Under the radar prospects you are looking forward to following

[And That]

I had him at 42. With the depth of the system over the past year or so, I think it is very possible to like someone a lot and not have him in the top 25, or even 50.

[nate82]

I am not sure Franly Mallen and Nic Pierre count as being under the radar but I am still following them. My only under the radar player who I am following is OF Nick Cain. Cain is another one of those big athletic type of a player. He has some major power and he has enough speed to steal 15-20 bases a year. I am also following Francisco Thomas as I am intrigued with him could be a stud.

[And That]

Cain was released.

[nate82]

Cain was released.

 

Dang missed that one.

[Brewer Fever]

Cain was released.

 

Well cross him off the list then

[Jenkins5]

Luis Aviles surprised a lot last year.... looks like he wants to again. He is on my radar even more now

[JohnBriggs12]

Not a prospect but a guy I think we'll see in Milwaukee sooner or later this year is Andrew Barbosa, the big intimidating lefty reliever now at Colorado Springs. I saw him a couple times on tv this spring in Arizona and he looks like he can help.

[Eye Black]

Zach Clark appears to have the tools (most notably speed) to develop into a very good player.

[Noche]

Hot starts

 

G. Cooper: 41 PA .368/.415/.575 6 XBH 2:8 BB:K

D. DeMuth: 32 PA .321/.406/.500 3 XBH 4:7 BB:K

L. Aviles: 39 PA .313/.436/.469 3 XBH 7:8 BB:K

J. Gatewood: 39 PA .323/.462/.452 2 XBH 8:10 BB:K

M. Feliciano: 27 PA .292/.370/.583 4 XBH 3:4 BB:K

M. Harrison: 36 PA .273/.333/.485 3 XBH 2:9 BB:K

[yoshii8]

Troy Stokes Jr. has had a very nice start to the season. He seems like a guy to keep an eye on, some speed, a little power and plate discipline.

[NYChez]

Bubba Derby and Nate Griep.

[MrTPlush]

Don't like Stokes that much because he is more of a tweener guy. Can't play CF and doesn't provide much power at a corner. We will see how he develops, but not that exciting to me.

[And That]

"Can't play CF" is not accurate. He can play CF, he's just often been playing beside other players whom the Brewers are giving the priority in CF. He's not a premium defender by any stretch, but he's in the same part of the CF defensive continuum as Kyle Wren.

 

Stokes has played basically a season and a half of baseball so far in his pro career, and carries a .371 OBP. At a 600 PA average, he's averaging 47 SBs (84% success rate at that), and nearly 30 doubles. He has a career wRC+ of 119, which is really good run creation. For reference, average MLB wRC+ for LFers was 97 last year.

[CheezWizHed]

Defensively, I always thought Stokes was like Clark. Or maybe Michael Reed. Could play CF, but probably not.

 

He is someone to keep an eye on as a contributor, but I still doubt he will be a priority starting OFer.

[MrTPlush]

He can play CF, he's just often been playing beside other players whom the Brewers are giving the priority in CF.

 

 

That is the problem though. Even when he makes the majors there will likely always be someone better defensively. Maybe he could play there, but it may not happen. I guess I shouldn't say I don't like him because in the contect of under the radar prospects he might be one of my favorites. Overall though his ceiling is pretty limitted and I don't imagine him ever getting a shot here. Probably a good candidate to be traded when we are contending to get some "now" reinforcements.

[NYChez]

Don't like Stokes that much because he is more of a tweener guy. Can't play CF and doesn't provide much power at a corner. We will see how he develops, but not that exciting to me.

This view makes me wonder, if Tony Gwynn, Sr. was not quite as good as he really was and started his career in 2017 instead of 1983, would he have been guaranteed a starting spot in the majors? His slugging percentage through his age 25 season was around .400. Only 5 times did he hit double-digit home runs. He was a well below average defensive corner outfielder.

[MrTPlush]

Don't like Stokes that much because he is more of a tweener guy. Can't play CF and doesn't provide much power at a corner. We will see how he develops, but not that exciting to me.

This view makes me wonder, if Tony Gwynn, Sr. was not quite as good as he really was and started his career in 2017 instead of 1983, would he have been guaranteed a starting spot in the majors? His slugging percentage through his age 25 season was around .400. Only 5 times did he hit double-digit home runs. He was a well below average defensive corner outfielder.

 

So basically if he didn't .350 and more like .280? Gwynn still had pretty impressive speed that I am sure would make up for the lack of power.

 

That is what Troy Stokes will depend on. I know he gets a lot of steals, but I am not sure how much of that is just low minors catchers just not being good. Add in the high OBP maybe he is a Brett Gardner type without the above average defense? It would be nice if he could add a little bit more power than he has now.

[ClosetBrewerFan]

One of Rijo or Bethencourt make a step after not being good last year.

