Rundown on Top Prospects

by mrsoprano on May 19, 2009 10:39 PM EDT Comment 32 comments

Is there a way we could get someone with the time to do a rundown of our top 15-30 prospects and how they are faring in the minors so far?

I think it could be an awesome recurring post at various times in the season. (maybe monthly?)

I see the daily updates, but im curious to see how they are stacking up, but at BA im reading great things about Spruill and Locke.

Anyone?

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U will never meet a bigger sopranos fan than me. I have seen every episode over 10 times.

I’m assuming that ur a fan too?

SubParr

by nick9314 on May 19, 2009 10:51 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

i love the show because im italian and paulie walnuts reminds me of an uncle i have.

I just love paulie

by mrsoprano on May 19, 2009 11:47 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Am I missing something?……..What do the Sopranos have to do with baseball? Please explain….

"Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle."

by HEYJUDE on May 20, 2009 12:02 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

We can go off subject a tad…

Guy #1: Damn, these oysters are going to make us horny as hell...
Girl #2: Oh yeah, I forgot oysters are hermaphrodites.

by bwellnjonesco on May 20, 2009 12:22 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

see poster’s user name

yeah the other 96 is that I am too good for everyone else.

by Lizziebeth on May 20, 2009 11:12 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

minor league cow

i hear the cow in AAA Gwinnett is having an excellent year. as we all know, the tomahawk chopping cow at the ted is having a bad year. he can’t seem to get the bats going during a rally or draw a decent crowd at the stadium. i don’t think it’ll be too long before the AAA cow gets the call up to the show

45 - 42

by duckylummox on May 19, 2009 11:06 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

lol

by angrysmurf on May 21, 2009 7:09 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Just call Haithcock.

Oh, Bobby.

by sdp on May 19, 2009 11:08 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Jason Heyward – High A (129); 261/357/514; 20/15 K/BB; 3/0 SB/CS; 252 ISO; 11.4 BB%, 18.0 K%; 262 BABIP

Jordan Schafer – MLB (146); 215/349/322; 45/25 K/BB; 1/1 SB/CS; 107 ISO; 17.1 BB%, 24.0 K%; 324 BABIP

Freddie Freeman – High A (139); 273/360/430; 19/9 K/BB; 0/2 SB/CS; 157 ISO; 6.9 BB%, 15.7 K%; 296 BABIP

Gorkys Hernandez – Double A (162); 340/398/429; 35/14 K/BB; 8/5 SB/CS; 089 ISO; 8.7 BB%, 23.8 K%; 446 BABIP

Brandon Hicks – Double A (135); 222/308/325; 39/13 K/BB; 6/0 SB/CS; 103 ISO; 10.0 BB%, 33.3 K%; 316 BABIP

Cody Johnson – High A (145); 254/331/600; 53/15 K/BB; 3/1 SB/CS; 346 ISO; 10.3 BB%, 40.0 K%; 323 BABIP

Eric Campbell – Double A (116); 225/293/284; 22/9 K/BB; 0/1 SB/CS; 059 ISO; 8.1 BB%, 21.6 K%; 288 BABIP

Kala Ka’aihue – Double A (114); 181/325/362; 26/19 K/BB; 0/1 SB/CS; 181 ISO; 16.8 BB%, 27.7 K%; 203 BABIP

Travis Jones – Double A (107); 315/390/427; 22/10 K/BB; 7/4 SB/CS; 112 ISO; 10.1 BB%, 24.7 K%; 409 BABIP

So, for a narrative, Heyward is doing exactly what is expected, drawing walks, hitting for power, even stealing a few bases. He’s been unlucky with his batting average, so that’s nothing to worry about.

Schafer is having major strike out issues and that’s bringing down his contact driven stats.

Freeman is probably hitting for less power than expected, and hitting for more of it at home BTW, but everything else is pretty decent.

Gorkys is experiencing a nice dose of BABIP aided performance which is making his line look nicer than it should. Decent patience, lots of K’s, not much power, and poor success in steals. I’d be down for a sell high if this ends up being his final line.

