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2020 Minor League Thread

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I don't know a ton about Hunter Gaddis, can anyone give me a scouting report on him?
 
I don't know a ton about Hunter Gaddis, can anyone give me a scouting report on him?
One of the nice benefits of doing the composite file work is I also download the available reports/ writeups into a word file (that typically runs over 215 pages long). I ran a search on Hunter's name & the items below came up. I hope this helps....

From Burning River Baseball rankings
20. Hunter Gaddis – RHSP – Age: 21 – Unranked in 2018
Drafted 2019, Round 5 SS Mahoning Valley By Joseph Coblitz

Gaddis could potentially become the poster boy for the Indians current drafting strategy. As a junior at Georgia State, Gaddis had similar (or better) numbers to his previous seasons with an 11.1 K/9 and a 2.1 BB/9, but his ERA was a dismal 4.85, by far the worst in his career. The Indians looked past this less than reliable stat and Gaddis became the Indians top drafted college arm in 2019.
Starting in the AZL, Gaddis was incredibly dominant, but he was even better during the second half of his rookie year in Mahoning Valley. Overall, he had a 14.5 K/9, 1.6 BB/9 and a much more sensible 2.73 ERA through 33 innings. It’s amazing that Gaddis slipped through the cracks and wasn’t drafted out of high school because, in his limited action so far, it looks like he has elite stuff.
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From Pitchers List
46. RHP Hunter Gaddis
Age: 21 Highest Level: A (Short)

A 5th-round pick in 2019, Hunter Gaddis is the highest-drafted player ever from Georgia State University. He has a fastball in the mid-90s and made an immediate splash in the minors last year, racking up a 40.8 K% in 33 innings. He’ll be used as a starter and could move pretty quickly through the lower levels.
ETA: 2022
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From Indians Prospective (twitter account)
#26 Hunter Gaddis - RHP Age: 21 Bats: R Throws: R Height: 6' 6" Weight: 212 lbs Drafted: 2019, 5th (160) Nice four pitch mix, Fastball sits 91-94 has topped 95-97, Above average slider, Average curve & changeup. Above average control. Struckout 53 in 33 innings pitched in 2019.
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From LGT OhioTommy (fan posting)
Hunter Gaddis (RHP, Starter): 6’5"-6’6" with good natural leverage. His primary strengths now are his CH and his SL, both of which are good pitches and thrown with good arm speed and command. His FB velocity is 90-93 mph and that is with some effort. His CH is 71-74 mph which is a lot off his FB and not ideal vs. more advanced hitters but still a good pitch. His #’s were very good in the NYPL (16 IP, 11 H, 4 BB, 27 K) and it is mostly because his offspeed pitches. Gaddis has a really good MLB body frame with plus leverage and if he is able to work out some of the effort in his delivery and add velocity through optimizing his leverage, he could be a really good prospect. He’s a smaller school guy and may not have had all of the advantages guys in the SEC or ACC may have (i.e. technology and highly paid coaches) so there could be more upside there with better instruction. If he can get into the 92-95 mph range with his FB after a year or two he will be good.
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From LGT Del Gua (aka Tondo's fan posting)
26. RHP H. Gaddis
Gaddis was listed as a top 50-100 pick (late 2nd to 3rd) going into his junior year at Georgia State. He came off two good seasons there and had a good Cape showing against better competition. Then baseball happened. Despite improving his K/9 and K/BB, his ERA blew up. It was over 5 most of the season and he got it just under 5 before the draft. That's how CLEFO stole him at the end of round 5 (for 4th rd money though). He put up crazy numbers in his debut and should make quick work of A Ball. He's a huge dude at 6'6 with a solid FB (with room for more) and his best pitch is what FG calls a Bugs bunny changeup. If you're looking for another college arm that'll surprise, get to know Hunter Gaddis.
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GSon - you have made it clear you don't think highly of Eli Morgan & your desire to see him dealt. Fair enough. What do you think your realistically going to get for Morgan alone? The idea of Seattle's N. Marte is way off base (like getting 24 oz prime rib for $2)

There are two approaches to a trade..frontliners that make sense both ways with an "added" prospect to balance a perceived or real imbalance..

Hypothetical Example: Indians and Reds trade: The two Nicks for Lindor.. but, the tribe doesn't feel the deal is fair.. so they ask for (and, quite honestly should receive) Joel Kuhnel RP or Jose Israel Garcia, a terrific young SS who, in time, and not much time, could approach Frankie Lindor's ability. (FWiW, I'd even be interested/inclined to go with Nick Lodolo and both Kuhnel and Garcia) The Reds, feeling they are giving up TOO much could ask for Eli Morgan for leveling the deal..

That would be the most likely path where Eli Morgan is dealt. By himself.. he's worth no more than a well thought of deep A or lower prospect (ROK, Short).. possibly, a soon to be Rule V eligible player... As far as a direct deal with Eli Morgan, that list is endless... At the end of the day.. I wouldn't be opposed to selling Eli Morgan and perhaps another prospect for a Competitive Balance Lottery A/B pick... I just don't think there's a lot of value for this guy...
 
