The Journey From Nothing to Something
(One mans trash is another mans useful piece at any given Brooklyn tryout camp.)
We talked earlier this season about the Brooklyn Robins going ham and signing 90 something undrafted free agents. It's been a strategy the Robins have used for years to varying degrees of success. Francisco Ruiz, Jorge Perez, Leonardo Montes, Jose Lopez, and Grellan Profit are just a few of the names signed for zero dollars on the open market that have made the effort worth while. Obviously there have been many other names along the way that haven't enjoyed that level of success. You can expect that for every player that does make it, 10-15 won't.
As a team slowly transitioning from win now to a long term technically sound rebuild, it made a lot of sense to restock a barren farm system with a bunch of players who at least have a shot at over achieving. With a few months of data behind us. Let's spotlight some guys who might bump into something.
SS Hakim Ngowa-While he is not one of the famous 6/5 signees, Ngowa came to Brooklyn as a minor league free agent in January of this season. This is after he sat on the sidelines collecting dust for nearly 7 months. Nobody wanted him. Heck, Brooklyn even passed him up several times. For good reason I suppose. 5/6/3/5/7 utility men are a dime a dozen and not very exciting. Well, Ngowa has since bumped 2 points in eye and one point in contact. All of a sudden he sits at 6/6/5/7/7 coupled with 8/11/7/9 infield defense and you have yourself an interesting prospect. Heck, he is currently listed as Brooklyn's #1 prospect. Of course that's more a product of how bad our farm system sucks now then anything.
RF Elmer Serrano-Here is an interesting player based on the skill set he brings. He's really quick, he has 9 bunting ability, and It'a no secret we ramped up his bunt for a hit slider to max. Did I mention he has already bumped from 5 contact to 6? Is that a result of his bunting sliders? I really don't know. Tracking bunt hits is super tedious and beyond my attention span. Note to beta team members. I'd love to have a stat that tracks bunt for a hit %. I've looked at some game logs and he definately does drop one down from time to time. Every instance I saw resulted in a hit. But who knows.
Beyond bunting Serrano looks to be playing better then he should be. This is always something we look for in a player like this. Maybe it's because his ratings are a bit developed for SS-A? Sure. That's part of it. But his .340 OBP to .257 average suggests that his eye may be better then 5 and his 13 HR in 230 AB doesn't seem right for a 4 power. Let's aggressively predict that those two areas bump a point. That would put him at 6/7/5/6/6 with very good defense, a cannon of an arm, and great small ball skills. Could be a fun little player to keep an eye on.
CF Ben Perez- In minor league signings, we are mostly looking for bump ability. In the case of Ben Perez, we got a 22 year old fully developed left handed hitting CF capable of playing in the BBA(second division bench player) right now. His 6/8/3/6/6 bat against right hand pitching and 9/11/6 defense should have gotten him drafted. Not sure why it didn't. Anyone says that their minor league system is too good to sign a player like Perez, they are full of it.
LF Eugene Hodges- Like Perez, Hodges is just about BBA ready at the age of 20. He has a 7/7/6/5/7 bat against RHP. Defensively he is a bit challenged with only a 4 range. But he makes the plays he can get to and has a cannon for an arm. We pushed Hodges a bit hard this year. Too many outfielders and not enough spots lead to putting his bat in AAA before he was ready. A full season in AA next year might be the best thing for him.
So that's four players to keep an eye on. I doubt anyone becomes an all star. But I would have said the same about Ruiz 4-5 years ago. You just never know. This is like a game within a game to me. Creating something from nothing.
