CheeseheadInQC

I am irrationally excited about Torres for a guy whose stuff I have heard zero about. Hopefully he is brought over for instructs and we get a report.

https://www.fieldchatter.com/nfl-practice-squad-2022-rules-starting-at-4-00-pm--t127055.html I think it’s always been this way since they implemented the protection rule. Allowing players to not be stuck on a practice squad while preventing a team from planning all week to elevate a player only to see them poached Friday night.

Couple of things. The NFL changed the "have to make the initial roster to be designated to return" rule, so that is not an issue. On the practice squad thing: 1. Several players whose primary value is on special teams were claimed last year, including one by the Packers, so there is no guarantee they make it through waivers. 2. There is no guarantee they re-sign with the Packers practice squad vs. another team's. 3. Protecting a practice squad player, if I remember correctly, only prevents mid-to-late week signings. Everyone is still fair game on Monday. 4. You only get so many call-ups before you have to keep them on the roster. You better have several you feel comfortable streaming if that is the plan. 5. Thanks to injuries, Wilson is the third best linebacker with more than minicamp experience at this point. I can't see them going with just four there. I'm doubting Glover makes the team at this point. The whole "Green Bay keeps all their picks" thing is overstated (they cut two last year) and I can't remember a draft pick I heard less about in camp than Glover. If they keep 10, which I doubt, it probably means they still have hopes for Telfort or Jones and Jennings manages to somehow win a roster spot in two weeks worth of practice.

Perez never played in the DSL. He signed before the COVID shutdown and then he, Quero, Herrera and a few others skipped the DSL and went to the ACL in 2021.

Man, if Ashby could get back to his former self, even if it is limited to a relief role, that would be a big help going forward.

Out of curiosity, who are the upside guys who would get cut? (Full disclosure, I am guessing they stash Lloyd on IR to start the season, so if he is ready to go some things would change). Leaving the offensive line alone for a second, the three noteworthy names I have on the wrong side of the bubble right now are Heath, Ford and Cox. Heath is probably the most likely to get claimed, but he is more valuable for his high floor than his ceiling. There is value to Ford given that Slaton is approaching free agency, but barring a number of injuries, he would be a permanent game day inactive as the sixth defensive tackle, especially considering Van Ness can push inside on passing downs if need be. I know some are more optimistic about Brenton Cox than I am, but personally I am not convinced he gets claimed and also not convinced there is a big enough gap between him and the next guy on the depth chart to make it a significant risk. On the offensive line, do you see Telfort in year 2 or Jones in year 3 as likely to get claimed? Glover is still fourth string, and as much as I liked the signing of Jennings, he hasn’t been able to show anything yet. I had Telfort vs. Welch for the last spot, so I can see Telfort making it as a ninth lineman, but I don’t think it is a lock. I also suspect that teams will want a little more continuity on special teams than the practice squad shuttle provides given the rule changes. That is why I think at least one, maybe two of Rochell, Anderson and Welch make it.

Maybe I am remembering incorrectly, but this is the earliest I can recall hype building for a Brewers DSL prospect. It seemed like for Chourio, Lara and Rodriguez, the hype came more out of instructs and the next year’s spring training.

I think Rochell might end up taking the designated special teamer secondary spot over Anderson.

It's going to be interesting to see what happens on the O-line. Can Telfort or Jones pass Dillard to crack the top 8? Would they keep one as the No. 9? Can Jennings or Glover show enough to earn the No. 9 spot or do they try to get both back to the practice squad? Do they only keep 8 to leave an extra spot for the defense, given the amount of depth on the D-line and the secondary? Right now, numbers wise, I've got 2 QB, 3 RB, 6 WR, 4TE, 8 OL, 4 DE, 5 DT, 5 LB, 7 CB, 5 S with one spot left. I'd like for Jennings to impress and grab it, but time is running out.

I didn’t have Jac Caglianone hitting his first pro homer off Jose Acosta while Jesus Chirinos played 3rd on my bingo card for tonight.

If I went only by the games I saw in person, I’d think Jheremy Vargas was the best prospect on the Timber Rattlers.

Yerlin Rodriguez had a couple of great pitches but it is never good when I look up mid-inning what year it was when I watched Evan Fredrickson and a really off his game Cody Scarpetta on back-to-back days.

