his FIP (5.11) was nearly two full runs worse than his ERA (3.12).
“I understand how they calculate [FIP], but sometimes I think at the end of the season … where people are still saying ‘Oh, well his ERA should have been this,’ but it wasn’t that, it was this …there are certain things that I kind of disagree with,” said Manship. “But at the same time, I do realize a lot of those advanced stats actually are great indicators.”
It also didn’t help Manship’s cause this offseason that he doesn’t throw particularly hard, but the Dinos are happy to welcome him. Team analyst Seonnam Lim and scout Steve Park had been eyeing Manship, 32, since his time as a Triple-A starter.
“When we first saw Jeff, we were not at a position where we could even discuss nor dream about scouting him, but Asian teams nowadays tend to pay much bigger money to foreign players, especially during this winter,” commented Lim.
Now for the latest on a couple of Manship’s former major league colleagues:
- After trading second baseman Logan Forsythe to the Dodgers earlier this week, the Rays are poised to shift Brad Miller from first base to the keystone, according to Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. The 27-year-old actually has only slightly less big league experience at second than he does at first (37 games versus 39), and moving him will enable the Rays to take advantage of the glut of acceptable first base options left on the open market, notes Topkin.
- Dodgers outfielder Yasiel Puig’s demotion to Triple-A Oklahoma City last season “was not a good experience,” he told Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register. Puig acknowledged that he was at fault for it, though, per Plunkett (Twitter links). As Puig looks to rebound in 2017, the 26-year-old has “leaned out” and “is in a great state of mind right now,” manager Dave Roberts informed Doug Padilla of ESPN.com.
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Sam Travis -- aka 'Mr. Intensity' -- is hell-bent on the bigs
Sam Travis began most days in spring training last year by trying to field 400 grounders in a row without a bobble. He rarely took a break or cracked a smile. His concentration never wavered.
After one such session, Boston Red Sox infield coach Brian Butterfield, who has tutored so many players over the years that his fungo bat is practically an extension of his arm, asked Travis how he's able to maintain his uncommon focus.
"I've got to," the 23-year-old first baseman said, serious as a quadruple bypass. "I've got to."
Travis, ranked this week by ESPN's Keith Law as the 98th-best prospect in baseball, resides at the intersection of passion and obsession. Travis' former coach at Indiana University calls him "Mr. Intensity" and is still amazed he played his entire sophomore season with a broken hamate bone in his right hand. Travis can't comprehend laziness. He knows only one speed: full.
"Have you ever seen those Ken Burns documentaries in black and white? That's the era Sam Travis was supposed to play in. He was supposed to play with Cobb and Jimmie Foxx. He's all baseball, all the time, and it's not just an act. He's a kid that doesn't care about his bonus, or what car he's driving or what meal money is. He just wants to play."
Blair Henry, Red Sox amateur scoutComment -
Anyone have a list of Law's top 100 or the ZiPs top 100? Law's is behind the stupid ESPN Insider paywall, and couldn't find ZiPs last night when I looked. ABC had a article comparing ZiPs to Law, and said the ZiPs top 100 was at the bottom of the page but it was not.
About to look for John Sickels' top 100, though may not be out yet.Comment -
Sam Travis must use the greenies to keep that focus.Comment -
I will get that insider article, give me a few mins[quote=jjgold;5683305]I win again like usual
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[quote=Whippit;7921056]miami won't lose a single eastern conference game through end of season[/quote]Comment -
he just put out 100-81
Where do top prospects come from, you ask? Six of these 20 were first-round picks this past June in the draft, and 14 were first- or sandwich-round picks. Mixed in we also have two second-rounders and an 11th-rounder who was barely good enough to pitch for his college team but dominated Double-A in just his second full year in pro ball.
Editor's note: Age is the player's age as of July 1, 2017.
Top 100 prospects ranked 1-20 | 21-40 | 41-60 | 61-80 | 81-100 | Index
100. Brandon Woodruff, RHP, Milwaukee Brewers
Age: 24 (2/10/93) | B/T: L/R
Height: 6-4 | Weight: 215
Top level: Double-A | 2016: NR
The Brewers took Woodruff in the 11th round in 2014 out of Mississippi State, where he threw all of 90 innings over three seasons for the Bulldogs, who must have had Spahn and Sain on their pitching staff to find no use for this guy. Woodruff was one of the minors' biggest breakout guys in 2016, starting out as a High-A repeater but ending up the Brewers' pitcher of the year after dominating the Double-A Southern League all summer.
Woodruff has touched 98 mph but works more in the low- to mid-90s with good sink, generating a 50 percent ground-ball rate across all of last season, and an above-average slider that helped him finish fifth in the Southern League in strikeouts despite making only 20 starts there. He's a three-pitch guy with above-average control and a clean delivery that keeps him on line to the plate; given the Brewers' current rotation it seems very likely he'll get a chance to join it this season if he can survive the challenge of pitching in Colorado Springs.
99. Robert Stephenson, RHP, Cincinnati Reds
Age: 23 (9/24/93) | B/T: R/R
Height: 6-2 | Weight: 200
Top level: MLB | 2016: 31
Stephenson has been on these annual rankings for about 15 years -- give or take a few -- and still qualifies because, to put it bluntly, he was so bad in 2016, walking way too many guys again in Triple-A and then serving up too many belt-high fastballs in the majors.
Law's 2017 Prospect Ranks
Jan. 18: Farm system rankings, 30-21
Jan. 19: System rankings, 20-11
Jan. 20: System rankings, 10-1
Jan. 23: Prospects Nos. 100-81
Jan. 24: Nos. 80-61
Jan. 25: Nos. 60-41
Jan. 26: Nos. 40-21
Jan. 27: Nos. 20-1
Jan. 27: Full index of Top 100
Jan. 28: Prospects who missed
Jan. 30: Top 10 prospects by team, AL and NL East
Jan. 31: Top 10 prospects by team, AL and NL Central
Feb. 1: Top 10 prospects by team, AL and NL West
Feb. 2: Top prospects by position
Feb. 3: Sleepers
» Law's 2017 rankings
» Law's 2016 rankings
Although Stephenson has reached 100 mph in the past, he was pitching the mid-90s early in 2016 and had some starts where he was in the low 90s as well, but the quality secondary stuff was still there, including the split-change he has been using too often the past two seasons when he should have been working on fastball command.
If he were pitching like a guy with this stuff should be pitching, he'd be a top-25 prospect or, more likely, off the list because he'd have spent most of 2016 in the big leagues. It's up to him now to stop overusing the changeup and work on getting his fastball to the corners of the zone, because there are major-league opportunities in Cincinnati's rotation and bullpen for the taking this year.
98. Sam Travis, 1B, Boston Red Sox
Age: 23 (8/27/93) | B/T: R/R
Height: 6-0 | Weight: 205
Top level: Triple-A | 2016: NR
Travis was on track for a major-league call-up in 2016, but he tore his ACL -- as his former Indiana teammate Kyle Schwarber had done -- after 47 games in Triple-A, ending his season. Travis is a bit of a throwback as a first baseman, a guy who’s going to hit for average and doubles power but might get to only 12-15 homers a year. He has a clean, simple swing that should produce some line-drive power in time, although in 2016 he was putting the ball on the ground a little more than he should.
He's an above-average defender at first who might have been OK as a left fielder, but that's not an option in Boston given their other players and the difficulty of playing left at Fenway. I think Travis could be a Mark Grace sort of player, hitting for average with good OBPs and 30-40 doubles a year, an average to above-average regular at a position where the Red Sox might shortly have a need.
