In February the San Fernando front office got its first chance to see how their long-term development tracks performed. Due to the more significant potential of these programs, this is probably the most important development log summary for us.
- 2B Zero Dimotsios - Plate Discipline
Unsuccessful: no noticeable changes for the young international scout finding. Dimotsios has been quicker to develop than most international amateurs and has the ceiling of an everyday BBA player. He needs two cruicial elements of his offensive potential, power and eye, to fully develop first.
- SP Felipe Ledesma - Secondary Pitch
Outstanding: the headline is more exciting than the text as Ledesma's cutter improved its current and potential ratings by less than 1 point. No reflection in his dev report that this occurred. I'm still optimistic the 20 year-old lefty will blossom as a starting pitcher but his three pitch mix makes him potentially better suited to the bullpen.
- 3B Etugrul Inonu - Bat Speed
Successful: Inonu's development has been frightfully slow but modest progress in 2059--statistical production in particular--convinced me to give him a coveted dev lab slot. This program improved his current power by less than 1 point. He still needs the power and plate discipline part of his game to mature if he wants to make his BBA debut.
- 1B Michael Schultz - Plate Discipline
Unsuccessful: Schultz has pretty good current ratings but his potential ratings indicate he has further development ahead in a few areas. After seeing what happened in Nashville I'm not sure I'll let him participate in a long-term training program again.
- SP Morgan Tomsett - Secondary Pitch
Unsuccessful: this program helped Tomsett along last offseason but no changes this time. The 28 year-old continues to show tons of unmet potential on his scouting report. It kinda feels like this was his last chance to make good on that promise. At least his current ratings are sufficient for him to be a MOR starter.
- SP Ben Weaver - Secondary Pitch
Detrimental: this was a disaster. Weaver was acquired in the Rule 5 draft last offseason so he didn't have sufficient time to train his secondary pitches. One glance at his scouting report makes it clear he's an ideal candidate for the lab, but unfortunately it went the other way for him. Weaver lost a point of stamina, which under normal circumstances I wouldn't really care about. However, Weaver only had 4 stamina to begin with, so this change borderline prevents him from starting anymore. He can't be reliever converted and his pitch repertoire isn't suited for the bullpen without a conversion. Now he's a guy with great potential ratings but no clear role. Thankfully ATC never used any of his options.
- SS Necdet Ecevit - Plate Discipline
Unsuccessful: Ecevit has the same problem consistently faced by international prospects--slow development. He's got a few loud tools--defensively in particular--so I wanted to level up his game in preparation for a full minor league season. Unfortunately, his eye rating remains a 2/3.