Never thought I’d see multiple pages dedicated to Eli Morgan in here, but here we are.

In all honesty, Morgan is a fringe top 30 prospect for me, 1 pitch away from flying up. Guy who got me in the scouting/prospect game always had an adage. High A ball is where you see if a hitter is for real, AA is where you see if a pitcher is for real.

So easy, especially as a 3 or 4 year college player, to come in to SS A or low A and work over 1 year Juco guys or teenaged hitters/pitchers.

But he put up legit prospect stats at AA while boasting arguably the best off speed pitch in the Indians system among starter prospects.

3.75 FIP with a good K% (he’s had an elite K% in the minors so far, anything over 27% is considered the best of the best tier) and good K:BB numbers. Those traits usually carry over from league to league.

His stuff has improved as a pro too. Came in sitting high 80s, clocked him up to 94 last year a couple times. Sits 90s all game. His change-up is absolutely filthy, like elite level filthy, and got to that point because of his added velocity on top of his still solid control.

IMO, he needs to add something to his repertoire to generate ground balls and weak contact if he wants to make it at the MLB level.

Yes, he is capped by his physical profile. But looking strictly at the numbers, he’s putting up power pitcher stats and advanced stats to this point as a minor leaguer. That needs to be taken seriously.
 
Thank you, Bimbo. Though that's the high end of velocity I've read about. FG has him 86-88, but they've been behind updating second tier SP stuff (Civale, Plesac).
What's also impressive is that Morgan mastered AA in only his second full season as a pro and young/class prospect. That's a fast track and he still finds ways to succeed.

Would be interested in your thoughts or any information you have on Adam Scott, who delivered similarly good AA numbers in his first full season. As an older budget saving SR signing he needed to perform quickly, but he's done that and even transitioned from RP to SP.
To be honest, I don't see much difference between Moss and Scott, but while Moss got some (deserved) hype and probably because he was part of the Bauer trade, Scott seems to get overlooked.
Do we have a Lucchesi on our hands (small school SR success story)?
 
Thank you, Bimbo. Though that's the high end of velocity I've read about. FG has him 86-88, but they've been behind updating second tier SP stuff (Civale, Plesac).
What's also impressive is that Morgan mastered AA in only his second full season as a pro and young/class prospect. That's a fast track and he still finds ways to succeed.

Would be interested in your thoughts or any information you have on Adam Scott, who delivered similarly good AA numbers in his first full season. As an older budget saving SR signing he needed to perform quickly, but he's done that and even transitioned from RP to SP.
To be honest, I don't see much difference between Moss and Scott, but while Moss got some (deserved) hype and probably because he was part of the Bauer trade, Scott seems to get overlooked.
Do we have a Lucchesi on our hands (small school SR success story)?
I don't have the expertise of @BimboColesHair but I like Adam Scott a lot. Although to be clear, he was never actually being groomed as a reliever. The Indians always pitch recent draftees, especially those coming out of college, in such a manner during their first seasons.

The biggest difference between Scott and Moss has to be their command. Scott has demonstrated above-average command throughout his professional career whereas Moss has been subpar in that regard.
 
Thank you, Bimbo. Though that's the high end of velocity I've read about. FG has him 86-88, but they've been behind updating second tier SP stuff (Civale, Plesac).
What's also impressive is that Morgan mastered AA in only his second full season as a pro and young/class prospect. That's a fast track and he still finds ways to succeed.

Would be interested in your thoughts or any information you have on Adam Scott, who delivered similarly good AA numbers in his first full season. As an older budget saving SR signing he needed to perform quickly, but he's done that and even transitioned from RP to SP.
To be honest, I don't see much difference between Moss and Scott, but while Moss got some (deserved) hype and probably because he was part of the Bauer trade, Scott seems to get overlooked.
Do we have a Lucchesi on our hands (small school SR success story)?

As a big lefty myself, I always have a bias towards big lefty starters, especially ones that utilize a change-up because its a combo rarely seen nowadays.

Honestly, you're right. There isn't much of a difference between Moss and Scott. They're pretty much carbon copies of each other, stuff wise, just Scott has more control and is 24 while Moss has more professional production and is 25. ~450 IP of 3.26 ERA, 9+ K/9 production is nothing to scoff at from Scott Moss, those are great numbers.

But they're both 3/4 lefty throwers with low 90s fastball, an above average slider, and an average change-up. I'm a little concerned over Adam Scott's K numbers falling in AA by a fairly decent amount (nearly a 3 K/9 difference from High A, and a 6% drop in K%) but we're also talking about a 57 inning sample size.

My big thing I look for from pitching prospects: K% (or K/9), K:BB ratio, and GB%. If you have someone who excels at all 3 of those (at least 24%+, 3.5+, 40%+) you have a special prospect. Adam Scott has a chance to tick all of those boxes, whereas Scott Moss probably will never have the K:BB ratio.