97. Alex Kirilloff, OF, Minnesota Twins
Age: 19 (11/9/97) | B/T: L/L
Height: 6-2 | Weight: 195
Top level: Rookie | 2016: NE
The Twins' first pick in the 2016 draft (15th overall), Kirilloff might have been a higher selection if he hadn't played his high school games in western Pennsylvania against weak competition. Kirilloff has a very easy, fluid swing, and can drive the ball to all fields, a strong indicator for future plus hit and power tools, although he struggled with pitch selection in his first exposure to pro ball, where the Twins sent him right to the advanced Appalachian League.
Kirilloff played center and pitched in high school, but will end up a right fielder by the time he reaches the upper minors, where he's likely to be a plus defender between his range and his arm, although the Twins often move their future corner guys around and let them play some center and even first base. He has more realistic offensive upside than anyone else in their system, which means he has a chance to be the Twins' best prospect in a year, depending on how well he adjusts his approach at the plate.
96. Jeff Hoffman, RHP, Colorado Rockies
Age: 24 (1/8/93) | B/T: R/R
Height: 6-5 | Weight: 225
Top level: MLB | 2016: 90
Hoffman is a great prospect, but one who just might be in the wrong organization for his repertoire and style of pitching. He's an outstanding athlete gifted with a great arm, throwing 92-97 mph pretty easily even after Tommy John surgery. But his delivery lacks deception and the pitch is true, so when he got to the majors hitters squared it up, putting it in play three times as often as they swung and missed at it. In many environments, that might be OK, but Coors Field punishes balls put in play, so Hoffman might need to pitch somewhat backward.
He can show you an average or better curveball, and above-average changeup, although nothing he threw was very effective in the big leagues last year. There's a mid-rotation starter in here somewhere, but he needs to make a significant adjustment -- it could be trying a two-seamer, or changing his pitching approach -- because the formula he used to get to the majors is going to hinder him from succeeding there.
95. Zack Collins, C, Chicago White Sox
Age: 22 (2/6/95) | B/T: L/R
Height: 6-3 | Weight: 220
Top level: High-A | 2016: NE
The White Sox think Zack Collins can catch, and sent him out as a catcher right to the High-A Carolina League after drafting him out of the University of Miami with the 10th overall pick, making him one of only two college bats from last year's draft to go straight to High-A.
I don't think Collins, already big for the position and not that agile, will make it to the majors as a catcher, but I do think he can really hit, and do so with power and some on-base ability, so it might not matter in the end. When Collins keeps his swing controlled, he's short to the zone and explodes quickly from where he loads, with plenty of natural angle in his finish to hit for power, but he does get a little homer-happy and then his swing becomes unnecessarily long.
His pro debut went better than anyone could have expected, with a lot of strikeouts but a .258/.418/.467 line that would have placed him among the league leaders in OBP and slugging. There is absolutely some extra value in having this kind of bat behind the plate, but if Collins' bat is as advanced as I think it is, he might hit his way off the position this year.
94. Luis Castillo, RHP, Cincinnati Reds
Age: 24 (12/12/92) | B/T: R/R
Height: 6-2 | Weight: 170
Top level: Double-A | 2016: NR
Traded just last week from the Marlins to the Reds in the deal for Dan Straily -- who, it bears mentioning, was available to all teams for nothing just a year ago -- Castillo was Miami's best pitching prospect and adds to the Reds' stable of potential starters. Castillo is really a two-pitch starter now, touching 100 mph with his fastball, with a plus changeup, but he lacks a truly average third pitch, relying on a fringy slider. He walked only four percent of batters faced in High-A before a three-start promotion to Double-A, where he walked seven guys in 14 innings.
His delivery works for a starter, and it's possible he can be a No. 4 as-is, even if the slider never gets much beyond average. Guys with arms this quick should have better sliders than that. Perhaps that's the best-case scenario or 90th percentile outcome for Castillo -- that the slider becomes a 55 or a 60, and then he's a No. 3 or better. To get him for a guy who couldn't find a job 12 months earlier was a nice bit of work by the Reds' front office.
93. A.J. Puk, LHP, Oakland Athletics
Age: 22 (4/25/95) | B/T: L/L
Height: 6-7 | Weight: 220
Top level: Short-season A-ball | 2016: NE
Puk was in the conversation for the first pick in the draft for much of his junior year at Florida but ended up sliding to Oakland's pick at No. 6 overall because ... well, I think its because he just didn't pitch that well, although that could hardly have been a surprise to anyone who has followed him since high school. Puk is size and stuff over performance, a big chunk of raw material for player development to mold into a pitcher.
Puk is usually clocked throwing 93-97 mph with a power mid-80s curveball that only has fair rotation, plus a handful of changeups that are average when he doesn't overthrow them. His arm works, with good extension out front, but he doesn't seem to repeat it very well, and even though he was a decent hitter in high school he's not a great athlete.
The A's bet on some upside here -- a huge, strong lefty with a plus fastball and some semblance of secondary stuff -- but I don't think he's the fast-moving college starter you'd normally expect in a top 10 pick. You could dream on a No. 2 starter upside, but I think a good No. 4 is more realistic, and you hope your minor league coaches can coax more out of him over time.
92. Christin Stewart, OF, Detroit Tigers
Age: 23 (12/10/93) | B/T: L/R
Height: 6-0 | Weight: 205
Top level: Double-A | 2016: NR
Stewart is a power and patience guy, limited to left field, but showing a real ability to drive the ball to all fields that raises him above all of the dead-pull/low-contact guys who populate the low minors. The Tigers took Stewart in the supplemental round in 2015 out of Tennessee, where he hadn't produced at all until a junior-year breakout where he cut his strikeout rate and hit 15 homers to rank him among the SEC's top five in that category.
Stewart has a much shorter swing than you'd expect if you looked at his stat line first, getting the bat to the zone quickly with a little drift out over his front side that might cause some trouble when he faces pitchers who can locate their off-speed stuff, but he has an idea of the strike zone and continues to work on pitch selection. His best position is probably the batter's box, as he's not going to wow you in left field, but he might be able to work himself up to something near average.
There's real 30-homer potential here, although it might be a .240/.350/.450 kind of line given his contact rates in the minors and his need to stay back in the box.
91. Stephen Gonsalves, LHP, Minnesota Twins
Age: 22 (7/8/94) | B/T: L/L
Height: 6-5 | Weight: 213
Top level: Double-A | 2016: NR
The Twins have done an outstanding job developing Gonsalves, who came out of high school with a 45 fastball, a plus changeup, and -- no exaggeration -- a 30 breaking ball. I did not see how you could project him to become a major-league starter with no apparent ability to spin the ball, but the Twins saw something I didn't, and he's on the cusp of earning a big-league rotation job.
Gonsalves still has a 45 fastball and a plus changeup, although he also has some deception in his delivery for the fastball to play up, but he has added a cutter now that has a chance to end up an average pitch, thrown at 84-87 mph. It's below average at the moment, but he just started throwing it within the past year, and I would bet on that over the big 72 mph curveball he babies to get it to break correctly.
I worry a little about the jump in his walk rate in Double-A, just because he can't start pitching away from contact, but other than that his performance in the minors is irreproachable: 368⅓ pro innings, 396 strikeouts and a 2.13 career ERA. I think he's a fourth starter in the majors, probably not more, but also probably not less, although if that cutter becomes a legitimate third pitch for him, I could still be underestimating the guy -- just as I did in 2013.
