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2020 Minor League Thread

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I've never seen Morgan pitch but my first question is how many 5'10" right-handers with a below average fastball have been successful major league starters?

Also, looking at Morgan's numbers for last year at baseball reference.com, it's clear that he is a fly ball pitcher. He had one game at Lynchburg with zero ground balls and 13 fly balls. His one start at Columbus resulted in 2 ground balls against 16 fly balls. The previous game with Akron he gave up 4 ground balls against 19 fly balls.

It seems to me he's living dangerously. Anybody recall any little right-handers with sub-par velo who are extreme fly ball pitchers that have been successful big league starters?
 
I've never seen Morgan pitch but my first question is how many 5'10" right-handers with a below average fastball have been successful major league starters?

Also, looking at Morgan's numbers for last year at baseball reference.com, it's clear that he is a fly ball pitcher. He had one game at Lynchburg with zero ground balls and 13 fly balls. His one start at Columbus resulted in 2 ground balls against 16 fly balls. The previous game with Akron he gave up 4 ground balls against 19 fly balls.

It seems to me he's living dangerously. Anybody recall any little right-handers with sub-par velo who are extreme fly ball pitchers that have been successful big league starters?
Tanner Roark, Mike Leake, Anibal Sanchez, Julio Teheran, Mike Fiers, and Kyle Hendricks are a few. Not all are diminutive in stature, but I don't think that really matters. 90 mph is 90 mph regardless of if it's coming from 6'5 or 5'6.

All of them sit around 90 and are extreme flyball pitchers.

I don't think anybody is saying Eli Morgan is a sure thing to even have a career in the majors, let alone a good one. However, his results have been promising, and he's yet to give any real reason to be down on him.
 
I hope Morgan turns into something at the MLB level, have been starting a steady stockpile of his rookie cards
 
does anyone have any insight into minor league games this year.

I assume they arent happening, but was just curious
 
does anyone have any insight into minor league games this year.

I assume they arent happening, but was just curious
Last I heard there will be no MiLB this season. But there could be some sort of extended spring training for those guys at Goodyear or maybe even progressive field
 
Tribe now paying its minor league players thru the end of July (although there will be no minor league season in 2020)..

 
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Good.
Tribe now paying its minor league players thru the end of July (although there will be no minor league season in 2020)..

Good. Thanks for passing that along.
 
Despite no minor league season in 2020, there are some still updating prospect listings.

Here is one of them: Prospect 365
https://prospects365.com/2020/08/01/ray-butlers-2020-midseason-top-200-prospects/


Indians Prospective has already gone thru the update & noted the Tribe players on the list..

#Indians making the list:
49) Nolan Jones114) Tyler Freeman138) Ethan Hankins160) Daniel Johnson
74) George Valera121) Aaron Bracho149) Gabriel Rodriguez173) Alexfri Planez
92) Brayan Rocchio137) Daniel Espino159) Tanner Burns177) Angel Martinez

If the list went deeper, I would have been interested to see where Bo Naylor, Tristan McKenzie & a few other Tribe prospects appeared..
 
Despite no minor league season in 2020, there are some still updating prospect listings.

Here is one of them: Prospect 365
https://prospects365.com/2020/08/01/ray-butlers-2020-midseason-top-200-prospects/


Indians Prospective has already gone thru the update & noted the Tribe players on the list..

#Indians making the list:
49) Nolan Jones114) Tyler Freeman138) Ethan Hankins160) Daniel Johnson
74) George Valera121) Aaron Bracho149) Gabriel Rodriguez173) Alexfri Planez
92) Brayan Rocchio137) Daniel Espino159) Tanner Burns177) Angel Martinez

If the list went deeper, I would have been interested to see where Bo Naylor, Tristan McKenzie & a few other Tribe prospects appeared..
So Nolan Jones dropped 17 slots without having played a game in 2020.
 
Tanner Roark, Mike Leake, Anibal Sanchez, Julio Teheran, Mike Fiers, and Kyle Hendricks are a few. Not all are diminutive in stature, but I don't think that really matters. 90 mph is 90 mph regardless of if it's coming from 6'5 or 5'6.

All of them sit around 90 and are extreme flyball pitchers.

