Off Topic
First, may I start by congratulating all of my friends and compatriots around the entirety of the Bikini Krill organization for the results we are seeing on the field. It’s great to see our diligence in acquiring a few outside resources to go along with our home-grown talent achieve the division leading success our amazing fans are so deserving of.
We are into the latest stages of May, now, and that means that the draft is completed, and contracts are being negotiated. I’m as confident as anyone that our kids will soon be in camp. For us in the Office of Baseball Operations, that means it’s time to gather our thoughts and reassess where we are at. With this in mind, I respectfully present a series of reports that attempt to categorize the depth of our minor league prospects. To do so, I’ll swipe a bit of a format from another team (loose lips sink ships, of course, so I’ll do the Bear necessities and not name the team for fear of being blamed for incriminating members of my team—yes, being a good leader is sometimes such a burden).
The Grading System used here is:
We will start by looking at the team’s starting rotation.
CURRENT SITUATION & FUTURE NEEDS
The current Bikini rotation is both young and good, led by 24-year-old Nebraska winner Paul Worboys. Nelson Williams, Paul Glass, and Jose Guevara are all 24 or younger and under team control for several seasons. As long as they stay healthy that should take pressure off our player development staff for a bit. That leaves Arturo Meza, who, at 32 is nowhere close to over the hill, but is on the last year of his contract, and could represent a need.
PROSPECT REPORT CARD
DISCUSSION
The rotation is the area of our organization that is likely in the leanest position. The B- grade we give Alex Luna could well be a “C” instead, but he’s a guy who will definitely keep the ball in the park, and his control and ability to create weaker contact grades out a bit above average. His stuff is better than Glass’s, but that’s like saying the ocean is salty. He also has pitched extremely well in all his minor league stops. As 22, if needed, Luna would be the guy who would replace Meza.
Of the rest, Valentin is the most interesting. His raw talent is best of the bunch, and in combination with a fastball/splitter/cutter repertoire that grades out well off-the-charts, is the reason he’s been moved out of the bullpen to try his hand at starting. He’ll need to find the plate more often to be a impact with the parent club, but if he finds it, would likely jump Luna with considerable ease.
Orosco (a 2063 3rd round selection) and bin Dabir (acquired in the off season) are of similar stature, though bin Dabir is 24 to Orosco’s 20. Bin Dabir is pitching well at Class-A Lake City, and depending on other factors is expected to move up a notch soon. Orosco will begin in Class-SA Port au Prince after posting a 5-2, 2.64 line in rookie ball last year. Both are fringy prospects who could serve rolls depending on how close a few of those “5” ratings our scouts assess are closer to “6”s. And speaking of fringy, but interesting, we should add Martinez to this list. At 22, he’s been able to pitch above his class ever since we drafted him (4th round, 2063). Injuries appear to be his bugaboo, as a hamstring cost him the end of last year, and he’s sitting out with shoulder inflammation now. We’re grading him down a notch simply due to concerns about his future health.
Of the three remaining, Trujillo (22) is the most developed. He’s pitching well in Kamloops, and could be moved up to Class-AAA any time the team can make that happen. Probably needs to be coached up a notch to be successful on the atoll. The same can be said for Bi, who will come out of the IC to pitch rookie ball this year. Dingane is still in the complex. No one is yet banking on any of these three, but all have enough interesting going on that we’re paying special attention to them.
STRATEGIC POSITION
The general lack of depth in rotation prospects is a result of two factors, the first being that the team is now drafting in the bottom half of the pool—which removes the ability to take the top hurlers in the draft (Paul Worboys is not walking through that Door again). As we’ll see in future sub-sections of this report, the second factor is the club’s chosen path of focusing on filling the position pipelines and the bullpen.
We think this has probably been wise—or at least we’re sure that approach has been executed well enough. Many of the players who are leading the club today have come out of that philosophy.
It might be worth rethinking this for the short term, however.
Perhaps 2066’s draft class should be approached with the idea of finding multiple prospects of interest who can fill the top parts of rotations.
Geoff Vai
Principle Director, Office of Baseball Operations
We are into the latest stages of May, now, and that means that the draft is completed, and contracts are being negotiated. I’m as confident as anyone that our kids will soon be in camp. For us in the Office of Baseball Operations, that means it’s time to gather our thoughts and reassess where we are at. With this in mind, I respectfully present a series of reports that attempt to categorize the depth of our minor league prospects. To do so, I’ll swipe a bit of a format from another team (loose lips sink ships, of course, so I’ll do the Bear necessities and not name the team for fear of being blamed for incriminating members of my team—yes, being a good leader is sometimes such a burden).
