The Official 2022 Los Angeles Angels Minor League Stats, Reports & Scouting Thread

[Stax]

The Angels also signed a number of Non Drafted Free Agents too.

[BTH]

7 hours ago, Second Base said:

I knew it would make news, the all pitcher draft and while I did expect it, I think the conversation has to shift now from getting pitching, to developing pitching. 

As the article states or implied, there are several major league arms from the Angels draft class. But now we have to see if the organization can develop them. 

There were promising signs at the beginning of the offseason, with the Angels hiring Connor Hinchcliffe from Driveline and Eno Sarris saying he'd heard they were adding more pitching dev people. But I haven't seen any more additions like that since Hinchcliffe. Maybe we'll find out if the Angels ever announce their minor league dev staff.

[John Smith]

baseballamerica.com

2022 MLB Mock Draft Version 1.0

 

13. Angels — Kevin Parada, C, Georgia Tech

[Blarg]

The Angels have done poorly drafting catchers for quite a while. If this guy is any good I doubt he is around at the 13th pick. If he is then would he really be worth that pick?

[BTH]

49 minutes ago, Blarg said:

The Angels have done poorly drafting catchers for quite a while. If this guy is any good I doubt he is around at the 13th pick. If he is then would he really be worth that pick?

Good catchers can be found throughout the draft. A catcher going in the top 10 doesn't mean they are guaranteed to be good. Just like a catcher going in the 10th round is guaranteed to be bad.

Look at 2016, for example:

Zack Collins was drafted 10th overall and Matt Thaiss was drafted 16th overall, while Will Smith was drafted 32nd overall in 2016 and Sean Murphy was a 3rd round pick in 2016.

The latter 2 catchers are way better than the first 2, despite being drafted later.

[tdawg87]

A drafted catcher has about a 72% chance of being turned into a 1B/DH.

[Second Base]

I'd say it is less about DRAFTING good catchers and more about DEVELOPING good catchers. Guys that are good in college that are also a very safe bet to be good in the pros go VERY early in the draft. Buster Posey, Joe Mauer, Joey Bart, Henry Davis, etc...

Guys that are not so safe bets, but have a strong tool and a chance at being something really good tend to go in the middle of late first round through the third round. Taylor Ward, Sean Murphy, Tyler Sodorstrom, Patrick Bailey, Harry Lewis, etc...

I know it didn't work out with Ward, but I'm not opposed to drafting college catchers if it isn't a reach. Ward was taken 60 picks too early and everyone knew it except Dipoto. If a kid taken at the end of the third round doesn't pan out, it's one thing. When your first round pick that was supposed to be close to MLB ready doesn't pan out, it's can be devastating. 

But that was a consistent theme for Dipoto, between Ward, Baldoquin, and all the collegiate pitchers topping out at 91 mph that he drafted. 

 

Edited February 11, 2022 by Second Base

[totdprods]

Keith Law's Top 20 Angels Prospects posted on the Athletic today. 

Have to say, the potential that Detmers, Bachman, and Bush possess could contribute to the rotation in 2 years or so could be really, really big. 

Also an interesting little run with Albright at #9, Marceaux at #10, Silseth at #11, and Erla at #12. 
Calling Silseth a top-three-round talent taken in 11th round due to a couple disaster starts seems noteworthy. 

[Vlad27Trout27]

Personally my top 5 prospects to keep an eye on going into next season. 

1. Bachman: Big arm with big upside and risk.  

2. Bush: One of my favorite picks from last years draft, has middle of the rotation or better upside. See a bit of Cleavlands CC in him.

3. Adams: Make it or break years. After a rought last year, it'll be an important upcoming year.

4. Koch: Same as Adam, Talents is there, upcoming season will be big

5. Marceaux: Remember reading about him during draft and I think this guy could be one of the underated picks. He has three above-average that at time rate as plus. If he can improve and add more Velo to the fastball, plus the above-average comand, we may have something sepecial. 

[Chuck]

4 hours ago, totdprods said:

Keith Law's Top 20 Angels Prospects posted on the Athletic today. 

Calling Silseth a top-three-round talent taken in 11th round due to a couple disaster starts seems noteworthy. 

Interesting. Could be a great pick! 

[Second Base]

The thing I particularly like about Law is he's the sort of guy (and the people he trusts and occasionally employs) are the types that go in with an open mind, and watch all nine, or in some cases seven innings. So many scouts show and unless they have a scheduled appointment, will bail in the third or fourth inning. 

The profiles they build on these kids they're interested in drafting last across five different leagues and two and a half years, and they've got a lot of others to get to. One more AB or inning isn't going to make a difference outside of injury. The profile is cumulative. 

But you don't stumble across Brandon Marsh, Jeremiah Jackson, Jordyn Adams, and Kyren Paris unless you stay all nine and keep enjoyin scouting through May, not March.

For example, Marsh hit a growth spurt his senior year and filled out too quickly. Half the industry didn't even recognize him and the ones that did thought for sure he would play football. Jeremiah Jackson sucked his junior year, and got his eyes fixed in April of his senior year and absolutely raked from then on, but by then most teams had made up their mind. Jordyn Adams wasn't a good baseball player until he actually committed to it his senior year, and even then, he was a gamble. Kyren Paris was young for his draft class and it showed. Pictures from his sophomore and junior year depict a 12 year old filling in at 2B in a high school game. By the time he was a senior the book was written on him. Look at him now, though. More than a few teams would gladly take him in the first round of they had a time machine.

