Off Topic
As noted in the first segment of this series of reports, the calendar has turned to the latest stages of May, 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 the next in a series of reports that attempt to categorize the depth of our minor league prospects. To do so, I’ve swiped 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).
As a reminder, then, the Grading System used here is:
We will continue by looking at the team’s bullpen.
CURRENT SITUATION & FUTURE NEEDS
The current Bikini is both young (Enrique Villarreal is the “aging veteran” at 27 years old) and very, very good (Winston Morris turned 24 in March and is a fair bet to be the franchise’s top save getter of all time by the end of the year—yes, we know saves are so yester-year, but the guys like him back there anchoring the pen so who are we to argue…essentially almost every time Morris pitches, we win, which last I checked is the purpose of playing the game at this level).
Brain Capps will enter his arbitration years, but after much shaking up in the off-season, he was joined by rookies Jesús Saucedo, Andy Pedley, Ray Ayotte, and Ted Myatt (acquired in the Nakamura deal). Ultimately, barring injury or the need to make trades, there is no immediate need in the bullpen.
That said …
PROSPECT REPORT CARD
DISCUSSION
By organizational design, the bullpen (and bullpen prospects) is a source of great depth in this organization. I’ve avoided including three of the four rookies in this list simply because it was growing too long. The one I’ve kept (Ayotte) is there because, while he’s currently dominating big league hitters, our operations people expect the league to catch up with him and we feel Ayotte has more room to develop before he’ll be as lights-out as he looks right now. Hence the B+ grade.
There’s no room at the inn for Pedro Valéncia (2nd round, 2061) right now, though he’s ready to go. If he develops the bit of extra command we’re expecting he’ll develop, he’ll be another are that can dominate.
Downlist a little, Melikov came out of nowhere (12th round in 2061) to throw 101 MPH, which will always catch an eye. Randull (14th round, 2057) was lost to Rule V last season, but we were extremely happy to see he was returned. He’s 25 years old now, on the secondary roster, and ready to pitch now, but we can be patient. I’ll recommend him as the next guy up if injury calls. Liong is another deep pick (10th round, 2061) who has developed well. He’s injured now, and could fall off the list, depending.
The enigma here is, of course, Jacky Lavergne, who we selected in the first round of the 2062 draft. To be direct, despite my team’s insistence of his raw skill levels, he’s struggled everywhere he’s gone, and we’ve needed to downgrade him often. We see the team has accepted our recommendation of moving him back to the bullpen in AAA-Pasco. We’ll see if that gets him going (we would say “Again” but in reality, Lavergne has never really gotten much going since arriving).
I can go on like this for a long time. Eight other pitchers appear on our scorecard, and to be honest we could add more guys we find of interest, but would likely grade out in the “Ds” of the scale.
We expect many of these players to be able to fill roles on major league clubs—specifically including Luis Rodríguez, who has a repertoire that leads us to think that he, like Felipe Valentín, might be worth giving a bit of lead toward the rotation.
STRATEGIC POSITION
The club traded essentially an entire bullpen in the off-season, using this area of strength to add key players like Arturo Pérez. We suggest that the executive suite continue to see this area as a resource of exchange. It is young, of course, and very, very good.
It’s worthy of note that the club drafted several more bullpen arms in this season’s draft, the vast majority of whom will be pitching rookie ball in Ogden. Given our organization’s history, we would not be surprised if a few of them arrive onto this grade sheet next year.
All total, it is reasonable to think that the Krill’s bullpen will continue to see waves of fresh faces every season or two for the foreseeable future.
Geoff Vai
Principle Director, Office of Baseball Operations
As a reminder, then, 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 continue by looking at the team’s bullpen.
CURRENT SITUATION & FUTURE NEEDS
The current Bikini is both young (Enrique Villarreal is the “aging veteran” at 27 years old) and very, very good (Winston Morris turned 24 in March and is a fair bet to be the franchise’s top save getter of all time by the end of the year—yes, we know saves are so yester-year, but the guys like him back there anchoring the pen so who are we to argue…essentially almost every time Morris pitches, we win, which last I checked is the purpose of playing the game at this level).
Brain Capps will enter his arbitration years, but after much shaking up in the off-season, he was joined by rookies Jesús Saucedo, Andy Pedley, Ray Ayotte, and Ted Myatt (acquired in the Nakamura deal). Ultimately, barring injury or the need to make trades, there is no immediate need in the bullpen.
