Quote from MrPadre19 on November 8, 2023, 12:24 pm

Just promise me Snelling/Mazur/Iriarte will never pitch in El Paso.

Even if you have to lie to me......

Quote from Randy Manese on November 9, 2023, 6:17 pm

With the AFL regular season wrapping up today, Jakob Marsee has really put on a show over the course of the season.  He finished 1st in the following categories:  Runs, Hits, Doubles, Slugging Average and OPS.  He finished second in Walks and On Base Percentage.  He finished 3rd in Batting Average, Stolen Bases and tied for third in RBI, HR and Caught Stealing (however, SB stolen base percentage was 84.2%).  He was consistently good, although I did see a couple times where he struck out in bunches, 3 in one game and 4 in another (he had 21 BB to 25Ks).  OF play was generally very solid, but I think the scouts are right about him not having as strong or as accurate an arm as some of the top OF prospects, nonetheless, it is at least major league average.  The biggest knock about his hitting was that he didn't have a high exit velocity (90th percentile), however, a number of commentators indicated that as the season wore on, Marsee was crushing the ball with his best velocity of the season, several times going over 105 mph.  He has a strong build, so there's a good chance that trend will continue.

Anyway, all of this has to be taken with a grain of salt because he was an advanced hitter coming out of Central Michigan and may have a little more experience than some of the pitchers he faced in the AFL.  Want to see what he does in spring training, but already he's a better prospect as a hitter than Grisham so it should be interesting what the Padres OF is going to look like in 2024 - one of the many intriguing stories yet to come.

Quote from fenn68 on November 12, 2023, 6:29 am

Marsee has been named AFL MVP … he was at (or near) the top in almost all the offensive categories. Most expected his OBP skills to carry  over and they did but he also excelled in SLG and his base stealing ability continued. 2023 was his first full professional season … and he has exceeded all expectations with his rapid rise through the system ad now the AFL success.

Need to temper the projection / timing of his ML future … AFL is not built on ML level players … but have to be encouraged that the Padres may actually have a prospect that will be of value in the ML (maybe even a solid starter) … 2025 (late 2024?).

At the end of 2023 season … had thought Pauley would be the guy first making a run at the roster … now maybe we see both challenging for 2025 roster spots. Marsee (OF/DH) and Pauley (LF/3B/2B/DH)  … both LHH … could have an effect on current FA signings (length of deal / priority of positions signed longer term).

Quote from Randy Manese on November 12, 2023, 8:31 am

For you old-timers, Marsee reminds me of John Kruk in both his build and approach at the plate.  Marsee is listed at 6:00, 180 which is close to what Pauley is listed at 6:01, 200, but Pauley seems to have more of a rangy build than Marsee.  Maybe Marsee is closer to 5:10 1/2 because he fills out that uniform more than Pauley. Kruk  is listed at 5:10, 170 in Baseball Reference but he probably was closer to 190 or more as he got older.

Anyway, Kruk had a very solid career and finished with a .300 career BA over 10 seasons (his best were in Philly - 3 All-star years) and an .842 OPS.  Marsee is a better defender than Krukker and at the same age has better speed on the bases so if we can get something close to Kruk on the offensive side out of Marsee, I'd be very happy!

Kruk didn't reach the majors until he was 25, so Marsee may be a little ahead of him in that regard - could be as early as mid-2024, depending upon what the Padres do in FA/trades that affect the OF.

Quote from fenn68 on November 12, 2023, 10:19 am

Quote from Randy Manese on November 12, 2023, 8:31 am

For you old-timers, Marsee reminds me of John Kruk in both his build and approach at the plate.  Marsee is listed at 6:00, 180 which is close to what Pauley is listed at 6:01, 200, but Pauley seems to have more of a rangy build than Marsee.  Maybe Marsee is closer to 5:10 1/2 because he fills out that uniform more than Pauley. Kruk  is listed at 5:10, 170 in Baseball Reference but he probably was closer to 190 or more as he got older.

Anyway, Kruk had a very solid career and finished with a .300 career BA over 10 seasons (his best were in Philly - 3 All-star years) and an .842 OPS.  Marsee is a better defender than Krukker and at the same age has better speed on the bases so if we can get something close to Kruk on the offensive side out of Marsee, I'd be very happy!

Kruk didn't reach the majors until he was 25, so Marsee may be a little ahead of him in that regard - could be as early as mid-2024, depending upon what the Padres do in FA/trades that affect the OF.

I would be ecstatic if Marsee was the next John Kruk ... he was one of my favorites in the late '80s. The guy could hit and was vastly under-rated on his defense / base running. I recall being bummed when McKeon traded him to PHIL where he continued an excellent career (.300 hitter).

Had a bad looking body but that body played well above the look. Honestly, no matter what the data bases say ... the majority of his ML career had to be well over 200 lbs on that 5'10" frame.

