CheezWizHed

There is probably a bunch of the Top 100 that will lose eligibility to the list. I think that type of movement keeps some of our guys (Phillips) in the top 100. Scouts seem to like his power and ignore his Ks this year. I'd prefer him by a high BA/OBP/good D type player with less power myself.

I started following McDowell pretty early in the season, often noting his stats in the thread about fringe prospects. I forget exactly where I put him in my list, but I had him in the top 30-40 or so. As others have noted, his power seems to be his limiting factor, but a catcher that can hit 270/350 for BA/OBP and good defense is a worthy prospect, despite his 350-ish SLG. At 22, he probably won't add much more, but I keep hoping that his college didn't do much weight lifting and that he does more at the MiLB level. Still, probably our 3rd best catching prospect (Susac, Pina, McDowell) among those that will remain at C. (Sorry Nottingham). Probably neck-and-neck with Feliciano.

I would also put Brinson around 18th or so because his 77 games at AA were more alarming than his 23 games at AAA were encouraging I would guess most evaluators would play the "injury card" for the 77 games this year. And given that those numbers are out of line with those around them (last year, time at AAA), I probably would too.

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[sarcasm]Yep. Its all clear now. I'm wrong. The Atlanta staff must of fixed (in mere days after the trade) all the damage Brewer coaching did in the years we had him.[/sarcasm] I'm sure the Atlanta staff did give him a different way to look at things. But I'm also sure the chance to start over (while starting again) with new bosses and new teammates gives a pretty big mental uplift. That is the essence of a "change of scenary"

I wasn't inferring that we don't have a player development issue. I just don't think Jed's performance this year can be pinned on it. Anthony Banda: I don't think he fits this discussion at all. He was a lightly heralded player (due to low draft status) that was succeeding in our organization and some GM has the brains to grab him as part of a trade prior to he really broke-out. This is Lind for Freddy Peralta in reverse. So he falls under a failure to identify talent and not a failure to develop talent. Mitch Haniger: Here is your poster child for poor player development. Started well, but ground to a stand-still in our AA teams. He was traded away and performed exactly as he did here initially. But then, after time and coaching, suddenly showed improvement and made the MLB team. Jed Bradley: Similar to Mitch in that he started out ok, but ground to a halt in our organization. However in contrast to Mitch needing some time before he turned things around, Jed has pitched in 18 games for Atlanta and is suddenly a 2 ERA starting pitcher. What possibly could player development done to immediately turn him around? Even in the 3 months since we traded him in the middle of a season, it would be very difficult to make any major changes. Perhaps a tweak (e.g. pitch from other side of rubber, identify he is tipping a pitch, etc..) could be done right away, but not something that can be really attributed to teaching him how to pitch. More likely, I see a southern boy from Georgia Tech being drafted by the Brewers. Then things don't go as well as planned. He starts well, but then struggles. Eventually to the point where you are "banished" to the bullpen. Things improve slightly, but then again end up poorly. I'm sure by this time, there are frustrations on both Jed's and the Brewer's side. Now he gets a trade to Atlanta...his home town team. A fresh start, a move back into a starting role... that is a LOT of mental relief that can be had from a change of scenery. And with such a quick turn-around, I'd attribute it to the fresh start far more than Atlanta coaching. If Atlanta coaches did anything, they probably just told him to stop thinking and go out and throw it. There just isn't enough time passed for any coaching to really take effect. But again, I'm not saying the Brewer's shouldn't be looking at their development processes or people. I'm just saying that I don't see Jed's turnaround these last 3 months as evidence of that directly. Also FYI, I wasn't making any references to the Twitter-verse. I have not seen what you posted, nor any of the comments. Just making my own observation on Jed's bounce-back.

I think they are looking closely at the innings increase on each pitcher from the previous year. They seem to send their best pitchers that have enough innings to use in the AFL before they hit the yearly limit. Most the time that isn't our better pitchers.

I would tend to think that this has more to do with a change of scenery for Bradley than a miracle working training staff with Atlanta.

I was perusing players results and thought it would be fun to point out some of the oddities I've found. Some you may know... some maybe not. John Perrin leads all Brewer pitchers (with >100IP) in K/BB. He is currently at a robust 7.1K/BB this year including an outrageous 47 K/BB when he was with the Wisconsin 'Rattlers. Marcos Diplan and Phil Bickford are statistical twins this year: [pre]Name Age ERA IP H R ER HR BB IBB SO WHIP BA OPS BAbip H9 BB9 SO9 ▾ SO/W Diplan 19 A, A+ 3.02 113.1 96 50 38 7 50 0 129 1.288 0.225 0.653 0.304 7.6 4 10.24 2.58 Bickford 20 A, A+ 2.93 113.2 92 42 37 5 40 0 129 1.161 0.221 0.619 0.301 7.3 3.2 10.21 3.23[/pre] Josh Hader has 11.4 K/9 this year, leading all pitchers with >100IP. Nash Walters had 11.23K/9, but also 10.5 BB/9 (37.2 IP). Chris Carter hit a HR every 15 ABs. Ronnie Gideon hit one every 13.4 AB. Carter's ISO is .260. Gideon's is .330 Lucas Erceg had an 86% fielding rate at Helena, but a 95% rate at Wisconsin. He also has the batting title currently with a BA of .340 MLB stat but worth noting: Chris Carter had a 99.3% fielding rate in 1107 chances. Max McDowell (catcher for Wisconsin 'Rattlers) has a better success rate in stealing (17/20=85%) than Jonathon Villar (50/66=76%). Max also threw out 44.6% of would-be stealers at A-ball this year. Isan Diaz hit 232/309/370/679 in the first half and 313/425/605/1030 in the second half.