Hicks is striking out so much that it’s killing his average. Nice patience, but the power isn’t there as expected.

Johnson is showing the massive power that is his calling card, but also showing some luck on balls in play. Good walk rate.

Campbell is playing himself out of organized baseball. No bat, no glove, and he’s not been unlucky.

Ka’aihue is showing secondary skills, while striking out a lot. BABIP is down enough that it’s dragging everything else down. He’s having a decent season though.

Jones is having another really good BABIP aided start, but walking at a good rate. Strike outs will start to show on his average once he regresses.

This list BTW is why I’ve been advocating drafting a guy like Grant Green #7. We have some elite outfielders obviously and Freeman is solid, but our infield prospects have limited ceilings (Jones and Ka’aihue aren’t really full-time players), Campbell is nothing, and Hicks might be a starting shortstop. There’s no depth.

by 17843 on May 20, 2009 12:23 AM EDT reply actions 1 recs

Pitchers tomorrow probably. Suffice to say that list will be longer and better looking.

by 17843 on May 20, 2009 12:24 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

This Heyward kid might just make it to the big leagues.

Couple of things.

1) Are those K% and BB% what we should expect out of Freeman? I’d like to think he could narrow that K/BB walk a bit. If so, he’ll really be the best hitting firstbaseman we’ve had since the Big Cat.

2) How much does Gorkys’ speed play into that insane BABIP? Faster guys usually have higher BABIP’s, even though .446 is quite the outlier. But the lack of power makes me wonder if he’s been legging out a ton of infield hits, maybe mixing in some bunt singles as well.

by Bronn on May 20, 2009 1:08 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I can’t find splits like that, but suffice to say .446 is pretty ridiculous. Even regressing that to Ichiro levels (~.350s) would put a pretty nice dent in his average.

Freeman is walking a bit less than last season and striking out about the same amount less. Pretty decent numbers for a 19 year old at High-A ball.

by 17843 on May 20, 2009 1:21 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

is it me or are we starving for infield depth?

we need to get some 2b/ss/3b prospects in the near future.

by mrsoprano on May 20, 2009 12:36 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Braves have been looking for the next 3B prospect for 5 years. Andy Marte, Wilson Betemit, Van Pope, Eric Campbell-we had such high hopes for all of those guys. Okay, maybe notsomuch Van Pope.

Makes me nostalgic for the time when Chipper Jones AND Vinny Castilla were both in our farm system. As it stands, there’s no remotely suitable in-house replacement for Chipper to be found.

by Bronn on May 20, 2009 1:16 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Of course, neither Chipper or Vinny Castilla were 3B prospects…

"At least he didn’t nail the bitchy fat girl from Hell's Kitchen."
www.dropoutproductions.com

by cbwilk on May 20, 2009 1:55 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

You want a 3B prospect?

Lets get on a plane, fly down to Cuba and offer to return Yunel PLUS the rotting carcass of a former baseball player that is FYF for Yulieski Gourriel. Does anyone have the necessary supplies to make that dream a reality?

I realize Gourriel is unlikely to defect to the family ties but hell its worth a shot. We can cede Miami to them if their willing to send Chapman and his high 90’s lefthanded gas this way

"for my little nephew: in my second drawer where i keep my weed, under the handgun is a stack of pornos that will put callouses on your hands"

"Fundamentals are a crutch for the talentless"

"You wanna know about relationships, I know all there is to know – just ask my second wife Tina – yea she was a stripper and if Montel Williams wants to talk some shit some more then he can go f**k himself cause those charges were dropped."

-Kenny Powers

by jeg on May 20, 2009 3:26 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Good point...

Guy #1: Damn, these oysters are going to make us horny as hell...
Girl #2: Oh yeah, I forgot oysters are hermaphrodites.

by bwellnjonesco on May 20, 2009 8:04 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Lol, that’s true. Sometimes you forget that guys didn’t always play the position where they ended up.

