INTRODUCTION:
As noted elsewhere, after a very active draft season, I’m 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. 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.
OVERALL ASSESSMENT AT LEFT FIELD
We’re kind of a hodge-podge in left field today. We’ve got Jorge Rodriguez playing out there now, who is one of the premier lead-off hitters in the league. But, yeah, defensively he’s not helping, so he gets a defensive replacement when we can manage it. He’s also a platoon guy, and his partner—Pat Allen—is worse than Rodriguez in the field.
Really, we wanted Jose Machado to play up here which would push young Andy McKinney to left where he belongs. But Machado wasn’t quite ready, and then he got hurt. More on Machado (and McKinney, for that matter) elsewhere, but suffice to say right now the plan is for McKinney (who is having an unexpectedly splendid rookie season) to take over close to full-time in left next year (unless Rodriguez has some kind of Come to Jesus Moment with the glove between now and then, or unless something else happens).
Here’s how I see our organization depth:
DEPTH CHART
AA – Jose Camacho (***) – RHB 8/9/8/6/7 (5/4/5 Def)
R – Jose Colon – (**.5) LHB 7/9/8/6/4 (5/5/6 Def) << NEW
R - Armando Gonzalez – RHB 8/9/2/4/10 (3/5/3 Def) << NEW
AAA - Anastasio Hernandez (*.5) – LHB 7/8/7/2/8 (5/4/6 Def)
A - Noriyuki Mizuno – LHB 6/7/7/3/8 (2/6/7 Def)
R - Christopher Stobart (*.5) – RHB 6/7/3/6/6 (6/6/5 Def)
The two stars here are Camacho and Colon, but Camacho is older and more developed. I grabbed him out of IFA in return for a $3M check. Defensively he’ll never be much more than adequate, but the bat projects to “solid thumper” from the right side of the plate with limited issue on splits. I love his numbers as he’s progressed through the system. He’s a hard worker, and it shows. He hit .318/.357/.543 in 130 A-ball at-bats, so at 19, we’ve just now bumped him up to AA to see what he can do there.
Jose Colon came out of the 3rd round of the draft, but he’s moderately well-developed and doesn’t show horrific splits right now. I’m kind of hoping he turns into one of those rare left-handed batters who you don’t have to platoon. He’s 19, like Camacho, and he can thump like Camacho, too. So depending on how developed he really is, there’s a not unreasonable chance that we could see these two guys in the majors as platoon brothers. He’ll start in Rookie ball now that he’s signed, just to see where that “4” contact really is.
Armando Gonzalez is another fresh draft pick. We’re still negotiating with him, and hope he’ll join the band pretty quick. He came I tagged as a second baseman, but given his glove that chances of that happening are pretty much nil. So, outfield it is. Bottom line is that I could rank him down farther, I suppose. But he’s got good contact skills and drives the gaps. I’d like to see him grow some patience and some level of adroitness with the glove. So, yeah, you’re garden variety prospect here. Needs bumps. Might get them.
Anastasio Hernandez came to the team from San Fernando in a deal for Lorenzo Pena, which turned out pretty good for us, I’d say. He’s allergic to a free pass, but otherwise the 21-year-old has skills enough to play in the bigs somewhere. His bat has been reasonable everywhere he’s been—providing value through slugging more than average. At .319/.330/.549 in AAA, his time might be closer than I think.
A-baller Noriyuki Mizuno intrigues me. Numbers not great, yet, but the ratings are growing pretty fast at this point. He can’t, of course, play defense. So if we don’t see some motion here soon, that puts a crimp in the wrench, so to speak. Still, he’s always slugged pretty well, so we’re watching.
Which brings me to Christopher Stobart, a kid who came out of the International Complex as a low-grade find, and who struggled a little when we plugged him into Rookie ball last year, but who has also grown into his ratings a bit and, at 19, looks like he’s beginning to put some of the pieces together. Super early for him, but I’m looking forward to seeing what he’ll do this year, and hope he’ll be in SA by the end, with a target of A-ball in 2038. The fact that he can play a little defense makes him one of the more attractive guys in the mix.
DARK HORSE: RHB Newly drafted Jorge Pacheco (6/6/1/6/6 – 8/5/6) came to the team in the 12th round. He’s got a good glove, and an interesting rating line. Definitely a guy to keep our eye on. We picked lefty bat Michael Wright (6/5/1/6/8 – 4/7/6) off the minor league FA list a couple seasons back after Hawaii dumped him. His numbers have been spotty, but he’s growing a little At 23, this is probably his make or break season.
