The Official 2019 Minor League Statline and Prospect Discussion Thread

[Stradling]

Any word on how William English is doing?   I remember him being drafted last year and they made a big deal that he was drafted as a two way player.  

[Chuck]

1 hour ago, Stradling said:

I think what it comes down to with Walsh is how does he stay fresh playing 2-3 times a week.  Kole is playing well as is Goodwin. Albert will play 5 times a week, so Walsh would get 2-3 starts and an inning on the mound a week.   

Which is about as much as Bour will get now at 1B since Ohtani is the fulltime DH and Pujols is the better 1B defensively and bat. Three games/starts a week and about 2-3 situational lefty bullpen calls a week is more valuable than what Bour can give us. Plus, in case there's an injury to Calhoun or Goodwin during the game, they can keep Fletcher in the infield if he starts there and call on Walsh to move to the outfield to fill in. It's good to have defensive versatility, something the Angels are doing with Ward, Thaiss and Rengifo in AAA this season, as they've already done with Fletcher.

Also, while Walsh is not a burner, he's got way more speed and athleticism than Bour can provide on the basepaths and on the field. I don't think there's much more that Walsh has to prove in the minors either, outside of maybe getting some more appearances on the mound. 

Walsh is slashing .298/.387/.580 with an .967 OPS this season, and over 395 minor league games he's slashed .294/.363/.503 with an .866 OPS mainly playing 1B and RF. 

Lastly, Walsh a lefthanded bat gives you some late inning power off the bench that would not make Ausmus wince if they countered the move by bringing in a lefty reliever to face him. Walsh hits lefties better than righties this season and has held his own over his minor league career against them. Bour is slugging .294 against southpaws this season.

Walsh line against southpaws in AAA (2019).

I rest my case, your honor. 

[totdprods]

I'm sure Walsh will get his shot in due time. Rojas started out red-hot, cooled off...Walsh started off a little cool, and is red-hot now...

The 40-man crunch is the biggest hurdle right now. There isn't a whole lot of flexibility. We certainly have ample 1B/DH depth, cutting Bour isn't the issue, but I'm sure they'd like to see how the Ohtani/Pujols/Bour rotation balances out a bit first. Bour has popped 3 HRs in the last 10 games in limited time, and his ABs have looked a little better. 

I also maintain that it's in the Angels best interest to give a chance for Harvey, Cahill, Bour, Cozart, Lucroy, Calhoun, Allen every opportunity to build as much trade value as possible the next couple of months too. That offers the chance to get the most value back on that acquisitions than fighting .500 and chasing the Astros.

[Stradling]

I’m not suggesting he wouldn’t be better for the Angels but minor league guys coming up and getting sporadic playing time, while adjusting to the majors is probably not best for Walsh.  Also he wouldn’t be used as a situational lefty, if they wanted that they’d had signed a situational lefty.   He’s a guy that can throw an inning when you are down a few or when the game is out of reach.  This isn’t a Bour is better than Walsh opinion, it’s a bringing up a guy with zero major league experience to play 2-3 positions, also pitch and get 10 at bats a week may not get you the results you want and could stunt his development.   Now if Albert goes on the DL, by all means call him up and have him start everyday for two weeks and go from there. 

[Warfarin]

22 minutes ago, Stradling said:

I’m not suggesting he wouldn’t be better for the Angels but minor league guys coming up and getting sporadic playing time, while adjusting to the majors is probably not best for Walsh.  

Right, and I think this is the key thing.  When Rengifo got called up, he basically played every day, then got sent back down when Cozart returned.  Right now, while Walsh is an interesting prospect, he likely doesn't have much of a path to many ABs - Pujols and Bour are platooning at 1B and Ohtani is the DH.  They don't want to stunt his growth by recalling him and having him languish on the bench, so it's best he stays in AAA, where he can continue to improve his game and learn to pitch. He'll be a useful player for us in the near future though, I believe.

[Angel Oracle]

Strad brings up a good point about a rookie like Walsh trying to do several things.

That said, how much longer can Bour and his meh hitting and one dimension be kept?

At least Pujols is showing the power missing from him over the past two years.

[Stradling]

3 minutes ago, Angel Oracle said:

Strad brings up a good point about a rookie like Walsh trying to do several things.

That said, how much longer can Bour and his meh hitting and one dimension be kept?

At least Pujols is showing the power missing from him over the past two years.