In Chipper’s case, at least, there was a strong feeling that he wouldn’t be a SS at the major league level. He didn’t have quite the range to play the position, but everyone knew he would hit well enough to play a corner infield spot, and since TP was aging, it wasn’t a big surprise for him to shift over. They preferred using him there than in one of the corner OF spots.

by Bronn on May 20, 2009 10:43 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I mean, that’s not quite true. They were more than ready to use him in left field, but he blew out his knee. Really, I think they would have been very happy to hand over SS to him, but they were saddled with Jeff Blauser’s terrible contract. Klesko and Mike Kelly were showing some promise as a young LF combo, David Justice was still fairly young and incredibly productive, TP was just the logical guy to move. I really don’t think the Braves had any problem with Chipper playing SS for them, they just couldn’t make it work.

"At least he didn’t nail the bitchy fat girl from Hell's Kitchen."
www.dropoutproductions.com

by cbwilk on May 20, 2009 11:04 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Now that we’re on this subject, doesn’t this season kind of feel like 1991? Not exactly the same because we don’t have the equivalent of Glavine, Smoltz, and Avery in the rotation. But the way the Braves added very solid veterans (TP, Nixon, Bream, Liebrandt(sp?), Belliard) to a core of young talent (Gant, Justice, Lemke, Blauser) just feels the same. And then the really good prospects came up a few years later (Chipper, Klesko, Javy), just like now. Kind of exciting for us old-ish guys who remember that far back.

"…aren’t worthy enough to hold his (Pujols) ass cheeks apart while Playboy models wipe him with thousand dollar bills after he craps out the cure to whatever previously-incurable disease." by royhobbs 1/7/09

by buzzdeadwax on May 20, 2009 11:44 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I remember 91 pretty well, but maybe not well enough, weren’t we winning more?

"At least he didn’t nail the bitchy fat girl from Hell's Kitchen."
www.dropoutproductions.com

by cbwilk on May 20, 2009 12:09 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

facepalm

by mrsoprano on May 20, 2009 12:50 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Were you such a smart ass in 91?

Guy #1: Damn, these oysters are going to make us horny as hell...
Girl #2: Oh yeah, I forgot oysters are hermaphrodites.

by bwellnjonesco on May 20, 2009 1:49 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Well, I was 9, so yeah.

"At least he didn’t nail the bitchy fat girl from Hell's Kitchen."
www.dropoutproductions.com

by cbwilk on May 20, 2009 2:28 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

good answer

Guy #1: Damn, these oysters are going to make us horny as hell...
Girl #2: Oh yeah, I forgot oysters are hermaphrodites.

by bwellnjonesco on May 20, 2009 3:01 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I think just under .500 at the AS break

Which was shocking to me, because I had been watching since 1986, and they had always been terrible. I kept waiting for them to rip off a long losing streak, but it never happened, which was awesome.

by buzzdeadwax on May 20, 2009 3:22 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Ok, cool. I really didn’t know. I knew we didn’t run away with it, but I’d figure we had to be good, since there were only 2 divisions.

"At least he didn’t nail the bitchy fat girl from Hell's Kitchen."
www.dropoutproductions.com

by cbwilk on May 20, 2009 4:13 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Eh, not quite

Kris Medlen and Tommy Hanson might be the next Glavine and Smoltz (from an organizational standpoint; ignore that Medlen isn’t a lefty), but in 1991 those guys were in their 3rd and 4th season, respectively. You can throw Morton in as a possible building block for the rotation, but aside from JJ, our young pitching isn’t involved with the big league team yet.

Give it one more year and perhaps you can make that comparison, especially if Gorkys is with the team next year. Between him and Schafer, we might have a few guys comparable to the speed that the team in 1991 had.

by Bronn on May 20, 2009 1:46 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

You're kind of missing my overall point

I’m not trying to say that each 2009 player has an exact match to the 1991 team, only that it reminds me of 1991. Re-read my post and stop picking nits ;-).

by buzzdeadwax on May 20, 2009 3:25 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs