Results tagged ‘ Mike Trout ’
High school hitters in context
As you all know, we’re running full-tilt on 2013 Draft content — just check out our 2013 section to see what I mean — currently going through our postional breakdown stories. Today’s breakdown is on high school pitchers, with a spotlight feature on Hunter Harvey (yep, that’s Bryan’s kid).
But I wanted to hop on here quickly because someone asked me a good question on Twitter (I know, shocking, right?). It comes from “The Minor League Guy” (@TMLGSports). The question basically was: Where would you put Clint Frazier on a list of high school prospects from the last five years?
I couldn’t answer that one in 140 characters so, with his permission, I wanted to tackle it here. Took me a few days longer than I had hoped, but here goes.
For the sake of this exercise, I’m sticking to high school hitters. I’d rather not try to contextualize Frazier with, say, Dylan Bundy. The biggest issue I’m finding is one of hindsight. A guy who’s been playing in the Minors and has had success — it’s had to go back to thoughts of him as an amateur, but I did my best. First, lets look at the high school hitters taken in the first round since 2009 (2009-2013 being the five-year period).
2009 (9 total)
Donavan Tate (No. 3, Padres)
Bobby Borchering (No. 16, D-backs)
Jio Mier (No. 21, Astros)
Randal Grichuk (No. 24, Angels)
Mike Trout (No. 25, Angels)
Nick Franklin (No. 27, Mariners)
Reymond Fuentes (No. 28, Red Sox)
Slade Heathcott (No. 29, Yankees)
LeVon Washington (No. 30, Rays)
2010 (9)
Manny Machado (No. 3 pick, Orioles)
Delno DeShields (No. 8, Astros)
Jake Skoke (No. 15, Rangers)
Josh Sale (No. 17, Rays)
Kaleb Cowart (No. 18, Angels)
Kellin Deglan (No. 22, Rangers)
Christian Yelich (No. 23, Marlins)
Chevy Clarke (No. 30, Angels)
Justin O’Connor (No. 31, Rays)
2011 (6)
Bubba Starling (No. 5, Royals)
Francisco Lindor (No. 8, Indians)
Javier Baez (No. 9, Cubs)
Brandon Nimm0 (No. 13, Mets)
Blake Swihart (No. 26, Red Sox)
Jake Hager (No. 32, Rays)
2012 (12)
Carlos Correa (No. 1, Astros)
Byron Buxton (No. 2, Twins)
Albert Almora (No. 6, Cubs)
David Dahl (No. 10, Rockies)
Addison Russell (No. 11, A’s)
Gavin Cecchini (No. 12, Mets)
Courtney Hakwins (No. 13, White Sox)
D.J. Davis (No. 17, Blue Jays)
Corey Seager (No. 18, Dodgers)
Stryker Trahan (No. 26, D-backs)
Clint Coulter (No. 27, Brewers)
Lewis Brinson (No. 29, Rangers)
Before I try to make heads or tails of this, a couple of things stand out:
- The 2012 Draft was a good year to be a high school hitter (12 first rounders)
- Boy, the Angels and Rays like prep bats.
OK, so, now to the question. How do they rank, and how does Clint Frazier, the highest ranked high school hitter in the 2013 Draft class, figure into the mix? Here’s my best crack at ranking the top 10, openly admitting that that ol’ hindsight is playing a part:
1. Mike Trout
2. Manny Machado
3. Byron Buxton
4. Christian Yelich
5. Francisco Lindor
6. Carlos Correa
7. Javier Baez
8. Clint Frazier
9. Addison Russell
10. Bubba Starling
This leaves off some very, very good names — Franklin, Almora, Dahl — come to mind, with some others right behind them. Highly unscientific, completely subjective and, admittedly, done without consulting scouts on the matter. But perhaps fun for debate. I think you could make an argument that Frazier doesn’t belong in the top 10, perhaps a testament to the overall strength (or lack thereof) of this Draft class. I also think, with his bat speed and power and overall tools, you could argue he belongs up a touch or two higher.
