The Farm Report for April 2053: Indianapolis Downforce
by Nes Lessman, Yellow Springs Journal
Your award-winning Farm Reporter (Six-time Silver Bulls) is back at it as we enter the second month of the 2053 season!
McMonigal says he preaches a culture of winning from the lower levels up, but it isn't working out that way so far, as the first month finds all three active minor league teams with records around or worse than the parent team's losing marks. When there's so many years of drafting lower, this is only natural to some degree but it still should be concerning to fans of the Nine. While the national scouting office says the organization has the second best minors in the league, my own travels and observations make me skeptical of this, as you'll see.
Without further ado, let's go down on the farm, shall we?
Indianapolis Downforce, 14-18, 4th place, 4 games back.
This team is basically the polar opposite of the major league team to its east, doing well on the pitching side (thanks to several players who may be getting moved up if struggles in the bullpen for the Nine continue) but the cupboard is bare when it comes to offense. 1B Anil Dasri, picked in the third round in 2047 is a solid backup option at first, but the team has multiple options at the top level there and it's unlikely he'll even get a 40 man cup of coffee. IF/OF Bernie Mulholland, last year's 5th round selection, is shaping nicely to be useful backup and has some room to improve at 21. OF Carl Maitland is also young at 22, but projects to backup status. After returning to AAA he's struggled after a promising 2052 in Indy where he hit .376 in 117 at bats. Otherwise it's all filler and placeholders. There may even be some replacements by actual major leaguers still looking for work.
The pitching is stronger but nothing amazing. SP Benjamin Broadbent has been up and down in his AAA debut, with a 2-2 record and 4.50 ERA. But the 10 k/9 and 2.0 bb/9 show he has a future in the rotation of the big club, possibly when David Lee leaves. As an 18th round pick (in 2048) he's a flier who will be a reason why you do the research. No other starters look promising, with 2050 2nd rounder Jason Drew regressing and looking like a potential bust. His walk rate keeps increasing (3.2, 3.4, 4.4) and now they're starting to score on him.
In the bullpen, things look a little brighter and should McMonigal tire of blown leads (a large part of why the team is under .500 right now), there could be help in former 2045 3rd round pick Chris Lacey, who's clearly ready for the call when it comes. Though he's never been in the bigs, his Indy numbers are consistent: WHIP around 1.00, k/9 of about 7.00 or more, and bb/9 of less than 2. Whether he can handle the top level is up for debate, but he can't be much worse than what's going out there now in middle/long relief. 2049 first round selection Pete Thomas will be going on the 40 man before the end of the year, and while his BABIP is an insane .538 this year (a testament to how awful the fielders are), he's sporting a k/9 of over 12 and had 7.7 last year in 41 games. He looks ready and only contract issues are keeping him back.
But there's more in this vein in Matt Spears, the 2051 first round choice is also there, though his high stamina and 4 pitches might mean they move him to the starting ranks first to see if they can catch lightning in a barrel. His walk rate of about 3 per nine is going to be something to deal with however. Most likely to get a call is Adamnan Maryadi, a relief pitcher who was also a first round pick (this time 2047, sensing a pattern here?) who did well in a September appearance for the Nine and has a stellar set of 2.0 or so ERA the past 2 years. With k/9 around 9 but again, a definite issue with free passes. He has an amazing cutter and good stuff, however, and could be just what the Nine need right now.
The Bottom Line: Indy's roster is a combination of prior GM Ron Collins stockpiling potentially great relief pitchers with early picks in the draft and it generally being better to grab free agents for the field, leaving little hope for a big gain to the main team right now.
