MINOR LEAGUE/PROSPECTS Thread

Todd (MN)​

Urias is so young that it's not out of the realm of possibility that he grows (in a good way) and or adds some velocity. If that doesn't happen, and he pretty much holds steady physically while showing the same stuff and good pitchability, do you think his stock would rise due to proximity to the majors or drop due to loss of some projection?

Klaw​

(1:28 PM)
His pure stuff doesn't have to get better for him to profile as a number two starter, but his command will, and of course he has to build up his durability. The main concern with his height is getting plane on the fastball, and perhaps with him distributing his weight (he's a little pudgy) across a taller frame.

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Brian (Santa Clarita)​

Ever hear anything about Jacob Scavuzzo in the Dodgers system? 21st rounder, but led the pioneer league in home runs last year as a 20 year old.

Klaw​

(2:02 PM)
Yeah, just a guy, probably an org player.

 

BA released their top 100.

Pederson- 34
Seager- 37
Urias-51
Lee-96

 

Ben Badler on the Dodger players in the list:
- Dodgers LHP Julio Urias barely missed the top 50, but he'll be in there next year. High. Very High.

-Joc Pederson is the Dodgers' No. 1 prospect, No. 34 in baseball, and I still think he's underrated.

 

Not surprised Pederson gets no love or Urias from BA.

 

I understand why some people are wary of Urias, both Badler and Parks love him, but we need to keep reminding ourselves that he will only be 17 this season and he does have a few things he needs to work on so he can have continued success. He repeats what he did last season up in Hi-A, we are talking probably a top 15 spot next year. I think the rating for Pederson is fair, his platoon splits probably keep him from being a top 20 prospect.

 

From Keith Law. For record, he had him 14th in his top 100. So hearing that several scouts are saying he should be higher is amazing

Never seen Urias, all I've got there is every scout who's seen him telling me if anything I had him too low on my list, so I'd like to get him as well.

 

God I just about loose it when thinking of Urias potential, but in the back of my mind, I'm prepared for a failure or at least a not up to potential career, although that still might not be bad.

 

Why so much Keith Law love?

 

From Baseball America...

Frias Pays Heed And It Pays Off

March 8, 2014by Bill Plunkett

PHOENIX—Six seasons into his pro career, righthander Carlos Frias hadn’t made it out of Class A. Two years later, he’s making his first-ever trip to big league camp with the Dodgers.

Club vice presidents Vance Lovelace and Rick Ragazzo watched Frias perform in the Dominican League last winter and, according to general manager Ned Colletti, reported that the 24-year-old “had figured some things out that had been suggested to him for a while.”

Frias had previously struggled to accept that advice, and he struggled on the mound. Through the end of 2012, he had a 4.50 ERA, had allowed a hit per inning (283 in 288 innings) and walked enough batters to create a robust 1.52 WHIP.

After a brief—and unsuccessful—stint with high Class A Rancho Cucamonga in 2012, Frias opened last season with low Class A Great Lakes and finally showed signs of progress. He went 5-3, 2.63 record with 49 strikeouts and 23 walks in 68 innings before earning a midseason promotion to Rancho Cucamonga. He went 2-3, 4.11 in 46 innings with the Quakes and kept moving on up to Double-A Chattanooga, where he posted 3.94 ERA in 16 innings, mostly out of the bullpen.

“It was really delivery-based and giving his arm a chance to get out of his glove,” vice president of player development De Jon Watson said of Frias, who signed out of the Dominican in 2007. “And then it was just maturing and growing up and understanding that there was no one here trying to keep him from achieving his goals.“We’re trying to help him get to his goals. It just took him a little while to get it.”

The Dodgers did not add Frias to the 40-man roster this offseason and held their breath during the Rule 5 draft out of fear he might be selected. Now they’re excited to see how far he can go.
“It just takes some of these guys a little longer,” Watson said.

L.A. CONFIDENTIAL
• Former big league righty Jack McDowell will make his coaching debut as manager of Rookie-level Ogden. The 48-year-old replaces Lee Tinsley, who was hired in December from the Cubs but left to become the Reds assistant hitting coach this offseason.
• Righthander Zach Lee suffered a lat strain during a development camp for young pitchers in January, and the 2010 first-rounder was slow to start his throwing program in spring training.
No related posts.

 

Those last two ERA's don't inspire much confidence, especially coming out of the pen. I know, small samples and one bad inning out of the pen can skew the numbers.

