The Official 2019 Minor League Statline and Prospect Discussion Thread

[Stradling]

6 hours ago, Chuckster70 said:

Jose Rojas clubbed 3 doubles today and walked twice. 

This kid is on fire, posting a sick 1.322 OPS with 8 HR in the month of July. 

Slashing .317/.383/.615 with 22 HR now on the season. 

Time to swap him and Thiass?  Or will they wait until after the trade deadline?

[Blarg]

Thaiss has no clue what to do with MLB pitching. He is not going to be ready for 2020 the way he has performed so far. 

[Stradling]

Susceptible to the high fastball. 

[Chuck]

1 hour ago, #WeNasty said:

Susceptible to the high fastball. 

Yeah, while I've seen Rojas crush those pitches that Thaiss whiffs on up.

Rojas is the most versatile prospect we have defensively too.

[totdprods]

1 hour ago, Chuckster70 said:

Yeah, while I've seen Rojas crush those pitches that Thaiss whiffs on up.

Rojas is the most versatile prospect we have defensively too.

Eh...Rojas might be picking up time at a lot more positions, but he's Marte-esque out there. He's a 1B/DH guy moving forward, in my opinion, with the occasional emergency start in 3B/LF, perhaps based on who's pitching or the ballpark. 2B in those crazy, extra-inning emergencies.

With Ohtani and Pujols ahead of him holding down DH and 1B, there just aren't enough at-bats for him. I'm guessing that's part of why the Angels moved Thaiss to 3B, which in turn moved Ward out to LF, and a possible sign as to where those players' futures lie (Thaiss at 3B, Ward as a corner-bench bat or on another team). Once it played out that way, Walsh got the edge over Rojas simply because he could pitch.

Worth noting, Rojas threw a scoreless inning in a close game recently. 

When/if the Angels fall out of contention, I could see the Halos resting Pujols a lot more this year in order to save those miles for 2020, which could open up some 1B time for Rojas in September as an audition. If he runs with it, he could be the leading guy for that Valbuena-role in 2020. 

Edited July 22, 2019 by totdprods

[Chuck]

2 hours ago, totdprods said:

Eh...Rojas might be picking up time at a lot more positions, but he's Marte-esque out there. He's a 1B/DH guy moving forward, in my opinion, with the occasional emergency start in 3B/LF, perhaps based on who's pitching or the ballpark. 2B in those crazy, extra-inning emergencies.

With Ohtani and Pujols ahead of him holding down DH and 1B, there just aren't enough at-bats for him. I'm guessing that's part of why the Angels moved Thaiss to 3B, which in turn moved Ward out to LF, and a possible sign as to where those players' futures lie (Thaiss at 3B, Ward as a corner-bench bat or on another team). Once it played out that way, Walsh got the edge over Rojas simply because he could pitch.

Worth noting, Rojas threw a scoreless inning in a close game recently. 

When/if the Angels fall out of contention, I could see the Halos resting Pujols a lot more this year in order to save those miles for 2020, which could open up some 1B time for Rojas in September as an audition. If he runs with it, he could be the leading guy for that Valbuena-role in 2020. 

Yeah, I didn't mean that he's a gold glover out there, hell La Stella isn't the best defender either, but the bat plays.

I do agree with you that he's more of a platoon guy at 1B with Pujols and at DH when Ohtani is pitching next season though. There's a lot of hard contact and thump in that bat of his.

[totdprods]

1 minute ago, Chuckster70 said:

Yeah, I didn't mean that he's a gold glover out there, hell La Stella isn't the best defender either, but the bat plays.

I do agree with you that he's more of a platoon guy at 1B with Pujols and at DH when Ohtani is pitching next season though. There's a lot of hard contact and thump in that bat of his.

And ideally he still improves a bit. He's young enough and hungry, look what he managed to do for his offense. If he can take some of that development and apply it to defense, he certainly turns a corner.

[Angel Oracle]

40 minutes ago, totdprods said:

And ideally he still improves a bit. He's young enough and hungry, look what he managed to do for his offense. If he can take some of that development and apply it to defense, he certainly turns a corner.

Not bad for a late rounds pick just 3 years ago from a small college (Vanguard U.), as Rojas has hit at every level aside from 44 games in AA two years ago and 19 games in AAA a year ago.   But, he seems to learn well as he mastered each of those two levels the next season playing at them.

The power has really picked up this season, 60 XBH's (33/5/22) in just 90 games. 

[rafibomb]

With Livan Soto's return and Adrian Rondon's promotion, Burlington is turning into quite the hot spot for our farm system: Cole Duensing, Jose Soriano, Hector Yan, Kevin Maitan, Livan Soto, Adrian Rondon, Jordyn Adams, Nonie Williams.

 

 

[Second Base]

This is the best Kevin Maitan has ever looked. That swing is dangerous. Those skills are off the charts, and now he's comfortable and seeing the ball well.

This is exactly how you want to finish the season. The overall line won't be impressive, but now it's beginning to look like the Angels knew what they were doing moving him up to A Ball. 2-3 weeks ago, I didn't think adjustments would be made this year, but they have. That swing is a thing of beauty.

[Angelsjunky]

He didn't play 7/14-7/16 (was that the minor league ASB?) and in the six games since, he's hit .333 (9-27) with 2 HR.

