39.22 A Post-Bobby Lynch Jackrabbits Future #5 Pepe Espinosa

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39.22 A Post-Bobby Lynch Jackrabbits Future #5 Pepe Espinosa

Post by crobillard » Sat Aug 31, 2019 7:06 pm

Middle infielder Pepe Espinosa was acquired via the Bobby Lynch deal and I love him. He's one of my favorite acquisitions this year only being overshadowed by one other guy. He projects to be a rangey fielder with a productive, but not outstanding bat. I really enjoy the idea of having him in the lineup and of course his defense will be a big boon to any pitcher that I have on the mound.

He played two years of high school ball where he played every game. In 349 total at bats he hit .344/.404/.653 with 25 doubles, four triples and 25 homeruns. Then, he was drafted by the Calgary Pioneers with the 31st overall pick in the loaded 2038 draft. He was drafted with 2/3/4/3/3 ratings and 7/10/7/4/8 potentials. He played more shortstop exclusively in high school, but was moved over to second and third after he was drafted to give him some versatility.

He had a hard time hitting the ball in Calgary's Rookie league affiliate hitting just .196/.244/.392 in his 209 at bats. He hit 11 doubles and 10 homeruns to drive his slugging percentage up, but it certainly wasn't the start you want to see from your future star infielder. After the rough start, Calgary dropped him into the FPL to see if he would find greater success there. He batted .278/.314/.454 in 97 at bats. He hit eight doubles and three homeruns during the stint, so this looks to have helped kick start his progress. He was assist by a series of bumps over this time as well, now listed at 4/8/4/3/4. I know his gap rating bumped huge throughout the year. In the offseason he suffered his first lump where his gap potential dropped to 9. His popularity skyrocketed to Very Popular locally and Popular nationally, so I'll take it.

As the 2039 season started, the 18 year old, Espinosa's contact increased to 5 and gap increased to 9, so his actuals were now rated 5/9/4/3/4 with 7/9/7/4/8 potentials. He was also named the 79th best prospect in the BBA by OOTP's absolutely perfect rating system with no issues whatsoever. In July, Espinosa was included in the deal that shipped Bobby Lynch to Calgary and, as this is written during the time that the 2039 playoffs are happening, I'll go ahead and predict that Bobby Lynch launches the Calgary Pioneers to a Landis win since they were hopeless without him. He hit .229/.258/.413 in 385 at bats in Calgary's A level with 32 doubles, three triples and 11 homeruns. He struck out 96 times, walked only 17 times and stole bases in four out of five attempts. In his first really extended look since he was drafted his wasn't fantastic defensively, but he was mostly learned 2B and 3B which were out of his wheelhouse in high school.

Since Espinosa's arrival, he hit 5 for 31 in Edmonton's A level affiliate only to promptly fracture his ribs, Calgary fans said it was on purpose, and render himself unable to play for four weeks, ending his season short. I considered adding him to the FPL roster, but I prefer he just sit out the offseason and not become an injury statistic for the FPL.

Fast forward to today, he's rated 4/9/4/4/4 with 7/9/7/4/8 with a 70 potential rating and 10/8/6/10 infield defensive ratings. He's rated a 6 at second, 4 at third and 7 at short. If he fills out his potentials, I think he'll probably be our second baseman of the future if we're able to keep Joey O'Brien entrenched at short. Unless he sees good development this offseason, I'm likely going to stick Espinosa back in Charlesbourg so I can see him start to have success there. I may decide against it though and bring him up to AA. He'll be 19 1/2 at that point, so I'd definitely prefer to have him in AA, but we'll see how the ratings shake out.

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