If you're curious about Bates's pitching in August '21...
https://www.fieldlevel.com/app/profile/adam.bates/baseball/videos/1001215?m=3
https://www.fieldlevel.com/app/profile/adam.bates/baseball/videos/1001215?m=3
PERSONAL STATEMENT
I am a growing 6ft1in pitcher from Sydney, Australia. I am committed to my development as a player and a person, and I am looking for a college and coaching staff who will improve me as a player and as a man as I grow and mature.
My self confidence and self belief, plus my hard worked-on abilities, have me tagged as the "go to" player in the big situations. I led my team in pitching on our way to a Silver Medal at Senior League Nationals last season, including a 12 Strikeout 4 inn relief outing and have been identified by our state association to be part of the high performance program. I have recently been selected into the Baseball Australia U/19 team that played against one of our National League teams (Brisbane Bandits).
Recently I have been added to the rotation of 1st grade in our State League at 16
I would like to bring my abilities to an American college to improve myself, contribute to my team but to also experience what the college experience could provide as it is so different from my own.
That's relating to the MLB team, not the org. Albury played for the GCL Red Sox in 2004 & 2005.Didn’t the Sox have James Albury from Australia a few years ago? And didn’t his mom post here or something? Or was that just a dream?
I know, I was more asking about Albury's mum than anything elseThat's relating to the MLB team, not the org. Albury played for the GCL Red Sox in 2004 & 2005.
Oh, my bad. SOSH history definitely isn't my lane. & I need to stop assuming every post is directed at me lolI know, I was more asking about Albury's mum than anything else
Finished listening to the Dobbins pod. Unexpected shoutout to Dylan Spacke after only Guerrero when asked about relievers with the best stuff. & apparently it's "SPAY-key" not "SPAH-key" like I pronounce it in my head.View: https://twitter.com/EdHand89/status/1716967591414034578
I was listening to the Dobbins one earlier.
For some reason I lol'd when he said Troye was the most Texas guy from California ever. Something about Dobbins' demeanor makes me feel like he's going to make it.
He said he never rooted for any team in MLB growing up because he always planned on playing in MLB & he didn't want to make it harder.
I think it's Bloom or BresThe biggest downside to the Breslow hire is that I'll no longer be able to use 2 initials on the prospect spreadsheet.
Bloom is CDB & Breslow is CAB. Not sure if I'm going to go with that or like last names or 1st names. Open to suggestions.
Portland's SoundCloud is your friend--players saying their own names. (I always got "Cellucci" wrong as I assumed it was pronounced the same as the former Mass governor. Also I hear all kinds of variants of Rosier, even from folks calling games he's in, so it's nice to have a definitive reference. I'm planning a campaign to get all the affiliates to do this next year.)Unexpected shoutout to Dylan Spacke after only Guerrero when asked about relievers with the best stuff. & apparently it's "SPAY-key" not "SPAH-key" like I pronounce it in my head.
I saw you referencing that on Twitter before. I'll have to check it out sometime. & if I ever start a Podcast I'll be sure to have them all down lolPortland's SoundCloud is your friend--players saying their own names. (I always got "Cellucci" wrong as I assumed it was pronounced the same as the former Mass governor. Also I hear all kinds of variants of Rosier, even from folks calling games he's in, so it's nice to have a definitive reference. I'm planning a campaign to get all the affiliates to do this next year.)
Am I going to continue this Bello segment or look for pitching prospects to sell high on? Probably not. If Breslow is so good, let's just keep them all & turn them all into Bello+. Piece of cake. I'm encouraged that Breslow comes from a franchise with a top 5 farm system, so it is clearly something they value there.I'm going to declare this next segment (while I'm looking for potential sell high guys) "Compare random pitchers to Brayan Bello at the same level".
