2060.06 - The Long Beach Independent - State of the Farm - S A Key West

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TRADE RETURNS ABOUND IN SHORT A

Gary Tinstaap

July 19, 2060
Key West, FL

The Long Beach Surfers have been more active than usual in the trade market in the past few years, and the returns for many of those trades have been on display this year with the Key West Beach Bums.

At the top of the heap is the 20-year-old outfielder Vicente López. The left handed hitter was traded to the Surfers just a couple of weeks ago, coming in from Des Moines in return for longtime reliever Scott Everard. Lopez' strength at the plate is power, with scouts putting an 8 current grade on his raw power. He still has some work to do to translate that to in-game power, but in combination with an elite eye, he projects to be a menace at the plate. As a flyball hitter, we don't anticipate a lot of doubles, rather he looks like he could be a three-true-outcomes player. Scouts whisper that his work ethic is severely lacking, so look for that to be a focus of the Long Beach coaching staff in the coming seasons.

Also patrolling the Key West outfield this season is CF Diwan bin Badr al Din, a 21-year-old acquired last season from Las Vegas. He was acquired along with reliever Alan Puckeridge in exchange for reliever Tulo Koruturk. In the outfield, al Din should be good in center and excellent in the corners. At the plate, he makes good contact and is excellent at avoiding strikeouts. He doesn't project to be a star at the BBA level, but with his good AvK skills, and up the middle defense, he could certainly be a contributor on a good team.

Moving on to the pitching side of things we find 18-year-old Antar bin Mahir, acquired last week from the Vancouver Mounties in a package that also included 1B Bogdan Comsa and SS Fadueka Hadanov in exchange for oft-traded António Báldez. The right-handed bin Mahir is slightly underdeveloped for his age, but scouts see a lot of strikeout potential in his sidearm delivery. In addition to a fastball, scouts like the look of his changeup and splitter. Scouts also rave about his work ethic, and anticipate that he will meet their expectations and be a contributor at the BBA level within a few years.

Rounding out our featured prospects in Key West, we find Tanyu Ito, acquired from the Boise Spuds in exchange for closer Martin Román. The right handed Ito is well developed for his age and throws a mid-90s fastball that touches 97 when he needs it. His secondary pitch is a slider, and the Long Beach staff will look to focus on that development in the coming seasons. He may need a little push from the organization to improve his work ethic, but he has potential to contribute in a BBA bullpen at some point.