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2021 Minor League Thread

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Reyes and Bradley hitting bombs back to back in the lineup would be pretty dang awesome.
Yes it would, and while I'm impressed with his hard work, what has he done to reduce his strikeouts and make more contact? I'm hopeful, but my expectations are tempered. Regardless, I love hard work and commitment.
 
yep.. bradley will be in the best shape of his life.. maybe that will matter...
 

Freeman looks like he’s starting to fill out. Heard he showed more power at the alt site last summer.

Cant wait to see how Akron performs.




Man, that swing looks awfully long. I'm sure the hitting coaches and coordinators will be working with him to speed up his bat, although he does seem to drive it with authority from the pull side.

Update:
 
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With International Signing day coming Friday, where are all the guys who posted these updates?

It will be an interesting this year to see the additional talent coming into the DSL/Arz ....

We heared about 2018 class with Gabriel Rodriquez now 11th rates prospect for Indians (#9 international prospect). Yet, we don't hear much of Sanquintin who was the #16 international prospect. Both kind of struggled in DSL but Rodriquez was brought state side and Sanquintin moved from Co-op DSL to Indians DSL and improved his avg to .300+ post-all star. You also had A. Martinez (#39 int prospect -- our #22 our prospect now - hit .300), Romero, Lara and Frias as the mid-level signees.

Unfortunately in 2019, the Indians seemed to back off the spending at least on top end and just signed Pastrano to a million+ contract and Durango got $650,000. Haven't heard much on this group due to COVID.

This year's group has 2 top 25 prospects in Genao and Alduey with Lopez close behind. Genao and Alduey have 3 - 55 grades and 2 - 50 grades (in MLB pipeline - no overall grade yet) so this seems to be a deep top group as that was equivalent to Gabriel + range.

Will be interesting who in these groups breaks out this year and rise up our prospect boards. Its also the 2018/19 group that will hit Rule 5 early without much actual developmental training state side as they lost a year. I assume this Jan 21 and Jan 22 group will be okay as they will start playing in July anyways.
 
CBS sports fantasy rankings ... surprised no Freeman.

35. Triston McKenzie, SP, Indians​

Age (on opening day): 23
Where he played in 2019: did not play — injured
2018 minors: 7-4, 2.68 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, 90 2/3 IP, 28 BB, 87 K
2020 majors: 2-1, 3.24 ERA, 0.90 WHIP, 33 1/3 IP, 9 BB, 42 K
McKenzie's low point as a prospect came when he missed all of 2019 with a back injury, seemingly validating the durability concerns that centered on his wiry 6-foot-5 frame. So he kind of blindsided people by so thoroughly dominating after hiding away at the alternate training site. It doesn't mean the durability issues are solved -- small sample and all -- but the skills are conclusively there.
Scott's 2021 Fantasy impact: pencil him in

36. Nolan Jones, 3B, Indians​

Age (on opening day): 22
Where he played in 2019: high Class A, Double-A
2019 minors: .272 BA (430 AB), 15 HR, 22 2B, .851 OPS, 96 BB, 148 K
Cleveland is going to need offense however it can get it in 2020, which would suggest Jones is on the verge of a promotion. His 96 walks in 2019 were enough to lead the minors and are part of what makes him good, but an overly patient approach might keep him from maximizing his hit tool and artificially suppress his batting average.
Scott's 2021 Fantasy impact: midseason hopeful
 
@petes999
Its not surprising if the idea is fantasy focus of 2021... Its a longshot (read unlikely not impossible) for Tyler Freeman to make his mlb debut in 2021 even if he opens the season in Akron (which I think is the most likely case)..
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Just as an FYI to the rest, the Fan based community voting for Tribe prospects has started over at Lets Go Tribe.
So far the voting has:
1) Nolan Jones
2) Tristen McKenzie
3) Tyler Freeman
4) George Valera

The Friday vote (1/15/21) is for the #5 prospect. Voting options are (alpha by last name): Gabriel Aries, Aaron Bracho, Daniel Espino, Bo Naylor, Brayan Rocchio.
---------------------------------------------
Edit 1/16/21: It appears the voting is continuing into Saturdays.
5) Bo Naylor

Options for #6 are: Gabriel Aries, Aaron Bracho, Daniel Espino, Ethan Hankins, Brayan Rocchio.
 
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Triston McKenzie ranked #26 overall in Baseball America's Top 100 Prospects list released today. Nolan Jones came in at #45. while Gimenez is ranked #65 and Tyler Freeman #82.
 
Triston McKenzie ranked #26 overall in Baseball America's Top 100 Prospects list released today. Nolan Jones came in at #45. while Gimenez is ranked #65 and Tyler Freeman #82.

Likely to see a graduate or 2 this year.. Hopefully big years from Valera, Espino, Naylor etc. occur as they will likely be in the top 100 for 2022 with strong seasons.
 
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Courtesy of Justin Lada on twitter this morning (1/21/21)

Baseball Prospectus' Top 101 prospects - Cleveland prospects on the list:
OF George Valera
3B Nolan Jones
RHP Triston McKenzie
SS Gabriel Arias
RHP Daniel Espino
 
Courtesy of Justin Lada on twitter this morning (1/21/21)

Baseball Prospectus' Top 101 prospects - Cleveland prospects on the list:
OF George Valera
3B Nolan Jones
RHP Triston McKenzie
SS Gabriel Arias
RHP Daniel Espino

Overall rankings for each prospect:

48. Valera
52. Jones
73. McKenzie
87. Arias
100. Espino
 
Triston McKenzie ranked #26 overall in Baseball America's Top 100 Prospects list released today. Nolan Jones came in at #45. while Gimenez is ranked #65 and Tyler Freeman #82.
A few more details from Indians Prospetive twitter regarding Baseball America's Top 100...

Indians Prospective
@indiansPro

Jan 19

Per Baseball America a total of 5 other #Indians prospects were considered for the top 100 to start the year.
SS Gabriel Arias
2B Aaron Bracho
C Bo Naylor
SS Brayan Rocchio
OF George Valera
 
Posted: 12-19-20 & updated in January 2021 to reflect additions from Lindor/ Carrasco trade
Source: Prospect Lovers (Free/ open source)
Top 20 24 listed out with writeups.

Note: This blogger has been posting about every MLB club for a few years now. I guess he is located in Japan as the page 1st loads in Japanese. Make sure your Google translate is enabled & the page quickly converts over

 
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I guess I missed it but I see Will Benson played 24 games last year in the independent Constellation Energy league. Not a good result, out of 48 total batters he is in the lower half.

 
I guess I missed it but I see Will Benson played 24 games last year in the independent Constellation Energy league. Not a good result, out of 48 total batters he is in the lower half.

I see that Connor Capel hit better than he did. With all our issues with outfield, it would have been nice to hit on a 1st round pick. Kind of shows you that the hit tool is sometimes more important than the fielding tool (even though he is an outfielder). You can build someone's athleticism (to a point) but if he can't pick up a curveball out of a pitcher's hand, forget about it.
 

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