Toby Ziegler

According to Zach, it's definitely Trout.

I've had a chance to cool down, but I I still can't believe this happened. He truly gets no respect. BA's list is offensive.

Toby jumps the shark with the anti semitism remark. Suprised Hitler wasn't mentioned.

Give me a better explanation for the glaring omission. Anti-Semitism is alive and well. You would have to be naive to completely dismiss that very real and disturbing possibility. Am I paranoid, and do I automatically assume the worst in people? Perhaps, but I've seen it happen too many times to count to be as glib and insensitive as you.

And you guys wonder why I despise scouts so much and put zero stock in what they have to say...

Get a load of this.

Baseball America, in its infinite wisdom, left Zach off its list of top 20 prospects - for the California League.

Objectively the best hitter in the league - the MVP - the guy who nearly won the Triple Crown while missing a month of the season - the guy who will likely be the Angels' Minor League Player of the Year - didn't make the cut.

Un****ingreal. The sheer ignorance, stupidity, and lack of vision is astounding. I would even go so far as to say that this is malicious. Perhaps anti-Semitism was involved. I really have no other explanation. It's outrageous, that much is certain.

Going in the book for sure. Some slights must be remembered for posterity.

You can vote for Zach for Offensive MiLB Player of the Year here:

http://www.milb.com/news/awards/y2013/index.jsp

You can also vote for Mike Morin for Relief Pitcher of the Year and the 66ers' epic 15-inning game against Lancaster that got them to the Cal League Championship for Game of the Year.

I think Chris Davis should be getting more love for MVP. The Orioles go nowhere without him this year.

I uploaded a few clips of some bombs he hit this season. I chose the ones where he had the most swag. They're pretty sweet.

Note: He pimps some of these HRs, but this is not a regular thing with all of his HRs.

She had limited range and couldn't hit a curve.   A little old for that league too.

I thought about making a joke about C.J. Cregg and C.J. Cron because it was right in my wheelhouse, but I resisted.

just now finding this thread. wow, lol. quite the journey.

 

how did we discover that toby ziegler (wasn't he the press secretary on the west wing?) is zach's brother?

 

glad to see he had an excellent year. look forward to where he goes next.

Toby Ziegler was the White House Communications Director in The West Wing. C.J. Cregg was the press secretary, and I might add that she was easily the worst character in the show.

http://www.baseballamerica.com/minors/2013-minor-league-all-star-team/

If you add the two HRs he's hit in the playoffs, that makes 30 on the season.

Walkoff single to advance Inland Empire into the 2nd round of the playoffs.

AA is the test, if he's killing it in late June in that park then they need to be aggressive and send him to AAA.  Trumbo has been given enough time to show he's more than just a one trick pony.   The system has a glut of OFers all of which offer more speed and defensive value than Trumbo does.   They don't have his power but if they can get on base it may all even out. 

I agree that they should aggressively promote him in June if does well in AA, but I don't see how going to the PCL would do anything for his development under the circumstances. He's a mature college bat who has come into his own. Everyone hits in the PCL. Unlike Cron and maybe Grichuk as is being discussed in another thread, he doesn't need a confidence boost or more trade value.

If he does well in AA, he should skip AAA and go straight to The Bigs. If you can rake in the Texas League, the PCL will certainly not present you with a challenge.

No, because he's not the prototype prospect they fawn over..  They will still view him as too small, too old, too maxed out, too slow.  There is a projection bias in place with guys like ZB who are a bit older than their leagues.  He's not 21, 6'3, 225, with room to grow so..  he's not a uber-spect in the eyes of BA and the sort.

 

This is not a criticism of ZB.  Just my opinion of the mindset held by BA and the sort.  

I think that's spot on.

I was reading ignorant comments in the Sickels article. Some people still don't think he has any above average tools. It's mind-boggling to me.

http://www.minorleagueball.com/2013/9/4/4694288/minor-league-ball-gameday-september-4

 

From Sickels:

 

"

***One player on my research list is Los Angeles Angels outfield prospect Zach Borenstein, who had a really good 2013 season for High-A Lake Elsinore, hitting .337/.403/.631 and leading the California League with 28 homers. He finished the season with three homers in his last three games, including this shot on Monday.

 

 

He was a 23rd round pick in 2011 out of Eastern Illinois University. It is generally wise to be suspicious about California League breakouts and surge performances, but I'm going to find out more about him. The Angels need all the prospects they can get."

When he conducts his research, the first thing he should look into is what team Zach plays for.

Here's the last HR he hit:

http://www.milb.com/multimedia/vpp.jsp?content_id=30284481

Toby, I'm glad your brother is kicking ass for the Angels farm.

