Prospect Insider - Farm System Roundup

Farm System Roundup

By Jason A. Churchill

By 06-21-2011

In lieu of a full Prospect Intel this week, I have to cut it short because I'm working on the 2012 Draft and the Mid-season Top 30.

So let's get right to it ...

Still not hearing a lot of good things on Dennis Raben, despite the fact that he's putting up really good numbers in High Desert. The strikeouts are a concern, and that's going to be a theme in this edition, because ...

... same goes for Nick Franklin, who isn't wowing anyone in the Cal League. I'm not worried about his long-term future at this point, nor do I think there needs to be some sort of position change, but until we start seeing more consistent at bats and better contact rates -- anything north of 20 percent is prohibitive for a middle infielder -- he's going to stay in High Desert.

James Jones is lost at the plate, and I haven't heard a good explanation why. I'll see the Mavs in mid-July, so perhaps I will see something or get some video to study the matter.

Monday was Opening Night for the Peoria Mariners of the Arizona Rookie League and Phillips Castillo, the top prospect on the roster, went 3-for-5 with two doubles. Martin Peguero, formerly known as Esteilon, his middle name, took the donut in four trips to the plate. Another name to watch in this lineup is Alfredo Morales, a left-handed hitting outfielder whom the club likes a lot more than they originally let on two summers ago.

According to scouts, Rich Poythress cannot cover the plate, hit good fastballs on the inner half unless he's looking for it, nor hit the ball the other way with any consistency. I haven't seen Poythress live myself, but word is he's the next Mike Wilson.

Word came out a few weeks back that right-hander Erasmo Ramirez, all 5-foot-9 of him (don't believe the bio), touched 96 mph on the radar gun and sat 92-95. Well, that hasn't happened in the five starts since as the 21-year-old has issued five of the seven bases on balls he's tallied for the year while giving up 25 runs on 34 hits -- five homers -- in just 22 innings of work.

Like before his two-start spike in velocity, Ramirez has sat 89-92, which is up from the 86-90 he sat last season, and he's nibbling quite a bit, per an NL scout. "You like the strikes, but the stuff isn't always very good," he said. "The fastball lacks life and since he doesn't get any plane he has to paint with it. He's not quite Picasso."

One rival club's player development director caught the latest starts by Clinton lefty James Paxton and right-hander Taijuan Walker and had this to say about the pair:

"Dude, Walker is electric; it's easy velocity, heavy sink and always 92 plus. He could pitch with that all day in that league but the curveball is a knee-buckler."

"Paxton has a good idea what he's doing out there. He's overpowering and out thinking the kids down here, but that's some really good stuff, maybe No. 1 or 2 type stuff."

For those looking forward to the mid-season top 30, this year's edition will include a breakdown into groups. More on that next week.

farm-system-roundup

Comments
The following 30 comment(s) for this article are shown below:

1. By: sexymarinersfan on 06-21-2011 02:50:36
Well I'm glad to hear that we've got plenty of pitching. That's never a bad thing. I wish we could have another hitter or two step up and become the next Adam Jones, but it doesn't look like that will happen. Heck, even if we know now what know then, Bedard for Jones wouldn't have even been a good swap, let alone another top 4 pitchers in the deal. Geesh!!

Thanks for the info as always Jason.

2. By: bodhizefa on 06-21-2011 08:25:27
Any chance Seager starts to see some time at third base? Does he have the arm and/or ability to play there regularly?

3. By: Gustafson on 06-21-2011 08:28:13
Paxton and Walker... Not much more exciting than potential TOR starters. You wonder if Paxton ever pitches in Seattle though. At some point Jack is going to need to trade for some offense.

4. By: Slack on 06-21-2011 10:18:57
Are the M's likely to promote Paxton anytime soon? He's 22 and in low A ball and is dominating. His walk rate seems a little high and that is the only thing that would make me hesitate to promote him but the strikeout rate looks great!

5. By: baseballman on 06-21-2011 10:59:36
Could we see the top 3 from the midseason 30 all be pitchers? It sure sounds like it, or at the very least 3 of the the top 4. That is never a bad thing.

6. By: docsmith on 06-21-2011 11:00:37
Do I have this right, prospects can't be traded for 1 year after signing? I seem to recall reading that rule. In which case, Paxton isn't going anywhere this season. Walker signed in June...but I sure hope he isn't traded.

7. By: Adam P. Boyd on 06-21-2011 11:08:45
Good shit, Jason. Disappointing to see the 1,2,4th rounders from '09 all stall in their development a bit when moving up a level this seaosn.

8. By: maqman on 06-21-2011 13:14:53
Ramirez went downhill fast, he was looking good for a while. Other than Paxton and Walker, Andrew Carraway in Jackson has about the best record to this point and he's in his age 25 year. Vinnie Catracala and Jake Shaffer are posting some good numbers so far this year.

9. By: Jason A. Churchill on 06-21-2011 13:44:19
The mid-season top 30 will not consist of pitchers 1-2-3.

And yes, docsmith, that is correct. But Paxton could be a player to be named later in a deal, announced once his anniversary is up, but that is highly unlikely because clubs aren't sure what Paxton is at this point. He has far more value to the Mariners than any other club.

10. By: slick on 06-21-2011 13:54:52
Puluski roster is up at milb. I read an article a couple years ago about Morales having a chance to be a breakout prospect last year. Ogando is state side he was to be a 7 figure guy 2 years ago but had a drop in velo before July 2nd. It appears that Brandol Perez is 20 or 21 years old not 17.

