The Official 2024 Minor League Stats, Scouting, Updates, and Reports Thread

[Angels 1961]

3 hours ago, jsnpritchett said:

"Guaranteed pitching depth."  Lol.  He's terrible.  That seems to be the only guarantee right now--and that's why no team is going to claim him.

He is working on somethings and will be fine. 

[ScottM]

Fontenelle having a really great year in Rocket City. Maybe the long look at the big league club in Spring did him well. 

[greginpsca]

14 minutes ago, ScottM said:

Fontenelle having a really great year in Rocket City. Maybe the long look at the big league club in Spring did him well. 

Striking out a bunch.

[Angel Oracle]

2 minutes ago, greginpsca said:

Striking out a bunch.

15 Ks in 62 PAs isn’t terrible.

[ScottM]

2 minutes ago, greginpsca said:

Striking out a bunch.

16Ks, 9BBs. Fine by me. The strikeouts aren't great but as long as he's walking it's a small issue IMO. 

[Chuck]

3 hours ago, ScottM said:

16Ks, 9BBs. Fine by me. The strikeouts aren't great but as long as he's walking it's a small issue IMO. 

Yep. He's definitely a candidate to get promoted this season if he keeps it up. 

.278/.403/.444 with 2 HR and a team leading 10 stolen bases. Who thought he would have more SB a few weeks in over Nelson Rada?

Even better. He's only committed two errors in 14 games, 46 total chances. I've heard he's made some really nice plays at the hot corner too. 

[Second Base]

1 hour ago, Chuck said:

Yep. He's definitely a candidate to get promoted this season if he keeps it up. 

.278/.403/.444 with 2 HR and a team leading 10 stolen bases. Who thought he would have more SB a few weeks in over Nelson Rada?

Even better. He's only committed two errors in 14 games, 46 total chances. I've heard he's made some really nice plays at the hot corner too. 

The reports I received is that every single tool is better than advertised. I don’t know if it’s just professional instruction, maturity, health or a new workout and nutrition regimen. But whatever it is, he’s even better than he was at TCU and he was hero status there in his one season, going to the World Series.

[jsnpritchett]

30 minutes ago, Second Base said:

The reports I received is that every single tool is better than advertised. I don’t know if it’s just professional instruction, maturity, health or a new workout and nutrition regimen. But whatever it is, he’s even better than he was at TCU and he was hero status there in his one season, going to the World Series.

All aboard the hype train! 

[Chuck]

10 hours ago, jsnpritchett said:

All aboard the hype train! 

There's tons of room, hop on.

 

[Vlad27Trout27]

Just keep him in AA, we see from Neto, Adell, Detmers etc that there is no real reason to call him up.

[Chuck]

2 hours ago, Vlad27Trout27 said:

Just keep him in AA, we see from Neto, Adell, Detmers etc that there is no real reason to call him up.

[Vlad27Trout27]

What's really caught my attention about Fontenelle is his impressive record of 10 stolen bases in 17 games. That's pretty impressive, especially for a runner seen as below average It really just sounds like he is a really smart player. For me he's been the biggest riser in our system, basically I have him 4th, and looking at the top 100 list and top 10 3rd baseman, by mid-season if he can keep producing, I can see him in the 90-100 range and in the bottom 3 next to Yohandy Morales  in the ranking. 

 

Talking about the top 100 and our system; my personal notes/takes

1. Dana rises to the number 1 spot in my rankings, and I place him in a tier similar to Horton and Painter, who are among the top 30 and top 4 or 5 right-handed pitchers

2. Rada drops to 2nd place, but it seems like he's finally starting to see the ball better in AA. Honestly, many young prospects in AA are struggling. Due to his age, I'd put him in the range of the top 40 to 75 prospects. You know what kind of annoys me? The Dodgers' Josue De Paula is included in most top 100 lists, yet Rada, who is the same age, putting up similar numbers in their Minor League careers, and at a higher level, is not.

3. Kent climbs to # 3, his ERA of 5.19 does not look pretty, but I've watched two of his starts, and hitters are having trouble picking up his pitches. There is potential four above-average or better pitches here.  Just needs to improve his command/control. due to his age and upside he has shown, I think he has the chance to slide in the 85 to 100 range, especially if he shown the command/control from his first start. 

4. Fontenelle climbs up to this spot and I've already highlighted him, and I think h could fall in the top 85 to 100 range by Mid-season or season's end. 

We could have four guys climb up into the top by the end of the season, not including the Draft picks. 

 

[Vlad27Trout27]

Also Flint and Redfield are two guys that are climbing in the system and might be worth keeping an eye on. 

[jsnpritchett]

19 minutes ago, Vlad27Trout27 said:

Also Flint and Redfield are two guys that are climbing in the system and might be worth keeping an eye on. 

On what are you basing this statement, particularly as it relates to Redfield?

[Vlad27Trout27]

5 minutes ago, jsnpritchett said:

On what are you basing this statement, particularly as it relates to Redfield?

It's early and he's only in A+, but I'm liking the high BB and low K-rate he's shown. 16% bb and close to a 12 % K rate. AA might be the true test for him.