Law, I think recognizes that sometimes there are players like Jo Adell that are physically mature at 14 and are destined for the pros. And other times, there are kids that do much of their growing at 18-20. 

Edited February 13, 2022 by Second Base

[Blarg]

On 2/10/2022 at 12:58 PM, Trendon said:

Good catchers can be found throughout the draft. A catcher going in the top 10 doesn't mean they are guaranteed to be good. Just like a catcher going in the 10th round is guaranteed to be bad.

Look at 2016, for example:

Zack Collins was drafted 10th overall and Matt Thaiss was drafted 16th overall, while Will Smith was drafted 32nd overall in 2016 and Sean Murphy was a 3rd round pick in 2016.

The latter 2 catchers are way better than the first 2, despite being drafted later.

Matt Thaiss is not a good example. He was never developed in the minors as a catcher and if he were to be patt of the Angels roster he would be a 3rd string emergency catcher for a single game until a replacement can be called up. In five minor league season he played catcher 54 games and that was all last year.

He is a poster boy along with Ward to the Angels incompetence at drafting for a specific position. I hope Minasian and his crew are better.

[mmc]

 

[Inside Pitch]

39 minutes ago, mmc said:

 

Someone tell me again how ownership aren't the assholes...    The last few years..   It's just so ugly.

[Docwaukee]

11 minutes ago, Inside Pitch said:

Someone tell me again how ownership aren't the assholes...    The last few years..   It's just so ugly.

we want them to love the game and have nostalgia for it like most fans do.  They don't.  

I would wager that most billionaires don't get to be that way by doling out what they think is an inefficient use of capital.  

They're disconnected.  Someone brings them a spreadsheet and asks for approval.  

Some people want baseball to be different than how most other industries work because there is an emotional attachment.  It's not.  

They've been given an opportunity to function a certain way.  

They could all cite the fact that the system is set up so that they pay some guy millions for doing nothing while ten, twenty, fifty other guys earn dick based on the fact that their talent doesn't warrant them making more.   They take zero responsibility for why the current class system has evolved the way it has.  

And should they?  Maybe a bit more than they have but to what extent?  

I bet it's pretty rare that any sports franchise owner at this point has gotten into it because their love of the sport trumps everything else.  And even if they felt that way, the 90% who don't are going to overrule.  

 

[Lou]

26 minutes ago, Dochalo said:

we want them to love the game and have nostalgia for it like most fans do.  They don't.  

I would wager that most billionaires don't get to be that way by doling out what they think is an inefficient use of capital.  

More fans need to come to this realization.

[Second Base]

12 hours ago, Dochalo said:

we want them to love the game and have nostalgia for it like most fans do.  They don't.  

I would wager that most billionaires don't get to be that way by doling out what they think is an inefficient use of capital.  

They're disconnected.  Someone brings them a spreadsheet and asks for approval.  

Some people want baseball to be different than how most other industries work because there is an emotional attachment.  It's not.  

They've been given an opportunity to function a certain way.  

They could all cite the fact that the system is set up so that they pay some guy millions for doing nothing while ten, twenty, fifty other guys earn dick based on the fact that their talent doesn't warrant them making more.   They take zero responsibility for why the current class system has evolved the way it has.  

And should they?  Maybe a bit more than they have but to what extent?  

I bet it's pretty rare that any sports franchise owner at this point has gotten into it because their love of the sport trumps everything else.  And even if they felt that way, the 90% who don't are going to overrule.  

 

I think the last one I remember was Illitch (sp) and that was because he was old doing and had all other loose ends tied. 

[BTH]

Does anyone know when Angels minor league Spring Training starts?

[jsnpritchett]

1 hour ago, Trendon said:

Does anyone know when Angels minor league Spring Training starts?

[Revad]

There’s an article worth reading on FanGraphs by Tess Taruskin on the evolution of catching prospects that includes discussion of robot umps (Automated Ball Strike System) and how that may play out with current catching prospects.  No mention of Thaiss btw.

“After debuting at Low-A in 2021, the much-discussed ABS system is getting the call-up to Triple-A this season. The system has been met with unsurprising skepticism at the lower level, as well as in the independent Atlantic League, where it has been in use since 2019. It’s also been tinkered with during its ongoing development, with the measurements of the strike zones adjusted based on feedback and other research. The Associated Press reported before the start of last season that the zone would be a dynamic two-dimensional rectangle at the front of the plate, spanning vertically from 28% of a given player’s height up to 56%, based on measurements taken before their first game. In a piece last fall for The Ringer, Ben Lindbergh and Rob Arthur elaborated that the zone had been expanded horizontally to include pitches that were technically not over the plate at all, presumably to better match what has traditionally been considered “The Zone.”

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/catchers-22-the-changing-catcher-prospect-landscape/

[Vladdy Issues]

Don't know if this has been posted before... kind of technical article about Brandon Marsh but still interesting

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/dont-forget-about-brandon-marsh/

 

[mmc]

 

[Second Base]

On 2/23/2022 at 11:54 AM, StandOutRealty said:

Don't know if this has been posted before... kind of technical article about Brandon Marsh but still interesting

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/dont-forget-about-brandon-marsh/

 

Outfield only Chris Taylor with louder tools. Not a terrible leap. I think Marsh end up being a 4-win player on a consistent basis. 

[mmc]

 

[Chuck]