What Fringe prospects are you watching and why?

[Outlander]

Agree about Woodruff, really shouldn't be in A ball anymore.

[battlekow]

I definitely am a registered Nate Orf fan. I wouldn't exactly say I'm a fan of Nick Shaw, but I respect his career and am glad he's hanging in there and hope he gets to pinch run or something for the Brewers after some apocalyptic cavalcade of middle-infield injuries (okay, let's say a bunch of coincidentally timed paternity leaves to avoid rooting for other players to be injured). I am also fascinated by Omar Garcia's slugging percentage (he homered last year?!).

[And That]

My favorite under the radar prospect was just activated by the Manatees - go get 'em, Clint Terry.

[Austin Tatious]

The first names that came to mind:

 

Nash Walters. Pretty high draft pick with good arm.

Tyrone Perry. He has potential if he keeps his weight under control. Big if.

Carlos Belonis. Didn't rack up huge stats as he bounced around rookie ball for multiple years but he's off to a hot start at Appleton.

Tucker Neuhaus. Another high draft pick who has taken some time to adjust to being a professional coming out of high school. But maybe something will click.

 

The theme here is young guys out of high school who may need time to come into their own. While college players develop in the college structure, it can be a rough adjustment for the out of high school guys who go straight to pros. Their adjustments to higher levels are under a microscope whereas college guys can develop and mature before being drafted.

 

I agree on being interested in Supak, Herrera, Missaki (if he gets healthy) and Peralta as young pitching acquisitions.

 

Not under the definition of under the radar, but I'm very interested in seeing Gatewood and Harrison show positive signs. They haven't been able to solve Class A while being fine in rookie ball. Let's hope there is a nice step forward there and they can adjust to higher level pitching, where they see better command of breaking stuff etc. If they emerge this year, they could be on their way to a good progression through the minor league ranks. If they continue to be stymied this year, it could be a longer haul for them than we hoped.

[CheezWizHed]

My favorite under the radar prospect was just activated by the Manatees - go get 'em, Clint Terry.

 

Wow, that was a blast from the past. I had to look him up. 2013 18th round draft pick. He is a 23 yo lefty reliever.

[MrTPlush]

Victor Roache as I think he is officially under the radar to most. That power potential is enormous. He is still only 24 so maybe things can click for him soon.

[JohnBriggs12]

If we're talking lefty relievers, lets get real fringy and bring up Brad Kuntz. Sure, he's in A Ball and will turn 24 next month, but the guy has 58 K's in 47 professional innings, and a WHIP under 1. He bypassed Appleton and if he keeps this up at Brevard, it won't be long before he's in Biloxi.

[MadThinker88]

Herrera, Peralta, Supak, and Missaki because that will tell me a bit about Stearns' ability to judge talent and the direction of the rebuild.

 

Agreed, especially those 3 youngsters from the Lind trade.

It will be interesting to see how those 3 appear (& where they ended the year) once this season is over...

[FVBrewerFan]

Saw Peralta last night for the first time, he has some nasty stuff. At the very least, I see what Stearns and company saw in him.

[CheezWizHed]

Early season, but Max McDowell is batting 303/368/364/732 and throwing out 50% of steal attempts (9 for 18). Given our lack of catching depth last year, he was a draft pick I noted, but lost interest after a while. But might be piquing my interest again. This year's Carlos Leal?

[brewmann04]

Just beat me to it Cheez

[AKCheesehead]

Brad Kuntz, LHP. A bit age ahead for his level (24) -redshirted a year at Baylor, had TJ surgery. In 20 games (48 IP) between rookie last year and Brevard this year, .94 ERA, .94 WHIP.

[MrTPlush]

Victor Roache as I think he is officially under the radar to most. That power potential is enormous. He is still only 24 so maybe things can click for him soon.

 

The power hasn't shown up, but since I gave him a bit of support:

 

Took his average from .200 to .300

 

Has only struck out in 20% of his at-bats(good for him)

[DHonks]

Zack (or Zach) Taylor, since I taught him in class. Good kid

[umphrey]

Jon Perrin

 

37 K 0 BB this year has me super interested

[ewitkows]

Ditto on Perrin. impressive stats at any level

[CheezWizHed]

Woodruff looking good early at Brevard: 1.41 ERA with 30ks and 9 BB over 32 IP. Sporting a 1.09 WHIP.

[CheezWizHed]

Waiting on Dustin Houle to warm up. Only hitting: 209/329/284/613 right now. At least if the hits aren't falling, he is still getting on base.

[FVBrewerFan]

Looks like Perrin is moving on up to BC

[CheezWizHed]

Angel Ortega and Jon Perrin win the MiLB player of the month awards.

[sfl2hnq17]

Angel Ventura is having a pretty damn good season apart from one lousy appearance. Good thing some of these fringe prospects are doing well because most of the big name guys are doing squat so far.

[CheezWizHed]

Our fringe Catching prospects are interesting this year:

 

Manny Pina: 339/381/539/921 - AAA

Josmil Pinto: 311/373/410/783 - AAA

Dustin Houle: 242/314/342/688 - A+

Max McDowell: 284/361/336/740 - A

Carlos Leal: no word yet.

 

Pina: 1 PB, 10/29 (34%) caught stealing (204 innings)

Pinto: 0 PB, 2/7 (22%) caught stealing (77.1 innings)

Houle: 3 PBs, 11/32 (34%) caught stealing (206 innings)

McDowell: 4 PBs, 16/34 (47%) caught stealing (226 innings)

 

Certainly Pina and Pinto's numbers are inflated by the rarified air in Colorado. And the opposite for Houle in the heavy air of Brevard.

 

Still, each one has a pretty decent walk rate going for them. And I'd love to hear something more about their defense than just the stat rates, but you've got to love McDowell's 47% throw out rate.

 

Pina would probably make a decent back-up at the MLB level if we trade Lucroy. I might even give him more starts than Maldonado in that case just because we know what we have in Maldy. At least 50/50.

 

Houle and McDowell have some nice potential. Little power to show at this point, but both have a chance on being a decent starter down the road.

 

At least better catching depth than we have had in the past.

[Madhawk23]

I'm really quite surprised that Woodruff hasn't been bumped up to AA yet. I'm assuming that they are probably just waiting for one of the rotation spots to open up at Biloxi first? Do we think that Hader will get the bump up to Colorado Springs at some point here (this really scares me by the way!), and then Woodruff will get the bump to AA to fill his spot?

[JDBrewCrew]

He was today.

 

http://www.milb.com/roster/index.jsp?sid=t5015

[Madhawk23]

Thanks for the heads up on Woodruff now showing up on AA Biloxi's roster. Surprised we haven't heard anything official yet from the organization (unless if I missed it?). Lane Grindle just posted his latest blog posting, and has some very encouraging comments about Woodruff (and did mention that he's now at AA). Starting to get more excited about this kid!

 

Here's the blog posting: http://minordetails.mlblogs.com/2016/05/17/catching-up/