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2022 Minor League Thread

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MadThinker88

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Well I guess it is time to get this thread rolling....
Generally the various prospect lists for the upcoming season will be posted in a thread like this &then various people can chime in with thoughts & commentary/

With the MLB lockout in place, the minor league game and various prospect listings that are released can be a haven & give the necessary baseball fix that CLE fans need.

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Now to start transferring all the prospect lists for 2022 (previously placed in the 2021 thread) & informational tweets over to this thread...
I hope one of the mods can handle that...
 
I will kick it off with interesting Noel talk.

An NL team not expected to be very good in 22 was going to try and sneak him onto their 40 if he was left unprotected and bank on the universal DH being adopted so they could groom him into a corner OFer over the course of a season, while getting him some ABs.

I would not be surprised if we saw him out there in 22 in Akron or Columbus, unless Bradley struggles and 1B becomes a long term hole again.

He is a much better athlete than any of the prospect rating services give him credit for. He plays a solid 3B for his size but like most kids who are naturally gifted with size and strength his arm gets him into trouble.

The only person in the organization who might be stronger than him at the moment is Franmil. And that’s a legit “might”. He’s only 20. Sky is the limit for him.
 
I will kick it off with interesting Noel talk.

An NL team not expected to be very good in 22 was going to try and sneak him onto their 40 if he was left unprotected and bank on the universal DH being adopted so they could groom him into a corner OFer over the course of a season, while getting him some ABs.

I would not be surprised if we saw him out there in 22 in Akron or Columbus, unless Bradley struggles and 1B becomes a long term hole again.

He is a much better athlete than any of the prospect rating services give him credit for. He plays a solid 3B for his size but like most kids who are naturally gifted with size and strength his arm gets him into trouble.

The only person in the organization who might be stronger than him at the moment is Franmil. And that’s a legit “might”. He’s only 20. Sky is the limit for him.
It would be nice if he could take a few more walks.. but he's not in the batters box long enough to get a walk.. what does he average per at bat..less than three pitches?.. 20 year olds and patience remains mutually exclusive, apparently... what he does best of all is put the bat on the ball.. that's something beyond special for a guy that big.. that strong and that good.. If ever there was a guy who would benefit from an early & defined limited taste of major league pitching.. this is the guy.. 100 AB's then back to riding the bus with a better understanding of how to really control the strike zone.. and not be intimidated & exploited by major league pitchers...
 
That's what I was thinking.. But apparently not.

Not the Bucs, not the Cubs... Diamondbacks or Rockies?

I mean if I was the Rockies and knew a guy with pure power, I'd get him into camp...
 
With a tip of the cap to @sportscoach for noting that some lists besides Baseball America were published already, lets add the Prospect361 & MLB Pipeline listings to this 2022 thread..

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Posted: 10/29/21
Source: Prospect361 (Free/ open source)
Top 15 listed out with writeups.
https://prospect361.com/al-team-prospects/cleveland-guardians/#Valera

In case anyone wants to listen to the a podcast about the list...
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Posted:
Source: MLB Pipeline (Free/ open source)
Top 30 listed out with limited writeups imbedded.
https://www.mlb.com/prospects/guardians
 
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I mean if I was the Rockies and knew a guy with pure power, I'd get him into camp...
It's not power, because Everybody has power when they're a mile high. Y'know what's even more important in Col? Outfielders who can patrol that vast acreage.

Like Bradley Zimmer.
 
It's not power, because Everybody has power when they're a mile high. Y'know what's even more important in Col? Outfielders who can patrol that vast acreage.

Like Bradley Zimmer.

Have you seen what plus power does in Colorado?

Then again, I didn't have Noel playing anything but 1B at the end of the day, so its an interesting story to hear the fact they were going to let him play some OF, which by your logic says it may not be Colorado...

Battenfield at 4, Espino at 10, Bracho at 11, Oscar Gonzalez at 14, that is one terrible list.

Now Battenfield is ahead of Espino on the depth charts, but it's very hard to agree he would be in front of him when it comes to potential. Well for 22, Battenfield on paper would be more important since he is way closer to the bigs...

Also I think too many people are sleeping on Hickman... i haven't seen though if he has improved his fastball or not since as big as he was, he was a fairly soft thrower.
 
I have. Have you seen what mediocre power does in Colorado?
Though the mile high city certainly helps with the long ball, I was always under the impression it REALLY helped the line driver types..
 
Though the mile high city certainly helps with the long ball, I was always under the impression it REALLY helped the line driver types..
Biggest acreage in MLB.
Literally huge.
Literally.
 
So are you guys ready to play?

Top 5 prospects... I think at least 4 of these should be in everyone's top 5...

1. Espino
2. Freeman

3.Rocchio
4.Valera

5.Arias

I tiered it - but there isn't much separation in my mind.

Got to think on the next set..
 

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