90. Jahmai Jones, OF, Los Angeles Angels
Age: 19 (8/4/97) | B/T: R/R
Height: 6-0 | Weight: 215
Top level: Low-A | 2016: NR
The one real beacon of light in the Angels’ farm system -- new slogan for 2017: “We’re not the worst!” -- Jones played extremely well as an 18-year-old in the advanced Rookie Pioneer League before a late-season cup of coffee in the Midwest League, where he’ll probably spend all of this season.
Jones is a power/speed guy who started to mature physically this year, filling out his six-foot frame and looking more like a young linebacker now than he did as a wiry, 17-year-old high school senior. Jones is a power/speed candidate who projects to 60 power and has a pretty good idea at the plate already for someone so young. He's a a potential 20-homer/20-steal candidate with something like a one in three chance to stay in center field, depending on how big he gets.
The common refrain about Jones going back to high school is what an incredible kid he is, both in work ethic and in attitude, which gives the Angels a lot of optimism about his ability to make adjustments and deal with adversity whenever it comes. The Angels haven’t produced many position players of their own since Mike Trout reached the majors in 2011 -- Kole Calhoun and C.J. Cron and that’s probably it -- but Jones gives them not just a new top-100 prospect, but a guy with the upside of being more than an average regular.
Law's 2017 prospect methodology
I see players all year long, as amateurs, in pro ball, at the Futures Game and in the Arizona Fall League. If I've seen a player, my scouting report becomes the foundation of his capsule and his ranking here. I can't see every player, and sometimes I see a player only once on a day that isn't representative of his abilities, so I supplement all my content with conversations with various scouts and with at least one executive with every MLB team who has seen his team's prospects enough to discuss them and suggest how I might rank them.
I refer within player capsules and descriptions to grades on player tools and overall forecasts, using the industry standard 20-80 scale.
» Complete methodology
89. Jack Flaherty, RHP, St. Louis Cardinals
Age: 21 (10/15/95) | B/T: R/R
Height: 6-4 | Weight: 205
Top level: High-A | 2016: 83
Flaherty came from the same Los Angeles-area prep school as Lucas Giolito, Max Fried, and now fellow Cardinal farmhand Austin Wilson (selected in the minor league Rule 5 draft) and signed an over-slot deal with the Cards as a supplemental pick in the 2014 draft.
He’s always been a command and control guy but saw his stuff tick up a little in 2016, while his command wavered just a little bit. Flaherty mostly pitches at 90-94 mph with an average curveball and changeup, but late in 2016 saw his fastball creep up to 93-96. In general he was better at getting the ball down in the zone, bumping his ground-ball rate up from 38 to 49 percent year-over-year.
He’s still learning the craft of pitching, having both played third base and pitched in high school, with limited innings behind him. But he has all the elements you’d want to see in a 200-inning, mid-rotation starter. He just needs experience and some physical maturity to be ready for a major-league role by 2019.
88. Justus Sheffield, LHP, New York Yankees
Age: 21 (5/13/96) | B/T: L/L
Height: 5-10 | Weight: 195
Top level: Double-A | 2016: NR
Sheffield went to the Yankees in the Andrew Miller trade, which netted New York two top-100 prospects and filled a specific gap in the Yanks’ system for an upper-level left-handed starting pitcher prospect. Sheffield is a little undersized but is an excellent athlete and works from 92-95 mph. He complements that with a present plus changeup and fringy breaking ball, repeating his delivery well but occasionally slipping into a tendency to overthrow.
He threw well for the Yankees’ High-A affiliate after the trade and made one start in Double-A against the powerful Reading Fightin’ Phils lineup, punching out nine of the 19 batters he faced. So he’ll start 2017 in that higher level even though he doesn’t turn 21 until May. His stuff right now would play in the majors, although the lack of an average breaking ball limits his ceiling. If that doesn’t change, he should end up an average major league starter, with the potential for more if he develops a better third pitch.
87. Kohl Stewart, RHP, Minnesota Twins
Age: 22 (10/7/94) | B/T: R/R
Height: 6-3 | Weight: 195
Top level: Double-A | 2016: 53
Stewart was the fourth overall pick in 2013, but even three years into his pro career, the 22-year-old right-hander is still making the mental transition to full-time pitcher from someone who was mostly a quarterback in high school.
Stewart has five pitches, but primarily throws his two-seamer, which generates ground balls -- 53 percent of all balls he allowed in play in 2016 -- but doesn’t miss bats. He’s been a strike-thrower before, but without command, and the over-reliance on that one pitch left him struggling against disciplined Double-A hitters who could lay off it out of the zone. I know a lot of teams that are “off” Stewart because of the low strikeout rates, which is fair, but he has other weapons that should miss bats if he’d use them, including a four-seamer he dials up to 97 mph and a hard slider that I thought would end up becoming his best pitch when he was coming out of high school.
He’s an outstanding athlete, his arm works and he’s been healthy the last two years, so it’s all untapped potential here. But it’s time for him to become a well-rounded pitcher who sets hitters up and uses his whole repertoire so he can reach his ceiling as at least a mid-rotation starter. If not, it’s not clear what his role will be, because missing as few bats as h does may not even work in the bullpen.
86. Dylan Cease, RHP, Chicago Cubs
Age: 21 (12/28/95) | B/T: R/R
Height: 6-2 | Weight: 190
Top level: Short-season A-ball | 2016: 91
Cease has one of the biggest fastballs in pro baseball, possibly hitting 103 mph this summer and definitely hitting 101, but his arm is so quick that his body has a hard time catching up.
He was likely to be a top 10 pick in 2014, but he hurt his elbow in mid-March, didn’t pitch again before the draft and had Tommy John surgery after signing an over-slot deal with the Cubs after getting picked in the sixth round that year. He returned in 2015 for 24 innings, then was supposed to pitch a full summer in short-season in 2016 but missed time again with some minor soreness.
Cease has shown a plus breaking ball and would be fine pitching at 96-99 without trying to hit triple digits. He also has the athleticism and overall repertoire to start if he can stay healthy. This will be a big year for him in building stamina and learning to dial it down enough so that he can command the fastball better and, of course, stay off the DL. He has No. 1 starter stuff with the physique to match.
85. Triston McKenzie, RHP, Cleveland Indians
Age: 19 (8/2/97) | B/T: R/R
Height: 6-5 | Weight: 165
Top level: Low-A | 2016: NR
McKenzie was Cleveland’s second pick in 2015 after they took Brady Aiken (who saw his velocity drop in 2016) with their first selection. He was a highly projectable but skinny prep right-hander who scored very well on Statcast metrics such as the extension of his delivery out towards the plate.
McKenzie pitches mostly at 90-92 mph but has touched 94, with at least another grade of fastball to come as he fills out. Between his 6-foot-5 frame and that extension out front, he gives hitters very little time to react to the pitch. He’s got some depth on an average curveball now and feel for a changeup -- enough so that even though he faced more left-handed batters than right in 2016 he had no appreciable platoon split.
He’s still more projection than present stuff, but the fact that he could dominate two levels at such a young age with so much more growth ahead points to his pure athleticism and advanced feel for pitching already. You could probably dream about him becoming an ace, although I’d probably set a realistic ceiling (90th percentile outcome) at a good No. 2, which assumes he continues to add muscle over the next three years.
