Quote from Randy Manese on April 25, 2022, 11:32 am

Actually, having 3 top OF prospects of this quality is somewhat rare in an organization and, if Abrams switches to the OF, you have 4.  We did have a couple of other good prospects, Caissie and Mena, but they were traded for Darvish.  We still have some younger guys in San Antonio who are trying to regain prospect status in Esteury Ruiz, Tirso Ornelas, Agustin Ruiz and Jorge Ona - this truly is a make or break season for all those guys.  Finally, we have Zavala, who probably will be in the Arizona Complex league (ACL) and may be better than all those currently in San Antonio.

As for strikeout rates, Hassell is not in the same category as Wood or Mears.  Hassell debuted in Lake Elsinore with a 17.2% K rate but that increased at Ft. Wayne to 28.7% in a late season promotion.  Back at Ft. Wayne this year, he is down to 13.6% and looking very very good.  Wood had some injuries at the ACL last season and K'd at a rate of 31.9%.  This year he's down to 14.3% at Lake Elsinore but it is a very small sample size since he's only played in 6 games; over the course of the season, he'll probably get to 20-25% but that is acceptable for the kind of hitter that he is.  Mears, on the other hand, is a RH Gallo BUT is getting better!  He was at 30.3 in 2019, jumped to 39.2 in 2021 in an injury filled shortened season and now sits at 36.7%.  However, he is hitting .275 with an OBP of .383 and a slugging percentage of .784, numbers you could live with if he continues that trend.  He absolutely has massive power and I make it a point to try to catch all his AB's, because the power in that swing is very special.  By the way, the walk rate for all these guys is over 10%.

Again, these are all small sample sizes since the minor league season is not even 20 games on.  We'll see how this plays out but these 3 plus Zavala and maybe a resurgence by Esteury Ruiz make our OF situation much better than it has been for quite a while.  Preller usually drafts or signs international middle infielders or pitchers, so this trend is new but exciting.

Quote from WindsorUK on April 25, 2022, 1:18 pm

Be great to be able to root for home grown talent in the OF.

I imagine one of these guys( maybe Ona, Wood, or Mears) could maybe transition to 1B in a pinch, as we have ZERO depth there?

Thanks for the breakdown Randy.

Quote from Randy Manese on April 25, 2022, 5:10 pm

Alek Jacob is the second of the 2021 drafted college pitchers to reach AA.  We'll see if his spin and location hold up without top level velocity in San Antonio.  Kopps was there to start the season and has only 1 bad outing thus far.

The numbers are:  17 G, 5 W, zero losses, 2 saves, 28.2 IP, 18 H, 1 R, zero ER, 2 BB, and 45 K's over games in the Arizona Complex League, Lake Elsinore and Ft. Wayne.  Overall WHIP of 0.70 and BA against of .180.  His 1.47 GP/AO numbers means he's more of a ground ball pitcher than fly ball pitcher.  More than ready to be promoted.

 

Quote from LynchMob on April 26, 2022, 12:34 pm

Quote from LynchMob on April 17, 2022, 8:02 pm

Quote from MrPadre19 on April 17, 2022, 3:52 pm

Randy anything on Alek Jacob?

I thought I had asked before but can’t find it….

Still hasn’t allowed a run in his minor league career(albeit short).

26 IP no earned runs and 42K’s with only 2 BB’s.

Besides an amazing start to his career for a 16th rounder…what’s this kid got?

 

Holy Cow!

I found this in the Week in Review post ...

The bullpen fared much better and Fort Wayne saw excellent work from RHP Alek Jacob. The 23-year-old fired three shutout innings Friday, allowing just one hit and striking out five. The former Gonzaga Bulldog uses a three-quarter delivery to keep hitters off-balance. He worked as a starter in college but he has been outstanding as a reliever since turning pro. Jacob has begun his professional career without allowing a run in 22.2 innings, striking out 34 batters while walking just two.

And you can learn some facts on his B-R.com page ... https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=jacob-001ale&utm_campaign=Linker&utm_source=&utm_medium=referral

4 years at Gonzaga ... so he's older than average player at Ft Wayne ... but that was an AWESOME Senior season after what looks like an injured Junior season (only 4 starts, 21 IP) ...

Very much worth keeping an eye on!

MadFriars@madfriars

Alek Jacob will probably give up an earned run at some point in his professional career. But he's now 28.2 innings in, has pitched at three levels, and it hasn't happened yet.
The RHRP with the funky delivery has been promoted to Double-A.

Quote from Randy Manese on April 26, 2022, 9:34 pm

Jose Castillo looking very good at Lake Elsinore in terms of his stuff and command.  Only question left seems to be how often will he be able to go on the mound.  Will probably try him in every other day situations next to see how his body holds up and whether he loses anything in that kind of usage.  Fine line between bringing him back too soon and seeing how quickly he can contribute.  Since he's not on the 40 man, no rush to get him to San Diego but might go back to El Paso to finish out his rehab.

Scholtens is giving us another good option behind Knehr and Weathers in the rotation should injuries hit.  Lawson did not look good at San Antonio and has a very long way to go.  San Antonio pitching, except for a couple of RP's, not very good.

Wood stole home today - could you image that 6:07 guy barreling into you if you were the catcher!  Merrill got his first rest of the season while Ft. Wayne faced some really good pitching - only Hassell looked comfortable at the plate.

Quote from Jeremy Hill on April 27, 2022, 1:54 pm

An interesting tidbit from Dennis Lin's chat on The Athletic today. He said the team is still open to dealing Hassell and that there's a split in the organization over what his ceiling is.

Quote from sportwarrior on April 27, 2022, 2:03 pm

Quote from Jeremy Hill on April 27, 2022, 1:54 pm

An interesting tidbit from Dennis Lin's chat on The Athletic today. He said the team is still open to dealing Hassell and that there's a split in the organization over what his ceiling is.

Definitely an interesting comment in light of what many scouts already think/have thought of Grisham (which Lin also commented on). Hassell's hit tool definitely feels like it's plus, but everything else feels very Grisham-esque. Decent speed, solid glove, some power, decent arm, but overall nothing aside from his hit tool stands out.

Quote from LynchMob on April 27, 2022, 3:30 pm

Quote from Jeremy Hill on April 27, 2022, 1:54 pm

An interesting tidbit from Dennis Lin's chat on The Athletic today. He said the team is still open to dealing Hassell and that there's a split in the organization over what his ceiling is.

This gets a "BIG BOO!" from me ... I hope this is not true ...

Quote from MrPadre19 on April 27, 2022, 5:22 pm

I don’t want to trade Hassell either….but if it got us 3 1/2 years of Reynolds without having to give up too much more I may be able to be talked into it.