2020 Minor League Thread

[MadThinker88]

Call it an abbreviated version of the strategy.. with "only" five or ten rounds.. This will permit some of the lower minor league guys (Dominican Leagues, short season, etc) to move up into full season / stateside teams.. Some upward mobility will challenge some.. defeat a few.. but open the lower end of the talent acquisition slots to be opened for new blood.. or, the lifeblood of a small market club... What say you?..

Welcome Gson.. Glad to see you migrate over from IBI.

 

[Gson]

To me the Indians have focused on just pure talent/athletic potential so with that, the positions will settle themselves. I dont think they will focus on one position, but on guys who fit their drafting styles. I feel they could draft a few maybe college guys this season who may have a base floor but outside of that, I think they will stay with the same strategy since it's been working for them it really feels like.

For the most part.. it's the general public's belief that the BPA is the guy chosen.. While some truth exists in that comment..several factors come to mind that changes that..

Example.. in the 2018 June Rule IV draft.. who woulda thunk Ethan Hankins would have signed with the Tribe?.. He had to be the best available at least fifteen picks before the Tribe took a chance with their competitive balance pick and even after Bo Naylor?..

In short.. there are several factors that make the decision on who to pick.. signability is clearly one of them.. With that said.. the indians have some important picks to make in this draft.. The following might be where the Tribe is headed:

The tribe has # 23, 36, 57 and 95 (given or take a spot or two).. I think everyone can see that this is a very deep draft for college arms (about 100 who can impact a ML club in the next five years) & prep bats (not so many)..

Pick @ # 23: Pitcher or Position Player:

If it's a Pitcher, my top three would be: Mick Abel 6' 5" / 190 Jesuit HS in Oregon, Cole Wilcox Georgia 6'5" 225 and Dax Fulton 6'6" 225 Mustang HS Ok, in any order.. it's not a secret that the kind of profile tall, solidly put together.. and a hint at command and control are all part of what the indians seem to covet in a pitcher..

If the Tribe decides on a Position Player, my top three would be: Zac Veen 6'4" 189 Spruce Creek Fl OF'er Very athletic CF'er. Keeps the bat in the hitting zone for ages, Dylan Crews 6'0" 175 Lake Mary HS Fl Super athlete that puts the bat on the ball for both average and power. Perhaps the best prep bat in the entire draft.. and Blaze Jordan 6'1" 215 1B.. Some chance he can play LF, but doubtful. but, there is no doubht there is a lot to love about this kid's bat for both power and average..

Pick # 36: Peter Crow-Armstrong 6'1" 175 Harvard Lake HS Ca OF'er

Pick # 57: JT Ginn 6'2" 195 RHP Miss St.. Bulldog mentality with an innate sense of throwing strikes. Has an injury concern that may allow him to drop to the Indians here. If there.. and the meds check out, he'd be a steal.

Pick # 95: Chase Davis 6'1" 210 Franklyn HS Ca Strong athletic corner OF that does everything well. very fast hands and bat. Strong like bull. Could see any spot in the OF, but, RF would welcome the howitzer of a left arm he has. A wild card pick..

Thoughts on the above.....?

 

[MadThinker88]

Another day, another source drops its top 10 prospects for the Tribe.
This time its Prospect Digest.
While the rankings & writeups for the top 10 of each organization are available for free on the website, the published book goes much deeper on each organization. I must admit to being a fan & I have purchased the book for the past 4 years. Once this pandemic settles down & delivery schedule gets normalized I will be getting this years addition. Fun note: the cover of this years book has a picture of Progressive Field. The past 2 books had pictures of Classic Park (Lake County) and Canal Park (Akron).

Cleveland Indians: Top 10 Prospects for 2020

Hailed by Michael Salfino (TheAthletic, FiveThirtyEight, and The Wall Street Journal) for its "insightful and often contrarian viewpoint to prospect rankings," The Prospect Digest Handbook has become a mainstay for baseball enthusiasts, minor league

www.prospectdigest.com

#	Player	Pos	#	Player	Pos
1	Nolan Jones	3B	6	Ethan Hankins	RHP
2	Tyler Freeman	SS	7	Brayan Rocchio	SS
3	Daniel Espino	RHP	8	Bo Naylor	C
4	Triston McKenzie	RHP	9	Cody Morris	RHP
5	George Valera	OF	10	James Karinchak	RHP

I would encourage people to follow the link & review the individual write-ups. Enjoy!