That said …
PROSPECT REPORT CARD
| Level | Age | OVR | STUFF | MOV | HRA | BABIP | CON | Velo/Stam | Grade | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pedro Valéncia | AAA | 21 | 65/70 | 12/12 | 6/6 | 6/6 | 6/6 | 3/5 | 101/3 | A- |
| Ray Ayotte | ML | 24 | 45/55 | 5/6 | 7/9 | 7/10 | 6/6 | 7/10 | 97/1 | B+ |
| Qabil Melikov | AAA | 25 | 40/65 | 8/11 | 5/5 | 4/5 | 6/6 | 4/5 | 100/2 | B |
| Graham Randull | AAA | 25 | 55/55 | 5/5 | 7/7 | 8/8 | 6/6 | 8/8 | 96/1 | B |
| Jiong Liu | AAA | 25 | 45/50 | 8/11 | 5/5 | 5/5 | 6/6 | 5/5 | 101/1 | B- |
| Jacky Lavergne | AAA | 21 | 50/50 | 7/8 | 5/6 | 5/6 | 6/6 | 6/6 | 97/2 | B- |
| Court Cheek | AAA | 24 | 45/55 | 4/5 | 7/7 | 7/7 | 6/6 | 7/7 | 96/2 | C+ |
| José Bermúdez | AA | 22 | 55/55 | 11/11 | 7/7 | 9/9 | 5/5 | 2/2 | 100/2 | C+ |
| Pedro León | AAA | 24 | 45/45 | 6/6 | 5/7 | 7/7 | 6/6 | 5/5 | 99/1 | C+ |
| Javier Fayarde | AA | 22 | 40/45 | 7/11 | 4/5 | 3/5 | 5/5 | 7/7 | 99/1 | C+ |
| Roberto Ledezma | AA | 22 | 45/50 | 7/7 | 5/5 | 5/6 | 5/5 | 6/6 | 98/1 | C |
| Luis Rodríguez | AA | 23 | 45/45 | 7/7 | 5/5 | 5/5 | 5/5 | 6/6 | 98/2 | C |
| Jorge Valdéz | AA | 21 | 40/45 | 6/6 | 5/5 | 4/5 | 5/5 | 5/6 | 100/2 | C |
| Zhong-yan Chen | AA | 23 | 40/50 | 5/6 | 5/5 | 4/5 | 5/5 | 6/6 | 99/2 | C- |
DISCUSSION
By organizational design, the bullpen (and bullpen prospects) is a source of great depth in this organization. I’ve avoided including three of the four rookies in this list simply because it was growing too long. The one I’ve kept (Ayotte) is there because, while he’s currently dominating big league hitters, our operations people expect the league to catch up with him and we feel Ayotte has more room to develop before he’ll be as lights-out as he looks right now. Hence the B+ grade.
There’s no room at the inn for Pedro Valéncia (2nd round, 2061) right now, though he’s ready to go. If he develops the bit of extra command we’re expecting he’ll develop, he’ll be another are that can dominate.
Downlist a little, Melikov came out of nowhere (12th round in 2061) to throw 101 MPH, which will always catch an eye. Randull (14th round, 2057) was lost to Rule V last season, but we were extremely happy to see he was returned. He’s 25 years old now, on the secondary roster, and ready to pitch now, but we can be patient. I’ll recommend him as the next guy up if injury calls. Liong is another deep pick (10th round, 2061) who has developed well. He’s injured now, and could fall off the list, depending.
The enigma here is, of course, Jacky Lavergne, who we selected in the first round of the 2062 draft. To be direct, despite my team’s insistence of his raw skill levels, he’s struggled everywhere he’s gone, and we’ve needed to downgrade him often. We see the team has accepted our recommendation of moving him back to the bullpen in AAA-Pasco. We’ll see if that gets him going (we would say “Again” but in reality, Lavergne has never really gotten much going since arriving).
I can go on like this for a long time. Eight other pitchers appear on our scorecard, and to be honest we could add more guys we find of interest, but would likely grade out in the “Ds” of the scale.
We expect many of these players to be able to fill roles on major league clubs—specifically including Luis Rodríguez, who has a repertoire that leads us to think that he, like Felipe Valentín, might be worth giving a bit of lead toward the rotation.
STRATEGIC POSITION
The club traded essentially an entire bullpen in the off-season, using this area of strength to add key players like Arturo Pérez. We suggest that the executive suite continue to see this area as a resource of exchange. It is young, of course, and very, very good.
It’s worthy of note that the club drafted several more bullpen arms in this season’s draft, the vast majority of whom will be pitching rookie ball in Ogden. Given our organization’s history, we would not be surprised if a few of them arrive onto this grade sheet next year.
All total, it is reasonable to think that the Krill’s bullpen will continue to see waves of fresh faces every season or two for the foreseeable future.
Geoff Vai
Principle Director, Office of Baseball Operations