If Bour was just Bour from last year he’d hardly be a problem.  If he’s Bour from 2017 then he’s a strength.  If we’re being honest if he’s used as a two game a week type of guy going forward he isn’t really a problem.  Our biggest problem is starting pitchers ability to get deeper into games and their ERA.  After that if you want to complain about Cozart and Bour, sure go for it.  In the Bour role as it currently is, I’d rather make a move for a guy that can play first and some outfield and has shown MLB success.  I’m not talking about some all star just some dude who has had some sort of success as a role player and is more versatile.   

[Stradling]

15 minutes ago, RBM said:

This could become the new metric on the AW site - introducing the “FlopChuck” index. 

Except since we are in the minor league thread it should be referred to as the GrittyScotty index.  

[Docwaukee]

Suarez is ready. 

Thaiss is ready. 

Walsh is ready. 

Rojas is ready. 

Rengifo is ready.  

Ward is ready.

all of them aren't likely to end up successful major leaguers, but it's time for them to get a legit look.  Of course you have to coordinate that with whatever is going on with the major league club.  

I wonder if Billy could swing a couple upper minors trades where we move a guy like Ward and/or Walsh for a solid AAA pitcher.   That always kinda bums me out though as it's more fun when a guy you've been following for 4-5 years comes up and helps your favorite team succeed.   

[Second Base]

40 minutes ago, Dochalo said:

Suarez is ready. 

Thaiss is ready. 

Walsh is ready. 

Rojas is ready. 

Rengifo is ready.  

Ward is ready.

all of them aren't likely to end up successful major leaguers, but it's time for them to get a legit look.  Of course you have to coordinate that with whatever is going on with the major league club.  

I wonder if Billy could swing a couple upper minors trades where we move a guy like Ward and/or Walsh for a solid AAA pitcher.   That always kinda bums me out though as it's more fun when a guy you've been following for 4-5 years comes up and helps your favorite team succeed.   

It's hard to say with some of them. The easiest one in my mind is Suarez, there's little doubt in my mind he had a future in a major league rotation. He reminds me of Barria, the story of kid that doesn't catch your eye until you're looking for them, and then you realize just how solid that pitcher is. They'll both be Major league starting pitchers. 

Rengifo will be a major leaguer for a long time. I'm just not sure what the role will be. Utility, super utility, or starting 2B.

Ward, I can go either way. His defense at 3B really isn't very good. Maybe passable for a few games but beyond that, I don't see it. He's not a catcher any more unless you consider him an emergency catcher. I'm sure he's fine at 1B and the OF, and he's got more than enough thunder in his bat to be a power hitter. Good plate discipline too usually. So he'll either be someone that hits .230 with power in the major leagues or AAAA.

Rojas....I just don't think he has the necessary ceiling to convince a team to put him in a starting role and leave him there, even if he's good enough. 

Thaiss, the numbers say one thing and my eyes say another. So I guess we will find out next year. Maybe a decent corner infielder or maybe just depth fodder.

Walsh looks every bit a major leaguer to me. Maybe not in the conventional sense but he clearly is good enough right now. I wouldn't entrust a corner infield or outfield spot to him, but he's better than your typical bench bat. I wouldn't be overly excited about his future on the mound if he was only a pitcher. I'd say he's basically a standard, run of the mill lefty specialist. But the fact that he can capably do both suddenly makes him interesting. He's not on the mound with the game on the line, but if it isn't close or it's early in the game and they have LHB coming up, absolutely. Let him get those in numbers and save your staff. And at the plate, he deserves one or two starts a week and a couple more late inning appearances as a pinch hitter. 

[Warfarin]

1 hour ago, Dochalo said:

Suarez is ready. 

Thaiss is ready. 

Walsh is ready. 

Rojas is ready. 

Rengifo is ready.  

Ward is ready.

all of them aren't likely to end up successful major leaguers, but it's time for them to get a legit look.  Of course you have to coordinate that with whatever is going on with the major league club.  

I wonder if Billy could swing a couple upper minors trades where we move a guy like Ward and/or Walsh for a solid AAA pitcher.   That always kinda bums me out though as it's more fun when a guy you've been following for 4-5 years comes up and helps your favorite team succeed.   

What's cool about how our team is set-up is that we have several elite, top-end players already in the big leagues - the best in baseball (Trout), a unique, top 10-20 player in the game (Ohtani), the best defensive SS in baseball (Simba), and a very good LF (Upton).  We also have a pretty effective super-utility player in Fletcher.  We also appear to have another possible superstar in the making in Adell, who'll likely be anchoring RF for us for a number of years.

With all of that in place, in terms of position players, we really just need to develop a number of average future major leaguers to help complement the strong core we already have in place.  Players like Thaiss, Rengifo, Walsh, Rojas, Ward, etc should, IMHO, easily fill those kinds of roles for us moving forward.  I think the one spot we'll likely need to consider searching outside our organization for is catcher.