What does everyone think?
Watching Jean Segura
Tonight, I’m getting the chance to step out of my normal environment and cover a big league game. I’m filling in, covering the Brewers tonight here at PNC Park. One of the best things about my job is getting to see the guys I’ve written about as prospects excel at this level.
Jean Segura was a prospect for a while with the Angels, even if he didn’t enter national consciousness until he was sent to Milwaukee as the key to the Zack Greinke deal. He was brought up last year and kept his head above water, impressive considering his age and that he was jumped from Double-A. This year? Well, this year he’s the talk of the early part of the season, isn’t he (he’s gone 2-for-3 thus far tonight to accentuate the point).
It made me wonder what we had written about him in the past. We started Prospect Watch in 2011, when we only did Top 10 per organization (instead of our more robust 20 now). That year, Segura was the No. 2 prospect on the Angels’ Top 10. Here’s what we had on him at the time:
AFL and Rookie of the Year success
I’m back in Arizona, watching the final night game here at Scottsdale Stadium, and started thinking about alumni from this league and how they fare during awards season. So I did some digging…
While one was unanimous and one was close, it really shouldn’t have surprised anyone that Mike Trout and Bryce Harper were this year’s Rookie of the Year Award winners.
It also shouldn’t shock anyone that both are Arizona Fall League alumni. For six years in a row now, at least one of the Rookies of the Year played in the AFL previously.
The Trout-Harper perfecta isn’t even that unusual. In five of the last seven seasons, starting with Huston Street and Ryan Howard’s ROY Awards in 2005, both winners cut their teeth here. The other dynamic duos:
Dustin Pedroia and Ryan Braun, 2007
Evan Longoria and Geovany Soto, 2008
Andrew Bailey and Chris Coghlan, 2009
Mike Trout and Bryce Harper, 2012
Trout and Harper have something in common with Street and Howard. In both cases, the Rookie of the Year tandems both played in the AFL the year prior to winning the top rookie honor. Not only that, in both instances, the award winners were AFL teammates. In 2004, Street and Howard were Phoenix Desert Dogs. Last year, Trout and Harper played in the same Scottsdale Scorpions outfield.
There have now been 24 Rookies of the Year who once called the Arizona Fall League home.
I’ll be back tomorrow with a look at Cy Young Award winners.
In case you missed them, here are two more AFL team reports:
The Yankees report focuses on Mark Montgomery. Their video report takes a look at Montgomery, Slade Heathcott and Dellin Betances:
Gary Brown is the focus of the Giants report. In the video report, Brown, Joe Panik and Chris Dominguez are featured.
Finally, Stars of the Day for Monday and Tuesday:
Monday: We’ll go with Kevin Siegrist of the Cardinals, for his four-inning, one run performance. The lefty gave up four hits, walked one and struck out eight. He’s now 10th in ERA (2.37) and second in strikeouts (27).
Tuesday: The aforementioned Slade Heathcott gets the nod after going 4-for-5, including his first homer of the fall. He drove in two and scored a run. Heathcott is now fifth in the league in batting average (.371) and second in OPS (1.084).
Some changes to the Top 100
No, it’s not a re-ranking. Don’t get too excited. Besides, it’s too early for that. Not enough has happened to draw enough conclusions to move guys up and down based on performance just yet.
But what we have had are some graduations. The way we do things over at Prospect Watch, when a player on the list gets past rookie status — 130 at-bats for hitters, 50 innings pitched for pitchers or more than 45 days on the active roster for either — he has to come off.
So we had a little graduation ceremony today. Four players from the Top 100 came off:
Mike Trout, Angels
Jesus Montero, Mariners
Yonder Alonso, Padres
Randall Delgado, Braves
The first three surpassed the 130 AB mark between last year and this. Delgado did the sam with his innings threshold.