84. Justin Dunn, RHP, New York Mets
Age: 21 (9/22/95) | B/T: R/R
Height: 6-2 | Weight: 185
Top level: Short-season A-ball | 2016: NE
Dunn started the spring in the Boston College bullpen and ended it as the 19th pick in the draft after moving to the Eagles’ rotation and touching the upper 90s. A young junior who didn’t turn 21 until September, Dunn has always had a good arm and is a tremendous athlete, but he didn’t throw this hard or throw many strikes until 2016. Between his freshman spring at BC and the Cape Cod League that summer, for example, he walked 26 guys in 28 innings.
Now Dunn is throwing 93-96 mph with plus life along with a plus changeup that might end up a 70 pitch, and he throws both for strikes. The breaking ball is the question mark, as he throws both a curve and slider with neither grading more than average or so. He’s also never started for very long -- 2016 was his max, with eight starts in college and eight after signing, which still left him throwing less than 100 innings on the season. He’s one of my picks to zoom up the list once he’s proved he can start over a full season.
83. Riley Pint, RHP, Colorado Rockies
Age: 19 (11/6/97) | B/T: R/R
Height: 6-4 | Weight: 195
Top level: Rookie | 2016: NR
Pint is the hardest-throwing high school kid I’ve personally seen in 15 years in the business and the only one to hit 100 mph on my own radar gun. He has a lightning-quick arm, and he can really hold upper 90s without too much trouble; catch him on the right day and you’ll see a 60 slider or, as I did, a 40 slider and an average (50) changeup. Although there’s some violence in his release, his arm swing itself is pretty clean, and I don’t think it’s a massive overhaul to get him to a delivery he can repeat. Although right now you’d grade his command 30, maybe.
He’s very athletic, and after he was worked hard as an underclassman, he pitched relatively infrequently the summer before his senior year of high school, a huge positive that I wish more kids would emulate. The Rockies took Pint fourth overall, perhaps feeling like his fastball plays up in their home park (and pitchers who rely on breaking balls might fare worse), also betting on his tremendous athleticism. Pint looks like a five-year development guy, but he has No. 1 starter upside, and might even get there if he comes down to 94-96 mph but starts to throw more strikes.
82. Matt Manning, RHP, Detroit Tigers
Age: 19 (1/28/98) | B/T: R/R
Height: 6-6 | Weight: 190
Top level: Rookie | 2016: NE
Manning is a typical Tigers draft pick -- a tall pitcher with a huge fastball -- but unlike some similar Detroit picks who haven’t panned out, Manning is a top-of-the-line athlete with limited pitching experience, so there are two good reasons to be optimistic about his development. Three reasons, even, if you count his GCL stats, where he punched out 46 guys in 29 innings against just seven walks.
Manning’s one plus pitch is his 92-98 mph fastball, which is particularly good when he gets on top of it from his 6-foot-6 frame, although he doesn’t get there consistently yet. He has a breaking ball that works against bad hitters, but it’s a spike curveball that he probably won’t command and isn’t that sharp; he’d be better off with a true curve or a slider, and he had no real changeup to speak of in high school.
He’s all upside at this point, a great athlete blessed with a golden arm, but the Tigers have a lot of work to do, from figuring out his breaking ball to teaching him a changeup to helping him learn to pitch instead of just blowing guys away with velocity.
81. Sean Newcomb, LHP, Atlanta Braves
Age: 24 (6/12/93) | B/T: L/L
Height: 6-5 | Weight: 255
Top level: Double-A | 2016: 30
Newcomb is truly an enigma among prospects. He’s a lefty who can show three above-average or better pitches, has minimal effort in his delivery, but doesn’t have the control -- let alone the command -- to start, leaving him with no obvious way to get where he needs to go.
Newcomb touched 99 mph as a starter last year and will comfortably pitch at 93-95 mph. He also throws a curveball and changeup which both range from average to plus; he has thrown a slider in the past but stopped at some point after the Angels drafted him in 2014. Coming out of college, he looked like a potential No. 2 starter, but he needed to develop better command to get there. Two and a half years later, he’s the same guy, throwing a little harder, still durable as heck, but still not throwing enough strikes.
If I could look at the delivery and even think of what to fix, I’d be more confident in him getting to his ceiling, but Newcomb’s arm swing is so easy and loose that I can’t see what to do. He’s on this list because, good grief, lefties like this do not grow on trees, but my optimism about him from two years ago has faded.[quote=jjgold;5683305]I win again like usual
[/quote]
[quote=Whippit;7921056]miami won't lose a single eastern conference game through end of season[/quote]Comment -
I'll post the others, one day at a time.[quote=jjgold;5683305]I win again like usual
[/quote]
[quote=Whippit;7921056]miami won't lose a single eastern conference game through end of season[/quote]Comment -
3:46pm: Moss will make between $3MM and $4MM next season, per Dodd.
1:44pm: Moss’ deal is “significantly backloaded,” but his 2017 salary isn’t yet known, tweets Rustin Dodd of the Kansas City Star.
11:43am: The Royals have agreed to a two-year, $12MM contract with free agent first baseman/outfielder Brandon Moss, according to Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). The deal is pending a physical. ESPN’s Jim Bowden first reported earlier Sunday that Kansas City was nearing an agreement with Moss, an ACES client.
[Updated Royals Dept Chart]
Signing with the Royals will keep the 33-year-old Moss in Missouri, where he played the past season-plus as a member of the Cardinals. In 2016, his only full campaign in St. Louis, the powerful Moss slugged 28 home runs in 464 plate appearances and posted a .259 ISO. The latter figure ranked 13th among major leaguers with at least 450 PAs, though Moss didn’t register a particularly impress overall line (.225/.300/.484) and hit just .191/.248/.392 after the All-Star break. Moss’ second-half woes offset the red-hot .256/.344/.566 triple slash he logged in the first three-plus months of the year.
Moss also had a relatively mediocre 2015, which was thanks in part to a hip injury, but the lefty-swinger is a well-regarded clubhouse presence and a four-time 20-home run hitter who should at least give the Royals a capable bat against right-handed pitchers. Plus, Moss has typically been usable against southpaws, although they stymied him last season.
Defensively, Moss spent the lion’s share of 2016 in the corner outfield and also saw plenty of time at first base – areas where the Royals already possess everyday-caliber players. Eric Hosmer is set to occupy first again in 2017, while Alex Gordon and offseason acquisition Jorge Soler are the team’s top options in the corner outfield. Moss will likely slot in primarily at designated hitter if the deal goes through, then, as the Royals have been lacking there since Kendrys Morales signed with the Blue Jays in November.
Kansas City will be the seventh major league team for Moss, who debuted with the Red Sox in 2007 and then broke out with the Athletics in 2012. Nearly all of Moss’ big league homers (123 of 138) have come since then.Comment -
Twins rumored to want a reunion with Justin Morneau...Comment -
Manship will make more in Korea than last 7 years in Majors combined?
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Rob Manfred is expected to hand down a punishment this week to the Cardinals organization for hacking the Astros computer system. Going to be a significant penalty I would think.Comment -
Wow. I thought Stephenson from the Reds was doing better.
I guess not...Way to many Walks & homers.... Hope he can turn it around this year!!!!
Comment -
Morneau to Twins rumors gone...Now, they are going after Joe Blanton...ChampionshipComment -
Major League Baseball has concluded its investigation into the Cardinals’ illegal accessing of the Astros’ proprietary database, ruling that St. Louis will have to send two draft picks to the Astros and pay a $2MM fine to the Astros as punishment, Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred announced on Monday. The Cardinals will lose their top two picks, Nos. 56 and 75 overall, as punishment. Manfred also announced that former Cardinals scouting director Chris Correa, who was fired and sentenced to prison time for accessing the Astros’ database, has been placed on the “permanently ineligible” list, thus banning him from baseball.
