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

[Make Angels Great Again]

Haven't we had a bottom 5 farm for like 15 years straight now? Thats impressive.

[tdawg87]

2 minutes ago, Make Angels Great Again said:

Haven't we had a bottom 5 farm for like 15 years straight now? Thats impressive.

We dropped to around 20 or so when we got Ohtani but that has an asterisk.

[Docwaukee]

1 hour ago, Make Angels Great Again said:

Haven't we had a bottom 5 farm for like 15 years straight now? Thats impressive.

At least the last 10 if you don't count Ohtani.  We crept up some for a bit on the back of Adell having a 60 FV and what also appeared to be some decent foreign classes.  They've drafted ok.  We just have no depth again.  Although it's probably a little better than they're being perceived.  

[jsnpritchett]

Keith Law is out with his top 100 prospects. Schanuel is the only Angel, at 91:

https://theathletic.com/5245693/2024/02/05/top-100-mlb-prospects-2024-keith-law

"Schanuel was the 11th pick in the 2023 draft and became the first player from that draft to reach the majors when the Angels called him up on Aug. 18. He acquitted himself quite well in his major-league debut with a .275/.402/.330 line and more walks than strikeouts. Schanuel’s plate discipline is real, as he rarely chases out of the zone and hammers fastballs, so the question is whether he can get to more power from such a big frame. His hands start high above his head, but that doesn’t inhibit his timing, and he seems to get his hips and legs involved in his swing enough, yet so far it hasn’t resulted in either big in-game power or high exit velocities. He’s probably limited to first base as well, so he could have a Dave Magadan-like career even without more power output (Magadan produced 21.1 WAR and played 16 seasons), but if I’m the Angels I’m all about trying to get a 6-4, 220+ pound hitter to hit like one."

[ThisismineScios]

I think they've botched Bachman, Adell, Canning and Suarez. They brought all of those guys up too early, in part due to pressure to win with Trout/Ohtani/Rendon in the lineup. Bachman is injury prone, but in reality he should have spent last year starting once a week in AA or AAA. Adell was brought up in '20 well before he was ready because Eppler needed something. Canning was fast-tracked despite having major injury questions. Suarez was brought up years too early. He came up at age 21 and gave up 23 HR in 81 IP (!!!). 2020 he had a solid 3 point percentage...oh shoot that was his ERA. It took him years to settle in, but who knows if his trajectory would have changed if 2021 was his first year. 

They continue to aggressively promote, but there's really only one reason I think the low ranking is a big deal: The lack of pitching talent. The system is extremely dry when it comes to pitching prospects. And this is where you really can have success, having young pitchers under control for 6 years. Free agent pitchers are incredibly unreliable. Other than that, they have C, SS, CF, and 1B pretty well covered for the next 5-6 years. Finding position players isn't as difficult, and even if it is you are more likely to hit on something in FA at OF or 2B than a SP. 

[totdprods]

7 hours ago, jsnpritchett said:

Keith Law is out with his top 100 prospects. Schanuel is the only Angel, at 91:

https://theathletic.com/5245693/2024/02/05/top-100-mlb-prospects-2024-keith-law

"Schanuel was the 11th pick in the 2023 draft and became the first player from that draft to reach the majors when the Angels called him up on Aug. 18. He acquitted himself quite well in his major-league debut with a .275/.402/.330 line and more walks than strikeouts. Schanuel’s plate discipline is real, as he rarely chases out of the zone and hammers fastballs, so the question is whether he can get to more power from such a big frame. His hands start high above his head, but that doesn’t inhibit his timing, and he seems to get his hips and legs involved in his swing enough, yet so far it hasn’t resulted in either big in-game power or high exit velocities. He’s probably limited to first base as well, so he could have a Dave Magadan-like career even without more power output (Magadan produced 21.1 WAR and played 16 seasons), but if I’m the Angels I’m all about trying to get a 6-4, 220+ pound hitter to hit like one."

Interesting comp, pretty fair IMO. I believe in Schanuel and expect him to see plenty of playing time in Anaheim this year, but still think it may not be a bad idea to have him work on finding more power at somewhere like SLC for a month or two rather than trying to press the issue against MLB pitching. 

[mmc]

 

[tdawg87]

48 minutes ago, mmc said:

 

Sure. Why not?

He's been absolutely abysmal the last 2 years (22 walks in 22 IP in 2023 lmao). He was used as a reliever this past year, when before he was a starter. 

Below average fastball. Ok.

[Taylor]

Hans Crouse is a great Bond villain name.

[jsnpritchett]

Keith Law has the Angels farm system ranked 29th:

https://theathletic.com/5258158/2024/02/09/mlb-farm-system-rankings-2024/

"The Angels have one top 100 guy, one guy just below him with top 50 upside, and then it falls off quickly. Last summer’s trades to try to make one last playoff push while Shohei Ohtani was there sent off several prospects of note and drove this system down several spots, while there’s also the natural impact of having your 2022 first-round pick (Zach Neto) already graduate from the list while most of his peers are still eligible."

[eaterfan]

On 2/4/2024 at 10:05 AM, Make Angels Great Again said:

Haven't we had a bottom 5 farm for like 15 years straight now? Thats impressive.

Yeah. And every year people on here say we're ranked too low and scouts only pay attention to the Yankees and Dodgers prospects... Meanwhile we've produced Trout, Ohtani and no one else of note in 15 years. Maybe the low rankings were right.

[Angels in 2030]

2 hours ago, eaterfan said:

Yeah. And every year people on here say we're ranked too low and scouts only pay attention to the Yankees and Dodgers prospects... Meanwhile we've produced Trout, Ohtani and no one else of note in 15 years. Maybe the low rankings were right.

