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2020 Minor League Thread

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and the major league draft league was announced.. with the the Mahoning Valley Scrappers as one of the founding six teams.. Details to follow..
 
and the major league draft league was announced.. with the the Mahoning Valley Scrappers as one of the founding six teams.. Details to follow..

My question is, when is the draft gonna be? How can players get on these teams if they are still playing in high school/college? Wouldn't the timeline for these games be after they were drafted?
 
IIRC the MLB draft is being moved later into the summer.
Thought I heard it would be connected the ALL-Star Break (or slightly after).
 
It's going to be interesting what the flow of players are going to be. I assume the draft will be revamped as teams don't have the room anymore to sign 20-30 players even each year plus DL players coming up. So, I can see a league where those who weren't drafted play and then eligible again for next year's draft.

I assume DL is 1 team (we signed 18 on Indianpro list for next year ... plus 18+ or so from year before). I assume some will come up to Arizona from last year. However, you cannot have a bunch of HS players from year before plus new draftees plus DL youngsters coming up for 30 slots. It may work for first year as only a handful were drafted and they will probably modify this year's draft as well. But going forward, do you hold back 5-6 HS players (from year before) + 15 new draftees + 10 DL players who sign at 16, play over there at 17 + 18 (except studs) then do Ar at 19 (or 18 for players like Valera/Rocchio)?

There are only 100-110 US slots (for 4 teams -- AAA,AA,A,Rookie) and another 30 for DL. And, we have 50-55 players who are usually ranked by FanGraph (not counting DL rookies) -- this also usually doesn't include a lot of relievers trying to make it. Numbers will be tight.
 
IIRC the MLB draft is being moved later into the summer.
Thought I heard it would be connected the ALL-Star Break (or slightly after).

Still confused how it will work when draft is right in middle of season. Will kids start mid june after hs and college. Get drafted around all-star (their leagues 30 or so game mark) and the what after they sign? Will a team want a pitcher to continue when indians usually shut down most of theirs after a long hs college season ley alone a 68 game supplement league.
 
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This is extremely confusing and another example of MLB trying it’s best to destroy baseball. So the “draft league“ will presumably start after the school year ends, as they plan on a 68 or so game season. Late June would be the start. The MLB draft will happen in late July presumably? So, kids play in this “draft league” for a month, then maybe get drafted by a big league team? Then they leave the draft league team and go to an affiliated team? And the draft league team then pulls guys from the stands to fill their squad? Utterly ridiculous.
 
Another Tribe prospect list was released today (Baseball Prospectus).

Majority of the info is behind a paywall, but another poster on a different board provided names & rankings. I am sharing that post here for discussion.. -MT88
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Baseball Prospectus released its Top 10 (+1) Prospects for the Indians. The link is below, but it's behind a paywall. I'll provide a few details.

2021 Prospects: Cleveland Indians Top 10 Prospects - Baseball Prospectus

___________

Here's the list, including future projection grade, and variance risk -

1. George Valera OF, 60, Extreme

2. Nolan Jones 3B, 60, High

3. Triston McKenzie RHP, 60, High

4. Gabriel Arias SS, 60, High

5. Daniel Espino RHP, 60, High

6. Brayan Rocchio SS, 55, Extreme

7. Ethan Hankins RHP, 55, High

8. Tyler Freeman 2B/SS, 55, High

9. Aaron Bracho 2B, 55, High

10. Carson Tucker SS, 50, Extreme

11. Tanner Burns RHP
 
Don't know if it's even worth it this early, but thought to liven up this thread and look at our depth. I am not too familiar with rookie level nor the relievers, but thought I would try at our depth chart (kind of useless though with a year off and some players will rise above or drop off). Big issue is how much do they push people up to keep the younger players and move off some AAA players like Dowdy and Tully (kept them in more for FA invite filler).

There will be a lot of good players let go. Note, how many starters had to be moved to BP. For now, I am just using roster we have for the pitchers

ML

SP – Bieber, Cookie, Plesac, McK, Civale/Quant

RP – Kar, Clase, Whit, Civale/Quant, Maton, Hill, Nelson/Gose

Cut/Trade – Plutko, Rodriquez

AAA

SP – Allen, Moss, Hentges, Morgan, Cantillo

RP – Scott, Nelson/Gose, Sandlin, Broom, Siri, Dowdy, Tully, Y Gomez

Cut - Krauth

FA- Robinson, Martinez (already), Chaing

AA

SP – Hankins, Mejia, Oviedo, Gaddis, S. McCarthy/C. Morris

RP— Humphries, Janczak, Herrin, Draper, S. Arias, Pinto, Hilman, Turner

Cut – Teaney, Lingos, Garza, Gallagher,

A

SP – Espino, Burns, Vargas, L. Allen, F Perez/Burgos (piggyback)

RP –Nick M, Curry, Hart, Royalty, Mierdink, McCarty, Marman, Kelly, Rholl

Cut – Alverez, Aiken,

Rookie

SP – Hickman, Munoz,, Torres

Feel free to rip apart ... as I know I am missing people. I was more focused on starters. Shame that Hickman/Torres will need to wait till June to play, but who else would you push down or to relief? Hentges and Oviedo may move to relief role as this is their last option year.
 