The Cardinals had already forfeited their top pick in the 2017 draft in order to sign Dexter Fowler to a five-year contract, and they’ll now be left without any selections in the top two rounds of the draft as a result of commissioner Manfred’s ruling. (The second pick they’re forfeiting is a Competitive Balance, Round B selection.) In addition to losing those two draft picks, the Cardinals will also lost the bonus slots that are associated with those selections.
Via the announcement on the matter, the league’s investigation “did not establish that any Cardinals’ employee other than Mr. Correa (who was the only individual charged by the federal government) was responsible for the intrusions into the Astros’ electronic systems.” As such, there are no penalties to further Cardinals employees (either current or former). Manfred continues to state that he holds the Cardinals organization “vicariously liable for [Correa’s] misconduct,” adding that the Astros “suffered material harm as a result of Mr. Correa’s conduct.” Beyond the loss of proprietary knowledge that Manfred terms “not amenable to precise quantification,” he adds that the Astros “suffered substantial negative publicity and had to endure the time, expense and distraction of both a lengthy government investigation and an MLB investigation.”
Over the weekend, David Barron and Jake Kaplan of the Houston Chronicle reported that documents which were recently unsealed by a federal judge had expedited the investigation and brought the commissioner’s office to the verge of a conclusion. Per the Chronicle duo, Correa accessed the Astros’ “Ground Control” database on 48 instances over a span of two and a half years and also accessed Houston GM Jeff Luhnow’s trade notes on 14 occasions. Beyond that, assistant U.S. attorney Michael Chu believes Correa to have been the responsible party for leaking 10 months’ worth of private trade notes to Deadspin — all of which became available for public consumption back in 2013.
The penalty is certainly not inconsequential for the Cardinals, but it’s already drawn mixed reviews and assuredly will continue to do so. Ben Badler of Baseball America, for instance, tweets that the league stripped the Red Sox of five prospects and imposed a two-year ban on Boston’s ability to sign international prospects last year due to their efforts to circumvent international signing restrictions by signing multiple players in package deals. Meanwhile, the Cardinals will not forfeit so much as a top 50 overall pick in the upcoming 2017 draft.
Nonetheless, the Cardinals will feel the punishment in this summer’s draft. St. Louis already had he second-lowest overall draft bonus pool, checking in at $3,925,500 this year, as Baseball America’s Hudson Belinsky recently reported. Now, they’ll lose pick No. 56 ($1,122,400) and No. 75 ($730,800), thereby dropping their overall pool to $2,072,300 — far and away the lowest in the league. (Cleveland’s $3,646,100 pool is the next-lowest, for context.)
And the Astros, meanwhile, stand to benefit from today’s ruling as well. Houston had a $6,755,100 bonus pool that will now rise to $8,608,300 (also via Belinsky’s figures). That’s certainly a far cry from the 2014 draft, when Houston had two of the top five picks (and three of the top 37) and a whopping $13,362,200 pool. But, the bump to just over $8.6MM does give the Astros the 11th-largest pool in the 2017 amateur draft — a notable bump up from their previous standing of 18th.Comment -
Dylan Cease 101-103 mph. Hope to see him in the majors soon.Comment -
Cardinals got off easy with their 'punishment'.Comment -
Haha, it's 1991 again, go twins!Comment -
We have 13 pitchers in today's group of 20 prospects, ranging from guys ready to take on big league rotation spots to pitchers just drafted or, in one case, just signed out of Cuba.
This collection includes the lowest-drafted player from 2016 to make this list, a guy taken after the first round who made a very strong impression on pro scouts who saw him after he signed -- and asked how he got that far.
Editor's note: Age is the player's age as of July 1, 2017.
Top 100 prospects ranked 1-20 | 21-40 | 41-60 | 61-80 | 81-100 | Index
80. Adrian Morejon, LHP, San Diego Padres
Age: 18 (2/27/99) | B/T: L/L
Height: 6-0 | Weight: 165
Top level: Cuba | 2016: NE
The Padres signed Morejon, a 17-year-old Cuban lefty, for an $11 million bonus last July 2, which cost the team an additional $11 million for exceeding their international bonus cap, but they felt the young and not-very-tall southpaw was well worth it.
Morejon is barely 6 feet tall, but he is strong, with a durable, wide frame, and he throws 93-97 mph right now with good angle to the fastball and a four-pitch mix led by a hard knuckle-change clocked in the mid-80s. He showed that he can really pitch to both sides with his fastball in instructional league, though to be fair, no player in history has ever looked bad in instructs.
Morejon hasn’t pitched competitively since he was a 16-year-old in Cuba in 2014, so you can truly dream on him -- there’s no objective data to hold you back. The scouting reports on him are so glowing that he could be the next Anderson Espinoza, which would shoot him up this list next January, if he lives up to them.
79. Luis Ortiz, RHP, Milwaukee Brewers
Age: 21 (9/22/95) | B/T: R/R
Height: 6-3 | Weight: 230
Top level: Double-A | 2016: 79
Ortiz was part of the package going to Milwaukee for Jonathan Lucroy and Jeremy Jeffress. Although Lewis Brinson seems closer to the majors and has superstar upside, Ortiz might produce big league value sooner because he’s so much more advanced.
Ortiz’s fastball velocity will sit in the low to mid-90s, which he complements with a plus changeup. Although his breaking ball is fringe-average, his command is major-league-caliber already, and his control is above average, with just 23 walks in 90 ⅔ innings (5.9 percent) across three teams and two levels in 2016.
Ortiz has to watch his weight, as he’s heavy trending toward … uh … festively plump, and the 90 ⅔ innings represented a career high for him, so he has yet to prove any durability. He’ll probably start the year at Double-A, maybe spending the season there rather than going to Colorado Springs. The lack of a true breaking pitch limits his ceiling, but I see a very good No. 3 starter here and maybe a No. 2 because the command might end up better than plus.
78. Forrest Whitley, RHP, Houston Astros
Age: 19 (9/15/97) | B/T: R/R
Height: 6-7 | Weight: 240
Top level: Rookie | 2016: NE
The Astros went semi-local with their first-round pick in 2016. They took San Antonio high school right-hander Whitley with the 17th overall selection in the June draft, betting on his combination of size, present stuff and relative polish. Whitley has been clocked throwing up to 97 mph, his fastball sat at 89-95 once he entered the Astros’ system, and he already works with four pitches, including a hard power curveball that’s at least a 55 right now.
He’s ginormous -- sorry to use the technical scouting term there -- at 6-foot-7 and 240 pounds, but unlike a lot of kids his height, he is pretty coordinated and can repeat his delivery already. He’s atypical of high school pitching drafts -- there’s nothing substantial that has to change or develop here, other than the sort of adjustments every player has to make when facing better competition at each level. He’s built like a horse, and without any changes in his present stuff, you could project him as a potential No. 2 or, most likely, a good No. 3, giving better than average performances with the capacity to handle 200 innings.
