39.25 A Post-Bobby Lynch Jackrabbits Future #2 Jose Salas

[crobillard]

My first pick in the 2037 draft, and my first pick since coming back to the BBA, Jose Salas looks like he's going to be a force to be reckoned with when he makes it to the big leagues. I was uncertain when I made the pick and other GMs after said they would have went with Nashville's pick David Simpson instead. Simpson would later be traded to California where he's quickly becoming known as one of the best hitters in the league. Back when I made my pick I like Salas' ability to not only get on base at a high rate, but take walks, hit homeruns and steal bases. At the time I wondered where the heck he would hit. Cleanup? Leadoff? There's not much he can't do.

He played two years of high school ball, playing in all 80 games. He batted .380/.505/.697 with 19 doubles, five triples and 22 homeruns along with 72 walks and he was successful on 24 of 33 stolen base attempts. He was drafted by Edmonton with the fourth overall pick in 2037 and had 4/6/4/4/4 actuals. StatsPlus doesn't have potentials tracked for Salas that I can find, so we're not able to follow that along, but I'll provide more information on that a little later.

Upon joining Edmonton, he was placed in Rookie league and played in 53 games with a .277/.370/.516 batting line in 188 at bats with nine doubles, three triples, 10 homeruns, and 23 walks starting out with solid production. He also played in Florida at the season end and collected 117 at bats with a .274/.309/.427 batting line. He actually lumped a bit in August of 2037 which gave me a bit of a scare, but he bounced back quickly and by the beginning of the 2038 season he was rated 5/8/3/4/4. In 2038, Salas was promoted to A league Charlesbourg. He collected 312 at bats and batted .269/.307/.471 with 15 doubles, six triples and 12 homeruns. He struck out 67 times. This would serve as the first time Salas saw any resistance in his production.

Despite the challenge in Charlesbourg, Salas learned quickly, especially in the offseason. He was rated 6/9/4/5/5 and he received an important bump in outfield range, which allowed him to be serviceable in left field where he was now rated a 6. He also bumped baserunning to 7 which may have lead to an increased number of extra base hits in 2039. This year was a big one for Salas. He saw the best progression he's seen through his short career. He would split the year between AA and AAA. In AA he played 69 games with 267 at bats, he had a batting line of .288/.370/.528 with 14 doubles, seven triples, 12 homeruns, 28 walks and struck out 58 times. What is notable is that he was unsuccessful in all four attempts stealing a base, but that didn't hold him back from a mid year promotion. In AAA he played 63 more games with 245 at bats with a .306/.410/.510 batting line clearly receiving the benefit of his increased progression. He tagged 25 doubled, five triples, five homeruns with 39 walks and 43 strikeouts. At the time of this writing he's rated 8/9/4/7/7 with 10/10/6/8/9 potentials. He has an 11 speed, 9 stealing and 7 baserunning and he's rated 5/7/7 for outfield defense with a 6 rating in LF.

Salas is of course our starting left fielder or DH. He has a normal injury rating, but he only had two total injuries in the minors with only one keeping him out for significant time and that only cost him a week and that was considered a day to day injury so he could have played through it. A bigger question is when we may see him debut. He's received a bump in many of his actual ratings each offseason. If he does the same this offseason, we could see him early next season. I think it's more likely I stash him in AAA and we see a 2041 debut or a mid 2040 debut at the earliest. The concerns for me right now are his AvK rating at 7 of 9 and power at 4/6. I'd really like to see those completely developed to be honest. I think they're important to Salas continuing to be able to produce. Another consideration to Salas' readiness are his splits. He's much stronger against LHP. From his 8/9/4/7/7 current actuals, he's rated 9/10/4/7/7 against lefties and 7/9/4/6/7 against righties. These are solid ratings for anyone in the majors, but in order to produce to his full potential he really needs a bump in contact and AvK to produce where he should against righties.

It's going to be tricky deciding when to bring up Salas and it's totally going to depend on his development. I initially planned on having him ready for 2040, but I'm not convinced right now he'll produce in majors where I want him to. I'm excited about him regardless, he's going to be very strong whenever he gets to the bigs and putting him in a lineup with Steven Collins III will be fun to watch.

[RonCo]

Though Salas is taking a little longer, it appears you couldn't go wrong with either Salas or Simpson.

And Salas does look a bit more versatile.