The Grading System used here is:
A: star player just by developing to their potential
B: BBA regular just by developing to their potential or star potential but has some risk factors
C: potential is enough to make it to the BBA but beyond that uncertain
D: needs some bumps to have a BBA future or a lot of uncertainty around their potential
We will start by looking at the team’s starting rotation.
CURRENT SITUATION & FUTURE NEEDS
The current Bikini rotation is both young and good, led by 24-year-old Nebraska winner Paul Worboys. Nelson Williams, Paul Glass, and Jose Guevara are all 24 or younger and under team control for several seasons. As long as they stay healthy that should take pressure off our player development staff for a bit. That leaves Arturo Meza, who, at 32 is nowhere close to over the hill, but is on the last year of his contract, and could represent a need.
PROSPECT REPORT CARD
| Level | Age | OVR | STUFF | MOV | HRA | BABIP | CON | Velo/Stam | Grade | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Álex Luna | AAA | 22 | 45/45 | 4/4 | 8/8 | 8/9 | 6/6 | 6/6 | 93/4 | B- |
| Felipe Valentín | AA | 25 | 40/45 | 7/11 | 6/6 | 6/6 | 6/6 | 2/2 | 97/3 | C |
| Muwaffaq bin Dabir | A | 24 | 35/40 | 5/5 | 4/6 | 4/6 | 5/5 | 4/6 | 98/5 | C |
| Mario Orozco | SA | 20 | 25/40 | 3/5 | 4/5 | 4/6 | 5/5 | 4/6 | 95/8 | C |
| Lorenzo Martínez | AAA | 22 | 45/45 | 5/5 | 5/5 | 5/5 | 6/6 | 5/5 | 96/5 | C- |
| Ricardo Trujillo | AA | 22 | 40/40 | 5/5 | 5/5 | 5/5 | 5/5 | 5/5 | 98/6 | C- |
| Wei-fang Bi | R | 19 | 20/45 | 3/6 | 2/4 | 1/4 | 4/4 | 2/6 | 94/6 | C- |
| Jadili Dingane | INT | 18 | 15/40 | 2/5 | 2/5 | 1/5 | 4/4 | 1/5 | 93/9 | D+ |
DISCUSSION
The rotation is the area of our organization that is likely in the leanest position. The B- grade we give Alex Luna could well be a “C” instead, but he’s a guy who will definitely keep the ball in the park, and his control and ability to create weaker contact grades out a bit above average. His stuff is better than Glass’s, but that’s like saying the ocean is salty. He also has pitched extremely well in all his minor league stops. As 22, if needed, Luna would be the guy who would replace Meza.
Of the rest, Valentin is the most interesting. His raw talent is best of the bunch, and in combination with a fastball/splitter/cutter repertoire that grades out well off-the-charts, is the reason he’s been moved out of the bullpen to try his hand at starting. He’ll need to find the plate more often to be a impact with the parent club, but if he finds it, would likely jump Luna with considerable ease.
Orosco (a 2063 3rd round selection) and bin Dabir (acquired in the off season) are of similar stature, though bin Dabir is 24 to Orosco’s 20. Bin Dabir is pitching well at Class-A Lake City, and depending on other factors is expected to move up a notch soon. Orosco will begin in Class-SA Port au Prince after posting a 5-2, 2.64 line in rookie ball last year. Both are fringy prospects who could serve rolls depending on how close a few of those “5” ratings our scouts assess are closer to “6”s. And speaking of fringy, but interesting, we should add Martinez to this list. At 22, he’s been able to pitch above his class ever since we drafted him (4th round, 2063). Injuries appear to be his bugaboo, as a hamstring cost him the end of last year, and he’s sitting out with shoulder inflammation now. We’re grading him down a notch simply due to concerns about his future health.
Of the three remaining, Trujillo (22) is the most developed. He’s pitching well in Kamloops, and could be moved up to Class-AAA any time the team can make that happen. Probably needs to be coached up a notch to be successful on the atoll. The same can be said for Bi, who will come out of the IC to pitch rookie ball this year. Dingane is still in the complex. No one is yet banking on any of these three, but all have enough interesting going on that we’re paying special attention to them.
STRATEGIC POSITION
The general lack of depth in rotation prospects is a result of two factors, the first being that the team is now drafting in the bottom half of the pool—which removes the ability to take the top hurlers in the draft (Paul Worboys is not walking through that Door again). As we’ll see in future sub-sections of this report, the second factor is the club’s chosen path of focusing on filling the position pipelines and the bullpen.
We think this has probably been wise—or at least we’re sure that approach has been executed well enough. Many of the players who are leading the club today have come out of that philosophy.
It might be worth rethinking this for the short term, however.
Perhaps 2066’s draft class should be approached with the idea of finding multiple prospects of interest who can fill the top parts of rotations.
Geoff Vai
Principle Director, Office of Baseball Operations