 

I don't really see what you or he gains by tearing down other Angel farm players though.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but nothing I just posted was inaccurate. Cron and Grichuk have below average plate discipline, and their development in that part of their game has been marginal at best.

This is an irrefutable fact.

Shane has been criticized because he refused to put Grichuk on his risers list. He cited Grichuk's power as his only real improvement, and he is not wrong on that front.

We're talking about Grichuk right? Not only did his power numbers improve, but his BB rate improved as well. He's still a "free swinger" but he has shown improvement in that regard.

 

I see absolutely no reason whatsoever for him to be on your "fallers" list, other than his AVG being lower, but that is stupid.

4.0% to 5.2%. That is a marginal improvement. Still bad plate discipline.

Cron "improved" as well. He went from 3.1% to 4.1%.

Lindsey is the only one of those guys who has actually demonstrated tangible improvement. He went from 4.9% to 8.5%. That's a dramatic change.

For the record, the average walk rate in the Texas League is 8.0%.

http://www.angelswin-forum.com/forums/topic/7207-the-angels-should-promote-jeremy-berg-this-september/

Since he's a sidearm pitcher who relies on his arm slot, junk, and deception I fail to see why him losing a little velo is relevant. He's been a beast against righties. He's not nearly as effective against lefties, but at least he's passable against them.

This is what he's done against righties:

.229 BAA, 10.9 K/9 (54 Ks in 44 2/3 innings), 6.00 K/BB, 1.05 WHIP

2-4, 1 HR (28th), 1 BB, 1 RBI, 2 runs scored

Went oppo in his last AB of the regular season.

What a season.

 

And Grichuk, he's done exacly what he did last season but did so with more power in an extremely harsh hitting climate against advanced pitching.  Do we not call that improvement?

 

Consider this: Grichuk is hitting .276 with 16 HR's away from that hellacious park for hitting which he plays his home games at.  Conversely, if he played anywhere outside of Little Rock, he'd probably have a .280 BA with 30 HR's this year in the Texas League.  If we're so willing to look past the home/road splits in the Cal League to justify our arguments for progression that why do we use the same ignorance to justify a lack thereof in the Texas League?

Grichuk's ISO has gone up a bit in a pitcher's league, so that's promising. His walk rate has mildly improved, going from a dismal 4% to 5.2%. His strikeout rate remains pretty good at 16.9%. His .270 BABIP suggests he's gotten a little unlucky. His .255 BA is slightly above league average (.252), and his .305 OBP is well below league average (.320). If he's improved at all, it's only ever so slightly.

Zach's home/road splits aren't all that extreme. He has a .939 OPS at San Manuel Stadium, and his last 2 HRs were crushed in a pitcher's park. I'm sure the altitude and wind patterns are much different at Dickey-Stephens, but it is not a big park.

332 down the left field line, 330 down the right field line, 375 to right-center, 360 to left-center, 400 to center. If anything, it looks tougher on lefties than righties.

I don't foresee Zach posting a .699 OPS there like Grichuk has. It hasn't affected Cron all that much. He's actually been better at home than he has been on the road. He has a .790 OPS at home and a .718 OPS on the road. On the other hand, Lindsey has struggled mightily at home, posting a .704 OPS and an .857 OPS on the road.

Admittedly, I've never seen Berg pitch, but I think the fact that he has thrived in the PCL this year makes him a riser. He struggled a bit in AAA last year and in 2011. It's difficult to extrapolate with relief pitchers because of the sample size, but his numbers this year are hard to ignore. Nice K/BB ratio, and his .292 BABIP suggests that he hasn't really gotten lucky. The 81% strand rate is somewhat high, but good relief pitchers always have high strand rates.

Interesting. Do you think he has a shot at the bigs in 2014?

If he rakes in AA, I think he should get the call next year late summer, but it's not my call. If he does well next year, at the very least I would think a cup of coffee would be in order in September.

It's not at all unusual for prospects to skip AAA, especially when we're talking about the PCL. If he excels in the Texas League, I don't see how going to the PCL would do anything for his development. The only thing it would do is delay his service time, but typically organizations are only concerned about that with "top prospects." Again, though, not my call.

I think Angels fans would enjoy watching him play on a daily basis. He's an exciting player with a lot of power who uses the whole field and he hustles. He brings a hard hat and a lunch pail to every game. An intense competitor. He's an above average outfielder as well.

Good list. I'd add Snyder to the Risers column. He's raked all year and definitely has plus power.

I'd also keep an eye on Sherman Johnson. I think he's an intriguing prospect. Doesn't have a ton of power, but he seems to have excellent plate discipline, some speed, and versatility. The fact that he can play 3B, 2B, and OF could make him rather useful to the organization.

Here's today's HR. This one was crushed as well. This time to right-center.

http://www.milb.com/multimedia/vpp.jsp?content_id=30252961