Flint, nothing too fancy and none of his skills stick out, but he's one of those guys that plays like an "good-player/ above-average player" that potentially finds himself up in the Major. 

plus the system is pretty dreadful on the offense side 

[jsnpritchett]

1 minute ago, Vlad27Trout27 said:

It's early and he's only in A+, but I'm liking the high BB and low K-rate he's shown. 16% bb and close to a 12 % K rate. AA might be the true test for him.

Flint, nothing too fancy and none of his skills stick out, but he's one of those guys that plays like an "good-player/ above-average player" that potentially finds himself up in the Major. 

plus the system is pretty dreadful on the offense side 

I'm still not sure why you said he's "climbing in the system."  Redfield is in low-A, not high-A.  He's also not particularly young for the league (in fact, he's one of the four or five oldest position players on IE's roster). 

 

[Dave Saltzer]

Don't overlook our two catchers at IE: Flores and La Varde. Both should end up closet top 100 players by the end of the year. 

[Inside Pitch]

6 hours ago, Dave Saltzer said:

Don't overlook our two catchers at IE: Flores and La Varde. Both should end up closet top 100 players by the end of the year. 

It's really early still but Laverde is off to a pretty brutal start.  

Honestly, outside of Dana, this is maybe the worst start to a season performance wise for the entire system.  Nobody is really hitting, nobody is really pitching well. They may be undergoing some organizational revamp or something but by and large the system hasn't looked this bad (performance wise) since maybe 97-99.

Erik Rivera hasn't broken down yet so, that's cool.  Not sure anyone considers him a prospect but he's interesting.

[Make Angels Great Again]

So are we back to the "Worst farm system i've ever seen" status?

 

How wonderful.

[Chuck]

 

[eaterfan]

15 hours ago, Vlad27Trout27 said:

What's really caught my attention about Fontenelle is his impressive record of 10 stolen bases in 17 games. That's pretty impressive, especially for a runner seen as below average It really just sounds like he is a really smart player. For me he's been the biggest riser in our system, basically I have him 4th, and looking at the top 100 list and top 10 3rd baseman, by mid-season if he can keep producing, I can see him in the 90-100 range and in the bottom 3 next to Yohandy Morales  in the ranking. 

 

Talking about the top 100 and our system; my personal notes/takes

1. Dana rises to the number 1 spot in my rankings, and I place him in a tier similar to Horton and Painter, who are among the top 30 and top 4 or 5 right-handed pitchers

2. Rada drops to 2nd place, but it seems like he's finally starting to see the ball better in AA. Honestly, many young prospects in AA are struggling. Due to his age, I'd put him in the range of the top 40 to 75 prospects. You know what kind of annoys me? The Dodgers' Josue De Paula is included in most top 100 lists, yet Rada, who is the same age, putting up similar numbers in their Minor League careers, and at a higher level, is not.

3. Kent climbs to # 3, his ERA of 5.19 does not look pretty, but I've watched two of his starts, and hitters are having trouble picking up his pitches. There is potential four above-average or better pitches here.  Just needs to improve his command/control. due to his age and upside he has shown, I think he has the chance to slide in the 85 to 100 range, especially if he shown the command/control from his first start. 

4. Fontenelle climbs up to this spot and I've already highlighted him, and I think h could fall in the top 85 to 100 range by Mid-season or season's end. 

We could have four guys climb up into the top by the end of the season, not including the Draft picks. 

 

One of them is 6' 3" 185 lbs and one of them is 5' 8" 160 lbs. I think the power projection between the two is different. 

[Vlad27Trout27]

12 minutes ago, eaterfan said:

One of them is 6' 3" 185 lbs and one of them is 5' 8" 160 lbs. I think the power projection between the two is different. 

No doubt about the power projection and size difference. However, Rada's lack of power is easily compensated by his speed upside. Plus, it's not as if De Paula is hitting many home runs at the moment.

Overall, with Rada, you're looking at a ceiling of a top-of-the-lineup base stealer and a Gold Glove centerfielder, while with De Paula, you're looking at a middle-of-the-order bat as an above-average corner outfielder.

[Inside Pitch]

27 minutes ago, Make Angels Great Again said:

So are we back to the "Worst farm system i've ever seen" status?

 

How wonderful.

Too early for ME to make that determination but it's the worst I've seen them come out of the gate in a long long time.

[Vlad27Trout27]

3 hours ago, Make Angels Great Again said:

So are we back to the "Worst farm system i've ever seen" status?

 

How wonderful.

Not really, I would say it was back in 2014 that the system was ranked the "worst system ever" . There's still potential and high end talent in this system, and also some disappointments. I won't lie, we are pretty lack-lustered on the offense side of things, but the overall system is not the worst. Like I said in my previous post, I think there are 4 guys that could be in the top 100 or top 150 range.  

[totdprods]

3 hours ago, Inside Pitch said:

It's really early still but Laverde is off to a pretty brutal start.  

Honestly, outside of Dana, this is maybe the worst start to a season performance wise for the entire system.  Nobody is really hitting, nobody is really pitching well. They may be undergoing some organizational revamp or something but by and large the system hasn't looked this bad (performance wise) since maybe 97-99.

