INTRODUCTION
As noted elsewhere, after a very active draft season, I’m reviewing the organization’s prospect depth by position—both because it’s fun, and so that I can spend some time getting my head around all these guys. It’s a lot of work, probably…and we’ll see how far I get. I’ll probably do some form of depth charts. These will be my views rather than the game’s views. Bottom line, I still don’t trust OOTP’s algorithms particularly far when it comes to determining overall values of players. This means your mileage may vary relative to mine. I’ll focus on the prospects, and probably go into some fringy guys, too. I’m not going to list every single player in the organization, but by talking about some guys I’m guessing that I’ll expose the depths of the fact that I tend to see more players as prospects than the average guy—just like I’ll discount some players at the top end when they are young (assuming that they’ll bust some), I’ll often look at a younger guy missing some things and give them the benefit of the doubt.
Plan for success, I always say, and adjust down.
OVERALL ASSESSMENT AT 1B
When it comes to first base, we’re probably like most teams—filled with interesting prospects pretty much everywhere. I’ve had pretty good success over the years developing waves of young, cheap hitters at 1B/DH, using up their controlled years, and then moving on. Currently we’re platooning Lucas McNeill and LHB rookie Jose Garcia here—Garcia being one of our prototype kid hitters. We also have Dimiao Laqui DHing vs. LHB. Laqui is nearing his arb years, so we’ll have to start paying him. Given that he’s having his first rocky season of his career, we’ll see how that goes.
Anyway, here’s how I see our organization depth chart at the moment.
DEPTH CHART
IC - Robert Chenowith (*****) – RHB 10/11/10/5/7 (3/3/3/2 Def)
R – Mark Haynes (***) – RHB 8/9/9/6/7 (1/3/4/2 Def) << NEW
SA - Miguel Angel Perales (**.5) – RHB 7/8/8/4/7 (3/3/3/2 Def)
AAA – Seinosuke Muto – (*.5) LHB 7/9/7/5/6 (1/2/7/1 Def)
A – Luis Brandao – LHB 7/7/7/5/7 (2/2/3/1 Def)
R - Pedro Perez (**) – RHB 6/7/8/5/6 (4/4/4/2 Def)
A – Kisabaka Angosisye (*.5) – RHB 6/7/8/5/5 (1/4/4/1 Def)
The buzz-maker here is Robert Chenowith, who we bought in IFA this last winter. Having just turned 17, unless he develops up a touch more he’ll stay in the IC through this year as his clock stays un-clocked. Ideally that means he’ll play in Rookie or SA ball next year—higher if his growth suggests it—which given that he ticked up his contact this spring, it might. Bottom line, though, he’s an International Free Agent, and we know the chances of him making it through the grinder unscathed are not good (he’s already dropped a point in Eye talent).
The fact that Chenowith wasn’t quite ready to play this year opened me up to the idea of drafting 18-year-old Mark Haynes in the supplemental draft. He’s developed enough that we’ve considered starting him at SA, but we’ve got a guy there (Perales) already, so he’ll play at least a little in Rookie ball and we’ll see
The “build it and they will come” dream, of course, has Haynes and Chenowith—both bruising 6’6”, 210 pounders with power—growing old together and becoming the YS9 version of the bash brothers.
Getting into the meat-and-potatoes portion of the depth chart, Miguel Angel Perales (18) is a 2035 IFA signing. He’s been downgraded in both contact and Eye since those Halcion days when he was a major eye-popper, but he put up nice numbers in R-ball last year, so I’m hoping his power comes in soonish. If it doesn’t he’ll get passed up this year.
Both Muto (a 6th pink in 2035) and Bandao (8th round last year) received semi-rare double promotions recently. They are interesting because these are the two left-handed hitters in the mix, so we’d really like at least one to step up and get themselves ready. Muto carries the usual mega-splits of a standard-issue lefty, and to put it bluntly, he’s not put up numbers in A-ball to be promoted. But his ratings show he should be able to hit in AAA, and we needed a LHB platoon partner there. So, while he’s only just now 20, we’re rolling some dice and hoping we don’t break him.
Bandao is showing platoon splits, too. He played R-ball after being drafted out of high school, where he won a platinum stick award. The move might be a touch early, but we think he’ll be fine, again in a platoon.
Pedro Perez, last season’s 5th rounder, had a dismal season last year after we picked him in the fifth round. But his scouting didn’t seem to suffer. Could still supply 25-30 HR pop someday. We’ll see. He’s 19 and right-handed. Probably needs to grow real soon now or will threaten to become road kill.
I admit to a warm place in my heart for Kisabaka Angosisye. He makes me think of both Star Wars and several friends/acquaintances from various places in Africa. He’s also growing in a nice, consistent fashion (9 homers, 11 homers, 14 homers) as he steps through the organization. He was drafted in round 5 three seasons back, and doesn’t carry the same gaudy reputation as some of the others, but I’m watching him. Waiting. And rooting for him.
DARK HORSE: RHB Alonso Martinez (6/6/7/5/6 – 1/4/2/2): at 22, Martinez has under-promised and over-performed most of his professional career. I signed him to a minor league contract back in 2031, so if he makes it anywhere, he’ll be a feel good story around these parts.