Exactly.  Each year this team sucks even with huge performances from Trout & Ohtani.  As the season goes along, the lack of depth is on full display with very little bench and farm system available to get thru the long 162 season.  The lack of producing any stars is obvious.  But even more telling is simply good depth players available and on hand when injuries occur.  You can twist the narrative all you want to make excuses for the Angels and be a homer.  "Gotta support the team!" -- as Puddy would say on Seinfeld.  But we have 10 years of data -- facts are facts.  

Hopefully, one day soon, we can put that behind us and get back to the Stoneman days of true farm system building and player development.  It requires a sea change though.  This organization will linger in apathy/insignificance until then.  

[Second Base]

In regards to prospects, I'd rather have a few major leaguers that are age 24, than several prospects that are 20.

The point is to win at the highest level. 

It would mean something if we had a bottom ranked system AND no Neto, O'Hoppe, Bachman, Silseth, Joyce or Schanuel in the majors. 

[Angel Oracle]

On 2/8/2024 at 12:40 PM, Taylor said:

Hans Crouse is a great Bond villain name.

 

[eaterfan]

On 2/10/2024 at 8:21 AM, Second Base said:

In regards to prospects, I'd rather have a few major leaguers that are age 24, than several prospects that are 20.

The point is to win at the highest level. 

It would mean something if we had a bottom ranked system AND no Neto, O'Hoppe, Bachman, Silseth, Joyce or Schanuel in the majors. 

Sure, but we aren't winning and haven't been. So many teams have guys that are as good as those and in similar volumes. The rest of the Angels have been so bad for so long that we've grown into thinking that a few young guys contributing anything is exceptional. Also, is been a year. We've had Fletcher, Walsh, Borjous, Barria, Canning, Suarez come up and look good for short periods of time. 

The system was bad and still looks bad.

[ShotimeDynasty]

On 2/9/2024 at 11:59 AM, Angels in 2030 said:

Exactly.  Each year this team sucks even with huge performances from Trout & Ohtani.  As the season goes along, the lack of depth is on full display with very little bench and farm system available to get thru the long 162 season.  The lack of producing any stars is obvious.  But even more telling is simply good depth players available and on hand when injuries occur.  You can twist the narrative all you want to make excuses for the Angels and be a homer.  "Gotta support the team!" -- as Puddy would say on Seinfeld.  But we have 10 years of data -- facts are facts.  

Hopefully, one day soon, we can put that behind us and get back to the Stoneman days of true farm system building and player development.  It requires a sea change though.  This organization will linger in apathy/insignificance until then.  

Taylor Ward, Jared Walsh and Griffin Canning all were good picks that have been developed well but on field MLB results have been diminished due to injuries. Matt Thaiss looks like another decent pick with upside.. was really good last year until overuse caught up with him.

Detmers has already produced 4.6 fWAR headed into his age 24 season with plenty of upside remaining.

Would be nice to see more hits, but the bad injury luck has to be accounted for

[Angel Oracle]

2 minutes ago, ShotimeDynasty said:

Taylor Ward, Jared Walsh and Griffin Canning all were good picks that have been developed well but on field MLB results have been diminished due to injuries. Matt Thaiss looks like another decent pick with upside.. was really good last year until overuse caught up with him.

Detmers has already produced 4.6 fWAR headed into his age 24 season with plenty of upside remaining.

Would be nice to see more hits, but the bad injury luck has to be accounted for

I sure hope whoever they hired to take over the training and conditioning staffs help to change that rotten luck from the past decade.

[Tank]

On 2/8/2024 at 12:40 PM, Taylor said:

Hans Crouse is a great Bond villain name.

 

[Second Base]

On 2/11/2024 at 9:17 AM, eaterfan said:

Sure, but we aren't winning and haven't been. So many teams have guys that are as good as those and in similar volumes. The rest of the Angels have been so bad for so long that we've grown into thinking that a few young guys contributing anything is exceptional. Also, is been a year. We've had Fletcher, Walsh, Borjous, Barria, Canning, Suarez come up and look good for short periods of time. 

The system was bad and still looks bad.

Sort of. Other teams have greater volume than the Angels, no doubt about that. But no, you're incorrect when you said other teams have similar guys to Neto, Schanuel and O'Hoppe in larger quantity. They don't.

Those guys are pretty good, pretty young and have a bright future. In fact it's pretty rare for a team to have three guys under the age of 24 in a starting major league lineup with all-star caliber upside that are all former or current top 100 prospects. 

The teams that do have that are usually seen as juggernauts on the upswing, like the Orioles and the Rangers. You certainly wouldn't expect to see a team like the Angels have that, and yet they do.

Edited February 12 by Second Base

[mmc]

As was reported when the NRIs were announced, Angels sign Jason Martin and Carson Fulmer to minor league deals

[Angels 1961]

1 hour ago, mmc said:

As was reported when the NRIs were announced, Angels sign Jason Martin and Carson Fulmer to minor league deals

Carson Fulmer is my pick to be big surprise this year. Good spring and he might win rotation spot. Got to go need to take my meds.

[mmc]

 

[greginpsca]

1 hour ago, mmc said:

 

Heard it is a done deal. Supposedly done in the last hour.

[Angel Oracle]

1 hour ago, mmc said:

 

Age 35, but once converted to the pen later on in 2019, he was dominant when healthy through 2021.

70.2 inn, 1.90 ERA, 1.03 WHIP, 104 Ks

Why not take him on a minor league deal?

[Second Base]

Aside from Stephenson and Sano, this might be my favorite deal of the winter. Well done, Minasian!