Link Report for Fri. 8/29 -- Congrats to W.V., Playoff Bound! Sounds Season Ends

[Mass Haas]

With their season now over, we'd be remiss in not thanking Sounds' Director of Broadcasting and play-by-play man Chuck Valenches and Assistant General Manager Doug Scopel for their informative work in what was otherwise a dreary season on the AAA level in terms of wins and losses.

[JoeHova]

Angel Salome's OPS+ (not park adjusted) is now 161. That's the 2nd highest of any prospect in the Southern League, trailing only Matt LaPorta (who is a year older and ahead by only .004 points of OPS). That is pretty impressive, even though there are caveats with Angel (size, BABIP, defense). It's pretty weird that a 22 year old catcher who is hitting like this is not getting more attention, although I guess it might be because of the suspension.

 

I mean, compare ANgel to the NL All-Star catchers this year. Russell Martin was the same age in the same league and put up an .853 OPS. Geovany Soto was 21 when he was in AA and put up a .750 OPS and followed that up with a .699 at AAA when he was 22. Brian McCann was is the majors at Angel's age, but when he was 21, he put up an .835 OPS in AA and got called up for good.

 

Obviously all players are different, and I'm not saying Angel will necessarily become an all-star, but his numbers are getting pretty hard to ignore, imo.

[homer]

There's a lot to be excited about with Salome. Until I actually see his defense I can't comment one way or the other - I always thought Weeks' poor defense was fiction until I actually saw him play - but there's no questioning his bat. A couple of things that really stand out to me are his low K rate, improved BB rate, and the fact that he hits righties and lefties fairly equally. Can't wait to see what he does next season.