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Minor League game thread 4/18 thru 4/23/23

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Is it common to have three guys with live arms the variety of Bibee, Williams, and Espino all coming up so tightly packed? What’s an example elsewhere in MLB of three true FOR types all coming up at the same time in the past 5-10 years?

I know Espino is behind the curve with the injury, but realistically, all three of them could be ready for MLB in ‘24(not saying they will all break camp)

And then in terms of potential top of rotation stuff, is there anyone coming behind them in the lower levels that has stuff potentially on par with those three?
 
MirORich said:
Is it common to have three guys with live arms the variety of Bibee, Williams, and Espino all coming up so tightly packed? What’s an example elsewhere in MLB of three true FOR types all coming up at the same time in the past 5-10 years?

I know Espino is behind the curve with the injury, but realistically, all three of them could be ready for MLB in ‘24(not saying they will all break camp)

And then in terms of potential top of rotation stuff, is there anyone coming behind them in the lower levels that has stuff potentially on par with those three?
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I don't recall three coming up very often at the same time... Maybe Zito, Hudson and Mulder of the A's in 99/2000? It's not common though I can tell you that much... Tigers trio of Mize, Skubal and Manning was supposed to a set, but they have been a flop in that type of sense overall.

Allen is still ranked via some sites as a top 100, so he's kind of there (I think he gets his debut before the trio cause of AAA experience).

Behind them at the moment... Campbell, we haven't see yet, and Messick has been good but he doesn't have the ceiling upside. His floor is a lefty Eli Morgan so I see him making the bigs at least as a reliever. Cantillo, is like Morris, great stuff but has been injury prone. Burns is another in the mix, but sounds like more a reliever, swing man in the future if he doesn't get his health and velocity back 100%. Nikhazy is more secondary stuff than fastball so he's not the easiest to predict when it comes to the bigs. Hankins, we don't really know what he is yet. He's still got a great ceiling on paper, but we don't know who he is right now after Tommy John.

So on paper, Campbell may be the only one with enough possible upside/ceiling to get to that type of ranking.

@Tondo @Gson

How is the class looking overall with the college pitchers compared to the hitters right now? I feel like last season we couldn't skip on one of those hitters early...

Cleveland is going to try to find guys to add to Campbell and try and find the Bieber/Bibee in the draft. Draft though is BPA of the guys you feel like you can sign in a sense (though from what Bimbo hinted at, and I am reading the hint right, it sounded like, this class isn't as strong as last years).
 
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PGH really fucked some talent with elite pedigree when Tailon, Cole, Glasnow were coming up. They had a couple other pretty well regarded guys that never panned out as well around that era. Man that’s a really bad pitching development organization. I guess a tad unfair of me with Tailon’s cancer situation.

Who knows with our organization, Bibbee kinda came out of nowhere so maybe someone down below evolves the same way with velocity bumps but pedigree wise I say Hankins, Campbell, and Morris (really starting to think no way he’s a starter again at this point).

I really hope they just go ahead and pull the Allen or Bibbee trigger for the current open slot. Promote Williams, leave Gaddis in the rotation if they like at AAA but with the intention he’s bullpen/opener material moving forward in the bigs.
 
FFRva said:
PGH really fucked some talent with elite pedigree when Tailon, Cole, Glasnow were coming up. They had a couple other pretty well regarded guys that never panned out as well around that era. Man that’s a really bad pitching development organization. I guess a tad unfair of me with Tailon’s cancer situation.

Who knows with our organization, Bibbee kinda came out of nowhere so maybe someone down below evolves the same way with velocity bumps but pedigree wise I say Hankins, Campbell, and Morris (really starting to think no way he’s a starter again at this point).

I really hope they just go ahead and pull the Allen or Bibbee trigger for the current open slot. Promote Williams, leave Gaddis in the rotation if they like at AAA but with the intention he’s bullpen/opener material moving forward in the bigs.
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We knew about Bibee, but the national media didnt...

We drafted a lot of bats early as well, so we didn't invest as much in the pitching in 22...

DeLucia and Peterson we haven't seen much of, they are the college pitchers... Zibin we spent a lot on in the 10th round, but we really won't know anything about him until probably 25... with a cameo in 24, but really ramping up in 25...
 
FFRva said:
We’ve known about Bibbee once the velocity bump happened but you can’t say when he was drafted you knew about him being that type of echelon. If any of those lower guys jump 5 mph they’d could possibly be there. Don’t front
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We knew about him early, but that's cause we had Bimbo on our side...

Plus as soon as a guy with a floor of a 4th starter adds 5 mph on a fastball, you know they will jump ranks....

The 22 pitching group in general isn't as strong as the 21 crew. Plus we also invested the day two rounds in a sense, to mostly hitters while 21 was straight pitching pretty much. Campbell is hurt right now so he's probably going to focus on rehab and mechanical changes for the first half. Messick is pitching, but has a left handed profile similar to Morgan, so we gotta see how he does at AA and higher before I can say his ceiling. His floor is a reliever like Morgan, so I'd bet good money he makes it to the bigs if he stays healthy. We just won't know the 22 class anytime soon when it comes to pitching outside of Messick on paper...

Hitters though... I feel like Lampe may be the first big leaguer in the 22 crew unless we get a reliever out of nowhere... Lampe will finish the season at AA (at least in my mind) Plus Furman and Lipscomb will see high A (maybe even get their feet wet at AA).
 
MirORich said:
Is it common to have three guys with live arms the variety of Bibee, Williams, and Espino all coming up so tightly packed? What’s an example elsewhere in MLB of three true FOR types all coming up at the same time in the past 5-10 years?

I know Espino is behind the curve with the injury, but realistically, all three of them could be ready for MLB in ‘24(not saying they will all break camp)

And then in terms of potential top of rotation stuff, is there anyone coming behind them in the lower levels that has stuff potentially on par with those three?
Click to expand...
Go ahead and lump Hankins in with Williams, Bibee and Espino. All 4 have TOR talent and it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest to see Hankins surpass Espino as he is now fully recovered from TJS and reportedly up to 98 mph with his FB. We have Morris, Allen and Cantillo. Looks like Battenfield is a legitimate BOR option. McKenzie will be back at some point. Get ready for some serious turnover in the rotation because it's coming.

Anyway, Campbell is coming up behind these guys. He's a prototypical Cleveland draftee with good command and offspeed pitches. His FB was 92-94 when drafted, but expect a few MPH to be added to that as he progresses in this system. Look for his progression to be fast too. Much in the same manner as Bibee.
 
Will need to see a lot more from Hankins before lumping him in with the other 3, he has a lot to prove with command. Allen is clearly much ahead of him and I wouldn't worry much about putting some kind of "ceiling" on him either, Bieber is a FOR guy without much velo and Allen is a lefty. I think we have more of a big 4 with some other guys like Hankins who can work their way in there if they put aside red flag concerns. I'm even watching Allen's walk rate closely because he was supposed to be a command guy an he's walked about 4 per 9 in AAA.
 
petes999 said:
Just a 3-game sample but there is a small spark that can reignite his potential prospect status
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I am glad to see this... He was struggling in 22 after injuries and started off super cold this season... We need him to take a step forward since it would give us a Righty/lefty combo behind the plate... It's even possible both Naylor and Lavastida in due time could play multiple positions since Lavastida was converted to catcher and they are plus athletes for the position....
 
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