Considering the current roster really has only two OF clearly better than Marsee (Soto and Tatis) ... IF Marsee is at all productive to start 2024 he could (should) easily leapfrog Grisham, Azocar, Kohlway ... even Carpenter as the DH and get a reserve OF/DH slot. So, unlikely the Padres upgrade all four slots ... so a real opening for Marsee (and Pauley) as soon as they appear ready.

Quote from Randy Manese on November 12, 2023, 11:54 am

If you couple that with the competitive desire of Marsee, we might have something.  Marsee was a running back and Captain of his HS football team (small school with HS enrollment of around 1000) that won the his district playoffs in Michigan but got eliminated in the next round.  He was on the Central Michigan baseball team that won the MAC championship but was eliminated in the College World Series.  He was on the Lake Elsinore team that won the California League.  He was on the Ft Wayne team that made an amazing comeback in the second half of the season to get into the playoffs after he changed his approach to hitting (may have won it if didn't get promoted along with Pauley, Martorella and some top flight pitchers).  He was on the San Antonio playoff team but could only play the last game of the playoffs because of a hamstring injury; both he and Merrill being out really would made a difference if both could have played.  And finally, he was in the AFL Championship game with Peoria and won the MVP award over a slew of higher ranked MLB prospects ranking very high in almost all offensive categories.

Seems like this guy does what it takes to win - hope he can continue his success in the bigs!

Quote from Randy Manese on November 19, 2023, 3:10 pm

There was a lot to like about the Padres farm system and 2024 might see a number of additional prospects hit the Top 100 list.  You had the strong debuts of Snelling, Salas, Lesko and Head; the uber-athleticism shown by Bush and Robertson; the breakout seasons of Marsee, Pauley, Bergert and Iriarte; the strong showing at 18-19 years of age of Zavala; and even the even the reliable consistency of Castanon.  If you are reading the Mad Friars wrap up by levels, you will note that even more breakout candidates are on the way - it truly has been a great couple of years of drafting/signing International prospects and if we do get Leodalis de Vries, add another potential Top 10 player to our list.

However, it has been eerily quiet about one of the players that should be getting a lot of attention - Jackson Merrill.  Merrill was either injured or down with illness or both for the first two months of the season at Ft. Wayne and that greatly affected his numbers.  You could see in his stance that he was too upright and didn't have the uncoiling explosion that was there at Lake Elsinore in 2022.  Finally, around the middle to end of June, he was healthy enough to start to do a lot of damage and soon thereafter got promoted to San Antonio, where he tore up the league in his first couple of weeks before, again, he was hit with nagging injuries that compiled at the end of the season to keep him out of the Texas League playoffs.

You know that kind of season was absolutely frustrating to him because this is a guy that plays with a big chip on his shoulder and is a baseball gym rat.  He was an undersized player until a late growth spurt (around 4-5 inches, 30 lbs) projected him as a possible high round selection in the draft.  He was and maybe still is growing into his body but has a better hit tool that is equal to or better than anyone the Padres have in their system, including Salas, with great bat to ball skills that will likely maintain his K rate below 15%.  He was developing power that he is starting to get to with more regularity such that his floor might be 20 HRs per year.  He has great work ethic and plays a premium position; for all the expectations we had for Hassell having the best hit tool of our recent draftees, Merrill is better.  Moreover, although he will never have the power numbers of Wood, his overall game may prove to be more valuable to the Padres than Wood's.  So, if he is fully healthy, look for a HUGE season for Merrill and this is the guy, whether he plays infield or OF, that may be the first minor league player called up by the Padres (if he doesn't make the team out of spring training).  I'm 100% on the Merrill bandwagon and hope Preller does not include him in any trade.

Quote from Randy Manese on November 20, 2023, 12:22 pm

Fangraphs reporting that Padres signed minor league free agents Mason McCoy, an infielder, and OF's Robert Perez, Jr. and Calvin Mitchell to minor league contracts with an invitation to spring training.  Don't expect much out of any of them and may not even make it to the El Paso roster.  Still think the AAA team will be filled out with our older prospects/non-prospects so wouldn't get too excited by any of these reported signings as being anything more than blindly throwing a dart at the dartboard and hoping to hit a bullseye.

Quote from BoosterSD on November 20, 2023, 12:35 pm

Quote from Randy Manese on November 20, 2023, 12:22 pm

Fangraphs reporting that Padres signed minor league free agents Mason McCoy, an infielder, and OF's Robert Perez, Jr. and Calvin Mitchell to minor league contracts with an invitation to spring training.  Don't expect much out of any of them and may not even make it to the El Paso roster.  Still think the AAA team will be filled out with our older prospects/non-prospects so wouldn't get too excited by any of these reported signings as being anything more than blindly throwing a dart at the dartboard and hoping to hit a bullseye.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I am a little intrigued with Cal Mitchell. Has had some good numbers in AAA, and a SD native. Not penciling him into a starting role in SD, but maybe he can regain his form from his 1st trip to AAA.