The Official 2018 Minor League Statline and Prospect Discussion Thread

[rafibomb]

Final line for Suarez:

3.2 IP

6 H

2 R

0 BB

9 K

 

Exciting 1-2 punch for Mobile with Canning !

[Docwaukee]

9 of 11 outs via the K for Suarez. 

Moyer with 6hrs.   

Ward still killing it.  

[SoWhat]

I thought Suarez worked 88-92? 

[Chuck]

9 minutes ago, SoWhat said:

I thought Suarez worked 88-92? 

No Kyle Glasser at BA had him st 90-94 in his starts with the 66ers 

[rafibomb]

Wait 95? What does that do for his ceiling if he's sitting 93-95 rather than 89-91?

[GrittyVeterans]

Had a feeling last year people were sleeping on Suarez. His peripherals have been pretty insane. I think he's one of our best prospects and could be in the majors next year

[Vlad27Trout27]

15 minutes ago, rafibomb said:

Wait 95? What does that do for his ceiling if he's sitting 93-95 rather than 89-91?

I also believed that once he fully developed, he could be a solid 3 in a rotation. I've seen a few reports that have said he could be a 2.

he's similar to Barria, they both have excellent command/control and their both underside. But with Suarez, he has a plus change to go with an increase in velocity and his curve looks much improved.

[rafibomb]

12 minutes ago, Vlad27Trout27 said:

I also believed that once he fully developed, he could be a solid 3 in a rotation. I've seen a few reports that have said he could be a 2.

he's similar to Barria, they both have excellent command/control and their both underside. But with Suarez, he has a plus change to go with an increase in velocity and his curve looks much improved.

Between him and Canning, I am very excited for the rotation in the future.

[Angelsjunky]

If Suarez keeps this up he's going to be the Angels' top pitching prospect, ahead of Canning, C-Rod, and Soriano.

[Second Base]

Suarez generally sat 90-91 last year. I figured he'd add a tick or two and sit 92-93, because he's young and hasn't fully developed. I doubt Suarez is suddenly sitting 95. Perhaps he can reach back and hit 95 on occasion, but that just doesn't seem like who he is as a pitcher.

The curve in that video looks better than Jason Vargas', but I still think that's ultimately what he'll develop into, which is a solid #4 starter that has a year or two where everything clicks and he's an all-star.

Like Joe Saunders I guess. 

[Warfarin]

Seeing a lot of our minor leaguers take a step forward in terms of stuff/production is pretty awesome, and it really does speak volumes to the importance of having a strong developmental system in place.  You can draft the best players posssible, but if you have a poor system in place, they won't develop as you would hope.  To me, this was one of DiPoto's greatest failings - he appeared to neglect the cultivation of farm system talent, and instead focused on what he could use the minor leaguers he has now as compensation in trades.

Eppler instead appears to have focused tremendously on the development of our farm system, and it definitely shows, as we see with players like Suarez and Ward.

[totdprods]

5 hours ago, Angelsjunky said:

If Suarez keeps this up he's going to be the Angels' top pitching prospect, ahead of Canning, C-Rod, and Soriano.

Sort of - I think it depends a bit on how you weight a prospect's value, be it upside, ability to advance quickly, a safe floor, or a combo of all. 

With Suarez though, this K9 rate is so ridiculous I have to think that he's either discovered/added something new to his game that is increasing his ceiling, or he's just exceptionally advanced for his age and his competition, so even if his ceiling/upside isn't as high, his makeup and pitchability is off the charts enough to balance it out, which sounds exactly like the Saunders comp - good call @Scotty@AW.

[Angel Oracle]

GRich, Ohtani, Canning, Tropeano, Suarez, Barria = very nice mid-2019 or ST 2020 rotation?    And is one where a ton of money is NOT spent.  

Skaggs and Heaney are just too darned China Dollish, and Shoe is a late innings reliever waiting to happen with that splitter.

[stormngt]

50 minutes ago, Angel Oracle said:

GRich, Ohtani, Canning, Tropeano, Suarez, Barria = very nice mid-2019 or ST 2020 rotation?    And is one where a ton of money is NOT spent.  

Skaggs and Heaney are just too darned China Dollish, and Shoe is a late innings reliever waiting to happen with that splitter.

I wouldn't rule out either Skaggs or Heaney.  If your talking about being china dolls you have to add GRICH, Trop, and Shoe into the mix.

[Chuck]

Good Taylor Ward article..

https://www.milb.com/milb/news/los-angeles-angels-taylor-ward-switching-gears-with-mobile-baybears/c-272900340

[Warfarin]

1 hour ago, Angel Oracle said:

GRich, Ohtani, Canning, Tropeano, Suarez, Barria = very nice mid-2019 or ST 2020 rotation?    And is one where a ton of money is NOT spent.  

