Upcoming Week

by John Sickels on Mar 5, 2006 1:33 PM EST in News

We've finished up the organization Top 20 Prospects today with the Rockies.

Plans for the next week are unavoidably nebulous. I will be travelling to Des Moines tomorrow to visit my mother, who is back home now after spending the last three months in Cedar Rapids due to my grandmother's death. I don't know when I will be back to Lawrence, exactly. I'll be back by Friday at the latest to do my weekly XM radio appearance, but I don't know if that means I come home on Wednesday or Thursday. It just depends.

In Des Moines I will have internet access, but not as much as I normally do. Jeri will be here, and with her help we should still be able to keep you entertained and informed.

The John Sickels Baseball Newsletter starts up March 15-16. It will begin with a revised Top 50/50 List. The newsletter costs $39.95 ($34.95 for returning customers). It is an email product that compliments and enhances what I do here. An example of the newsletter can be found by clicking here. You can order the 2006 edition of the newsletter at JohnSickels.com.

With the spring training in full gear, I'll also be resuming my weekly articles for Rotowire.

UPDATE: I will be traveling today. This week, I plan to do a Prospect Retro for Kirby Puckett for obvious reasons. That will probably post on Tuesday. Oops, I forgot I already did a Puckett Retro.

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re

John what time are you on XM on Fridays?

by bootsy on Mar 5, 2006 4:00 PM EST reply actions

Top Farm Systems

I'm not sure if you have done this yet, but can you rank the farm systems?

I'd imagine it looks something like this for the top 5:

Dodgers
Diamondbacks
Angels

etc.

by Shane Cobb on Mar 5, 2006 6:41 PM EST reply actions

ranking

using john's grades and a brute-force GPA calculation, i ranked the systems. check it out in the "overall system GPA" diary.

by jpahk on Mar 5, 2006 7:33 PM EST up reply actions

Suggestion

You've mentioned doing some stuff on college baseball and the 2006 FA draft. You might consider a scouting trip to Lincoln to see that kid Joba Chamberlain pitch. He's been awesome so far this year.

by DrBGiantsfan on Mar 5, 2006 8:19 PM EST reply actions

joba

I saw Joba pitch last spring, and will try to see him again this year.

Here is the report I wrote on him for the newsletter last April after seeing him pitch against Texas.

Joba Chamberlain, RHP: Sophomore. A big, thick-legged righthander who will have to watch his weight. His nickname is "Jabba the Heat", and he does throw hard, but he got a lot of strikeouts on a very good curveball. Mixes his pitches well, has all the makings of an inning-eating power horse. From one angle on the first base side of the diamond, it looks like he short-arms the ball a little, but I don't think I would tinker too much with his mechanics. Biggest concern (no pun intended) will be heavy workload; it will be very tempting for the Cornhuskers to ride him hard

by John Sickels on Mar 5, 2006 9:49 PM EST up reply actions

Thanks.....

I guess Kansas is in the Big 12. Lots of interesting players in the Big 12. Max Scherzer at Missouri, Kyle McCulloch and Drew Stubbs in Texas. I think Kansas has a pretty good team this year, although I don't know about any of their players.

by DrBGiantsfan on Mar 6, 2006 1:12 AM EST up reply actions

Jabba The Heat!

LOL! That's a good one! I've read that Joba has been working on his body and is down another 10-15 lbs this year. He's been pitching great too. My impression is that he is very likely to pitch in the majors very soon after being drafted, but that he might be pretty close to his ceiling right now.

by DrBGiantsfan on Mar 6, 2006 1:15 AM EST up reply actions

i agree with that

he looks like he can help a big league club pretty soon. IMO though, ian kennedy is the most major league ready pitcher in college right now.

by npurcell on Mar 6, 2006 2:58 AM EST up reply actions

Husker Pitchers

It's unlikely that the UNL staff will ride Joba too hard this year, as the other starting pitching can more than hold its own. Tony Watson and Johnny Dorn have proved themselves to be very capable young pitchers, at least in my estimation. The Nebraska bullpen is also strong enough to depend on when Joba needs to come out, although that's not often, he seems like an efficient pitcher with a lot of stamina. He's a big boy.

John, if you do come up to Lincoln to see a game, I hope I can introduce myself. I'd love to meet you. I'm at nearly all of the Husker games.

(FYI, I'm from Nebraska, attend UNL, and cover the Husker baseball team for MVN.)

by Ryan Armbrust on Mar 6, 2006 3:59 AM EST up reply actions