77. Luiz Gohara, LHP, Atlanta Braves
Age: 20 (7/31/96) | B/T: L/L
Height: 6-3 | Weight: 210
Top level: Low-A | 2016: NR
Law's 2017 Prospect Ranks
Jan. 18: Farm system rankings, 30-21
Jan. 19: System rankings, 20-11
Jan. 20: System rankings, 10-1
Jan. 23: Prospects Nos. 100-81
Jan. 24: Nos. 80-61
Jan. 25: Nos. 60-41
Jan. 26: Nos. 40-21
Jan. 27: Nos. 20-1
Jan. 27: Full index of Top 100
Jan. 28: Prospects who missed
Jan. 30: Top 10 prospects by team:
AL East and NL East
Jan. 31: Top 10 prospects by team:
AL Central and NL Central
Feb. 1: Top 10 prospects by team:
AL and NL West
Feb. 2: Top prospects by position
Feb. 3: Sleepers
» Law's 2017 rankings
» Law's 2016 rankings
Signed by the Mariners on his 16th birthday in 2012, the Brazilian Gohara went from throwing 86-90 mph at that age to 94-98 now, but he always complemented with a hard curveball that should at least be death to left-handed batters. He built up his body from a skinny teenager to a CC Sabathia lookalike. Gohara has some effort in his delivery, more than he did when he first signed, which is why his command is still somewhat shaky, even though his walk totals were reasonable in 2016 (8.8 percent of batters faced in low-A). His changeup is still rudimentary, but he has yet to reach a level where that’s a problem for him.
Gohara might be a top-50 prospect if he didn’t have a few significant flaws -- and he might be a Red, as a potential deal to Cincinnati for Zack Cozart was scotched because the Reds thought something was amiss with Gohara’s shoulder. He has also had conditioning questions and has a reputation for liking the off-field life a little too much, neither of which is ideal in a 20-year-old with real developmental challenges ahead of him. But Atlanta is in a position to bet on the long-term potential of a lefty with this kind of stuff. Gohara could be a No. 2 starter, and he could be a terrific one-inning option out of the pen, with about equal odds that he’s a starter or reliever.
76. Robert Gsellman, RHP, New York Mets
Age: 23 (7/18/93) | B/T: R/R
Height: 6-4 | Weight: 205
Top level: MLB | 2016: NR
Gsellman was a crafty, command right-hander until mid-2016, when his velocity started to climb rapidly, so that when he reached the majors in August, he was pitching at 92-96 mph. Gsellman is a sinkerballer by trade, complemented with the slightly above average curveball he uses as a put-away pitch as well as an average changeup -- and, of course, if Dan Warthen has laid hands on a guy, he probably has a decent slider too.
That’s four pitches, nothing truly plus, but with his command he was always going to be at least a solid No. 5 starter. With this stuff now, he’s a No. 4 trending up to a No. 3, and I’d be very surprised if he gave the Mets anything less than three years as a solid-average big league starting pitcher.
75. Yohander Mendez, LHP, Texas Rangers
Age: 22 (1/17/95) | B/T: L/L
Height: 6-5 | Weight: 200
Top level: MLB | 2016: NR
Mendez came into 2016 having never thrown more than 66 innings in a regular season in his career and nothing at all above low-A. He ended up throwing 111 innings across three levels and getting a September call-up to the big leagues.
Mendez is a big lefty, at 6-foot-5 and listed at 200 pounds, though he has put on some good weight since then. Where he was previously a feel-and-command guy, he’s now working with an above-average fastball and changeup, as well as two breaking balls, neither of which is quite up to par with the first two pitches. He gets good glove-side run on the fastball, but not sink, and does like to pitch up with it to try for swing-and-misses or to jam right-handed hitters for popups.
Despite his lack of innings, he’s probably ready for the Rangers’ Triple-A rotation at this point, and he could see some more major-league action in 2017, though leaving him in the minors to work on his breaking stuff, perhaps choosing one pitch to focus on, is probably the best way for him to develop. There’s upside as a good No. 3 starter here, and given Mendez's feel to pitch, I think only health will keep him out of a major-league rotation.
74. Ke’Bryan Hayes, 3B, Pittsburgh Pirates
Age: 20 (1/28/97) | B/T: R/R
Height: 6-1 | Weight: 210
Top level: Low-A | 2016: JM
The son of former Yankee and Phillie Charlie Hayes, Ke’Bryan Hayes was the Pirates’ second pick in 2015 after Kevin Newman, and he got off to a roaring start in 2016 before a nagging rib injury sapped his performance and eventually ended his season in early July.
Hayes is an elite defensive third baseman right now. He is among the best at the position in the minors, bearing in mind that some current shortstops will end up at third, and he has great feel to hit already, with high contact rates since he entered pro ball. The knock on him in high school was his lack of present or projectable power. I believe that if a player can hit, has some loft in his finish and has room to grow physically, you can comfortably project another grade of power in the future, and Hayes fits those criteria.
I will concede right now that I was wrong on Matt Dominguez as a prospect. I thought Dominguez would be a 70 or 80 defender and that the glove and his power would make up for low OBPs, but the guy never could recognize a changeup, and a .273 OBP is just unforgivable. Hayes isn’t Dominguez. He might not be quite the defender, but he’s a far better hitter at age 19 than Dominguez ever became, so I think rating Hayes high recognizes their differences rather than repeating the mistake. Hayes is going to post OBPs that are at least in the mid-.300s, maybe with 35 doubles and 10-12 homers, though the Pirates hope for a little more than that.
73. Jose De Leon, RHP, Tampa Bay Rays
Age: 24 (8/7/92) | B/T: R/R
Height: 6-2 | Weight: 190
Top level: MLB | 2016: 60
Born in Puerto Rico but drafted in the 24th round out of Southern University, De Leon raced through the minors in just over three years to reach the majors, where he had a bit of a rough welcome from big league hitters, who squared up his fastball. He was acquired by the Rays in a trade with the Dodgers on Monday night.
De Leon pitches 89-94 mph with his four-seamer but relies on deception to keep hitters off the pitch. He boosts his fastball with an above-average changeup that he needs to use more frequently the next time he’s in the majors and an in-between slurve that probably needs to be resolved in favor of a true slider. De Leon generated just nine swing-and-misses on the changeup, his best pitch, out of 302 total pitches in the majors, which tells you something about his raw stuff.
In the minors, he dominated at every level, including Triple-A, where he struck out 32 percent of opposing batters, guys who couldn’t handle the deception in his delivery and the way he changes speeds. I think he’s a solid fourth starter, maybe right now, but he won’t match his minor league numbers unless one or more of his weapons becomes a true out pitch.
72. Sean Reid-Foley, RHP, Toronto Blue Jays
Age: 21 (8/30/95) | B/T: R/R
Height: 6-3 | Weight: 220
Top level: High-A | 2016: NR
Reid-Foley was Toronto’s second-round pick in 2014 out of a Jacksonville high school. He split 2015 between low- and high-A but struggled to throw strikes at both levels. He was a different animal in 2016, starting back at low-A and smoothing out his delivery (which he couldn’t repeat well in high school). He’s now pitching with a mid-90s fastball with plus life and a plus curveball that helped him strike out nearly a third of the batters he faced in the Florida State League after a promotion back to high-A.
Getting a more consistent delivery allowed Reid-Foley to throw strikes, as he cut his walk rate by about half last year, and develop some fastball command. His changeup still lags behind his other two pitches, and he’ll need something to get lefties out in Double-A this year, but there’s No. 2 starter potential here, given his present stuff and command.
71. Josh Hader, LHP, Milwaukee Brewers
Age: 23 (4/7/94) | B/T: L/L
Height: 6-3 | Weight: 185
Top level: Triple-A | 2016: NR
Hader’s gonna hade? That might be a stretch, but given how far Hader has come as a prospect since the Orioles took him as an unknown local kid in the 19th round in 2012, he has more than earned some sort of slogan.
