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2021 Minor League Thread

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Current top 3 prospects for me

1. Espino
2. Freeman. However, I was expecting a bit more power/homers and SBs.
3. Rocchio - biggest positive mover in the top 10. K's are still a bit of concern, but he is still young and if reigns that in.. look out.

Steven Kwan is the biggest overall mover. He sniffed the top 25 and is now a top 15 type or more. His power output is suspect/flash in the pan but his hit and contact coupled with plus plate discipline (more walks than Ks) is not.
 
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If we can fit him in the 40, it's going to be hard to say no to keeping him in a lot of ways... Now often times AAA numbers can be inflated, but honestly the only difference I am seeing in his numbers is his power increase, and taking a few more walks while batting avg, SOs, BABIP are all within a close margin of the norms for him...

He's one of those, he has big holes, but he has always proven those are irrelevant and produced above what everyone projected. He is a gamble to keep, but I think a bigger gamble to let go...
 
Placing this here for further debate/ discussion..

#Indians come in with 5 top 100 prospects in @BaseballAmerica latest mid-season update today (9/13/21)..
42) INF Tyler Freeman
53) INF Brayan Rocchio
75) 3B/OF Nolan Jones
79) OF George Valera
90) RHP Daniel Espino
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MT88 comments:
Still surprised by no listing for Gabriel Arias, but the inclusion/ increased ranking for Rocchio needs to be noted.
 
Supposedly this guy can't hit breaking balls but I counted 6 of those 14 HR's off breaking balls, and possibly one more.

Most hitters will hit a hanging breaking ball even if they aren't good at hitting them. That being stated, some of those HRs looked like pitches not in the zone honestly, so that's a good sign he has been adjusting, just like his increase in walks and pitches per at bat...
 
Maybe minor league pitchers cant find holes in a swing, but MLB pitchers are another story.

Which is why big swinging MiLB batters almost always see their K rates soar when the hit the big time.

We have seen this with Franmil, Bradley, and Zimmer.

Why do we consistently expect our power hitting prospects to suddenly improve once they face MLB pitching?

Gonzalez is tantalizing, but if we protect him...or Kwan for that matter...it means we leave a real prospect unprotected....like Tena, Noel, or Planez...or Palacios.

Of course the first three are young and in A or A+ ball, so nobody will pick them. But that's what we thought about Santander and Oviedo.

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I'm not surprised that Arias isn't getting as much love from ranking systems as some of the others. No matter what observers might say, actions speak louder than words.

We have five MLB ready or close to it players who could conceivably be a middle inf for the 2022 Guardians. The one who the org is not looking at is Arias, who has spent the entire season in AAA.

And right behind him are the two highest ranked MIF prospects in the org, both of whom will move to AAA next year at some point. Freeman should start the year there.

Given the struggles that every one of our prospects had when they made the jump to MLB, you would think that if Arias is really being considered for a starting position in Cleveland next year, the org would want him to get that first struggling part out of the way before opening day.
 
I'm not surprised that Arias isn't getting as much love from ranking systems as some of the others. No matter what observers might say, actions speak louder than words.
Frankly... I shocked he's not getting more love.. He was elevated from A+ ball in 2019..missed all of 2020 for the pandemic and was promoted all the way up to AAA.. where his BA has dropped by 10 % (300 to 270) & his OBP has remained about the same.. This from a 21 year old (and won't turn 22 until spring training 2022) at the AAA level !! His defense has been everything you'd want from a defense first prospect, even though he's not... He is more than deserving of love...

His actions, imho, are SCREAMING!..
 
Arias has been a slightly above average hitter this year (105 wRC+) which pretty much is what he has been throughout his career. 91-120 wRC+.

The kids who are/were screaming were Miller (121-135 wRC+)....Rocchio (107-140 wRC+)....Freeman (116-168 wRC+)

And one more....Gimenez was much better in Columbus this year than Arias. (122 wRC+)

Defensively, both Gimenez and Rocchio can pick it as well as Arias.
 
Arias has been a slightly above average hitter this year (105 wRC+) which pretty much is what he has been throughout his career. 91-120 wRC+.

The kids who are/were screaming were Miller (121-135 wRC+)....Rocchio (107-140 wRC+)....Freeman (116-168 wRC+)

And one more....Gimenez was much better in Columbus this year than Arias. (122 wRC+)

Defensively, both Gimenez and Rocchio can pick it as well as Arias.
best arm of the group = Arias.. and he's just 21 years old in AAA
 
best arm of the group = Arias.. and he's just 21 years old in AAA

Arias could end up off of SS, in the RF/LF conversation if JRam gets extended because of all the competition in the INF... we don't know yet, but with Freeman, Miller, Gimenez, Rocchio, Arias plus JRam at 3B, not everyone can be kept on the roster as an INF... Miller is supposed to be an utility guy, so that still leaves 4 for two spots...
 
I mentioned it somewhere else but whatever plate discipline Arias may have gained seems to have eroded over the course of the year. Without that, he will have a hard time at the MLB level.
 
Worth mentioning that Arias entered this season as the third youngest player in AAA behind Luis Garcia and Wander Franco.

Guys his age aren’t supposed to be in AAA, and he was solidly above average this season.
 

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