2023 Minor League Thread

[Tondo]

Hey Tondo, please share your opinion on some of these guys in Lynchburg…

Furman is as advertised. High OBP, elite contact and speed. Had a strong track record of high OBP in college and summer league's and keeps doing it.
FanGraphs gave him 70 hit and speed Tool grades. If he gets there, he's basically Kwan 2.0
Leads all of MiLB in SwStr%, BB/K ratio and 2nd in OBP. (514!!) ...that's out of 1000+ players with 80+ PA, that's insane. And while his BABIP is high, it's still below 400. All others close to his numbers have much higher BABIPs, so he's the "realest" at the top of the Leaderboard.

Furman needs to be in A+, he's probably better than Lampe.

Lipscomb is also good, though not as crazy good. More raw, Ks more, but also hits a lot of linedrives.

This team overall is a slap hitting bunch, lots of groundballs and run. Lead MiLB in SB by a mile, so what they don't have in power they make up with speed and more speed.

Collado is currently the 2nd best hitter on the squad, 20yo 1B/3B, switch hitting contact maven.

And then there's still Wuilfredo Antunez, who's currently ranked highest by most scouts. He's got more pop. Most balanced toolset of them all. Chance at 50 or better everywhere, has top 20 upside.

Really like Benjamin too, but he's struggling a bit, though still doing ok.

C Mejias gets a pass for now. He's the youngest of a young bunch and is the main catcher. Got injured (or played through one) and got unlucky with BABIP. Just looking for gradual improvement.

High profile IFA signing C Robert Lopez has recently been added to the roster. Jose Pastrano is there too with good underlying stats that suggest he should be way better.

It's an extreme roster, but very into follow

 

[MadThinker88]

Some bummer news that needs to be shared...

 

[Criznit]

Some bummer news that needs to be shared...

Ouch. Hopefully Campbell is able to pitch some this year, otherwise a pretty bum year for the high profile pitchers drafted last year.

 

[sportscoach]

Some bummer news that needs to be shared...

In a way I'd rather have it now than later though. It's not good to hear, but I'd rather him go through it way younger, in the development stage than any other time period...

 

[DerekG123]

Is Aaron Bracho redeeming himself as a prospect?

 

[sportscoach]

Is Aaron Bracho redeeming himself as a prospect?

He's for sure trying too...

 

[Niklex316]

Hit his 7th HR tonight. Still batting around .220 or so.

 

[sportscoach]

Hit his 7th HR tonight. Still batting around .220 or so.

He's got a lot of competition though, but we do lack HR power, so maybe that will help him?

 

[Gson]

Is Aaron Bracho redeeming himself as a prospect?

no

 

[petes999]

Is Aaron Bracho redeeming himself as a prospect?

When he swings, it just seems like all or nothing. I saw it in twitter post of his years ago ... just want that HR swing, out of his shoes approach. With a 20-30%K rate, just doesn't scream MLB success with .221 BA. (16 Hits of which 3 are doubles and 7 HRS). Same as last year (50% of hits were doubles or HRs). That swing gets exposed the higher he goes up and the better pitchers are at spinning the ball and keeping even the best hitters off balance. But, then again, it was Oscar's approach before he started settling into wanting to hold back and hit offspeed.

 

[Niklex316]

Put it this way… Bracho needed to do SOMETHING this year or he would have faded into oblivion. This has given him something to go on. Especially considering how the team he’s playing on his hitting. Naranjo, Tena, Martinez, Lavastida and there’s more (just off top of my head) are all hitting sub .200 right now for the Rubber Ducks.

 

[sportscoach]

Put it this way… Bracho needed to do SOMETHING this year or he would have faded into oblivion. This has given him something to go on. Especially considering how the team he’s playing on his hitting. Naranjo, Tena, Martinez, Lavastida and there’s more (just off top of my head) are all hitting sub .200 right now for the Rubber Ducks.

Lavastida is above .200 he's been hitting better since his DFA time...

 

[Niklex316]

I meant to say Gabby Martinez but even he recently went above the .200 line as well.

Speaking of Bracho, after last night where he went 2-4 with a triple, run, and a walk, he’s up to .234 BA and .901 OPS with 7 HR.

 

[macbdog]

Hit his 7th HR tonight. Still batting around .220 or so.

I'm the new Deadball Era .220 with 20 HRs ain't cutting it.

 

[petes999]

I meant to say Gabby Martinez but even he recently went above the .200 line as well.

Speaking of Bracho, after last night where he went 2-4 with a triple, run, and a walk, he’s up to .234 BA and .901 OPS with 7 HR.

Like I said yesterday, Bracho to breakout needs to be more consistent and not try to overkill everything. The good news is that he is up to .290 this month and getting more playing time (11 games already vs 11 games all April). Only time with a decent BA was .373 in July 2019 when he was in Arizona. The next highest was a .258 last August. Thus, has he figured it out? Too early to tell really. Yet, he was considered an elite hitter when signed at 16. But, he is probably more like Benson (untapped potential with high k rate) than Oscar who started to make contact (over power) and let his natural power get him doubles.

Gabriel Rodriquez to me is still a fringe prospect who can climb back into the top 30. He has had many months of being 280-300+ hitter (3 of 5 months of .300 BA last year and 2 months of .273+ in 21) and is still young for his league (just 21 this year vs 22 for Bracho). Yet, neither of these guys are elite prospects who will save our pathetic offense even in a few years.