Erik Rivera hasn't broken down yet so, that's cool.  Not sure anyone considers him a prospect but he's interesting.

I've alluded this in other posts about Perry's farmbuilding...he seems to do well with the draft picks he can't miss on, but the rest of what he gets is bad. Not MLB quality, and in many cases, barely even minor league quality. Very little potential for dark-horse/sleeper prospects, or even just good organizational career minor-leaguers that put up decent MILB numbers. Think guys like Brett Kerry or Orlando Martinez. They've produced well in their minor league careers, have had fringe MLB potential, but ultimately are likely no more than 4A guys. Perry seems to be having a hard time producing guys like that in the later rounds of the draft or international signees, and that's leading to a lot of really bad teams. 

That said, I still have been pleased with quite a few guys this year....

AAA: 

• Bryce Teodosio looks like he's at least made a case to be a 5th OF, and if the bat is turning around, a 4th OF or potential platoon guy. A Collin Cowgill at best, but the type of role-player teams need to develop.
• Kenny Rosenberg, Davis Daniel, and Andrew Wantz should, one of them at the very least, be able to eventually bump Suarez and cover long-relief at a minimum in a league average capacity.
• Not prospects per se, but Hans Crouse, Travis MacGregor, Tyler Thomas, Ryan Miller and Amir Garrett should be able to offer at least one in-house relief solution should Cisnero, Garcia, Cimber, etc. eventually lose a spot.

AA:

• Hard to not be satisfied with what Cole Fontenelle and Tucker Flint have done. I'm not terribly confident in either one yet, but both feel like they could turn into everyday guys showing solid skills in all aspects of the game.
• Caden Dana is killing it. 'Nuff said.
• Nelson Rada is slashing .286/.340/.333 in his last ten games with 6 steals in 7 attempts during that time, while playing CF. He's 6 years younger than the average AA player. Holding his own and performing well, IMO, all things considered
• Really, the entire Rocket City bullpen has been extremely promising and showing signs of the organizational philosophy of first-pitch strikes and limiting walks and taking that to heart. To me, AA bullpen was really critical this year because we have a ton of interesting arms there, some from the 20-pitcher draft, that need to realize their potential and start ascending to the MLB team. This has looked very positive this year as a whole.
  • Murphy: 0 BB to 8 K, Armstrong 2 BB to 10 K, Rangel 5 BB to 25 K, Kerry 2 BB to 14 K, Erla 0 BB to 6 K, Darrell-Hicks 2 BB to 10 K, Jones 0 BB to 10 K, Chaney 2 BB to 18 K, and Hayden Seig, Kenyon Yovan and Erik Torres looking good too. 
• Sam Brown could be someone to watch...pedestrian numbers now, but he's not bombing for someone making their pro debut at AA.

A+:

• Nothing here. Seriously.

A:

• Personally I'm thrilled with Randy DeJesus so far. Only 19, big dude showing power, contact, and reasonable discipline. IMO he's on the verge of going from a high-risk/reward intl signee to a legit OF prospect.
• Juan Flores has hit more than anticipated and that was always the concern with him. The glove is there. He will make losing Edgar Quero a moot point by end of next year at latest.
• Anthony Scull is slumping but he has shown some signs of life and had enough raw tools that I could see him growing into a solid OF prospect by end of year too.
• Jury is still out on Joe Redfield and Adrian Placencia but both are at least showing strong discipline numbers and those tend to help a hitter as season goes on. It's early and small sample.
• Similar on Capri Ortiz, Kevyn Castillo, and Cristian Garcia, as all are young and at least for Castillo just new to stateside ball. Showing good discipline.
• Barrett Kent has looked good and will be a solid SP prospect. Francis Texido and Riley Baumann both hold some intrigue. 

Is it a good farm? No, but much like the MLB team, I think we are truly seeing a transition year. The guys that are producing well that I mentioned above are guys that should be developing into solid prospects, and many of them to me differ from the type of young prospects we've seen picked in the Dipoto and Eppler years. The pitchers (Dana and Kent) are your stereotypical strong SP prospect draftees. Guys like DeJesus and Scull would flame out once they came stateside, yet these two haven't - yet. Same with Rada. Laverde and Garcia are looking like legit catching options, even if just as back-ups behind O'Hoppe once Thaiss moves on. The AA bullpen is starting to look like it could produce a few cheap, optionable relief arms. Fontenelle and Flint look like they have a shot at putting up a few years in the bigs with average to above-average performance. If we got two Kole Calhoun-esque careers out of them both, it's a huge win. 

As said earlier though, I think these successes are drowning out because so much of the minor league teams around them are just really, really bad, to the point where collectively they're getting drubbed by competition. The depth isn't there.

Best case scenario is the Angels are able to deal guys like Drury, Estevez, Moore, Anderson, maybe another reliever, maybe one of the Rengifo, Ward, Sandoval, Canning group this year and fill out the minors around these guys. Couple that with a good draft from Perry since we have four early picks, and I could see this group getting exciting again next year.