Hader comes at hitters from a very low arm slot, just above sidearm, with a fastball that’s 90-95 mph, sometimes 90-97, that hitters just do not see. If I were a left-handed hitter, I’d be absolutely terrified to get in the box against him. Between the fastball and the hard slider he throws, Hader punched out half -- 50.4 percent -- of the left-handed batters he faced across two levels in 2016, including time in the hitter-friendly PCL. It’s such an unusual slot, and his fastball moves so much that he has been effective against right-handed hitters so far, without having an even average changeup.
There’s no real big league comparison for Hader. He isn't Chris Sale, but that’s the best comp for his delivery, and Hader has better raw stuff (and throws with a more valued arm) than Justin Masterson. I still don’t know if Hader is a starter in the long run, with the low arm slot and two to maybe two-and-a-half pitches. But where two years ago I would have given him close to zero shot, now that’s probably up to 40 to 50 percent, and if he does end up in the bullpen, he might be Andrew Miller redux. Or we can just call him Darth Hader.
70. Lucas Erceg, 3B, Milwaukee Brewers
Age: 22 (5/1/95) | B/T: L/R
Height: 6-3 | Weight: 200
Top level: Low-A | 2016: NE
Erceg had first-round tools but fell to the Brewers in the second round in 2016 because he flunked out of Cal and played his junior year at NAIA school Menlo College, which meant he never faced quality pitching, and because teams were concerned that he might be too much of a partier to be worth the higher pick. So far, it looks like the Brewers got themselves a second first-rounder, as Erceg played like one in obliterating the Pioneer League (.400/.452/.552) and more than handling the low-A Midwest League (.281/.328/.497), which had to feel like a Kessel Run-length jump from the pitching he faced in college.
Erceg gets a lot of Matt Carpenter comparisons as a line-drive hitter who probably has average power with some subtle athleticism, though Erceg is an average or better defender at third right now and has a 70 arm, way ahead of Carpenter at the same age. Evaluating makeup in the draft is extraordinarily tricky, and teams often split into risk-averse and risk-loving camps. Erceg makes the risk-loving teams look good right now, and if his power ever gets from 50 (average) to 60, he could be an All-Star.
69. Chance Sisco, C, Baltimore Orioles
Age: 22 (2/24/95) | B/T: L/R
Height: 6-2 | Weight: 195
Top level: Triple-A | 2016: 81
Sisco is probably an average everyday catcher in the big leagues, someone who will play for a long time, not make many All-Star teams and get called “workmanlike” or maybe “gritty” a bunch. That’s what I might have said in June, but then we saw him hit that opposite-field homer at the Futures Game -- at Petco Park, no less -- so maybe there’s another gear of pop in those wrists that he hasn’t shown much in his brief career.
Sisco hit .320/.406/.422 in Double-A in 2016 as a 21-year-old, so the numbers match the scouting reports that he can hit, and his walk rate was the best of his career as well. Behind the plate, he’s at least an average receiver, he has improved his game-calling (according to Orioles people), and despite a fringy arm, he should at least be average against base stealers.
Law's 2017 prospect methodology
I see players all year long, as amateurs, in pro ball, at the Futures Game and in the Arizona Fall League. If I've seen a player, my scouting report becomes the foundation of his capsule and his ranking here. I can't see every player, and sometimes I see a player only once on a day that isn't representative of his abilities, so I supplement all my content with conversations with various scouts and with at least one executive with every MLB team who has seen his team's prospects enough to discuss them and suggest how I might rank them.
I refer within player capsules and descriptions to grades on player tools and overall forecasts, using the industry standard 20-80 scale.
» Complete methodology
If Sisco never hits 10 homers in a season, he’s still a very good, valuable big leaguer, probably a 3 WAR catcher for a long time because he makes a lot of hard contact and will at least never hurt you on defense. And maybe that one day in San Diego tipped us off that he’s going to be something more.
68. Kyle Lewis, OF, Seattle Mariners
Age: 21 (7/13/95) | B/T: R/R
Height: 6-4 | Weight: 210
Top level: Short-season A-ball | 2016: NE
Lewis was a potential No. 1 overall pick last June, very much in the Phillies’ mix in the spring, but he ended up going 11th overall to Seattle. The Mariners had to be overjoyed to get a player who seemed to have no chance to reach their pick.
Lewis won the Golden Spikes Award while playing at Mercer in the smaller Southern Conference, so he hit well but against mediocre pitching. His power is ahead of his hit tool right now, with a big leg kick and a lot of extra movement that can get him over-rotating and even collapsing his back side. He’s a 40 runner, 45 if you love him, a center fielder in the past but maybe 60/40 to move to right even on draft day … until he tore an ACL in July, which might shift those odds to 80/20, depending how well his knee bounces back from the injury and resulting surgery.
The injury was a colossal shame, as Lewis needed the at-bats he’ll miss and might simply have to go to a corner if he loses any speed. The bat should still play in right, with 30-homer potential if he hits enough to get to it, but the opportunity for him to become a star depended a lot on his staying in the middle of the field.
67. Trent Clark, OF, Milwaukee Brewers
Age: 20 (11/1/96) | B/T: L/L
Height: 6-0 | Weight: 205
Top level: Low-A | 2016: 70
The 15th overall pick in the 2015 draft, Clark had a disappointing, injury-riddled, full-season debut in 2016, as he played in just 59 games around a serious hamstring problem and never got consistent at-bats or a rhythm going at the plate. Clark is an unusually disciplined hitter for his age, working the count well and going the other way with authority, but he perhaps takes a few too many hitter’s pitches early in counts.
When he’s right, Clark is a threat to hit for high averages with doubles power to all fields, probably peaking in the 10-15 homer range, though his power was gone when he couldn’t use his legs last season. He never ran well all year -- he was caught 10 times in 15 stolen base attempts, at which point the first-base coach should just tackle you if you so much as think about running -- but that’s probably the effects of the hamstring injury too. It’s kind of a mulligan for Clark; he needs a full season of at-bats to reestablish himself as a legitimate offensive threat.
66. Franklin Perez, RHP, Houston Astros
Age: 19 (12/6/97) | B/T: R/R
Height: 6-4 | Weight: 210
Top level: Low-A | 2016: NR
Signed out of Venezuela in 2013 for $1 million, Perez had thrown only 15 innings in the U.S. before 2016. He comes from a family of athletes, including his mom, a former collegiate volleyball player. The Astros sent him to Quad Cities in mid-May, and he pitched as well as any starter in the league, despite being its youngest pitcher at just 18 years old. Perez doesn’t look that young, with a 6-foot-4, 210-pound body, and he’s very athletic for his size, pitching at an easy 92-94 mph and showing up to 96 at times.
He works with four pitches now, with an above-average curveball and average changeup, and there’s nothing specific that would say he isn't a starter other than his youth and the need to keep him healthy as his arm matures. The Astros did baby him last year -- he had at least six days between all of his starts -- but I imagine this year we’ll see just how good Perez is over a longer period. He offers a good No. 3 starter package now, with his ability to become more than that a function of how well his secondary pitches evolve.
65. Fernando Romero, RHP, Minnesota Twins
Age: 22 (12/24/94) | B/T: R/R
Height: 6-0 | Weight: 215
Top level: High-A | 2016: NR
Romero missed 2015 after Tommy John surgery and was supposed to ease back into things last season, but he pitched so well that the Twins bumped him up to high-A and let him continue to work through the end of August, giving him extra rest between starts (he never went with fewer than five days off) and keeping his pitch counts under 100.
