Some observations from this week's minors games:
Probably have to stop watching Low A games, lol. Most of it just loos bad, especially hitting and defense. It's probably better to just statline scout this level for now.
I will say this though: I like Tugboat Wilkinson better than Parker Messick, but they're similar, but Tugboat just has a knack for missing bats. FB is around 91. Dude can pitch.
My Guy, Lipscomb isn't even an everyday player in LC. Waste of talent only to get Boyd and Burgos ABs. Eventually talent will prevail, I hope.
Ingle, Kayfus and Lipscomb are the top prospects on this team.
I'm still high on Fox, but he's looked bad at the plate, notoriously slow starter. Needs to get it going and attack better pitches early, Kwany style. Also a lot of bad BIP luck, but for a guy repeating the level, he needs to do better.
On the pitching side, Austin Peterson, Trent Denholm and Zach Jacob's look like underrated, fringe prospect types with a chance to develop into BOR. Messick too, just don't think he's more than that. He's one I'd use as trade chip if he continues to perform. Stats look better than eye test
In Akron, as usual this time of year, pitching looks better than hitters.
DeLauter had some really bad ABs in Friday's game. It's good he struggles and needs to second guess his approach. The BB/K is still solid, so he knows how to grind out good ABs even when he's not at his best.
Like in LC, one of the best bats isn't even a regular. Cairo, by far, has been the best hitter so far this season. Yet, Milan Tolentino gets priority, although he's clearly over matched at the level. He's closing in on 200 PA at the level and his OPS is 507.
Lampe and Planez look terrible at the plate too. Automatic outs terrible.
Frias is getting himself out way too much. It's a shame he can't carry over his winter ball/national team success to the minors consistently. The talent is there.
I like how Huff and Bracho grind out at bats while also attacking pitches. Both hitters with holes in their swing, but they don't swing and miss much. They know who they are and try to maximize their ability. The kind of profiles I like and believe have a chance to translate up the ladder.
Pitching: Out of 493 arms in AA this season, Andrew Walters and Trey Benton are top 5 in SwStr%. Both are ready for AAA test.
Ryan Webb and Tommy Mace with a couple of nice starts to their season.
Webb has a strong mix of getting swing and miss and weak groundball contact. With Nikhazy injured, he should be the first one up to Columbus. Could be fast tracked to Cleveland.
Mace also gets a lot of weak contact but not much swing and miss. I believe his stuff would work better in relief. I see a mix of Gaddis and Clase in his profile, but that's probably a couple years down the road.
Ross Carver will pitch in MLB someday. Durable, rubber arm type. If he continues to limit walks/pitches, he'll get there quickly, because there's high demand for guys like him.
In Columbus, Nic Enright and Zak Kent are ready. They could be called up and I'd feel confident. Good depth to have. We will need it and have a coaching staff who's not afraid to move arms up and down to keep everyone fresh.
Aleman needs more seasoning, but he's MLB bound too. I also believe in Hunter Stanley as innings eater arm a la Kirk McCarty, Tanner Tully etc
Dion will pitch his way to the Majors too. He's struggled to adjust to the auto zone league and would actually perform better in MLB right now with faulty umps. He can pitch, just needs to learn his limits vs better hitters. That's what AAA is there for. Logan Allen went through the same his first time at that level. Fwiw, I see Dion closer to Allen than Eli Morgan, as in: better chance to be a MLB SP.
On offense, Manzardo looked really bad through Thursday, then had a good game yesterday. The general direction of his profile is a good one and looks promising, but the results haven't caught up to it yet and the eye test gives me pause if he's able to close that gap or if that gap will remain an issue.
J. Rodriguez is odd. Hits a lot of low tracers, swings and misses a lot, but is chasing less and less. As it is, it's a mix of Arias and Florial, with both good and bad. I guess he needs to be given a chance at some point, but I wouldn't change anything on the position player side of things in Cleveland (yet).
Brito uncharacteristically has struggled to put up consistent ABs, which has always been his strength. Maybe he's pressing results to get to Cleveland, but he's not helping himself right now with way too much weak contact. The overall batted ball profile points at the right direction, but he needs to square up pitches more often for impact.
Schneemann is just a nice Swiss army knife Util to have in AAA. Good injury replacement. Good story and will absolutely make it to MLB at some point, somewhere. Strongly believe Vogt likes him enough to make him debut under him as soon as someone hits the IL.