So, it’s time to welcome a new quartet to the back end of the top 100 (check them out on PW).
97. Eddie Rosario, 2B, Twins
98. Taylor Jungmann, RHP, Brewers
99. Robbie Erlin, LHP, Padres
100. Kolten Wong, 2B, Cardinals
That’s right, two second baseman added. I’m crazy like that. Also be sure to check out the team lists because we replaced the graduates on their respective Top 20s as well (not to mention the positional Top 10s… big shout out to colleague Jason Ratliff for getting it done once again!)
Let the games begin!
That might seem like a strange sentiment, given the Division Series in Major League Baseball are well underway, but I’m referring to games of another sort, in a variety of arenas (well, ballparks, but you know what I mean).
The first, of course, is the Arizona Fall League. Year 20 of the AFL will kick off on Tuesday and there are prospects aplenty who will be on-hand. Starting pitchers have yet to be posted, but we do know that the Mets’ Collin McHugh will be starting, courtesy of his tweet (follow him @Collin_McHugh):
“No, it’s not a desert mirage. I am actually starting opening day of our AFL season on Tuesday! Truly humbled by the privilege.”
McHugh (who has a fantastic blog of his own, A Day Older, a Day Wiser) will also be contributing to our AFL prospects blog, which is already pretty active.
The top two prospects on MLB.com’s Top 50 — Mike Trout and Bryce Harper — will be a part of the same Scottsdale Scorpions outfield. No. 44 Gary Brown will also be there, making the Scorps outfield one of the most fun to watch in recent memory (they’ve also got Tyson Gillies and Alex Hassan out there!).
Other Top 50 prospects in the AFL:
15. Wil Myers, Royals (also a blogger) (Surprise Saguaros)
23. Nick Franklin, Mariners (Peoria Javelinas)
24. Aaron Hicks, Twins (Mesa Solar Sox)
35. Matt Dominguez, Marlins (Surprise Saguaros)
As I pointed out in the roster release story, there were a total of eight No. 1 prospects from different organizations playing as well. That’s down to 7, with the Cubs’ Brett Jackson being replaced by Josh Vitters. Hey, at least Vitters is No. 5 on the Cubs’ list.
And while Jed Bradley is no longer going to be in Arizona, a number of 2011 first-rounders will, starting with No. 1 overall pick Gerrit Cole (Mesa). No. 2 Danny Hultzen (Peoria) will be there, too, as will No. 28 Sean Gilmartin of the Braves (Surprise), Joe Panik (Scottsdale) of the Giants and No. 31 Mike Mahtook of the Rays (Surprise).
That’s not the only place prospects are playing, of course. While Winter Ball rosters aren’t set yet, there’s overseas action to follow in the form of USA Baseball. The professional team’s first World Cup game in Panama got rained out, but they should be playing for gold soon. Keep in mind, this is a team of guys not on 40-man rosters, but there is Travis d’Arnaud (No. 47) and the aforementioned Brett Jackson (29) from the Top 50, along with some other good talent representing the United States in international competition.
So don’t despair if your team isn’t in the playoffs right now. There’s the future to watch in Arizona and, to an extent, in Panama!
Top 50 update
And now back to our regularly scheduled programming…
Well, first, a quick shout out to Cory Spangenberg, the first first-round pick to sign. The No. 10 overall pick came to terms with the Padres officially on June 10. The next day, No. 29 overall, Joe Panik, signed with the San Francisco Giants. Both first-rounders will begin their pro careers in the short-season Northwest League, which begins its season on Friday, June 17. Spangenberg’s Eugene Emeralds will travel to Panik’s Salem-Keizer Volcanoes June 22-24.
You can keep up with all the Draft signings with MLB.com’s handy-dandy Draft history section, which contains every pick from every Draft. I’ll try to post updates here when I get them.