I don't think anybody is saying Eli Morgan is a sure thing to even have a career in the majors, let alone a good one. However, his results have been promising, and he's yet to give any real reason to be down on him.
I'm not sure I follow you. Tanner Roark is listed at 6'2", 238 pounds. According to Fangraphs his career average fastball velocity is 92.5. His career fly ball percentage is 34.1%; ground ball is 41.7%. He's not under 6', he doesn't throw 90, and he's not an extreme fly ball pitcher.

Leake is a better comparison; he admits he's 5'10", 175 and his average fastball is 90.0. However, his career fly ball percentage is 28.5% and ground ball percentage is 50.4%. He seems to make his living keeping it on the ground.

Sanchez's career ground ball/fly ball percentages are 43 and 37. Not an extreme fly ball pitcher.

Julio Teheran is 6'2", 205, but he's a fly ball pitcher (40.8% to 38.0% ground balls) with an average fastball (91.8) so he's a decent comp. He's bigger than Morgan and throws harder, but not a bad comp. In nine years with the Braves he's 77-73 with a 3.67 ERA. But he was 22 years old his first full season when he started 30 games. Eli is already 24 and still hasn't made it to the AAA level.

Fiers is also 4" taller than Morgan (which allows him to throw at more of a downward angle than say, a guy 5'10"), but he's a 50-50 fly ball/ground ball guy who has averaged 90 mph. He's 69-59, 4.03 for his career. He broke into the bigs at age 27. I can see the comp here. He was 15-4 with the A's last year so if Morgan turns into another Fiers he could have a solid career. But Morgan's career ground out to fly out ratio is 0.58 whereas Fiers is about 1.0.

Hendricks is 6'3" - way taller than Morgan, and he's an extreme ground ball pitcher. I don't see the comp on this guy.

Morgan is about a year younger than Bieber, Plesac and Civale but won't be pitching at the AAA level until next year. He didn't dominate at Akron last year (3.79 ERA, 1.30 WHIP). But give him three more years and maybe he'll break in at 27 like Fiers and have a decent, but rather short, career. I'm still not seeing a real solid comp, though, unless he starts putting more balls on the ground.
 
I'm not sure I follow you. Tanner Roark is listed at 6'2", 238 pounds. According to Fangraphs his career average fastball velocity is 92.5. His career fly ball percentage is 34.1%; ground ball is 41.7%. He's not under 6', he doesn't throw 90, and he's not an extreme fly ball pitcher.

Leake is a better comparison; he admits he's 5'10", 175 and his average fastball is 90.0. However, his career fly ball percentage is 28.5% and ground ball percentage is 50.4%. He seems to make his living keeping it on the ground.

Sanchez's career ground ball/fly ball percentages are 43 and 37. Not an extreme fly ball pitcher.

Julio Teheran is 6'2", 205, but he's a fly ball pitcher (40.8% to 38.0% ground balls) with an average fastball (91.8) so he's a decent comp. He's bigger than Morgan and throws harder, but not a bad comp. In nine years with the Braves he's 77-73 with a 3.67 ERA. But he was 22 years old his first full season when he started 30 games. Eli is already 24 and still hasn't made it to the AAA level.

Fiers is also 4" taller than Morgan (which allows him to throw at more of a downward angle than say, a guy 5'10"), but he's a 50-50 fly ball/ground ball guy who has averaged 90 mph. He's 69-59, 4.03 for his career. He broke into the bigs at age 27. I can see the comp here. He was 15-4 with the A's last year so if Morgan turns into another Fiers he could have a solid career. But Morgan's career ground out to fly out ratio is 0.58 whereas Fiers is about 1.0.

Hendricks is 6'3" - way taller than Morgan, and he's an extreme ground ball pitcher. I don't see the comp on this guy.

Morgan is about a year younger than Bieber, Plesac and Civale but won't be pitching at the AAA level until next year. He didn't dominate at Akron last year (3.79 ERA, 1.30 WHIP). But give him three more years and maybe he'll break in at 27 like Fiers and have a decent, but rather short, career. I'm still not seeing a real solid comp, though, unless he starts putting more balls on the ground.
Please read my entire post before responding to me again.

Also, Morgan finished last season in Columbus.
 
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Please read my entire post before responding to me again.

Also, Morgan finished last season in Columbus.
LOL. Morgan pitched 140 innings at Akron. He pitched 5 innings at Columbus. A one game cup of coffee.
 
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