Another Tribe prospect list was released today (Baseball Prospectus).

Majority of the info is behind a paywall, but another poster on a different board provided names & rankings. I am sharing that post here for discussion.. -MT88
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Baseball Prospectus released its Top 10 (+1) Prospects for the Indians. The link is below, but it's behind a paywall. I'll provide a few details.

2021 Prospects: Cleveland Indians Top 10 Prospects - Baseball Prospectus

___________

Here's the list, including future projection grade, and variance risk -

1. George Valera OF, 60, Extreme

2. Nolan Jones 3B, 60, High

3. Triston McKenzie RHP, 60, High

4. Gabriel Arias SS, 60, High

5. Daniel Espino RHP, 60, High

6. Brayan Rocchio SS, 55, Extreme

7. Ethan Hankins RHP, 55, High

8. Tyler Freeman 2B/SS, 55, High

9. Aaron Bracho 2B, 55, High

10. Carson Tucker SS, 50, Extreme

11. Tanner Burns RHP

Wow, five total prospects with 60 FV grades. Nothing to sneeze at there. I am surprised that they are higher on Arias than they are Freeman.
 
Wow, five total prospects with 60 FV grades. Nothing to sneeze at there. I am surprised that they are higher on Arias than they are Freeman.

Arias has a higher upside, Freeman has a better floor.
 
More thoughts on this “draft league“...

The draft is held July 11-13. Drafted players theoretically then are assigned to an affiliated low-level team, let’s say in the Arizona league. It’s been at least two-three weeks since any of them have played, since high school and college kids end their seasons in June, if not earlier. So those drafted kids have to ramp up to play again after a weeks-long break. This is just stupid, as it adds injury risk I would presume.

What about a kid that isn’t drafted? The draft comes and goes, no team drafts him, and now he can go to this “draft league”. Who pays this kid to play? The teams in this league aren’t affiliated, so there’s no parent team to pay the players. Do we “pass the hat” after the 6th inning and use that money to buy the boys a burger? And why would most kids play for nothing, unless they just plain love playing for free and can afford to have no income? The only benefit I can see for the players would be this: let’s say you’re borderline to get drafted but nobody selects you. Then you play in this draft league and, after 30 games, you’re blowing away the competition. You’d then be a “free agent” and could sign with anyone.

Otherwise, this whole thing fairly stinks.
 
Another thought.

What if a really highly-rated player, who gets drafted in the 1st round, refuses to sign. Can he then go and play in this draft league as a free agent? A top-ranked pitcher knows he’ll be drafted in the first 3 picks, obviously by a bad team. So he declines signing with the team that drafts him, goes to the draft league, excels, and is up for bids to the good, big-money teams. Instead of having to sign with the bad team that drafted him, he can sign for more with the Dodgers.
 
Another thought.

What if a really highly-rated player, who gets drafted in the 1st round, refuses to sign. Can he then go and play in this draft league as a free agent? A top-ranked pitcher knows he’ll be drafted in the first 3 picks, obviously by a bad team. So he declines signing with the team that drafts him, goes to the draft league, excels, and is up for bids to the good, big-money teams. Instead of having to sign with the bad team that drafted him, he can sign for more with the Dodgers.
Good question and a scary prospect for small market teams struggling to compete with the big boys.
 
Another thought.

What if a really highly-rated player, who gets drafted in the 1st round, refuses to sign. Can he then go and play in this draft league as a free agent? A top-ranked pitcher knows he’ll be drafted in the first 3 picks, obviously by a bad team. So he declines signing with the team that drafts him, goes to the draft league, excels, and is up for bids to the good, big-money teams. Instead of having to sign with the bad team that drafted him, he can sign for more with the Dodgers.


I think once your drafted even if you don't sign the teams retain your "rights" until you are redrafted. If you are not being redrafted, then perhaps in a scenario like this, the "big money" teams would have to acquire the rights from the "bad teams" somehow.
 

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