Now back to the usual Top 50 updates on Mondays. I know it’s been a few weeks, but we’ll stick with the same Player/Pitcher of the Week formats. First, the hitters… and kudos to Mike Moustakas and Dee Gordon for getting call ups to the bigs!
Hitter of the week: Putting the big league debuts aside, it’s hard to look past what No. 1 prospect Mike Trout is doing, isn’t it? Still a teenager, he’s now sixth in the Texas League in average, fifth in OPS and second in steals. Last week, he went 12-for-26, with three triples, one homer, one RBI and five steals in six attempts.
| RANK | PLAYER | TEAM | LEVEL | AVG | SLG | OBP | AB | HR | RBI | SB |
| 1 | Trout, Mike | LAA | AA | 0.323 | 0.547 | 0.427 | 201 | 7 | 19 | 21 |
| 2 | Harper, Bryce | WAS | A | 0.338 | 0.601 | 0.434 | 213 | 14 | 43 | 12 |
| 3 | Brown, Domonic | PHI | MLB | 0.235 | 0.397 | 0.312 | 68 | 2 | 9 | 2 |
| AAA | 0.341 | 0.537 | 0.431 | 41 | 2 | 10 | 1 | |||
| A+ | 0.368 | 0.737 | 0.429 | 19 | 2 | 4 | 0 | |||
| 4 | Ackley, Dustin | SEA | AAA | 0.291 | 0.481 | 0.41 | 258 | 9 | 32 | 6 |
| 5 | Moustakas, Mike | KC | MLB | 0.3 | 0.6 | 0.462 | 10 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| AAA | 0.287 | 0.498 | 0.347 | 223 | 10 | 44 | 1 | |||
| 6 | Hosmer, Eric | KC | MLB | 0.284 | 0.446 | 0.335 | 148 | 5 | 21 | 2 |
| AAA | 0.439 | 0.582 | 0.525 | 98 | 3 | 15 | 3 | |||
| 7 | Montero, Jesus | NYY | AAA | 0.289 | 0.408 | 0.333 | 201 | 4 | 22 | 0 |
| 9 | Jennings, Desmond | TB | AAA | 0.29 | 0.483 | 0.384 | 238 | 9 | 29 | 12 |
| 12 | Myers, Wil | KC | AA | 0.266 | 0.358 | 0.331 | 109 | 2 | 11 | 2 |
| 18 | Machado, Manuel | BAL | A | 0.304 | 0.548 | 0.404 | 115 | 6 | 23 | 3 |
| 19 | Belt, Brandon | SF | MLB | 0.211 | 0.281 | 0.328 | 57 | 1 | 4 | 2 |
| AAA | 0.337 | 0.525 | 0.47 | 101 | 4 | 21 | 3 | |||
| 21 | Lawrie, Brett | TOR | AAA | 0.354 | 0.677 | 0.415 | 223 | 15 | 49 | 11 |
| 23 | Singleton, Jonathan | PHI | A+ | 0.257 | 0.341 | 0.374 | 179 | 3 | 20 | 1 |
| 25 | Sanchez, Gary | NYY | A | 0.231 | 0.378 | 0.317 | 143 | 4 | 22 | 1 |
| 29 | Chisenhall, Lonnie | CLE | AAA | 0.25 | 0.392 | 0.342 | 232 | 5 | 30 | 0 |
| 31 | Franklin, Nick | SEA | A+ | 0.277 | 0.424 | 0.364 | 231 | 5 | 19 | 9 |
| 32 | Hicks, Aaron | MIN | A+ | 0.268 | 0.389 | 0.377 | 190 | 2 | 19 | 7 |
| 34 | Rosario, Wilin | COL | AA | 0.25 | 0.451 | 0.289 | 184 | 9 | 20 | 0 |
| 35 | Iglesias, Jose | BOS | MLB | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| AAA | 0.235 | 0.241 | 0.275 | 162 | 0 | 12 | 4 | |||
| 37 | Gordon, Dee | LAD | MLB | 0.304 | 0.304 | 0.304 | 23 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| AAA | 0.315 | 0.37 | 0.361 | 200 | 0 | 18 | 22 | |||
| 38 | Mesoraco, Devin | CIN | AAA | 0.328 | 0.562 | 0.409 | 201 | 8 | 39 | 1 |
| 39 | Jackson, Brett | CHI | AA | 0.265 | 0.465 | 0.385 | 155 | 6 | 24 | 13 |
| 41 | Alonso, Yonder | INT | AAA | 0.315 | 0.504 | 0.372 | 238 | 8 | 38 | 5 |
Some notes on pitchers. John Lamb needed Tommy John surgery; Tyler Matzek got demoted; Jordan Lyles made his big-league debut and Shelby Miller got bumped up to Double-A, all since the last time I updated.