 

[sportscoach]

Another day, another source drops its top 10 prospects for the Tribe.
This time its Prospect Digest.
While the rankings & writeups for the top 10 of each organization are available for free on the website, the published book goes much deeper on each organization. I must admit to being a fan & I have purchased the book for the past 4 years. Once this pandemic settles down & delivery schedule gets normalized I will be getting this years addition. Fun note: the cover of this years book has a picture of Progressive Field. The past 2 books had pictures of Classic Park (Lake County) and Canal Park (Akron).

Cleveland Indians: Top 10 Prospects for 2020

Hailed by Michael Salfino (TheAthletic, FiveThirtyEight, and The Wall Street Journal) for its "insightful and often contrarian viewpoint to prospect rankings," The Prospect Digest Handbook has become a mainstay for baseball enthusiasts, minor league

www.prospectdigest.com

#	Player	Pos	#	Player	Pos
1	Nolan Jones	3B	6	Ethan Hankins	RHP
2	Tyler Freeman	SS	7	Brayan Rocchio	SS
3	Daniel Espino	RHP	8	Bo Naylor	C
4	Triston McKenzie	RHP	9	Cody Morris	RHP
5	George Valera	OF	10	James Karinchak	RHP

I would encourage people to follow the link & review the individual write-ups. Enjoy!

Interesting to see someone have Morris so high. Bimbo did say he was a sleeper as a SP just like Plesac was

 

[BimboColesHair]

A lot of similarities between Morris and Plesac. Morris has more swing and miss stuff than Plesac, but like Plesac he just needs to stay healthy which plays into a prospects ranking. Came into the league very polished, and like Bieber, Plesac, Civale, Eli Morgan, etc. before him made very short work of A ball hitters.

Elite K% his 1st year as a pro, but some control concerns with him that weren't there with those he compares to. Needs to clean that up, but if he does, he's a tier up from Plesac as a prospect.

 

[sportscoach]

For the most part.. it's the general public's belief that the BPA is the guy chosen.. While some truth exists in that comment..several factors come to mind that changes that..

Example.. in the 2018 June Rule IV draft.. who woulda thunk Ethan Hankins would have signed with the Tribe?.. He had to be the best available at least fifteen picks before the Tribe took a chance with their competitive balance pick and even after Bo Naylor?..

In short.. there are several factors that make the decision on who to pick.. signability is clearly one of them.. With that said.. the indians have some important picks to make in this draft.. The following might be where the Tribe is headed:

The tribe has # 23, 36, 57 and 95 (given or take a spot or two).. I think everyone can see that this is a very deep draft for college arms (about 100 who can impact a ML club in the next five years) & prep bats (not so many)..

Pick @ # 23: Pitcher or Position Player:

If it's a Pitcher, my top three would be: Mick Abel 6' 5" / 190 Jesuit HS in Oregon, Cole Wilcox Georgia 6'5" 225 and Dax Fulton 6'6" 225 Mustang HS Ok, in any order.. it's not a secret that the kind of profile tall, solidly put together.. and a hint at command and control are all part of what the indians seem to covet in a pitcher..

If the Tribe decides on a Position Player, my top three would be: Zac Veen 6'4" 189 Spruce Creek Fl OF'er Very athletic CF'er. Keeps the bat in the hitting zone for ages, Dylan Crews 6'0" 175 Lake Mary HS Fl Super athlete that puts the bat on the ball for both average and power. Perhaps the best prep bat in the entire draft.. and Blaze Jordan 6'1" 215 1B.. Some chance he can play LF, but doubtful. but, there is no doubht there is a lot to love about this kid's bat for both power and average..

Pick # 36: Peter Crow-Armstrong 6'1" 175 Harvard Lake HS Ca OF'er

Pick # 57: JT Ginn 6'2" 195 RHP Miss St.. Bulldog mentality with an innate sense of throwing strikes. Has an injury concern that may allow him to drop to the Indians here. If there.. and the meds check out, he'd be a steal.

Pick # 95: Chase Davis 6'1" 210 Franklyn HS Ca Strong athletic corner OF that does everything well. very fast hands and bat. Strong like bull. Could see any spot in the OF, but, RF would welcome the howitzer of a left arm he has. A wild card pick..

Thoughts on the above.....?