Jedixson Paez (19 y/o, A-Ball): 84.1 IP, 3.31 ERA, 3.46 xFIP, 1.01 WHIP, 7.8 k/9, 1.3 bb/9 (#33)
Luis De La Rosa (20 y/o, A-Ball): 70.1 IP, 2.94 ERA, 4.00 xFIP, 1.32 WHIP, 11.3 k/9, 5.1 bb/9 (#50)
Elmer Rodriguez-Cruz (19 y/o, A-Ball): 55.1 IP, 2.60 ERA, 4.09 xFIP, 1.27 WHIP, 8.3 k/9, 4.4 bb/9 (#30)
Luis Perales (20 y/o, A-Ball): 53.1 IP, 3.21 ERA, 3.62 xFIP, 1.24 WHIP, 12.9 k/9, 4.7 bb/9 (#6)
Yordanny Monegro (20 y/o, A-Ball): 40.2 IP, 2.43 ERA, 2.91 xFIP, 1.23 WHIP, 13.3 k/9, 3.8 bb/9 (#7)
Brayan Bello (20 y/o, A-Ball): 117.2 IP, 5.43 ERA, 3.52 xFIP, 1.47 WHIP, 9.1 k/9, 2.9 bb/9 (2019)
I was planning on doing it all in 1 post, but will just do it by level. DSL is going to be next...
https://www.mlb.com/news/mlb-pipeline-2023-midseason-system-rankings4. Chicago Cubs
2023 preseason rank: 12
2022 midseason rank: 10
2022 preseason rank: 18
2021 midseason rank: 18
Top 100 prospects: Pete Crow-Armstrong, OF (No. 12); Cade Horton, RHP (No. 30); Owen Caissie, OF (No. 68); Kevin Alcántara, OF (No. 76); Ben Brown, RHP (No. 91)
The Cubs' system is stronger than it has been since 2015 and much better equipped to produce pitching than it was eight years ago. Horton, Brown and Jordan Wicks are close to taking the mound at Wrigley Field, and Jackson Ferris will need more time but comes with a high ceiling. There's no shortage of position players on the way to Chicago, including the best defender (Crow-Armstrong) and power hitter (Caissie) in the Minors. Crow-Armstrong, Caissie, Alcántara and Brown all joined the organization via trades.
View: https://bleacherreport.com/articles/10082392-updated-mlb-farm-system-rankings-after-2023-mlb-draft5. Chicago Cubs (Previous: 9)
- Top 10 Prospects
1. OF Pete Crow-Armstrong (Tier 1)
2. RHP Cade Horton (Tier 1)
3. RHP Ben Brown (Tier 1)
4. OF Kevin Alcántara (Tier 1)
5. SS Matt Shaw (Tier 2)
6. LHP Jordan Wicks (Tier 2)
7. OF Owen Caissie (Tier 2)
8. C Miguel Amaya (Tier 2)
9. LHP Jackson Ferris (Tier 3)
10. 1B Matt Mervis (Tier 3)
A Cubs system that has struggled for years to develop pitching now has two Tier 1 pitching prospects in Cade Horton and Ben Brown, with Brown jumping up a level since the last update. Owen Caissie and Miguel Amaya also moved up to Tier 2, and overall depth is the biggest reason this is now a top-five system.
The Cubs have often targeted MLB-ready college hitters who can reach the majors quickly in the past, with guys like Kyle Schwarber, Ian Happ and Nico Hoerner fitting that profile. Maryland shortstop Matt Shaw fits into that same category, and he hit .341/.445/.697 with 20 doubles, 24 home runs and 69 RBI to win Big Ten Player of the Year honors this spring.
https://www.nbcsportschicago.com/mlb/chicago-cubs/cubs-news/espn-insider-ranks-cubs-farm-system-as-one-of-tops-in-baseball/502696/According to the ranking from ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel, the Cubs currently own the second-best farm system in baseball, behind only the Baltimore Orioles in that category.
McDaniel has praise for outfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong, whom MLB Pipeline has ranked as the No. 12 prospect in all of baseball. He also believes that pitcher Cade Horton could “potentially become the top pitching prospect in all of baseball” by next summer.
https://www.si.com/mlb/cubs/news/chicago-cubs-farm-system-now-ranked-among-best-in-all-mlb-brad9There are five players in the Top 100 of MLB.com's best prospects list.FanGraphs: 2nd
ESPN: 2nd
Pipeline: 4th
Baseball America: 6th
OF Pete Crow-Armstrong (No. 12), RHP Cade Horton (No. 30), OF Owen Caissie (No. 68), OF Kevin Alcántara (No. 76) and RHP Ben Brown (No. 91) are the biggest names in the pipeline.