Pitcher of the Week: Julio Teheran lowered his Triple-A ERA to 1.91 with a gem on June 9. The young right-hander went eight shutout innings, allowing just three hits while walking none. He struck out 11. He’s got a 0.64 ERA now in two June starts
| RANK | PLAYER | TEAM | LEVEL | W | L | ERA | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | AVG |
| 8 | Teheran, Julio | ATL | MLB | 0 | 1 | 5.19 | 8.2 | 10 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 0.286 |
| AAA | 6 | 1 | 1.98 | 63.2 | 51 | 18 | 14 | 18 | 57 | 0.225 | |||
| 10 | Montgomery, Mike | KC | AAA | 2 | 3 | 5.22 | 70.2 | 64 | 46 | 41 | 41 | 56 | 0.242 |
| 11 | Turner, Jacob | DET | AA | 1 | 1 | 3.05 | 73.2 | 62 | 26 | 25 | 18 | 61 | 0.223 |
| 13 | Taillon, Jameson | PIT | A | 2 | 1 | 3.32 | 38 | 37 | 15 | 14 | 4 | 30 | 0.255 |
| 14 | Miller, Shelby | STL | AA | 1 | 0 | 2.25 | 12 | 13 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 14 | 0.277 |
| A+ | 2 | 3 | 2.89 | 53 | 40 | 20 | 17 | 20 | 81 | 0.204 | |||
| 15 | Minor, Mike | ATL | MLB | 0 | 2 | 4.5 | 22 | 26 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 15 | 0.299 |
| AAA | 3 | 2 | 2.23 | 60.2 | 48 | 17 | 15 | 15 | 63 | 0.22 | |||
| 16 | Kelly, Casey | SD | AA | 4 | 2 | 3.98 | 72.1 | 79 | 40 | 32 | 20 | 55 | 0.276 |
| 17 | Perez, Martin | TEX | AA | 4 | 1 | 3.03 | 71.1 | 68 | 26 | 24 | 27 | 68 | 0.26 |
| 20 | Moore, Matthew | TB | AA | 3 | 3 | 2.75 | 68.2 | 52 | 26 | 21 | 21 | 92 | 0.206 |
| 22 | Parker, Jarrod | ARI | AA | 5 | 5 | 4.95 | 56.1 | 51 | 35 | 31 | 27 | 52 | 0.251 |
| 24 | Lyles, Jordan | HOU | MLB | 0 | 1 | 4.15 | 17.1 | 18 | 8 | 8 | 3 | 12 | 0.269 |
| AAA | 3 | 3 | 3.2 | 59 | 57 | 21 | 21 | 16 | 41 | 0.265 | |||
| 26 | Matzek, Tyler | COL | A+ | 0 | 3 | 9.82 | 33 | 34 | 37 | 36 | 46 | 37 | 0.266 |
| A | 0 | 1 | 7.04 | 7.2 | 11 | 6 | 6 | 9 | 8 | 0.333 | |||
| 27 | Lamb, John | KC | AA | 1 | 2 | 3.09 | 35 | 33 | 15 | 12 | 13 | 22 | 0.246 |
| 28 | Banuelos, Manny | NYY | AA | 2 | 0 | 2.88 | 56.1 | 50 | 21 | 18 | 32 | 53 | 0.245 |
| 30 | Odorizzi, Jake | KC | A+ | 5 | 1 | 2.97 | 60.2 | 53 | 22 | 20 | 18 | 82 | 0.237 |
| 33 | Gibson, Kyle | MIN | AAA | 3 | 5 | 3.86 | 65.1 | 64 | 32 | 28 | 14 | 68 | 0.249 |
| 36 | Scheppers, Tanner | TEX | AAA | 0 | 0 | 13.5 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0.4 |
| 40 | Archer, Christopher | TB | AA | 2 | 3 | 5.43 | 64.2 | 77 | 45 | 39 | 36 | 62 | 0.3 |
| 42 | Friedrich, Christian | COL | AA | 4 | 4 | 4.29 | 65 | 68 | 41 | 31 | 18 | 53 | 0.263 |
| 43 | Cosart, Jarred | PHI | A+ | 6 | 3 | 2.76 | 65.1 | 49 | 22 | 20 | 25 | 51 | 0.212 |
| 44 | Skaggs, Tyler | ARI | A+ | 4 | 5 | 3.51 | 77 | 63 | 33 | 30 | 29 | 95 | 0.221 |
