2017 Minor League Thread

[Goombah!]

I really could care less where he starts off in prospect rankings. Everything I've read and listened to says he will be a top 25 player. But again I could care less where he ranks once signed. Just sign him and let the rankings be what they are. Let his skill set play the way it plays and let's hope he becomes the next great Cardinal.

[John D]

???

"How good is Robert? One American League international scouting director described Robert as "the best player on the planet, and that's no exaggeration."

http://m.mlb.com/news/article/216971...onal-prospect/

http://chicago.suntimes.com/sports/h...ill-be-robust/

Top-25 player per this article in Chicago Sun Times.....not sure about the not even top 100 prospect thing....

Latest news....(May 20 is a big day)...

http://www.baseballamerica.com/inter...lgTFbvLCxZ3.97

All you need to know is the Cards won't be signing him and Bung Hole is pre-emptively setting up excuses for Mozeliak.

Same shit - different day.

[Oz-iz-God]

???

"How good is Robert? One American League international scouting director described Robert as "the best player on the planet, and that's no exaggeration."

http://m.mlb.com/news/article/216971...onal-prospect/

http://chicago.suntimes.com/sports/h...ill-be-robust/

Top-25 player per this article in Chicago Sun Times.....not sure about the not even top 100 prospect thing....

Latest news....(May 20 is a big day)...

http://www.baseballamerica.com/inter...lgTFbvLCxZ3.97

By most accounts, the hit tool isn't truly elite.

So you're looking at more of a .280/.340/.525 hitter.

Now don't get me wrong, that's Yoenis Cespedes kind of production and a damn good player. But it's not like we're talking perennial MVP here. And that's his likely upside, not his baseline.

The Cardinals still need to sign him, but this isn't the kind of guy that's going to put us on par with the Cubs if he pans out. Then again, few are - there aren't many one-stop shops for dragging this starting 9 into truly elite territory. You're looking at Trout, Harper, Arenado, Machado and maybe a few others.

There's no way you can comfortably state that Robert will get to that level. He's more of an Alex Bregman level prospect on the high side. Damn nice guy to have and someone worth signing, but we'd still need Perez and some of the other 'athlete' prospects to develop into ballplayers.

[Redbirdfan1]

I doubt he's better than Trout or Harper or Manny or Lindor or Goldie or a number of other guys. But he's got all-star talent. cornerstone type talent.

[Card fan in SWIN]

I doubt he's better than Trout or Harper or Manny or Lindor or Goldie or a number of other guys. But he's got all-star talent. cornerstone type talent.

This. The very nature of scouting talent is speculative so of course it's no guarantee Robert will be a star but he is one of the safer bets. Of course one player doesn't make a team or farm system. I think we need him more than other teams due to Astro-gate penalties and our lack of a tremendous amount of position player prospects.

[TCB 6-4-3]

I think we need him more than other teams due to Astro-gate penalties and our lack of a tremendous amount of position player prospects.

Couple that with already having blown past the international spending limits resulting in not being able to sign quality international FAs for the next 2 years & the fact that big market clubs like the Dodgers, Cubs, Yankees & Red Sox can't even make him an offer........Mozeliak has to be aggressive for Robert. He's spent a lot of money on mediocre talent (Leake, Cecil, Fowler) so he better invest some of this money in somebody that actually has some real upside. I'd say Preller's Padres are our biggest competition to sign him.

[two-hole]

What are the slot values of the picks we would have had if not for Fowler and hack gate?

There's about a third of the check right there.

[Speedy G]

Daniel Poncedeleon was hit in the head by a line drive during today's Memphis start. He was carted off on a stretcher but was reportedly conscious and waved to fans on the way out.

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/sto...ame/314686001/

He's been pitching well this year and could maybe be in the conversation if/when they need a starter.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/re...d=ponced001dan

No real update on Poncedeleon except that "the surgery went well" and "he's expected to live." Yikes.

I saw the video the other day and it looked really bad. The ball hit him virtually square on the side of the head. That video is included in the video at this link.

Hopefully, he makes a full recovery, even if only eventually. He's been a good performer throughout his minor league career and was getting within shouting distance of the majors. What rotten luck. This game can be cruel. On top of everything else, it happened on the road, so he is stuck in a Des Moines hospital and his teammates can't even visit him. Really have to feel for the guy.

[Oz-iz-God]

No real update on Poncedeleon except that "the surgery went well" and "he's expected to live." Yikes.

I saw the video the other day and it looked really bad. The ball hit him virtually square on the side of the head. That video is included in the video at this link.

