Minor League musings, Mid-May ‘47
We’re in the middle of the second month of the second season of the Riyadh farm system and so here’s a little look at where we are. The system is currently ranked 10th out of ten systems and deservedly so. Our one Top-100 prospect, Ivan Gulledge (#78), was acquired in a trade from Mumbai and apart from that our only great white hopes are a few teenagers from the lower Top-200’s or Top-300’s. Our top pick this season, second overall in 2047, is Jouo Rovanpera and he might have a chance of cracking the Top-100 rankings, but that’s the entire sum of our prospect hopes.
Port Elizabeth
Marooned at the foot of the Triple-A table the Windies are already beginning to look like a retirement home for players that didn’t cut it at UMEBA level for Riyadh or indeed those that will never make it that far. The two great hopes of the roster are 20-yr-old CF Gulledge and 21-yr-old SS Burt Davies, both were acquired in trades, both are undoubted quality with the glove but neither have yet found much use for their bat. They’re young enough to change that at the moment, but the sands of time are slipping through their fingers. To be honest if Riyadh wasn’t a bottom ranked UMEBA setup, the scouting director’s eyes would have probably passed over them already, dismissing them as mere defensive replacements if you were desperate. At Riyadh though anybody with a pulse has to be considered. Martin McLeish might well have already been up in Riyadh if it wasn’t for the Red Crescent’s main man Masaki Sato, but as it is his only hope of a UMEBA career is an injury to Sato or an unlikely trade. Second baseman Cam Woods, rejected even by fellow expansion team Cairo as a Rule 5 pick, and First Baseman Ivan Thomas are young enough to perhaps have some development in them, and maybe force their way onto the Riyadh roster, but their chances are slim. The rest of the roster, in all honesty, you can write off as injury replacements and desperation call-ups.
Santiago
The Tabaqueros have even less hope than Port Elizabeth despite being a few places higher in the table. Their only “Star” (in big, inverted commas) is 24-yr-old Roy MacGugan, a first baseman that has bounced around all levels between A and AAA. He’s been a victim too of Sato’s dominance, but also of the management’s desire to develop younger players. His chance is close though, Colin Adams is looking a bust and a window may be opening up between Adams and the, hopefully, developing Ivan Thomas. If he can slide in between the two of them, there may yet be a career of sorts in the majors. The rest of the Santiago roster is mainly filled with new signings from the BBA reject bucket or players that have got squeezed out from other Riyadh farm levels, basically the home of last resort. If you can’t make it here, and many don’t, then it’s a pretty safe bet you’ll soon be looking at the job’s vacant column in the local newspapers.
South Guam
This is where all the current excitement in the Riyadh farm is, last year the most successful team in the system was Chinese Taipei in Rookie Ball (only seven games out of their first place) now most of the promising players have moved up from Rookie to A ball and they’re continuing their promise in South Guam.
The power outage that exists elsewhere in the system isn’t so pronounced here, the top five starters all have hit four or more homers already and are all pushing on towards a 20 RBI haul. 21-yr-old 3B Michael Roga who shone in Taipei during 2046 has kicked on at the higher lever and leads their triple crown race (.323, 5 hr and 17 RBI). So far, after 28 games, only three of the regular starters are hitting less than .250. Time is on their side perhaps too as nine out of the 15 batters on the roster are aged 22 or under. On the mound 12 out of 15 are 22 or under including a pair of teenagers. Uberto Casale and Edgardo Lopez carry the rotation, both with 3-0 records from five starts. Vatican City teenager Alba Gallino, now turned 18, hasn’t had a decision in his five starts, but has 20 K’s so far and has only surrendered 12 runs in 27 IP. Five out of the nine bullpen arms have an ERA below 3.00 currently with 24-yr-old Australian Damon Urry, who has seen some time in the Santiago bullpen, has a 1-0 record in seven outings with matching ERA /WHIP’s of just 0.82. It will be interesting if the bulk of this “Class of ‘46” can continue their upward path together onto Santiago this time next year in 2048?
So, no great prospects in the system anywhere yet and the drafts for at least the rest of the decade don’t suggest much help there, but at least, cut to the cloth of Riyadh, there are signs that at least the farm is on some kind of upward trend. Probably not enough to break clear of the bottom two rankings, but maybe in the 2050’s they might not be ranked 100 points or more behind the top eight UMEBA systems.
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