Quote from David Jay on January 18, 2019, 9:16 am

Quote from David Nevin on January 17, 2019, 9:42 am

I really don't care where Mejia ranks in comparison to Bart but at only 1 year older and producing in AAA you would think that would mean more than where Bart was drafted and what he did against guys 2-4 years younger than him in Low A.

 

On the flip side, it's really easy to look at one of them and be confident he's a catcher, and that he has some vague idea of what he's trying to do at the plate. The importance of that doesn't change even though he's the guy who doesn't have as many professional at-bats.

Quote from David Jay on January 18, 2019, 9:24 am

Quote from LynchMob on January 17, 2019, 6:17 pm

https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sports/padres/sd-sp-padres-non-roster-invitees-20190117-story.html

Right-hander Carlos Torres has agreed to terms of a minor league deal with the Padres, a source told the Union-Tribune. Torres was expected to receive a non-roster invitation to spring training.

The rest of the Padres’ non-roster invitees have yet to be announced.

Most of the rest of the MLFA non-roster invitees have actually been announced, as I noted last month in the thread:

Pitchers: Bollinger, Enns, Higgins

IF: Craig, Mejias-Brean, Rodriguez

OF: Dickerson, Scavuzzo

As we tweeted out earlier this week, would expect that Chris Stewart's MLFA deal also comes with an invite. Eric Stout probably will too.

Internal non-40-man guys who are coming to big league camp should be announced shortly.

 

Quote from fenn68 on January 18, 2019, 9:36 am

Given the level of projection in these two (and a bunch that follow them) sort of irrelevant who is where on any list.

Bart clearly is evaluated as a superior defense catcher today (and probably will be) but Mejia may be projected as the superior hitter (at least projection today). Will Bart actually hit enough to be a ML catcher? ... Will Mejia develop enough defensively to be a ML catcher? No idea but each have some tools that make them look more likely than the masses that follow.

I guess at some point it is an evaluator's choice in valuing the balance between offense / defense to determine who is the better ML catcher ... call in about 4 years. I guess for a ML standard today ... the bar is very low for both defense and offense. Apparently hard to get enough players to want to be (and develop) as a catcher.

Quote from MrPadre19 on January 18, 2019, 10:59 am

Quote from David Jay on January 18, 2019, 9:16 am

Quote from David Nevin on January 17, 2019, 9:42 am

I really don't care where Mejia ranks in comparison to Bart but at only 1 year older and producing in AAA you would think that would mean more than where Bart was drafted and what he did against guys 2-4 years younger than him in Low A.

 

On the flip side, it's really easy to look at one of them and be confident he's a catcher, and that he has some vague idea of what he's trying to do at the plate. The importance of that doesn't change even though he's the guy who doesn't have as many professional at-bats.

I understand.

But can you really see from 180 AB's in Low A for a College kid that he's the best in the entirety of the Minor Leagues?

Maybe you can....like I said I understand this is how Prospect ranking is done.

I just think the 2-3 years of progression still to be made is not given enough consideration.

 

Quote from David Jay on January 18, 2019, 9:42 pm

Quote from David Nevin on January 18, 2019, 10:59 am

I understand.

But can you really see from 180 AB's in Low A for a College kid that he's the best in the entirety of the Minor Leagues?

 

In short, yes.

Quote from fenn68 on January 19, 2019, 7:34 am

Since this is all projection (and different individuals have different views of what is important and what can or will actually develop) .... the odds of being totally correct is very low on who will have a better ML career or whose projected skills will actually develop. To me the "order" is interesting but not the be all / end all ... just being viewed in the upper reaches of the prospects is encouraging.

I can see Bart jumping to #1 on a balanced profile of plus defense and average offense compared to the other Top 10. Plus he has the best power profile. Others have a much better defensive projection but below average hitting. Others have a much better hitting projection but are short defensively.

Mejia's is projected as the better hitter (60 to 50) but a worse defensive catcher (45 to 55). This comes to a bit of buyers' choice. The defensive first evaluators clearly would go Bart and bet he will hit enough (defensive first catchers who can't hit are common and Bart is not even the top defensive catcher on this list). Offensive first evaluators would go Mejia and bet he will develop defensively (in a world lacking offense out of the catching position, how much plus offense will outweigh below average defense). Mejia had the best hitting projection of the Top 10.

Then a bit depends on how much the development of offense / defense tracks the current projection and can the player alter that projection (to the good ... easy to go to the bad). I keep recalling T.Gwynn who arrive as a mediocre OF who worked to become Golden Glove quality (he had the athletic tools and dedication). Mejia is athletic (of a catcher) so there is hope his defense will make the jump. I normally have less belief in significant improvement in hitting skills ... improve yes but significant no. Should note that I am not sold on Mejia's 60 evaluation as a hitter given his plate discipline but?

There we no "60" catchers on this list and only 7 "55" which may say something about catchers. Just as a comparison I went back to 2014 when a guy named Austin Hedges was #1 on the list and was a "60".

Hedges: Hit (50), Power (50), Arm (65), Field (65) .... so (if you believe in projections) both Bart and Mejia (and anyone on this Top 10) have a long way to go to be as good as Hedges.

Also on the 2014 list were Schwarber and Bethancourt and a solid group that fell into irrelevance.

Quote from MrPadre19 on January 23, 2019, 5:18 am

Sure is nice when you have 4 of the top 10 LH SP prospects in the Minors.

 

https://www.mlb.com/news/2019-top-10-left-handed-pitching-prospects/c-302720152?tid=151437456

 

Quote from sportwarrior on January 23, 2019, 12:40 pm

Quote from David Nevin on January 23, 2019, 5:18 am

Sure is nice when you have 4 of the top 10 LH SP prospects in the Minors.

 

https://www.mlb.com/news/2019-top-10-left-handed-pitching-prospects/c-302720152?tid=151437456

 

Plus the best SS prospect and 2nd best 2B prospect in the game.

Also 9 of the top 100 prospects as per BP and BA.

Quote from MrPadre19 on January 23, 2019, 1:06 pm

I was a little surprised Naylor wasn't in the top 10 of Firstbasemen.