Hopefully, he makes a full recovery, even if only eventually. He's been a good performer throughout his minor league career and was getting within shouting distance of the majors. What rotten luck. This game can be cruel. On top of everything else, it happened on the road, so he is stuck in a Des Moines hospital and his teammates can't even visit him. Really have to feel for the guy.

I figured he might actually get the call ahead of Weaver if the need arose; he really was knocking on the door, by all accounts.

This seems pretty damn nasty. "Expected to survive..." isn't exactly the kind of prognosis you expect from a baseball injury. Yeah, you just have to feel awful for him.

[Oz-iz-God]

What are the slot values of the picks we would have had if not for Fowler and hack gate?

There's about a third of the check right there.

Nah, not with the dollar for dollar penalty attached. The slot value was, I think, in the $7-8 million range. Maybe a little more, but I think he'll ultimately require a cash outlay in the $50 million range, even if he only gets half of it.

Then again, I was only off by about 300% on the Diaz bidding so needless to say, this is a bit of guess work.

[Speedy G]

I figured he might actually get the call ahead of Weaver if the need arose; he really was knocking on the door, by all accounts.

This seems pretty damn nasty. "Expected to survive..." isn't exactly the kind of prognosis you expect from a baseball injury. Yeah, you just have to feel awful for him.

Yeah, I think those comments were from another doctor not involved with his care, so maybe not quite as bad is it sounds, but obviously anytime you need surgery due to brain bleeding it is a really big deal.

Often times you see those balls ricochet high in the air meaning the skull didn't absorb so much of the energy, but this one went just a couple feet up after hitting him what looked like just above the ear. That's just really really scary.

I coach a 10U team, and I gotta say this is making me think. Our kids don't hit the ball 100 mph, but some of them routinely hit it pretty hard and the pitcher is only 46 feet away and he's only 9 or 10 years old. Some kids wear a heart guard shirt when they pitch, but I've never seen any sort of head protection or even heard anyone discuss it. I think we may do some come backer drills tonight at practice.

[paulie walnuts]

I saw the video the other day and it looked really bad. The ball hit him virtually square on the side of the head. That video is included in the video at this link.

Not only is it a bad injury, it is some terrible TV production, too. Did that air on an actual network affiliate in St. Louis?

[Sonicblast12]

In summer ball we had a guy damn near get half his face torn off because he didn't get behind the L screen in time. Vomiting and convulsions, the whole deal. Scary as hell. I didn't get behind the screen and got smoked right in the chest throwing bp. Probably got lucky there, but I never did it again.

My junior year of college I hit a kid in the helmet with a 92 mph pitch and knocked him out cold. He fell with his arms locked out in front of him and still had his eyes open. I'll never forget that lifeless stare, I was absolutely sure I killed him. Lead off hitter in the game, 0-2 pitch, he didn't even flinch, I don't think he saw it coming. So after the ambulance drove on the field we had a long delay. I think we made 3 errors in the top of the first after the delay. I couldn't throw a strike, gave up 4 runs on about 35 pitches. Everyone was shook up. Still remember that like it was yesterday.

The next year, same kid came to bat but with the face guard. He took my first pitch over the left center field fence.

[two-hole]

Nah, not with the dollar for dollar penalty attached. The slot value was, I think, in the $7-8 million range. Maybe a little more, but I think he'll ultimately require a cash outlay in the $50 million range, even if he only gets half of it.

Then again, I was only off by about 300% on the Diaz bidding so needless to say, this is a bit of guess work.

right, forgot about the 100% penalty.

i've got Robert pegged at about $24m, which means he'll probably go for $28m, because, market.

[two-hole]

In summer ball we had a guy damn near get half his face torn off because he didn't get behind the L screen in time. Vomiting and convulsions, the whole deal. Scary as hell. I didn't get behind the screen and got smoked right in the chest throwing bp. Probably got lucky there, but I never did it again.

My junior year of college I hit a kid in the helmet with a 92 mph pitch and knocked him out cold. He fell with his arms locked out in front of him and still had his eyes open. I'll never forget that lifeless stare, I was absolutely sure I killed him. Lead off hitter in the game, 0-2 pitch, he didn't even flinch, I don't think he saw it coming. So after the ambulance drove on the field we had a long delay. I think we made 3 errors in the top of the first after the delay. I couldn't throw a strike, gave up 4 runs on about 35 pitches. Everyone was shook up. Still remember that like it was yesterday.

The next year, same kid came to bat but with the face guard. He took my first pitch over the left center field fence.

my roommate (many years ago) played Clinton County ball...was throwing BP with a hole in the net. Took a hot comebacker through the hole to the mid-section, burst his spleen. the doctors saved him, but it was a close call. if he had tried to ignore medical help and "tough it out", it could have been a tragic result.