11. By: rjfrik on 06-21-2011 14:24:38
"According to scouts, Rich Poythress cannot cover the plate, hit good fastballs on the inner half unless he's looking for it, nor hit the ball the other way with any consistency."

I can confirm this Jason, this is exactly what I saw when I watched Poythress live last year. I actually posted this on a thread about the draft a few topics back and got lambasted for posting it.

On the topic of Paxton and Walker. Oooooh, it makes me giddy just knowing that we have arms like that down on the farm and another one like that about ready to join. We are seriously set up with pitching and it's fantastic!!

On another note the M's are really set up to head into the July 14th series with Texas with a winning record and a chance to be in first by then. Series with Washington, Florida, San Diego, Oakland and Angels are all winnable and I could see us going 11-8 or better up to that point. The pitching is that phenomenal.

Also who do you guys think makes the All Star game? I'm really hoping Ichiro continues his streak of but I'm a little worried for him. My prediction, based on M's bias of course, is Felix, Pineda, League and Ichiro.

12. By: Jason A. Churchill on 06-21-2011 14:37:36
rjfrik,

The point on Poythress is, he STILL can't. That's the issue, not that he couldn't two years ago.

As for the ASG, Ichiro doesn't deserve it and won't win the vote it looks like.

I'd bet on Felix, maybe one other arm, and it won't likely be League unless others drop out due to injury.

13. By: Ayala Faction on 06-21-2011 15:53:47
Jason,

Is Walker ahead of Hultzen as far as upside? If so, since he's only 18, if he was in this year's draft, would he be the #1 prep arm?

14. By: dawgncarolina on 06-21-2011 16:16:33
Not Jason but I can say with pretty strong certainty that Walker wouldn't have gone ahead of Dylan Bundy (the #1 prep arm). I could see an argument for taking him over Archie Bradley though.

It's pretty clear the M's got a steal when they snagged TW.

15. By: rjfrik on 06-21-2011 16:32:55
I understand the point Jason. To me Poythress is what he is and in my opinion he's not a MLBer. Maybe he will change, doubt it.

Yeah Ichiro is screwed on the ASG front I believe. Sucks. Need Japan to start submitting those ballots. Wishful thinking on League and Ichiro for that matter.

16. By: johnfree on 06-21-2011 17:36:55
dawg,

You're using a flawed evaluation. You can't re-write history. Coming out of High School Walker wasn't the player we see now. He didn't have the year of Innings, coaching, and training he's had since he signed. With the Prep pitching talent this year he would be lucky to be in the top 10 prep arms.

17. By: dawgncarolina on 06-21-2011 17:41:15
16 - not really sure what you're talking about. I was answering the question based on what we now know of Walker how would he rate were he in this year's draft. People do this all the time - numerous places have talked about how Mike Trout would have gone #2 (after Stras but ahead of Ackley) if that draft were redone today.

The only flawed evaluation is your misunderstanding of the conversation.

18. By: Ayala Faction on 06-21-2011 17:57:18
So is it safe to say that Walker is at least a year ahead of Pineda (when Pineda was 18) with similar upside?

19. By: johnfree on 06-21-2011 17:57:35
I'm not misunderstanding anything. You are talking about Walker having a clear advantage over the Prep kids drafted this year with the coaching and training hes gotten. If you wanted to do a re-draft of the 2010 draft class thats completely different. He would be right up there with Taillon to be the 1st prep arm taken.

20. By: rjfrik on 06-21-2011 18:12:40
Ayala, I would say yes to that question.

21. By: John_S on 06-21-2011 20:47:43
I agree with Dawg its done all of the time between players in a previous draft and where they would go in the current draft.

Walker was an impressive arm right after the draft and pitching in Arizona the hand full of times so it not just the coaching that he's received albeit it has helped him currently but we saw promise even before Clinton.

Im pretty sure he would have been in the top 5 of prep arms this year.

22. By: dawgncarolina on 06-21-2011 22:51:02
Phillips Castillo in AZL tonight - 2/3 so far with a double and a triple. Four extra base hits in his first 1 2/3 games.

23. By: dawgncarolina on 06-21-2011 22:55:00
Castillo's 4 XBH's have come versus 4 different pitchers - 3 righties and a lefty.

SSSS (super small) of course, but it's hard to imagine a much better start to his pro career.

24. By: 24fan4life on 06-21-2011 22:58:19
Jason, have you checked out Reginald Lawson? The guy is a beast. Only 19! Could he be a real find?

25. By: dawgncarolina on 06-21-2011 23:02:19
Lawson's DH'd both games so far which scares me a bit. Hopefully he's just banged up or something. I am definitely intrigued by him though.

26. By: slick on 06-22-2011 01:00:00
A Hildago nice US debut 10K 1ER 2BB 6IP.

27. By: Edman on 06-22-2011 17:57:35
#24, I'm not sure what you classify as beastly, but taking a quick look at his stats, in the few games he's played this season.....they're all singles. Beastly in my eyes is more what dawg pointed out in post #23.

28. By: slamcactus on 06-22-2011 18:35:55
I think 24 may have been talking about Lawson's size. He's a big dude.

29. By: rjfrik on 06-22-2011 20:10:08
Man the defense has been bad the last two games. Looks like it's going to cost us another W tonight. Pretty sad.

30. By: rjfrik on 06-22-2011 21:09:32
We've given up 7 unearned runs in a row. LOL Can the streak continue? Tune in tomorrow. Mariners Baseball!!

You are not currently logged in. If you'd like to comment on this report, please log in.
Haven't created a Prospect Insider account yet? Sign up!