Which Angels prospect are you most excited about this season?

[Chuck]

Vote! 

[Chuck]

So many options, tough to pick one. 

[Chuck]

I went with Taylor Ward just because he's bat has improved, including the power. That and he's stealing bases. 

Combine all of that with the fact that he's performing well in a position of weakness in this org at third base, I'm excited. 

That said, I'm nearly equally as excited about everyone else on this list. It's just we all thought Ward was a failed 1st round draft pick and at best was a reserve catcher going into this season. 

[OregonLAA]

I had to decide between the top 4 options. Nice to see Cron doing well (I always root for homegrown guys when they leave), but much nicer to see the guy we got back coming out of nowhere. I’ve always been a little confused about the Jones hype

[wopphil]

I am going with Rengifo, only because we knew about many of the other guys and weren't expecting anything from him.

But damn that list looks nice. 

[maximus p]

Voted for Canning, but would have gone with Barria (assuming not on list b/c MLB experience?).

[NachoPop]

I'm intrigued by Fernandez. Didn't start with the Angels so could turn out to be a sneaky steal! Would love to see him called up with Kinsler & Valbuena booted. If he can stick that's be great. If not there no harm done and no real investment

 

[Warfarin]

I'm just excited that this list is longer than like, 3 players, which is probably what it would have been during the Dipoto days.  There are more guys inadvertently omitted from this list than there were actual prospects in the Dipoto days!

[fanfromday1]

Suarez - Something about all those strikeouts really intrigues me. However Canning is a close second, and if he participates in another no-hitter this week he's moving up to first place.

[tomsred]

I like Fletcher and the over .400 OBP.  We need a developing lead off type badly.  I'm looking forward to Valbuena, Kinsler and Marte all gone in favor of players on this list.  Chuck left off Cowart, I still like him, especially for his versatility.  He's right behind Fletcher in hitting in Salt Lake.  I think he will eventually get it going at the MLB level, and with his defense watch out.

[Chuck]

19 minutes ago, maximus p said:

Voted for Canning, but would have gone with Barria (assuming not on list b/c MLB experience?).

Yeah I left Ohtani, Anderson and Barria off because of their major league time. 

[Warfarin]

What's neat about this overall is we are seeing so many players emerge from obscurity.  A lot of these guys won't be stars, but a lot of them could fill some very useful roles for us and be a solid part of our core.  It's quite impressive that we have had such vast improvements in such a short period of time.

[Chuck]

16 minutes ago, tomsred said:

I like Fletcher and the over .400 OBP.  We need a developing lead off type badly.  I'm looking forward to Valbuena, Kinsler and Marte all gone in favor of players on this list.  Chuck left off Cowart, I still like him, especially for his versatility.  He's right behind Fletcher in hitting in Salt Lake.  I think he will eventually get it going at the MLB level, and with his defense watch out.

Yeah I left off everyone with major league time. 

Which makes this list even better if they were added. 

[Warfarin]

18 minutes ago, tomsred said:

I like Fletcher and the over .400 OBP.  We need a developing lead off type badly.  I'm looking forward to Valbuena, Kinsler and Marte all gone in favor of players on this list.  Chuck left off Cowart, I still like him, especially for his versatility.  He's right behind Fletcher in hitting in Salt Lake.  I think he will eventually get it going at the MLB level, and with his defense watch out.

I think there's a very real possibility we can see Fernanez essentially take over for Valbuena and Fletcher for Kinsler.  I think it's safe to assume they can, at least, replicate their current performance levels (a very low bar admittedly) for 19million less per year - not bad  

Marte is performing fine now, so I wouldn't mind hanging onto him for the time being.  He can easily be let go in the future if he does not perform.

Will be interesting to see how Ward ultimately turns out.  Having Cozart is useful, because we could potentially opt for either Fletcher (at 2B) or Ward (at 3B) and have Cozart shift to cover whichever position is unoccupied.

