Power 50 -- Freshly Minted May 22nd Version Available

[trwi7]

Melvin just mentioned this week how impressive he's been.

He also mentioned Anundsen's no-hitter and how good he's been.

[TooLiveBrew]

I might expose myself for the noob I am, but the comments on Braddock & Scarpetta are really exciting.

[battlekow]

No, Braddock and Scarpetta (and to a lesser extent Peralta) are all very exciting. Nice to have in the face of such abject failure from Jeffress so far this season.

[paul253]

Is Braddock going to go back to starting soon? He seems to be very dominant in his current role.

[And That]

And why the love for Efrain Nieves? He doesn't even belong on the list. He's a soft tosser with a loopy breaking pitch and poor production. I've seen him pitch twice this year, and I couldn't be less inspired.

If the Brewers promote a 19 year old to A-ball, it generally means they think quite highly of him. And it's not like there was/is a shortage of pitchers for the Wisconsin roster... Nieves must have earned his way. No doubt he's not a hard thrower, but he has good command and potential with his offspeed stuff.

[Schlitz001]

McGehee's comment has me cracking up.

[trwi7]

If the Brewers promote a 19 year old to A-ball, it generally means they think quite highly of him. And it's not like there was/is a shortage of pitchers for the Wisconsin roster... Nieves must have earned his way. No doubt he's not a hard thrower, but he has good command and potential with his offspeed stuff.

Completely agree. He's not going to turn 20 until November. The most disappointing Wisconsin pitcher to me is Adams. He hasn't thrown the ball well at all, walking nearly 4 per 9 innings, barely over 6 with his strikeouts per 9 innings and throwing in the upper 80s when I've seen him.

 

Most impressive to me are Scarpetta and Peralta. I really liked what I saw from Peralta (haven't seen Scarpetta yet other than that one video posted earlier this year.) But Peralta has a really nice sinking fastball in the low to mid 90s and a lot of potential with his slider.

[LouisEly]

Anundsen must have read this thread because last night he looked like he wanted to shut up any critics - 5IP, 4H, 0 R/ER, 1BB, 5K.

[Never Outhustled]

Anundsen must have read this thread because last night he looked like he wanted to shut up any critics - 5IP, 4H, 0 R/ER, 1BB, 5K.

Did he break 86 with his fastball? I'm suprised so many are excited about a guy who doesn't have big league velocity. He doesn't even have Ben Hendickson velocity. Velocity isn't everything, but every MLB RHSP throws high 80s.

[battlekow]

Velocity isn't everything, but every MLB RHSP throws high 80s.

That's not exactly true. Certainly Anundsen is living on the edge with regard to his velocity--a few MPH slower and his fastball would probably be unworkable--but with a good sinker, good control, and a good birthdate, I'm content to see what he turns into. Seeing how much of his success this year has been due to the FSL will be interesting, but you can't just dismiss the across-the-board improvement in his peripherals. After all, if dominating the FSL was as simple as having a good sinker, your man Johs Butler would have been in AA long ago.

[jackalope02ca]

For those who just cast soft tossers aside and think they have no chance of ever making it in the majors there is this guy named Jamie Moyer who seems to have done ok for himself in the majors. You can't always judge a book by it's cover.

[TheCrew07]

There's one Jamie Moyer in all of baseball... I'm not sure that we can count on 1 of our soft tossers to make it as a MLB SP, let alone all 3 that people like.

[jackalope02ca]

I'm not suggesting all 3 will make it. Not even suggesting 1 of them will. All I'm saying is keep an open mind. Pitching is all about getting outs. How you get them isn't realy relevant.

[Never Outhustled]

For those who just cast soft tossers aside and think they have no chance of ever making it in the majors there is this guy named Jamie Moyer who seems to have done ok for himself in the majors.

Anundsen is a righty , not a lefty like Moyer. As the chart Battlekow posted, lefties can get by with far less velocity than righties. Moyer is the reason I have hope for Chris Cody.

 

That's not exactly true. Certainly Anundsen is living on the edge with regard to his velocity--a few MPH slower and his fastball would probably be unworkable--but with a good sinker, good control, and a good birthdate, I'm content to see what he turns into.

I'm content to see what he turns into too, I'm not in any way saying he should be released, but he's 15th on the P50. Thats awfully high in a good system when he's battling such long odds. Your chart shows there isn't any RHP breaking into the league with 85 MPH velocity. The only guy throwing 85 is Livan Hernandez, and he got pounded last year, and I'll guess that his numbers will go south this year too. To predict Anundsen is likely to accomplish something in way no one else is able to do to me is over-reaching.

[Mass Haas]

Some of the guys we highlighted in that second tier of P50 players just outside the Top 10 have had a fantastic week since our comments on them, highlighting their positives thus far...

[Yaz]

Hi,

 

Wow, haven't posted here in ages. But it begs the question. What is the deal with the stats updating for the Power 50? I just clicked on Mat Gamel and the stats are only current through 2006. Also, what is Mat's favorite jam? :-)

[colbyjack]

BK, I personally listed Dillard high at # 10, so my cohorts will have to defend themselves on that one.

 

I'm not typically a big fan of defending myself in such a situation, since in doing so I'm going to be taking shots at the player(s) in question.

 

First off, he's 25 years old, soon to be 26. He's been in the system for a while, and has been in the upper levels of the system the past several years. He has been switched from a starter to a reliever and back to a starter now, and isn't doing a very good job missing bats this year. Reid Nichols has noted in the past that his future role is likely in the bullpen because he really only has one pitch, his sinker. He has had plenty of opportunities to get called up to the big leagues and he hasn't been able to stick. I hope he becomes a stalwart in the team's bullpen sooner rather than later, and I do realize that it took Mitch Stetter a few times to finally stick for good. However, Dillard, like Stetter, is probably going to be a non-closing candidate short reliever, and while that has value, such players don't fall in the 10-15 prospect range for me.

[battlekow]

I thought Dillard looked pretty good out of the pen last year; he was certainly throwing a lot harder than he does as a starter. I think he's a pretty solid bet to be a serviceable middle reliever, and that's a pretty good prospect in my book. I'm not sure why he was moved back to the rotation this year in Nashville, especially since, as colby mentioned, Reid Nichols has acknowledged that his future role is in the bullpen. Ultimately, his value is a prospect is something like his ceiling * his chance of reaching that, and while his ceiling is low, it's still that of a productive Major Leaguer, and he's pretty much reached it already. I wish he'd get another shot with the big club.

[kramnoj]

I don't follow the minors nearly as much as others do. How many non-closer prospects get developed as relievers in the minors? If you weigh the added experience gained through IP vs the experience of pitching as a reliever, I think the more IP is more valuable.

 

I don't know if it was explicitly stated, but I thought Dillard was made a SP as an insurance depth move in case of injury or struggles in the Brewers rotation. If there were 5 better SP prospects that should be at the AAA level, Dillard should probably be in the pen. Given the Brewers current setup at the majors and in AAA, Dillard would be a good option to come up and fill either role that is needed. I'm assuming that at this point Dillard is pencilled in as a RP for the 2010 team, which means one fewer veteran arm that needs to be signed for next year.

[molitor fan]

Butler not in the top 50 is kind of shocking...excellent list, but Butler needs to be around 32-35

[Mass Haas]

Frequent forum contributor battlekow with some well-laid out analysis at BCB