[Sonicblast12]

Yeah, I think those comments were from another doctor not involved with his care, so maybe not quite as bad is it sounds, but obviously anytime you need surgery due to brain bleeding it is a really big deal.

Often times you see those balls ricochet high in the air meaning the skull didn't absorb so much of the energy, but this one went just a couple feet up after hitting him what looked like just above the ear. That's just really really scary.

I coach a 10U team, and I gotta say this is making me think. Our kids don't hit the ball 100 mph, but some of them routinely hit it pretty hard and the pitcher is only 46 feet away and he's only 9 or 10 years old. Some kids wear a heart guard shirt when they pitch, but I've never seen any sort of head protection or even heard anyone discuss it. I think we may do some come backer drills tonight at practice.

That might help, but the dangerous ones you don't really have a chance. I've been tagged a few times on comebackers, in the thigh, the kneecap, the back, and in every case...time slowed down and I thought I was going to get the glove there and got demolished instead.

It's different when you're hitting, it's a balanced athletic position so you have a chance to get out of the way. Most pitchers are hanging on one leg out of balance and the most you can do is hope the glove gets there in time to get a piece of it. You can't simulate game speed.

[Speedy G]

Chris Ianetta took a fastball square in the face tonight.

We worked on both with tennis balls at practice.

[Speedy G]

No real update on Poncedeleon, except that he is improving.

Marco Gonzales started for Memphis yesterday and went 7.0 3 1 1 1 6 for the win. Very similar to his Palm Beach start, so that's encouraging. He could be a factor for the big club in the near future.

[TCB 6-4-3]

DeJong with another bomb last night. He's up to 9 doubles 10HR and 28RBI in 150 ABs. He's played primarily at SS this whole year. This guy never walks though.......6 times in 156 PAs

Carson Kelly & Luke Voit have both been red-hot hitting .359 and .371 respectively over the last 10 games.

Jack Flaherty's impressive start to the season has continued. He's now 7-1 with a 1.26 ERA in 9 starts covering 57.1 innings. He's only allowed 42 with 11 walks pared with his 55 strikeouts. I think he's damn near ready for a trip to Memphis.

Meanwhile, Sandy Alcantara has really struggled. He's maintained his ability to generate strikeouts but he's allowing 12.8 H/9

After a slow start, Cuban amateur free agent Randy Arozarena is starting to heat up. He's hitting .385 with 2 HR and 7RBI over his last 10 games.

2015 top pick Nick Plummer is off the DL again and playing well in Peoria. Since being activated May 8 he's slashing a respectable .286/.423/.500/.923 but he has 18K in only 51 trips to the plate this month.

[Card fan in SWIN]

TCB thanks for the update... Memphis is really smashing the ball.....maybe Randy can be our Cuban?! Thanks again....

[TCB 6-4-3]

TCB thanks for the update... Memphis is really smashing the ball.....

Memphis is 15-6 in May, but despite all the hot bats of late, they're only 6-4 in their last 10.

maybe Randy can be our Cuban?!

Don't forget about Adolis Garcia in AA Springfield. He's struggled the last 2 weeks but he has homered his last 2 games. He's 24, but has been out of organized ball a while, so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt for now.

There's also youngsters Jon Machado (OF) and Johan Oviedo (RHP) who have some upside. They will both be assigned to short season ball once those seasons get underway.

[STJOMO]

Helped to win 10 in a row.

[CheapSeats]

Going to Memphis and seeing the Redbirds on June 3. Looking forward to seeing some of these guys.

[TCB 6-4-3]

Going to Memphis and seeing the Redbirds on June 3. Looking forward to seeing some of these guys.

Pick me up on your way through, man!

[STJOMO]

Going to Memphis and seeing the Redbirds on June 3. Looking forward to seeing some of these guys.

Most years, Memphis' team, to me, is a yawn. I think you'll be impressed with what you see this year. A number of these guys are good -- and they play like they know it.

[sabertooth5185]

We should be scouting for good relievers on bad teams and making offers involving some of the surplus of 'gonna play in the big leagues, but never in an all-star game' players.

Grichuk, Pham, Jose Martinez, Wong, Greg Garcia, Bader, DeJong, and Voit are all very expendable position players with lots of cheap control that might be attractive to the perpetual also-ran teams. Carson Kelly is a premium prospect that is blocked.

We have ammunition to get better.

[John D]

We should be scouting for good relievers on bad teams and making offers involving some of the surplus of 'gonna play in the big leagues, but never in an all-star game' players.