Haven't really fully dug in, yet. Was just starting with the more successful homegrown MLB players & then going to look at the top prospects like Cade Horton. Horton was the 7th pick in the draft in '22, though, so that is definitely outside what the Red Sox did under Bloom. Their other top 100 pitching prospect, Ben Brown, was a 33rd round pick in 2017.Question since you've been digging into Cubs stuff: have they been drafting pitching highly or doing something closer to Bloom's strategy?
If he says "you know" one more f time...The very important Zeferpahd is up.
View: https://twitter.com/ByAndrewParker/status/1717266154677268871
I would like to hear what he intends to do to be able to throw pitches where he is trying to throw them (8.4 bb/9). Will listen later.
A bit confused by the tagline as he hasn't really been a starter since '21, & even then he was pitching less than 4 innings per start.
Paez is an odd one. The SP scouting report says he made a jump from 84-86 in the DSL to 89-91 in the FCL. It seems crazy to me that they would invest $450k in a guy who throws 86, but they did.If Breslow can turn Paez into the next Steele, it will be all worth while.
I was giving this some more thought (& trying to decide which thread to post it in), but the guy who is much closer to the Steele path is Shane Drohan. He needs to make a big leap to get there, but the tools seem to be there.If Breslow can turn Paez into the next Steele, it will be all worth while.
Not enough Alex Hoppe in this poll. Would probably still have voted for Guerrero, though.
Wikipedia says the Padres were affiliated with the Red Sox in 1936, not 1937 (but '37 makes more sense). '36 was the team's first year in San Diego after 10 years in LA as the Hollywood Stars. Before that were stints in Salt Lake City, San Francisco, Sacramento and Tacoma. Always PCL. Most PCL teams were unaffiliated early on.Random Affiliate History Part 3 of 3:
I'm not really going to get into the "other" affiliates the Red Sox had that much...but the year they had the most affiliates was actually 1937 when they had 11:
2) San Diego (AA) - Did I mention that their affiliate was named the Padres?
My understanding (based on the Bref page) is that they were an affiliate in both '36 & '37.Wikipedia says the Padres were affiliated with the Red Sox in 1936, not 1937 (but '37 makes more sense). '36 was the team's first year in San Diego after 10 years in LA as the Hollywood Stars. Before that were stints in Salt Lake City, San Francisco, Sacramento and Tacoma. Always PCL. Most PCL teams were unaffiliated early on.
Weird that the Sox had that one-year affiliation with the Padres. Might have been related to Ted Williams. Williams apparently caught the eye of Sox GM Eddie Collins who was scouting his teammate Bobby Doerr in 1936 when Ted was still in high school and on the Padres as a backup outfielder behind Vince DiMaggio (oldest of the DiMaggio brothers). Would make more sense for the Sox to affiliate with the Padres for '37, after Collins had seen Ted and wanted to ensure first dibs. Collins bought Ted's contract from the Padres in December 1937. Ted spent 1938 in Minneapolis (Millers), and the rest is well-known history.
One more interesting note about the Padres. Except for the one-year affiliation with the Sox, they remained unaffiliated until '49-'51 (Cleveland). Wiki adds that in the mid-50s the PCL was an "Open Classification" league attempting to attain MLB status. I'm fascinated to learn more about that -- a rabbit hole to dive into another day.
There are so many fascinating deep dives that one could go on off the different affiliates. Glad you went into this one!They added a 2nd AA affiliate in San Diego, CA in 1936. That team included Ted Williams, Bobby Doerr & Vince Dimaggio (Joe & Dom's older brother). In '37, the Syracuse affiliate was moved to Minneapolis where they became the Millers. Of the 20 hitters to take PAs that season, 18 had MLB careers either before or after. In '38, San Diego went away & Minneapolis had the only Red Sox AA team. It featured a 19 y/o Ted Williams who had a 1.182 OPS.
Seems like a pretty fun dude... but didn't hear anything in this that gave me confidence that this 28 y/o who did not pitch well in Worcester this year is on the verge of an exciting breakthrough. He's also a Minor League free agent, so there's that.Not sure if Brendan Nail can say much to make me move him up very far, but I might listen later today.
View: https://twitter.com/ByAndrewParker/status/1717535208847593967