Your assessments of our minor league players

[Humans Need Water]

I'll make my first post a lengthy one. With the system being so deep it's difficult to single out only a handful of prospects but the guys I've been paying attention to the most have been Phillips, Ortiz, Nottingham, Burnes, T. Williams, Kodi, Peralta.

 

As mentioned by others, Nottingham is getting overlooked and deemed to be having another down year in AA when he's one of the most improved players thus far in terms of where he's come from. He's always been knocked pretty hard defensively but if you happened to watch him play a few games in the AZFL this past year you'd clearly see an athletic kid who has what it takes to stick at that position. Just needed to work more on his footwork and positioning his body properly for blocking but his receiving and throwing skills are there. Last year he had 15 errors, 21 PB, 29.3% CS rate. This year he's on pace for under 6 errors and PB each while throwing out 44.1% of runners (leading the league). Offensively he was a bit unlucky in April but since May 1 he's slashing 280/366/805, 10 doubles, HR, 10rbi, 8bb, 18k (8.5% bb rate, 19.1% k rate) posting a 136 wRC+. On the season he's increased his BB rate and dropped his K rate by almost 11%. He's still 2yrs young for level at AA , which is important to note given the catching position has the steepest learning curve, and has put so much effort in on the defensive side that now it's time for his bat to come back around. And it will. He's still very much a legitimate Top 15 org prospect moving forward and will get back into the Top 10 at some point.

 

A few others have mentioned Ortiz not getting much love either and color me shocked as well. This is a kid who will be better than Woodruff. He's had a few bumpy starts this year, which is expected especially given being 3yrs young for level, but his other 8 have been incredible. 41ip, 20h, 5er, 16bb, 36k, 1.08 ERA, 0.878 WHIP, 4.39 H9, 3.51 BB9, 7.9 K9. He's 21. Woodruff was 23 last year at that same level. Not sure if Ortiz is working on developing certain pitches but his BB rate is much higher than it typically is but it's something I'm not worried about.

 

Phillips AA last year wasn't anywhere near as bad as the numbers suggest on the surface and he's showing that this year. He made mechanical adjustments since coming over to develop more power and it's taken some time for this to happen but now he's seeing the fruits of his labor.

 

Burnes had 2nd round potential (maybe 1st according to some) and was a steal in the 4th at the time. He's showing his skill set and bulldog mentality/approach. He'll be fun to watch moving forward and as an advanced college arm I expect Stearns having him start in AAA next year.

 

T. Williams I think everyone's been waiting to see what he does given his injuries. He's had a pitch count thus far and hasn't pitched in 2wks so not sure what the issue is. Given his past I don't understand why he's starting to begin with. Stick him in a traditional pen role and he can get 3 one inning appearances per week. If they did this he'd be in AAA next month and up in Sept with a legitimate shot at a pen role next spring. It's wishful thinking treating him like a future starter. He turns 26 next month. I also put Kirby in this same boat when he's back. Stick him in the pen and move him multiple levels annually as they both have dominant stuff and could be tremendous assets in the pen. A dominant pen is extremely critical for the playoffs.

 

Kodi I've long thought to be a pen arm and this year he's splitting his time between starting and out of the pen while actually throwing more innings out of the pen thus far. Overall he's improved across the board and is attacking the zone more, which is good to see. His pen numbers are great but needs to work on getting his BB rate down in that role. Starting next year I'm hoping they bump him to AA and switch him full time to the pen like they did Derby this year. He can have a bright future there. It's great to see Derby excelling in that role as well.

 

Peralta still gets buzz but seemed last year to be a bit overshadowed by Diplan but this year he's separating himself from the pack. For the most part his numbers across the board are similar to his time in A last year so he's clearly made some adjustments and grown from his experience in A+ last year. I think he's a better prospect than Ponce.

 

I hope Lara excels because he's in our system but I've seen him in spring back-to-back years now and other than his physical stature he's not impressive whatsoever at this point in time (still young) and he shouldn't have been anywhere near the Top 25 let alone in the Top 10 last year, especially given his age/level/production at that point in time.

[KCBrewerfan34]

Great write up humans! Much appreciated.