[Chuck]

5 hours ago, Stradling said:

If Bour was just Bour from last year he’d hardly be a problem.  If he’s Bour from 2017 then he’s a strength.  If we’re being honest if he’s used as a two game a week type of guy going forward he isn’t really a problem.  Our biggest problem is starting pitchers ability to get deeper into games and their ERA.  After that if you want to complain about Cozart and Bour, sure go for it.  In the Bour role as it currently is, I’d rather make a move for a guy that can play first and some outfield and has shown MLB success.  I’m not talking about some all star just some dude who has had some sort of success as a role player and is more versatile.   

I don't know about that, I think the Angels were hoping that they'd be getting the Bour of 2017 since the consensus was that Bour's poor 2018 campaign was attributed to injuries he endured and/or that they'd get something in between 2017 & 2018 from Justin. 

Here's the thing, Bour had a terrible 2018 season but even so he's looked much better in '18 than his 2019 so far. as he slashed .227/.341/.404 with 22 HR in '18, but he's put up just a .172/.280/.333 slash with just 4 HR thus far. 

It looks like his regression started in the 2nd half of last season as he slashed just .190/.275/.362 post All-Star break in 2018. Looks like we got the same guy unfortunately. 

I was a big proponent of the Bour signing, as I was hoping to land him in 2018 and this past offseason, thinking we'd get the Bour in 2017. Oh well. I think it's time to release him and call up Walsh as his defense, base running, hitting & lack of versatility have become a giant hole on this team from what is a production spot in the lineup at first base. 

[Chuck]

 

 

[UndertheHalo]

Why don’t they let Ward and LaStella have looks at 1st.  Seems like they could let Ward play a decent amount with the big league club and it doesn’t seem like AAA really has much else to teach him anymore in the batters box.  Between Cozart, Pujols, and Bour they should figure out ways to get Ward AB’s. 

[SoWhat]

Any update on Chris Rodriguez?? 

[rafibomb]

He tweeted this on May 5th. Our farm could really use him, highest ceiling out of all our pitching prospects.

 

 

[HaloMilliVanilli]

If he's throwing, even just in bullies, then I'm optimistic.  Angels continuing to be patient and conservative with these young guys and their return from injuries.

[Angel Oracle]

How long can they afford to carry Bour's sub .600 OPS and one-dimensional defense?

[Angelsjunky]

3 hours ago, Angel Oracle said:

How long can they afford to carry Bour's sub .600 OPS and one-dimensional defense?

It is kind of ridiculous, especially with Walsh and Ward killing it in AAA. I would think the Angels would give Bour another two or three weeks, maybe through May, but if the status quo remains I think they'll let him go and call up Walsh or Ward.

[Inside Pitch]

12 minutes ago, Angelsjunky said:

It is kind of ridiculous, especially with Walsh and Ward killing it in AAA. I would think the Angels would give Bour another two or three weeks, maybe through May, but if the status quo remains I think they'll let him go and call up Walsh or Ward.

He has options -- you'd think they would consider sending him down and calling up one of the other guys but, the counter argument is ..  those other guys are probably better off getting everyday at bats.   

[Stradling]

When Bour was playing every day it was a lot bigger deal.  Now that they can easily limit his playing time I am not in a hurry to call up a piece of the future for 6 at bats a week.

 

[Stradling]

Given limited at bats I have no idea if Thiass is an upgrade.  Given everyday at bats I am pretty sure he would have an OPS better than what Bour has provided.  Part time, I have no idea.  

[Angel Oracle]

How long can Pujols continue to produce, if having to play too many games?  

What is Bour's problem anyway?    Pitchers figured him out last summer?    Body wearing down? 

[totdprods]

24 minutes ago, Angel Oracle said:

How long can Pujols continue to produce, if having to play too many games?  

What is Bour's problem anyway?    Pitchers figured him out last summer?    Body wearing down? 

Maybe they’ll find a way to apply some of the voodoo Reed applied to Calhoun and La Stella to increase power and get Bour around on this.

[Angelsjunky]

1 hour ago, Stradling said:

Given limited at bats I have no idea if Thiass is an upgrade.  Given everyday at bats I am pretty sure he would have an OPS better than what Bour has provided.  Part time, I have no idea.  

I'd promote Walsh or Ward before Thaiss, who still has moved beyond the mediocre stage in terms of AAA hitting. Thaiss will likely be a September call-up, but I'd give him the year in Salt Lake to develop his hitting and become comfortable at 3B, then can be a contender for the starting job at 3B next year. But Walsh and Ward have nothing more to prove in AAA and I suspect both will be given chances in the majors.