Yes. AZ is normally 17-19 year old players including the rawer HS players or Latin America signings first stop in the US. Pioneer league normally is in the 18-22 yo range, including most drafted college players, top HS draftees and HS players that are promoted from AZ.

If he has improved enough for someone to take him and his contract off our hands, that is a win win situation! That was kind of my point. He isn't consistent enough for someone else to want him, but he isn't bad enough for the Brewers to simply cut him loose.

I wish Garza would stop playing with my emotions... either stink it up or pitch like a couple years ago. This great performance/terrible performance roller coaster is for the birds...

Personally, I almost gave up on him prior to last year. But knowing that the was a raw prospect that was going to take some time developing, I think many of us (me at least) expected him to finally put it together and make potential turn into production. So we expected it, saw and said, "Boom there it is!" But maybe not... I'm still hoping that last year's success got Lopez resting on his laurels too much. And this year functions as a wake-up year for him.

That is nice feedback FV. Certainly any pitcher that makes it at the MLB level with a FB topping at 90-91 needs to do something exceptionally to succeed. Fiers had a unique delivery that hid the ball and had unusual movement on this pitches (especially a rising FB). Greg Maddux had exceptional control and a great strategist on the mound. Certainly, a very high percentage of MiLB players with his speed profile never make it. Changing speeds well and commanding his pitches are a great start to making it.

Actually, Taylor and Suter are realistic pickups in the Rule 5 draft. Rule 5 draftees tend to be "hidden" by being put in a role of defensive replacement or BP roles. Taylor is ready on defense and can play a 5th OFer role. He is still pretty young and has a chance to still develop (granted a bit of a long shot now). Suter is on the 40-man roster now, so no Rule 5 but removing him would expose him to waivers so a similar situation. But otherwise he certainly was candidate for the BP as a lefty or long man. Don't we tend to debate doing the inverse of Houser's situation each year? Finding a guy to pick and stash on the MLB 60-day DL with upside, but it seems like no one ever does it.

1610 PA: XBH rate 170 PA: HR rate That is an interesting disparity... Seems like there have been plenty of guys come up hitting a lot of doubles that turn into HRs once they mature. 170PAs seems way too low for HR rate.

As of today: OPS: 14th Fangraphs Offense Ranking: 22nd Fangraphs WAR: 52nd Interesting to note that Trout has a negative Fangraph's defensive ranking.

I would guess clearing waivers means no trade this year or that the Brewers need to take on some salary. If the Dodgers (or other team) were truly serious about getting him, claiming him does a couple things to your advantage: 1) Puts you in an exclusive position to make a trade (no competitors upping the ante) 2) Pushes a time restriction on the Brewers to do a deal. The only downside is if you don't want to eat the contract. Which no one wanted to do.

I'm than happy to give Suter at least a few (several?) more starts to get a better sample size, but I've long thought the BP was his best spot at the MLB level. Long man, LOOGY, and if he does well, could work up to a setup man or spot starter. I like the guy's results in MiLB level, I just can't see the projectability to succeed as a starter. As others have said, maybe he is an exception like Moyer, but I wouldn't put money on it.

Trent Clark (2-5) doesn't appear to be a heady baseball player, the mistakes he's made on the bases and the way he plays balls in the OF... he's just doesn't appear to be a natural, but covers up many mistakes with his athleticism. Frustrating to hear, but good to know.

Ironically, KN is a great candidate for a 4th/5th OFer on a playoff team. Good defense at multiple OF positions and 700+ OPS off the bench. But he is maxed out and we aren't looking for 4th/5th OFers. So he doesn't make sense here right now.

Fielder is a question mark and more of a DH. And now retired.

I doubt Taylor Williams has too much to worry about with only 25 IP at A+ and coming off TJ surgery. He wasn't in the prospect limelight before his injury, I doubt too many people are going to take a chance on him doing anything at the MLB level. * I realize we here thought/think highly of him and he was the darling of some media blurbs during the 2015 ST, but I doubt that is enough to get another team to give him a MLB spot with so little MiLB experience and fresh off an injury. Tyrone Taylor is probably a good target for some team. - Former High draft pick. - Can play as a 5th OFer right now defensively. - Still has age on his side (23 next year). - Jump from AA to MLB isn't too big (less than A+ at least). I'm not saying that is enough for us to protect him, but he might be a strong target for a team to try a reclamation project.

i stand corrected. there's a reason why present day media guides are so much thicker . . . the content's clarity is vastly improved from media guides of the previous century. Or... online databases.

Cumulative WAR is a pretty useless stat IMO. All players have a bell curve on their production. Cumulative WAR hides peaks and drop-offs in a player's production. Alcides WAR: 2009: 0.4 2010: 0.5 2011: 1.9 2012: 2.1 2013: 1.1 2014: 3.3 2015: 1.5 2016: -0.8 Given his poor offensive performance, I never expected him to go above 1.0 WAR. Him hitting 293 or 285 BA was also exceeding my expectations (though they were very empty offensive lines with 293/331/390 and 285/317/377). So at his peak, he was offensively average(ish) with extremely high defense. That peak lasted about 3 years (actually 2 of those 3 years). I think Orlando's floor is round that area, but I would think he can maintain it better longer as his MiLB career has shown a better capability for OBP and SLG than Escobar ever did. But either way, why the angst? They are prospects. The future is open. Some will succeed that we didn't think had a chance. Others will fall flat. As TT does for the Packers, get as much young talent in all areas as possible and those unexpected failures tend to cover themselves. For example, if Arcia should happen to fall on his face at the MLB level, we have Villar as someone that has played a very competent SS for us already.