Programming Alert: Joey Prebynski will be on MLB Network Radio within the hour

[T.G.]

As a follow up to Jeff Fletcher's column... MLB network radio will have Joey Prebynski, Director of Player Development will be on to talk about the direction the team is going with their minor league system...

[Blarg]

This should be good. I'll have to check if I'm on a free Sirus trial to listen in. 

[T.G.]

Mike Ferrin has been praising @Jeff Fletcher's three part series...

Prebynski should be on shortly.

[T.G.]

Mike Ferrin... "I love me some Zach Neto..."  "We are definitely going to talk about Zach Neto."

[Taylor]

I read that as "Pierzynski" for a split second.

[T.G.]

Updates (I'll be paraphrasing)

"We try to create a standard every single day... that's been our focus and continues to be every day."

"The great thing about here (Angels) is the alignment between Perry and Phil and our scouts."

"We do a lot of activities throughout the year where we try to bring all the groups together to create synergy"

"Last year we had every staff member spend time at spring training."

"for us winning is really important... players have to learn by being in winning situations... it's a big part of their development... "  "It's about how they go about their business on a day to day basis."

Talked about the Trash Panda's success. 

"How to we create purpose and intention to our work... (about using tools).  It's about understanding the player and that relationship and how they learn..."

Top prospects (outside of Neto and O'Hoppe)... Quero, Paris... strength up the middle... arms they brought into the system... mentioned several others.

Re: Players like Neto, Joyce.... going to AA quickly... wanted to put them in "winning environment"... they're big on "group development, learning to win together."

On Ben Joyce... "needs to continue to work on slider development"

 

[Chuck]

Dang I missed it and I have XM/Sirius. 

Thank you for the summary @T.G.

[T.G.]

15 minutes ago, Chuckster70 said:

Dang I missed it and I have XM/Sirius. 

Thank you for the summary @T.G.

I think you can listen to it on demand.  Not sure.

[DMVol]

I caught the first few minutes of the interview.  Didn't say anything earthshaking but, if he did, Minasian would probably re-assign him to minor league bus driver.

[Warfarin]

7 hours ago, T.G. said:

Updates (I'll be paraphrasing)

"We try to create a standard every single day... that's been our focus and continues to be every day."

"The great thing about here (Angels) is the alignment between Perry and Phil and our scouts."

"We do a lot of activities throughout the year where we try to bring all the groups together to create synergy"

"Last year we had every staff member spend time at spring training."

"for us winning is really important... players have to learn by being in winning situations... it's a big part of their development... "  "It's about how they go about their business on a day to day basis."

Talked about the Trash Panda's success. 

"How to we create purpose and intention to our work... (about using tools).  It's about understanding the player and that relationship and how they learn..."

Top prospects (outside of Neto and O'Hoppe)... Quero, Paris... strength up the middle... arms they brought into the system... mentioned several others.

Re: Players like Neto, Joyce.... going to AA quickly... wanted to put them in "winning environment"... they're big on "group development, learning to win together."

On Ben Joyce... "needs to continue to work on slider development"

 

I think various people touched upon this, but yeah - it seems they wanted to keep a number of guys together on that AA club to help foster that "group development, learning to win together" aspect.  There are many things that can be easily measured by stats and metrics (OBP, exit velocity, yada yada), but something that has been somewhat difficult for analytics to capture is how much things like that matter.  As @Jeff Fletcher's articles referenced, winning in the minors was somewhat de-prioritized, whereas it has been a point of emphasis with this current FO.  It's probably a factor as to why Neto was promoted so quickly too - maybe he would have stayed in A+, but they wanted him to join that group of players and participate in a winning environment / culture.

I appreciate the insight we are getting into the player development process.  Only time will tell, but it seems like a lot of solid progress has been made in terms of improving the process for this club.

[Angel Oracle]

Nevin does seem to be on the same page with Minasian, much more than Maddon was.

[Warfarin]

22 hours ago, Angel Oracle said:

Nevin does seem to be on the same page with Minasian, much more than Maddon was.

Yeah.  I have to assume that was part of the process as nominating him as interim - Nevin likely had to indicate to Minasian he'd be on board with a collaborative effort.

The modern team, IMO, has largely de-emphasized the role of manager as "decision-maker," and rather they are more of a politician now - they have to keep the players happy and relay the instructions from the FO, and they have to likewise communicate with the FO to give them an honest idea of what the clubhouse is like, and so and so forth.  Basically a liaison between those who are making in-game decisions (the FO) and the players who are responsible for generating those outcomes.

I think Maddon took pride in making unusual decisions and having it work out.  I think he also deviated, to varying degrees, from what the FO wanted, enough to incite Minasian's frustration.