Skaggs and Heaney are just too darned China Dollish, and Shoe is a late innings reliever waiting to happen with that splitter.

Heaney will still be here IMO.  Skaggs definitely too, at least for next year.  We'll see about future years.

Shoemaker, IMO, has a decent chance of not being tendered arbitration after this season.  It'll enable us to allocate those dollars towards resigning Richards.

[Stax]

Suarez has been doing this in short outings 3 to 4 innings. Unless he increases his innings per outing he is projecting as a reliever at best.

[Angel Oracle]

22 minutes ago, Stax said:

Suarez has been doing this in short outings 3 to 4 innings. Unless he increases his innings per outing he is projecting as a reliever at best.

Granted since being signed in 2015, his innings counts are 72, 44, and 68.    They can increase him up to around 110 innings this season, and then 150 innings in 2019.   

Then hopefully by 2020, he's ready to pitch 180-190 innings at the MLB level.

[Warfarin]

47 minutes ago, Stax said:

Suarez has been doing this in short outings 3 to 4 innings. Unless he increases his innings per outing he is projecting as a reliever at best.

A lot of new age FOs tend to limit their SP prospects to 75-80 pitches in starts.  I don’t see many SP prospects hitting 100 pitches anymore.  As a result, we see fewer IP per start.  They’ll eventually build him up, but no need to do so now.

Remeber, he is the youngest starting pitcher in AA in all of the minors.

[Second Base]

4 hours ago, totdprods said:

Sort of - I think it depends a bit on how you weight a prospect's value, be it upside, ability to advance quickly, a safe floor, or a combo of all. 

With Suarez though, this K9 rate is so ridiculous I have to think that he's either discovered/added something new to his game that is increasing his ceiling, or he's just exceptionally advanced for his age and his competition, so even if his ceiling/upside isn't as high, his makeup and pitchability is off the charts enough to balance it out, which sounds exactly like the Saunders comp - good call @Scotty@AW.

I think the main difference here is that Joe Saunders never struck out Hitters at the clip Suarez is.

[Stax]

24 minutes ago, Warfarin said:

A lot of new age FOs tend to limit their SP prospects to 75-80 pitches in starts.  I don’t see many SP prospects hitting 100 pitches anymore.  As a result, we see fewer IP per start.  They’ll eventually build him up, but no need to do so now.

Remeber, he is the youngest starting pitcher in AA in all of the minors.

I can see the logic behind letting the SP prospects pitch only 75-80 per start, save the arm for the majors. With AA more or less being the jumping point to the majors, if they do not have the experience going 7-8 innings, they will not do it in the majors.  

[totdprods]

59 minutes ago, Scotty@AW said:

I think the main difference here is that Joe Saunders never struck out Hitters at the clip Suarez is.

Exactly, and he's sustained it for awhile now. That's why I'm wondering if he's either found a new aspect to elevate his ceiling above Saunders/Vargas comps, or if he's just striking guys out at such a rate that suggests he's topped off what he can learn in the minors already and he's virtually MLB-ready at 20/21, sort of like Martin Perez. Different skill sets and pitchers, but Martin hit the bigs at 21 and never looked back - he stepped in as a #4 starter and has held that since.

[Warfarin]

1 hour ago, totdprods said:

Exactly, and he's sustained it for awhile now. That's why I'm wondering if he's either found a new aspect to elevate his ceiling above Saunders/Vargas comps, or if he's just striking guys out at such a rate that suggests he's topped off what he can learn in the minors already and he's virtually MLB-ready at 20/21, sort of like Martin Perez. Different skill sets and pitchers, but Martin hit the bigs at 21 and never looked back - he stepped in as a #4 starter and has held that since.

Per Baseball America’s hot sheet from this week:

 

”The Scoop: Suarez has been known for his advanced feel for pitching since he signed for $300,000 as a 16-year-old. Now his stuff is ticking up, making him even more impressive. Suarez’s fastball has jumped from 88-92 mph to 90-94, and his changeup has evolved from a potential above-average pitch to a devastating, swing-and-miss offering that draws easy plus grades. His curveball has tightened as well, giving him three quality pitches he can throw for strikes. The result has been a dominant start in the Cal League, with outings of eight and 10 strikeouts so far. (KG)

 

There’s your answer!

[Chuck]

Safe to say Angels prospect Jose Suarez's stuff has evolved https://t.co/505DjHF7Hq#TheHaloWay pic.twitter.com/3M0lOmb3P7

— Baseball America (@BaseballAmerica) April 19, 2018

[krAbs]

 

This lineup is bomb.com.