He’s built like a workhorse starter, though there’s some reliever risk to the delivery, but it’s definitely starter stuff. He’ll pitch at 95-98 mph, retaining his velocity deep into games, which he supports with a hard slider thrown into the upper 80s that he can throw for strikes and backdoor to left-handed batters, as well as a changeup that should end up at least average. Romero over-rotates in his delivery and lands wide open, which often causes a pitcher to yank pitches to his glove side. Romero hasn’t had that problem yet, but for command’s sake and the health of his elbow, he should be landing online to the plate.
Romero might be consistently up at 97-98 mph with a slider that reaches 90 if he ends up in the bullpen. But the Twins haven’t had power starter prospects in their system for a while now, and they have to see how Romero handles a full season in a rotation in 2017. He might have the best shot of any of their guys to become a true No. 1 or No. 2.
64. Ariel Jurado, RHP, Texas Rangers
Age: 21 (1/30/96) | B/T: R/R
Height: 6-1 | Weight: 180
Top level: Double-A | 2016: NR
The Panamanian Jurado first popped up in 2015 with a strong 99-inning season for low-A Hickory at the age of 19, but in 2016, he really broke out by performing in the pitcher’s hell of High Desert and earning a late-season promotion to Double-A. Jurado has plus command right now of his two-seamer and good feel for an above-average changeup. His breaking ball, which varies between a slider and curveball, is the one weakness in his repertoire.
That two-seamer is his money pitch, a worm-killer that helped him generate a 62 percent ground ball rate last year, and he misses enough bats between that and the changeup to get by. He was very advanced for 20, in command and feel, so the lack of physical projection isn’t a major concern -- at least not as much as the lack of a defined breaking ball. He can become a fourth starter as it stands, but he could be a lot more if he develops that third pitch -- a slider or maybe a cutter -- to fill out his arsenal.
63. Ian Happ, 2B/OF, Chicago Cubs
Age: 22 (8/12/94) | B/T: B/R
Height: 6-0 | Weight: 205
Top level: Double-A | 2016: 47
Andrew Benintendi went one pick ahead of the Cubs’ first-round selection in 2015, which meant the Cubs ended up with Happ, who might not quite be the best prospect in baseball but is a valuable trade piece for a team with no room at (sic) the infield.
Happ is a switch-hitter, but his left-handed swing is much better than his right, with a cleaner, more consistent path and better loft in his finish. He might never provide more than fringe-average defense at second base, but Happ can offer positional flexibility, with experience in center, in right and at first or even as a “stand at shortstop for a few innings” option.
With the Cubs’ roster already overflowing with position players, Happ should get all of 2017 to work on improving his contact rate and repeating his right-handed swing. I think he ends up a multi-position guy or everyday second baseman with solid OBPs and 20 homers a year but probably enough strikeouts to keep his average down in the .260-270 range.
62. Tyler Beede, RHP, San Francisco Giants
Age: 24 (5/23/93) | B/T: R/R
Height: 6-3 | Weight: 210
Top level: Double-A | 2016: NR
After a very disappointing 2015 season in which Beede tried to throw more sinkers (at the Giants’ suggestion) and seemed to lose his fastball, the former Vanderbilt ace put everything back together for a big bounce-back year that restored his first-round luster and probably put him on track for a 2017 call-up.
Beede was back to throwing 92-95 mph on his four-seamer in 2016, with the full repertoire he showed in college, including a curveball that’s now his out pitch. His fastball command is probably still his main weakness (that or the lack of life on his four-seamer), but he was better at pitching in and out than he had been before, and he has added a cutter that might give him a fifth weapon along with the change, curve and both fastballs. Beede’s command still needs work, but his control made a huge leap forward last year, which I think is more a result of his renewed confidence than any physical issue throwing strikes.
He might reach the majors on the quality of his stuff before he’s fully developed as a pitcher, but by his late 20s, I expect him to at least be a solid-average big league starter. There are a lot of ways he could become a No. 2, depending on his command and the development of that new cutter.
61. Delvin Perez, SS, St. Louis Cardinals
Age: 18 (11/24/98) | B/T: R/R
Height: 6-3 | Weight: 175
Top level: Rookie | 2016: NE
Perez had a chance to be a top-five pick in the draft before he tested positive for a PED in MLB’s mandated pre-draft screening, which caused him to tumble to the 23rd pick of the first round, where the Cardinals grabbed him. Perez was the youngest premium prospect in the draft, turning only 18 in November, so he’ll play all of 2017 at that age and could conceivably spend part of it in full-season ball, given his strong pro debut (.294/.352/.393 in the GCL with a 16 percent strikeout rate).
Perez’s power surge last spring might have been a mirage, but his other tools aren’t -- he’s a 70 runner with a 70 arm and at least 60 defense at shortstop, and he does have a quick bat, even if it isn't ultimately going to produce power. Even if he never sees 10 homers in a season -- which I think is pessimistic, given his bat speed -- his glove and speed would at least get him to the majors as a defense-only shortstop … if he’s willing to put in the work, which is the other question that contributed to his slide in the draft. He has a huge opportunity in front of him with a clean slate, and if he wants to be a superstar, he was born with the physical ability to become one.[quote=jjgold;5683305]I win again like usual
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[quote=Whippit;7921056]miami won't lose a single eastern conference game through end of season[/quote]Comment -
Thanks for posting the lists yisman. You're the real MVP.Comment -
10:15pm: Nathan’s contract has a March 24 opt-out date, Heyman further reports (Twitter links). He also adds that Albers’ contract comes with a $1.125MM base salary plus an additional $600K worth of incentives.
1:26pm: The Nationals have announced minor-league deals with veteran righties Joe Nathan and Matt Albers. Both will receive invitations to MLB camp. Nathan can earn a $1.25MM salary if he cracks the roster, per Jon Heyman of Fan Rag (Twitter links), with incentives that could push the value past $3MM. Albers’ contract terms have yet to be reported.
It’s tempting to wonder whether the 42-year-old Nathan might factor into the Nats’ still-open closer’s role, though the lack of a 40-man spot suggests that’s not exactly an expected outcome. He does bring 377 career saves with him to D.C., but missed the vast bulk of the past two seasons after requiring Tommy John surgery early in 2015.
Nathan did, however, return to the big league hill last year, striking out nine and walking four batters without giving up a run over 6 1/3 innings. It was a brief sample, but he generated a healthy 14.4% swinging-strike rate and averaged 91.3 mph on his four-seamer.
Last we saw Nathan over a full season, he scuffled to a 4.81 ERA for the Tigers back in 2014. But he turned in an outstanding campaign just one year prior, when he gave the Rangers 64 2/3 innings of 1.39 ERA pitching with 10.2 K/9 against 3.1 BB/9.
There have been some ups and downs of late for Albers, too. Now 34, he was knocked around last year, posting a 6.31 ERA with 5.3 K/9 and 3.3 BB/9 for the White Sox. Before that, however, Albers was quite effective for a rather lengthy stretch; between 2012 and 2015, he spun 170 2/3 frames of 2.32 ERA ball.
Though ERA estimators didn’t quite support those numbers, they did view him as a solid pen arm. Despite a subpar whiff rate, Albers has long generated lots of grounders with his oft-used sinker.
[RELATED: Updated Nationals’ Depth Chart]
These veteran hurlers figure to compete for spots in the Nationals’ 2017 pen, but Washington’s pen mix is still in some flux. Though Nathan and Albers figure to boost the depth while providing competition, an undeniable need, it remains to be seen what the organization will do about the ninth inning.Comment