And yeah, the Indians didn't transition him from RP to SP, as Derek mentioned. Pretty obvious to all of us the depth of pitching talent in their farm currently, and you can only have 5 starters. Have to get guys their innings.
 
Scott was used as a 2 inning reliever after the draft and I wasn't that sure how they intended to use/develop him. As an older prospect, I thought they'd fast track him like Sandlin or Kyle Nelson as a LH reliever. Whereas guys like Morris or Gaddis were used as starters right out of the draft. I'm glad Scott got a chance to start and ran away with it.

They've drafted a bunch of other intriguing college senior SP arms that now fall into the RP/SP tweener bucket. Fellow 2018 picks Shane McCarthy and Eli Lingos and from 2019 Matt Waldron, Kevin Kelly, Nic Enright and Randy Labaut. I liked all of those picks and they're doing a great job of finding and adding depth throughout day 3 of drafts. All of those arms had good college careers with fringe average stuff.

Any takes on Kyle Marman and Trey Benton? Two talented college arms with mid round stuff that dropped because of injury. Similar to Plesac.
 
Scott was used as a 2 inning reliever after the draft and I wasn't that sure how they intended to use/develop him. As an older prospect, I thought they'd fast track him like Sandlin or Kyle Nelson as a LH reliever. Whereas guys like Morris or Gaddis were used as starters right out of the draft. I'm glad Scott got a chance to start and ran away with it.
Yeah, they were just getting Scott innings and limiting his workload following a 100+ inning season at Wofford. I had the same questions during his debut summer and was quickly told that he was being developed as a starter.

You have to remember that Morris didn't debut with the organization the year he was drafted. Including his Wofford innings, Scott threw 137 innings in 2018, which is why he was ready to throw 132 in 2019.

And even though Gaddis may have "started" he was limited to less than 3 innings per appearance, ending with a similar workload to Scott. As I said, especially post-draft, who starts and who comes out of the pen is pretty arbitrary. They're just getting guys some work like spring training.
 
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Case in point for the “who starts and who comes out of the bullpen” not really mattering, James Karinchak and his 6 starts in his 1st short season after being drafted. They never intended to keep him as a starter at all.

The Indians have drafted heavy on college arms the last 6 years, which means a log jam in SS A and AZL for experienced pitching, especially with the teenagers who are there as well. Their mindset has always been to get recently drafted guys on tape as much as they possibly can for the off season and setting up their individual programs.

As for Benton and Marmon, I don’t think either gets moved to a SP. Benton, when he was healthy, was significantly better as a pitcher. Saw him start in 2018 a few times, he wouldn’t have been drafted had he just been a starter IMO. Both of their stuff plays considerably up out of the bullpen as opposed to starting.
 
Both mlbpipeline and FG have published their draft board updates.

At the top, the Indians usually go with HS upside. Crow-Armstrong, Walker and Crews are dropping into that 20-40 range and Indians are known to value track record over recency bias. Those 3 were in the 10-15 range not long ago.
Soderstrom is another possibility, though he's an ascending prospect. But if any of Abel, Bitsko or Kelley should make it to 23, it'd be hard to pass up.

There are a lot of college players in that 30-150 range on those lists that I'd absolutely avoid, especially since a bunch of my favs are outside the top 3 rounds or not even on the list. Namely, the Puerto Rican trio of Ondina, Zabala, Ceballos (and RHP K. Matos) or other HS INF T. Troy, Mayo, Blakely, Freeman, but also college pitching sleepers like Hickman, F. Aleman (JuCo), Kirian, Abbott, Dollard, Seminaris etc etc. So many good college pitchers, it's unreal, even from powerhouse conferences.

I also like the college MIF depth. Z. Warren, Glowenke, Polcovich, B. Klein. I'd prefer a couple of those in the mid/late rounds over the names ranked in the 1-2 rd.
Really hope they make it at least 10 rounds.
 
I just got offered a decent deal on high end Nolan Jones cards. How good do we think this kid is gonna be?
 
I just got offered a decent deal on high end Nolan Jones cards. How good do we think this kid is gonna be?

I mean the floor is probably someone like a healthy Chisenhall with a little more plate discipline in my mind. He hasn't shown the ability to hit lefties nor is he great at 3B when it comes to defense, but many feel it is very unlikely his bat doesn't at least get him a taste of the pros. I think he will end up in the OF, so the same path Chisenhall took in that sense, but its way too early to tell, but I think we would all be very surprised if he isn't up in the pros by the 22 season. (This season was projected AA to AAA, then added to the 40 man roster in 21)
 
Won’t happen anytime soon, but I hope 5 or 10 years down the line there’s a piece on how drafting Adam Plutko revitalized the Indians drafting and developing of pitchers. He was the ground floor for them to grab guys like Bieber, Civale, Plesac, Cody Morris, Hunter Gaddis, Eli Morgan, Adam Scott after. Fast movers who K a lot of people, don’t walk guys, and fall to later rounds because of a “limited ceiling” is the Indians niche draft pick right now.
 

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