Grichuk, Pham, Jose Martinez, Wong, Greg Garcia, Bader, DeJong, and Voit are all very expendable position players with lots of cheap control that might be attractive to the perpetual also-ran teams. Carson Kelly is a premium prospect that is blocked.

We have ammunition to get better.

But not the desire.

[Speedy G]

Poncedeleon is finally out of the hospital. No word on what kind of condition he is in or how baseball fits into his future.

Flaherty has been promoted to Memphis. The fifth starter spot at Springfield has been a revolving door, so I gotta figure someone will be promoted from Palm Beach to take Flaherty's spot and that would almost have to be Zac Gallen.

[Oz-iz-God]

Gallen's performance at A+, legit full-season baseball, has been damn impressive this year. Gotta love seeing that K rate hold when many had him pegged as a future worm-burner with a likely middle inning reliever role.

If he can make that transition to AA well and keep the K rate in the 8.0 range, we could really have something there. Now he was seen as a polished college hurler coming out so I'm not sure how much projection there is, but 5th starters cost $12 million or more these days so even getting a solid, dependable starter out of him would be massive.

[Speedy G]

Ryan Helsley has pitched well at A+ too, and could get the call over Gallen, since he's a year older.

Frankly, they should think about promoting both of them and demoting Alcantara before he gets frustrated and hurts himself. He hasn't had a good start since his first of the season and sports an ERA over 7.

[TCB 6-4-3]

Poncedeleon is finally out of the hospital. No word on what kind of condition he is in or how baseball fits into his future.

I heard the other day they said something like "no word yet when he will be able to travel with the team" which I took as a good sign that he planned to eventually do so.

Flaherty has been promoted to Memphis. The fifth starter spot at Springfield has been a revolving door, so I gotta figure someone will be promoted from Palm Beach to take Flaherty's spot and that would almost have to be Zac Gallen.

Awesome. I wasn't really counting on Flaherty to make the show until sometime in 2018, but it's possible, if not likely that he'll get a call up yet this year.

[TCB 6-4-3]

Frankly, they should think about promoting both of them and demoting Alcantara before he gets frustrated and hurts himself. He hasn't had a good start since his first of the season and sports an ERA over 7.

That's a good point....Alcantara does seem to be a prime candidate for a "reset" like we did with Mags Sierra a year or 2. The crazy thing is that its not even walks that's killing him like you'd expect, he's just giving up buckets of hits.

"Ok kid, we pushed you & you weren't quite ready. No biggy, go down, mow some fools down & get some confidence back & you'll be back in AA before you know it."

[Indy CardsFan]

Mercado had himself a day yesterday. 4-4 with his 7th HR and 17th SB. Hitting 330 on the season.

Alcantara finally had a good game. 6 innings 1 run and a no decision. ERA is still 6.45 though.

[Card fan in SWIN]

Flaherty with a pretty good second outing at AAA tonight.....6IP, 2H, 0BB, 8K, 99 pitches, 61 strikes; 7 ground outs and only 1 fly out

[Speedy G]

Memphis (36-24), Springfield (31-27), and Palm Beach (35-21) are all currently in first place in their divisions.

[Speedy G]

Memphis hit 6 HRs today: Voit 2 (12), Bader (10), DeJong, P (13), Wisdom (12); Grichuk (1).

And Flaherty struck out 10 in 6 IP (3 runs on 4 H [2 HR] and 1 BB). Memphis now 40-25.

[The Hawk]

Going to Memphis and seeing the Redbirds on June 3. Looking forward to seeing some of these guys.

Mr. Seats;
Tell us a little bit about what you saw in Memphis on June 3rd.
Any "promising" players? Any surprisingly good players? Any disappointing players?

[CheapSeats]

Mr. Seats;
Tell us a little bit about what you saw in Memphis on June 3rd.
Any "promising" players? Any surprisingly good players? Any disappointing players?

Disappointed to miss Kelly. DeJong was with the big club. Bader just looks like a bundle of raw athleticism.

Voit has a good approach and is a hitter. Not as much of a slow pitch softball player as I expected. Could at least be a platoon 1B/DH.

Wisdom looks like a different hitter AB to AB. At times he looks completely locked in. Other times I think I might be able to get him out. Can really pick it at 3B.

There are a couple of journeymen hitters that are the AAAA variety.

Mayer's velocity really surprised me. He was throwing harder as a SP in the 6/7th than Tui was throwing as the closer.

It was superhero night at the ballpark. Best prospect I saw all night was a brunette in a skin tight Catwoman costume, with a whip. She had real game.