POTY, Part Deux
It’s time to take a look at a few more Player of the Year candidates. Five were listed in yesterday’s post. Here are more for your consideration. Keep in mind, this isn’t only about prospects — it’s about best player in the Minor Leagues. But feel free to send in suggestions for candidates.
Domonic Brown, OF, Phillies: Is he a candidate more because of his prospect status? Perhaps, but the Futures Gamer is having a heckuva year. Between Double- and Triple-A, Brown has hit .325/.388/.586. He’s got 19 homers, 63 RBIs and 14 steals in 86 games. He’s among a small group of players closing in on 20-20 seasons in the Minors.
Jared Goedert, 3B, Indians: Back in his first full season (2007), Goedert began like a house on fire in Class A ball and finished the year with 20 homers and a .317/.431/.590 line. Two years of so-so to below-average production followed, with a shoulder injury playing more than a little part. He’s pain-free now and has split the year between Double- and Triple-A, hitting at both stops. He’s hitting .321/.383/.623 on the year with 23 HR and 65 RBIs in 83 games. He’s tied for fifth in homers and is sixth in SLG.
Kila Ka’aihue, 1B, Royals: What’s this guy got to do to get a
realn shot? Two years ago, he was a Player of the Year candidate when he
hit a combined .314/.456/.628 with 37 homers and 100 RBIs. He’s at it
again in 2010, hitting .307/.460/.588 with 20 homers and 67 RBIs in 81
Triple-A games. He’s fourth in OPS in the Minors and second in OBP.
Jerry Sands, 1B, Dodgers: As a 25th rounder in 2008, he’s had to prove himself every step and it looks like he might be doing it. The 22-year-old started back in the Midwest League this year, but after hitting .333/.432/.646 in 69 games, he got double-jumped to Double-A, where he’s held his own (.293/.406/.610). Combined, his 1.062 OPS is second-best in the Minors, he’s tied for second with 26 homers and he’s fourth with a .637 SLG.
Mike Trout, OF, Angels: Trout has been nothing short of fantastic in his first full season of pro ball (Come on Kevin Orris, you didn’t think I’d forget him, did you?). He won’t turn 19 until early August and he’s already been promoted to the Class A Advanced California League. So far, the jump hasn’t seemed particularly daunting, with a five-game hitting streak and a .320/.433/.600 line over seven games. His .359 combined batting average is second best in the Minors and his .452 OBP is fourth. He’s second overall with 45 steals as well.
Others worthy of consideration: Dan Johnson, Marc Krauss, J.D. Martinez, Paul McAnulty, Matthew Rizzotti
Jonathan Mayo
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