Canning and Suarez are possible bullpen pieces for us at the end of this year, and starting next year, likely starters in our rotation, at least by mid-season.

[tomsred]

5 minutes ago, Chuckster70 said:

Yeah I left off everyone with major league time. 

Which makes this list even better if they were added. 

I got it.  It sure would make the list even better.   Then hopefully we get some really great draft choices this year.

[GrittyVeterans]

Thaiss for me. Posting solid numbers in a league that is tougher to hit than the PCL. Improved his one major weakness coming into the year (power).

Should be a September call up

[Warfarin]

6 minutes ago, GrittyVeterans said:

Thaiss for me. Posting solid numbers in a league that is tougher to hit than the PCL. Improved his one major weakness coming into the year (power).

Should be a September call up

I don't think Thasis gets called up this year unless he goes on a prodigious power tear.  Instead, I think it's more likely we could see guys who *have* to be added to the 40-man roster this offseason to protect them from the rule V - guys like Suarez, Ward, Fletcher.  Thasis doesn't need rule V protection until the 2019 offseason.  This helps delay his clock, increases our long-term control, etc...

[101halo]

1 hour ago, Chuckster70 said:

So many options, tough to pick one. 

You made the poll, you're the one to blame! Or maybe Eppler for having so many viable options. 

[101halo]

I went Ward, purely because I'd written him off as a non prospect with the position switch. Could easily have gone Canning given our need for pitching (an extra starter allows a competent arm to move to relief if needed), but the small sample size and walk rate tilts the scale in Ward's favor for me. 

[Second Base]

Adell, simply because he's our best prospect and is making a case that he's one of the better prospects in all of baseball.

But you guys know me, I'm pretty much excited about all of them. 

[101halo]

Wait, wtf, are those actually David Fletcher's stats? Missed that entirely due to disbelief. Did Jeff fFletcher bribe fangraphs? Where did that come from? 

[GrittyVeterans]

49 minutes ago, Warfarin said:

I don't think Thasis gets called up this year unless he goes on a prodigious power tear.  Instead, I think it's more likely we could see guys who *have* to be added to the 40-man roster this offseason to protect them from the rule V - guys like Suarez, Ward, Fletcher.  Thasis doesn't need rule V protection until the 2019 offseason.  This helps delay his clock, increases our long-term control, etc...

Good point about the 40 man roster.

However, the stuff about delaying his clock shouldn't matter at all to this team for a player like Thaiss. You do that when you are dealing with a Kris Bryant or a Vladimir Guerrero Jr. type of star prospect. If they think Thaiss can help them win ball games more than say Luis Valbuena or Jefry Marte down the stretch, he'll get called up

[101halo]

4 minutes ago, GrittyVeterans said:

Good point about the 40 man roster.

However, the stuff about delaying his clock shouldn't matter at all to this team for a player like Thaiss. You do that when you are dealing with a Kris Bryant or a Vladimir Guerrero Jr. type of star prospect. If they think Thaiss can help them win ball games more than say Luis Valbuena or Jefry Marte down the stretch, he'll get called up

From your lips to Sosh's marinara-soaked fingers!

[Warfarin]

5 minutes ago, GrittyVeterans said:

Good point about the 40 man roster.

However, the stuff about delaying his clock shouldn't matter at all to this team for a player like Thaiss. You do that when you are dealing with a Kris Bryant or a Vladimir Guerrero Jr. type of star prospect. If they think Thaiss can help them win ball games more than say Luis Valbuena or Jefry Marte down the stretch, he'll get called up

My guess is we might be likely to see Fernandez called up to potentially take on Valbuena's role vs Thasis, at least as far as this season is concerned.  I think Fernandez' bat is more MLB-ready currently at this point, and he does offer some more positional versatility.

[Chuck]

Big promotions tonight!

Adell joins Marsh in High-A

Thaiss and Ward to AAA Salt Lake.