9-News: 37.035 – Draft Fallout: The Catcher Corps

[RonCo]

After a very active draft season, I’m going to be reviewing the organization’s prospect depth by position—both because it’s fun, and so that I can spend some time getting my head around all these guys. It’s a lot of work, probably…and we’ll see how far I get. But it should be fun.

For me at least. [grin]

Along the way I’ll probably do some form of depth charts. These will be my views rather than the game’s views. Bottom line, I still don’t trust OOTP’s algorithms particularly far when it comes to determining overall values of players. This means your mileage may vary relative to mine. I’ll focus on the prospects, and probably go into some fringy guys, too. I’m not going to list every single player in the organization, but by talking about some guys I’m guessing that I’ll expose the depths of the fact that I tend to see more players as prospects than the average guy—just like I’ll discount some players at the top end when they are young (assuming that they’ll bust some), I’ll often look at a younger guy missing some things and give them the benefit of the doubt.

Plan for success, I always say, and adjust down.

Anyway…here we go. Since I’m thinking this will be the “easiest,” I’m going to start with the catchers.

OVERALL ASSESSMENT

Catcher is a place where Yellow Springs really has no organizational depth. We’ve traded two or three prospects over the last couple years, assuming that Aaron Stone was the guy, and hoping that Nate Wood might get a touch of bumpage that would make him into a guy who could start if Stone got hurt. The Stone part of that worked out, but Wood is really just a good backup. None of my other fringe prospects have really taken flight, so the bottom line is that we’re a little hosed if Stone gets hurt.

This is why we looked at a catcher in our second round, and came up with Kazuki Saito.

Anyway, here’s how I see our organization depth chart at the moment.

DEPTH CHART
R - Kazuki Saito (***) – RHB 9/10/4/5/10 (6/7 Def) << NEW
A – Pablo Alaniz (*.5) – RHB 5/9/6/4/6 (6/7 Def)
R - Arturo Vargas (*.5) – RHB 6/7/5/3/8 (5/5 Def)
R - Marcos Abalos (*.5) – RHB 5/6/5/6/6 (7/6 Def) << NEW
A – Stuart Raaijmakers – 5/5/6/6/5 (5/8 Def)
SA – Marcos Gomez – 5/6/3/5/6 (6/9 Def)
The addition of Saito via that second pick makes a big impact in the overall quality of organizational depth. He’s a 17-year-old player, though, with some growing to do, so we’ve got a lot of risk. His contact and gap power should make him a solid thumper toward the back-middle of the lineup, or higher if he can acquire some plate discipline. The hope is that he might make it through the grinder in time to take over for Aaron Stone in four seasons, when the incumbent’s new deal runs out. I do suspect he’ll start in Rookie ball.

At 20, Alaniz is an interesting prospect. He’s hitting ell enough in A-Ball, and will probably be promoted to AA shortly. I’ve got 25-year-old non-prospect Brian Hikmet at AA just holding the place for him in case the numbers weren’t there, yet. Hikmet will go up to AAA and probably displace one of the guys there.

Vargas is coming out of the IC this year, and will get some decent time, too. Right now it looks like his defense will limit his upside, but with a “6” contact and a 7 Gap, there’s enough there to be intrigued.

Abalos is perhaps the most interesting of these players. He’s this seasons’ Mr. Irrelevant, so anything the club gets from him will be a big bonus. But of the players in this collection he’s perhaps the most developed, and there’s some thought that he might start up in Short A where he might arguably be #2 on the depth chart (we’ll likely be releasing one of last season’s picks, so there could be room there). I’m a bit torn with him.

Raaijmakers and Gomez are on the list for their defense. Gomez is the best defender in the organization, but needs a bump or two along the way to make a dent in the parent club. If Raaijmakers grows to the top of his ratings, he could be useful as a back-up or defensive replacement.

DARKHORSE: Wagner Braunsteiner (5/6/2/3/4 – 5/8) is 18 and in the IC. He’s currently a decent defensive catcher, and has his contact developed up. Don’t be shocked to see him start his on-field career in 2037, and if he can actually hit a little, maybe he’ll see the bump he needs to provide some value someplace.