Knock, you got any dope on this guy? Got any dope? Send me some.

 

Frias is a middle reliever if anything. Good arm strength but I wasn't really impressed when I saw him

 

I saw him at Rancho. Fringe middle reliever if that. His delivery out of the stretch was really slow, or at least it was at Rancho. Guessing that's when Chris saw him too...

 

Somebody post this
http://insider.espn.go.com/blog/keith-law/post?id=2009

KLaw on Dee Gordon and Zachary Lee

 

I will later today BG

 

Dee Gordon's hitting still a concern


GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Buster Olney noted earlier this week that Dee Gordon may already have won the Los Angeles Dodgers' second-base job, which may have something to do with the absence of any real competition here. Gordon did add an unusual amount of muscle this offseason, but he doesn't have the hand or wrist strength to turn on major league fastballs.

He loads his hands very deep, nearly barring his lead arm, and drags the bat through the zone. Between the late start and the lack of wrist strength, he can't accelerate enough to make hard contact. He's still a plus runner and he looks like he'll be a plus defender at second, but I don't believe he's going to be able to hit any more than he has in his 600-plus at bats in the majors, during which he has posted a .234/.314/.298 line.

• The Dodgers' rotation is absurd on paper right now, with two aces at the top and the potential to go seven deep in starters if and when Dan Haren, Chad Billingsley, and Josh Beckett are all healthy. That sort of thing never seems to happen -- someone always gets hurt -- and the first prospect to get the call if the Dodgers need another starter will likely be right-hander Zach Lee, who backed up Zack Greinke in their home game on Wednesday against what I might charitably refer to as the Diamondbacks' junior varsity squad. (I might uncharitably refer to it as a preview of a future Atlantic League All-Star Game roster.)

Lee was a mixed bag on Wednesday, showing a potential out pitch in his slider but less arm speed (and thus less velocity) than I expected. Lee worked from 87-90 mph with some two-seam life even at the top end of the range, and he worked aggressively to both sides of the plate, coming in repeatedly to left-handed batters to try to hit the inside corner with the pitch. His curveball is pretty at 74-76 mph, between an 11-to-5 and 12-to-6 break, but it's more of a show-me pitch than a swing-and-miss option; his slider, 84-87 mph and at times showing hard tilt, is a better bet to miss right-handed bats. The shape varied; at 86-87 mph it was more of a big cutter, while at 84-85 mph he threw some that were plus with angle and depth.

His command of the slider was a bit erratic -- he put a few in the dirt and saw a few back up on him -- but there's the promise of a plus pitch here. He also flashed a few changeups at 82-83 mph but it was an afterthought, with one at 83 mph showing good deception but which was probably too close in velocity to the fastball.

Lee's delivery is very smooth and he has filled out some since high school, where he was a two-sport star who had a scholarship to play quarterback at LSU when the Dodgers took him in the first round. His velocity hasn't increased at all since then, however, and his arm looked slower Wednesday, which surprised me -- athletic guys like Lee are more likely to see their arm speed and velocity go up, not down. It's possible Lee wasn't throwing at 100 percent, because it certainly didn't look like maximum effort, but I'd like to see more fastball before I pencil him in as more than a back-end starter. With an average fastball and a plus slider, he'd be more like a solid No. 3 because he's aggressive and throws a ton of strikes.

• Chris Withrow threw an extremely promising inning in relief, throwing strikes and getting the ball down effectively. His delivery was a little smoother than I remembered from last year, with less of a plunge in back, so he wasn't throwing uphill -- and that meant he could work in the lower part of the zone. His fastball was 93-95 mph and the cutter was sharp at 90-92 mph.

• I caught one at-bat from Alex Guerrero in the Dodgers' intrasquad game on one of their minor league fields, not enough for a full evaluation but enough to point out that he doesn't have much bat speed. It's a "slider speed" bat, in the scouting vernacular, which means that it doesn't look like it's enough to catch up to a good fastball. It's a short swing, built more for line drives than power, but he's going to have to speed it up before Opening Day if he's going to hit big league pitching.

 

much appreciated Knockdown

 

I can say this: everyone in the industry dislikes Law with a passion. lol but he's probably right about Dee unfortunately

 

So hes just as big of a douche irl as he seems online?

 

No problem.

Insider is great if you are into the scouting reports on HS Basketball and Football Prospects like I am.