AAA Racine/MQT Organizational Report

[aaronweiner]

AAA Racine Raiders

Racine houses Rafael Avila, the MBBA's fourth-best catching prospect, a number of solid relievers and an interesting sleeper or two.


Top prospects:

Rafael Avila

Avila's defense is mediocre, but there's no questioning his skills at the plate. Avila hit .328 with 9 HR this year in 470 at bats and has room to improve. He's major league ready now in his projected role: a legitimate star catcher who will likely need a righthanded platoon partner. Only reason he's not the major league starter, probably, is that he's blocked by Theo Epstein and his outstanding season. It won't be long.

David Ballentine

Ballentine is ready to make the jump. He's a fantastic relief prospect that's already established himself as a viable major league pitcher. He's 25 now, and with another year of improvement Ballentine could be one of the league's top relief pitchers; if he doesn't gain a thing he's already a solid reliever. He should be in the majors: he has nothing to prove at AAA (2.90 ERA at the level).


The other guy:

Robert Hartford

Hartford is unfortunately cursed with the dreaded major platoon factor; against lefties he's already a marginal major league starter, against righties he's a total waste of space. He's just 23, which is young for AAA, and there's a chance that he becomes a marginal major league starter because he's still got room to grow; however, this guy would likely be a fantastic bench platoon player, some day.


Pen men:

Jimmy Cleaves

It would be nice to see Cleaves have a full year of AAA before we judge too well, but he's done well at every minor league level so far. He's clearly ready for the level, though he's not a major leaguer yet. He's at a good age for the level and he's got major league potentials.


Charlie Walker

Walker's 26, so he's almost a non-prospect. Plus, he struggled badly with the jump to AAA last year. Still: 48 strikeouts in 31 innings is a LOT, and it would be interesting to see if Walker gets it under control.


Sleepers:

Justin Lovern

Lovern would be a fantastic reliever conversion candidate if he gained one more point on any of his side pitches, and it wouldn't be too bad of an idea even if he didn't. Right now, he's a replacement-level player who doesn't have a ton of promise. There's no reason to believe he's going to be a good pro, but he might be a reasonable sixth or seventh man in a pen.

Mark Norton

Norton's 25, but he's got some major league skills right now; he's very marginal but with a bump in contact hitting against righties (a possibility considering his platoon factor), he might be good enough to start for someone at third base. He'll never be a star though.

Ken Quinney

Quinney's taken a step backwards every single year since 1997, busted out of the majors, and the only reason he makes this list is he's still 25 and at one time, he was a legitimate prospect. Looks like a 4A player to us.

[aaronweiner]