I am not an expert, Bimbo and Derek know way more than I do, but I do know the Indians arent afraid to take chances on high potential guys with Injury issues. Aiken didn't work out while Plesac (who was coming off of tommy john) ended up being a brilliant pick.

Part of me wouldn't mind a high profile college guy who doesnt need much seasoning in the minors to go with the guys we have currently, but so far the FO braintrust has been solid so we gotta trust them.

 

[WillHoo99]

As GSon stated above It is my belief they will go BPA. That will include someone like JT Ginn, Dax Fulton (I think is more likely at 36) Mick Abel, Jared Kelley, etc.
We know they have loved some the high ceiling prep talent in recent yrs and haven't veered from risks too (last yrs prep heavy draft & prep C - Naylor & injury concerns - Hankins). They also scouted college players like Steele Walker, Michael Busch, and Kody Hoese heavily before drafting falling prep talent each time.
I think this yr could play out different. With the sheer volume of qlty talent I would not be surprised to see the Tribe grab a college player (at 23 or 36) like Ginn, Austin Wells, Patrick Bailey, Jordan Westburg, Justin Foscue, Cole Wilcox, Carmen Mlodzinski (cape cod performer!), Bobby Miller, Chris McMahon, Slade Cecconi, Cole Henry to name a few off the top of my head.

 

[MadThinker88]

If you want to watch some Lake County/ minor league baseball tonight (4/13/20), hop over to facebook for a replay from 2019..



Edit: its a good opportunity to watch Cody Morris on the mound for the Captains...

 

[Tondo]

Hey guys, happy to join. Some good content in here. Looking forward to talk prospects and draft.

I'll add my personal Top 100+ in 10 Tiers (5 posts) with commentary, posted 3 months ago at LGT. I'd switch Moss and JC Mejia ranking after seeing both in ST, but wouldn't change much else.

Indians Top 100 prospects 2020, 60-100

Hello to my Indians Top 100 prospects rankings going into the 2020 season. Since I wanted to add some commentary, I'll split the ranking up in multiple fanposts, probably 3 or 4. I'll start the...

www.letsgotribe.com

Indians Top 100 prospects 2020, 40-59

Part 2 of the Top 100 list features two Tiers. Here they are: Tier 7 Underrated College Performers 40. C Lavastida 41. LHP K. McCarty42. OF T. Brooks43. RHP Broom44. RHP Mikolajchak45. RHP...

www.letsgotribe.com

Indians Top 100 prospects 2020, 19-39

Here's part 3 of the Top 100. Tier 5 Overachieving Perfomers 19. LHP S. Moss Of 70 AA/AAA minor league pitchers with 130+ innings, the 6'5 Moss was 2nd in K/9 (10.95) and 5th in ERA and FIP....

www.letsgotribe.com

Indians Top 100 prospects 2020, 9-18

Since the commentary takes up more time than anticipated, there will be one more fanpost than planned. Here's part 4 of the Top 100. Let me preface this by saying that I consider those two Tiers...

www.letsgotribe.com

Indians Top 100 prospects 2020, 1-8

Final countdown... Tier 2 Best SP 8. LHP L. Allen The Indians were able to buy low on L. Allen, who made several Top 100 lists due to his rapid ascension through the minors. He was very young...

www.letsgotribe.com

 

[MadThinker88]

Welcome Tondo. Happy to see you migrate over.

Edit: Since you mentioned you would now flip Moss (was #19) and JC Mejia (was #27), can share the reasoning? An 8 spot move is significant..

 

[Tondo]

Welcome Tondo. Happy to see you migrate over.

Edit: Since you mentioned you would now flip Moss (was #19) and JC Mejia (was #27), can share the reasoning? An 8 spot move is significant..

Thanks MT!

I'm not that concerned with the exact ranking within a tier and it doesn't necessarily mean Moss would drop to 27, but seeing him for the first time I understood why scouts don't like him. His stuff is meh as is the command of it. He has performed, but he needs to improve one or the other to get ML hitters out consistently. Both Eli Morgan and JC Mejia looked much better in ST games and Mejia's stuff stood out. On stuff alone he belongs in the 2nd tier of SP with Torres, Vargas and ahead of Morris.
Maybe it's unfair to criticize Moss off of ST action and he gets better with reps, but I believe my initial ranking based on his numbers were too optimistic. The Tier he's in is the 40 FV range of the system. I've merely removed the arrow up on him and gave it to Mejia.