[rafibomb]

Maitan hopefully finishes the year strong but they may have him start the season again at Low-A Burlington or maybe push him to High-A. Either way at some point next season he will be a 20-year old in High-A. It's crazy to think how young this guys still is. If he has just one strong minor league season I believe he jumps right back into the top-50 prospects in baseball.

[rafibomb]

4 minutes ago, Angelsjunky said:

He didn't play 7/14-7/16 (was that the minor league ASB?) and in the six games since, he's hit .333 (9-27) with 2 HR.

I wonder when he started utilizing his new song. 

[Pancake Bear]

Adell removed early last night and not on tonight’s lineup card. Anyone heard anything?

[rafibomb]

3 minutes ago, Sean-Regan said:

Adell removed early last night and not on tonight’s lineup card. Anyone heard anything?

Heard he was taken out with a limp last night’s game but I’m not entirely sure

[Angelsjunky]

Adell's 2-16 in his last four games, so is in a bit of a cold spell.

[Second Base]

2 hours ago, rafibomb said:

I wonder when he started utilizing his new song. 

It wasn't a totally new swing, it's just been something that's been a work in progress since he became an Angel.  

- When he first signed with the Braves, his swing stayed largely the same, but the difference was he lost some strength, and put on some pounds.  The same swing went from super effective to just plain pathetic. 

- When he first came to the Angels, it was still all about the basics, getting in the gym, sticking to his nutrition program, learning how to be comfortable in this country and just getting the reps in.  During this time, he developed a large kick on 0-strike pitches, and his hands started doing this drastic drifting motion.  The body still wasn't where it needed to be, and it became apparent his frame would never match the 15 year old version of him again, so it's likely the leg kick and hands were used to generate more power than his core and legs had.  Just compensating for being out of shape, at least that's my opinion. 

- Throughout this year, he's lost the big leg kick and replaced it with a smaller one, that's still more than the toe-tap he had before.  The hands aren't drifting anymore either like they were at the beginning of the season, which is a very positive note.  The hands stopped drifting toward the end of his season in orem but he reoriented that into his swing around ST it seems, because he had it in Burlington.  But as I said, no more.  He's also stopped wrapping the bat around his head and has his hands further away from his body, not dissimilar to Kole Calhoun. You can also tell he's in much better shape now than he ever was before. 

Overall, I think Maitan is finally finding level of strength required to be the player he projects to be, and is finding a swing with less moving parts, that also allows him to see the ball longer.  And organizationally, which includes Maitan, they're really focusing on doing damage to pitches that you can do damage on.  Meaning less swinging just for contact and swinging to do quite a bit more than that.  His hips and arms are a lot faster, which means he's stronger and swinging harder.  

 

[Scott34]

Jackson with another HR (12). Next closest in the league has 9.

[Docwaukee]

6 hours ago, Second Base said:

It wasn't a totally new swing, it's just been something that's been a work in progress since he became an Angel.  

- When he first signed with the Braves, his swing stayed largely the same, but the difference was he lost some strength, and put on some pounds.  The same swing went from super effective to just plain pathetic. 

- When he first came to the Angels, it was still all about the basics, getting in the gym, sticking to his nutrition program, learning how to be comfortable in this country and just getting the reps in.  During this time, he developed a large kick on 0-strike pitches, and his hands started doing this drastic drifting motion.  The body still wasn't where it needed to be, and it became apparent his frame would never match the 15 year old version of him again, so it's likely the leg kick and hands were used to generate more power than his core and legs had.  Just compensating for being out of shape, at least that's my opinion. 

- Throughout this year, he's lost the big leg kick and replaced it with a smaller one, that's still more than the toe-tap he had before.  The hands aren't drifting anymore either like they were at the beginning of the season, which is a very positive note.  The hands stopped drifting toward the end of his season in orem but he reoriented that into his swing around ST it seems, because he had it in Burlington.  But as I said, no more.  He's also stopped wrapping the bat around his head and has his hands further away from his body, not dissimilar to Kole Calhoun. You can also tell he's in much better shape now than he ever was before. 

Overall, I think Maitan is finally finding level of strength required to be the player he projects to be, and is finding a swing with less moving parts, that also allows him to see the ball longer.  And organizationally, which includes Maitan, they're really focusing on doing damage to pitches that you can do damage on.  Meaning less swinging just for contact and swinging to do quite a bit more than that.  His hips and arms are a lot faster, which means he's stronger and swinging harder.  

 

David Ortiz. 

[Angel Oracle]

14 hours ago, Angelsjunky said:

Adell's 2-16 in his last four games, so is in a bit of a cold spell.

Finally, a chance to see how he emerges from a slump.  The last piece of the puzzle before promotion to AAA?

[Second Base]

9 hours ago, Dochalo said:

David Ortiz. 

That would be amazing. Right now, I'm just hoping he's turned a corner as a teenager in A Ball.

[Angelsjunky]

Let's not get ahead of ourselves. His swing looks good and he's had a better last week, but that's it.

[Pancake Bear]

Adell back in the lineup tonight. Apparently NBD. 

[totdprods]

Walsh has hit three homers tonight for SLC. Bour has two, Cowart, Parker, and Rojas all have one.

[Lou]

2 minutes ago, totdprods said:

Walsh has hit three homers tonight for SLC. Bour has two, Cowart, Parker, and Rojas all have one.

Are the Bees winning?