 

What does everyone think of Wendell Rijo. Out of all these posts, YoungGeezy was the only one to list him. He was a top 20 Red Sox prospect before we got him. He now seems to be fighting Allemand and Ortega for ABs. He has a decent OBP but his AVG and SLG are low but it is hard to rate him based on so few ABs. Has he been hurt? Why cant he get more playing time?

 

P.S. kind of fun re-reading this list from the beginning of the season.

[CheezWizHed]

He is a light hitting 2B-only player. We have a lot of these type of players (Betancort, Neuhaus, Mallen, York). You hope one of these guys improves to become Scooter Gennett, but its doubtful. Even being a Yadiel Rivera or Allemond have better prospects as they can play SS defensively.

 

Nate Orf is probably the top of this category, but he plays more positions defensively and has hit better. I'm not sure if Orf is even top 30 in the Brewer's prospect list.

[Jenkins5]

Neuhaus has the best power bat of the bunch but can seem to hit for any average. Orf is a fun prospect & hope he gets a shot somewhere. Undrafted griddy player who just hits & plays everywhere

[CheezWizHed]

I've given up on Neuhaus. Every time I think he is going to finally show off his potential, he gets hurt or goes cold. Third year at Wisconsin and he is hitting 233/287/436, which is pretty close to his career MiLB numbers. Hope I'm wrong, but I don't see it. Too far away and just no improvements.

[82brewcrew82]

I've given up on Neuhaus. Every time I think he is going to finally show off his potential, he gets hurt or goes cold. Third year at Wisconsin and he is hitting 233/287/436, which is pretty close to his career MiLB numbers. Hope I'm wrong, but I don't see it. Too far away and just no improvements.

 

He played all of 8 games at Wisconsin last year. He had a grand total of 441 at bats at Wisconsin coming in to this season. I'd say he's had about a season and a half of actual AB's at his current level. He just turned 22 and is still age appropriate for the level. He already has more extra base hits than he has ever hit in a whole season and his current SLG is certainly not "close" to his career MiLB numbers.

 

Still, the numbers are not great and I doubt he amounts to much but we can at least be fair with the assessment.

[JohnBriggs12]

Bubba Derby and Nate Griep.

 

Good call on these two, perhaps the only "under the radar" guys to emerge this year so far other than Ramirez part 2. Derby's turnaround from 2016 when he wasn't under the radar has been amazing and Griep's having a really nice season at Carolina.

[Outlander]

Stokes was also mentioned quite a bit and the lack of power that was a criticism has emerged this year.

[Eye Black]

Some recent reports on Troy Stokes, Jr. are listed below.

 

From Fangraphs, Eric Longenhagen's Daily Notes for 7/10:

 

Troy Stokes, Jr., OF, Milwaukee

Level: Hi-A Age: 21 Org Rank: HM Top 100: NR

Line: 2-for-4, HR, 2 BB, 2 SB

 

Notes

A muscular 5-foot-8, Stokes packs quite a punch and has above-average pull power. Because of his size, his swing is equally as compact as it is lofty and he’s able to be short to the baseball while also lifting it into the air. Stokes lacks bat control and doesn’t square balls up as frequently as scouts like to see, leading to many pop ups, and his pull-heavy approach to contact means he might be solved at upper levels, but he’s got an interesting power/patience combination and some speed, too.

Also a good Troy Stokes, Jr. article from last month appeared on BP Milwaukee written by Kyle Lesniewski, Stoked for Carolina

 

****

 

So moving on to my question... now in his 4th season in the organization, are we underestimating the present talent and future potential of Troy Stokes, Jr.?

 

The former 4th round pick wasn't among the top 30 vote getters in our pre-season Brewerfan.net community prospect rankings, although I would guess he moves up somewhat in our mid-season vote. It seems that Stokes, Jr. has a legitimate shot to develop into major league outfielder, even if it is ultimately in a backup role. I attended a Mudcats game in which he not only hit a

, but he also hit a line drive that went just foul down the left field line that is one of the hardest hit balls I have ever seen in person. His hard contact ability was on full display. He has a quick and compact swing with what appears to be above average bat speed. He also possesses the speed element of the equation to make the power/speed combination intriguing. One fair criticism does seem to be that he is very pull heavy. Still, he has some exciting tools for a player that just turned 21 years old this past February. By comparison age wise to some of his Carolina teammates he is one year and four months younger than Corey Ray while Troy is also younger than Lucas Erceg, Jake Gatewood, and Monte Harrison. I know many of the other Carolina prospects have more protectable frames, but the 5'8" Stokes, Jr. seems to be holding his own among a heralded group of prospects.

 

There is certainly more to prospect development than stats, but it is notable that so far this season 34 of his 79 hits have gone for extra bases including 4 triples and 13 home runs. He currently has an .817 OPS which ranks first on Mudcats roster ahead of even Jake Gatewood. The speed has also translated on the base paths where he has 18 stolen bases on the year.

 

Is Stokes still being mostly underestimated or is he now emerging out from under the radar?