It's a shame the 2020 draft has been cut to 5 or 10 rounds at most, as this class is super deep in quality talent and I think it hurts the Indians a bit as they've been one of the better drafting teams in that 7-20 round range. Really hope they at least up it to 10 rounds. I was prepared for 40 rounds, lol. Here's an optimistic mock. The top 7 rounds are my dream scenario. The top 3 could go in any order with 57 well overslot.

2020 MLB Draft

I'm bored and spent way too much time reading up on draft prospects the past weeks to compensate. Now MLB owners even threaten to cancel the draft to save money, which would be incredibly stupid on...

www.letsgotribe.com

 

[MadThinker88]

Thanks for the info Tondo.. Personally I am pulling for Moss. Perhaps its because Moss is another member of the 2016 draft class (like Bieber, Civale, Plutko, Daniel Johnson, Nolan Jones & others). Maybe its something else.

Granted I have not seen any of Moss/ JC Mejia/ Morgan/ Oviedo in person but in following various sources, I get the sense that Moss is in line for a bump up in performance due to getting to work with the Tribe organization/ coaches. As a group they have a structure and set of methods that seems to get more out of a pitcher than most other minor league systems (especially Cinci).

We shall see (if they ever get to play again)..

 

[Gson]

Thanks for the info Tondo.. Personally I am pulling for Moss. Perhaps its because Moss is another member of the 2016 draft class (like Bieber, Civale, Plutko, Daniel Johnson, Nolan Jones & others). Maybe its something else.

Granted I have not seen any of Moss/ JC Mejia/ Morgan/ Oviedo in person but in following various sources, I get the sense that Moss is in line for a bump up in performance due to getting to work with the Tribe organization/ coaches. As a group they have a structure and set of methods that seems to get more out of a pitcher than most other minor league systems (especially Cinci).

We shall see (if they ever get to play again)..

This foursome is a mix of questions... ranking them for the chance for development into major league contributors would be difficult..

Scott Moss had the skill set and performance of a prototypical SP the Indians covet.. His pitchin in 2019 at several levels & several teams all showed some great stats, especially while with the Indians.. Being so new to the Indians system.. more is needed..

Mejia and Oviedo are both interesting prospects.. both are big guys (don't believe the weight given for Oviedo.. he's a lot bigger than that).. both throw hard.. both... both.. need to be healthy/stay healthy.. Oviedo is absolutely in the mix as a starter.. He's so young.. If he can hone his control just a wee bit.. he could be a beast.. I wouldn't say the same for Mejia.. Mejia's best spot may be reveal in the coming season, both in the minors as well as in the show.. RP.. with the ability to give more than a single inning.. This type of pitcher is going to become the new market opportunity to exploit..

Eli Morgan is a runt.. small guy.. with limited everything but heart.. It won't be enough.. Midnight is fast approaching.. the carriage is going to turn into a pumpkin.. Morgan is one of those guys that has superb stats who, if traded, could return a very young ML talent prospect..

Thoughts?..

 

[Derek]

I doubt Eli Morgan has much trade value. I think it's more valuable to see what he can actually contribute to our organization.

 

[sportscoach]

This foursome is a mix of questions... ranking them for the chance for development into major league contributors would be difficult..

Scott Moss had the skill set and performance of a prototypical SP the Indians covet.. His pitchin in 2019 at several levels & several teams all showed some great stats, especially while with the Indians.. Being so new to the Indians system.. more is needed..

Mejia and Oviedo are both interesting prospects.. both are big guys (don't believe the weight given for Oviedo.. he's a lot bigger than that).. both throw hard.. both... both.. need to be healthy/stay healthy.. Oviedo is absolutely in the mix as a starter.. He's so young.. If he can hone his control just a wee bit.. he could be a beast.. I wouldn't say the same for Mejia.. Mejia's best spot may be reveal in the coming season, both in the minors as well as in the show.. RP.. with the ability to give more than a single inning.. This type of pitcher is going to become the new market opportunity to exploit..

Eli Morgan is a runt.. small guy.. with limited everything but heart.. It won't be enough.. Midnight is fast approaching.. the carriage is going to turn into a pumpkin.. Morgan is one of those guys that has superb stats who, if traded, could return a very young ML talent prospect..

Thoughts?..

I really see Morgan closer to the Tomlin type of pitcher in the end. I think as long as he doesn't have injuries that effect his velocity then he should be able to compete in the pros as a 5th guy/long man