Maybe I am remembering incorrectly, but it seemed like Cornielle would have been unhittable if he only needed 2 strikes. Lots of really awkward swings on strikes 1 and 2 and then a lot of loud contact with 2 strikes.

Rattlers never seem to play well when I am in attendance.

I used to site it occasionally, but I've grown skeptical of any of the swinging strike rate data for short-season leagues on Fangraphs because the numbers are so out of whack with the full-season leagues. I feel there is a chance that they are pulling data from the gameday logs where all strikeouts have traditionally just been posted as the three-pitch variety, all walks 4-pitch and all outs first-pitch. If that is the case, they are nowhere close to accurate.

I don’t know that large market bias is what is going on (personally I think that tends to come out more when the non-prospect focused guys start talking about prospects). The Brewers top guys have either graduated or been injured, erratic or defensively challenged. The Brewers have a ton of depth, but much of it comes from places that seem not to have as much effect on these lists (short-season teenagers and pop-up pitching prospects). I like how the Brewers have countered the high-variance nature of their system by sheer numbers and am optimistic on a large number of the players, but this system isn’t necessarily for everyone.

One more note on the DSL guys, last year the Brewers had 11 players between the two teams who posted a .700 OPS and a sub-30% strikeout rate. Nine were brought stateside, one was traded and Danny Puerta was the lone one to stay in the DSL. This year they have 17. Brewers1: Made, Pena, Ortuno, Martinez, Paulino, Garcia Brewers2: Anderson, Flores, Tovar, Corobo, Lafond, Quintana, Polanco, Montero, Ereu, Charles, Lugo

I think that Made and Pena start at Carolina. Assuming they get brought over, I think instructs will be big for Anderson and Ortuno. That, more than his DSL season, is where Lara put himself on track to skip the ACL if I remember correctly.

Nice to see some of the great individual games by top prospects. Two doubles, a single and a walk from Yophery as well. He can still stand to lower the K rate, but the list of 18-year-olds in their second affiliated season who have hit better than him since 2021? It reads Chourio, Basallo, Walcott (If you want to toss Salas in there for earning a high-A spot last year, go ahead). That is pretty good company to keep.

I am going to try to make it to a game sometime this weekend. By then maybe the backlog of tasks that accumulated during our busiest week of the year at work might have eased. I didn’t look at which thread it was when I clicked on the notification that I had been mentioned in a post and it took me to the transaction news first, so I thought I was in that thread. I was trying to guess what transaction would cause me to be tagged. Long story short, you had me thinking for a second Wande Torres was promoted to Carolina.

As always, because I had half an hour waiting for dinner to cook, here are some notes based off my calculations from just these ballots: Adams, Lara and Rodriguez were so close that when I calculated by moving all of the scores up to fill the Levonas slots Adams leapt the other two. Top 5 left out: Burke, Brown, Meccage, Areinamo, Smith Getting one vote: Rodriguez, Di Turi, Crow, Guilarte, Hall

Is this for an academic setting? If so, you might want to finesse the Black Sox section a bit. From what I remember Jackson was alleged to have been brought in by teammates, not approached by the gamblers, and Weaver was suspended not for taking money or throwing games but for knowing about it and not doing anything to stop it.

Jacob MisiorowskiJeferson QueroCooper PrattYophery RodriguezBrock WilkenTyler BlackJosh KnothRobert GasserBrett WichrowskiLogan HendersonJesus MadeLuke AdamsLuis PenaLuis LaraCarlos F RodriguezBraylon PayneCraig YohoFilippo Di TuriBryce MeccageJadher Areinamo Next five all seem to deserve spots on this list but I couldn't fit on: 21. Jose Anderson; 22. Shane Smith; 23. Bishop Letson; 24. Mike Boeve; 25. KC Hunt Rest of the Top 40: Eric Bitonti, Blake Burke, Manuel Rodriguez, Juan Baez, Ryan Birchard, Yorman Galindez, Coleman Crow, Dylan O'Rae, Josh Adamczewski, Tate Kuehner, Eric Brown Jr., Alexander Cornielle, Juan Ortuno Jr., Jorge Quintana, Enniel Cortez Best bet to crack my next top 40 with the slightest bit of success the rest of the season (because I know myself): Anthony Flores

I know the stats won’t count, but I continue to see Torres as one of the more intriguing deep sleepers in the system.