Los Angeles Angels Top 20 PRE-SEASON Prospects in Review
by John Sickels on Aug 25, 2009 8:00 AM EDT
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This list was originally published December 31st, 2008. This is a REVIEW of the PRE-SEASON list for 2009, not a revision of that list. This is a REVIEW of the old list. I'm not doing new grades or lists until I start working on the 2010 book.
1) Jordan Walden, RHP, Grade B+: 5.25 ERA with 57/29 K/BB in 60 innings for Double-A Arkansas, on the DL since mid-July. Health the issue here.
2) Trevor Reckling, LHP, Grade B: 2.69 ERA with 101/68 K/BB in 124 innings, 105 hits for Arkansas. I rated him very highly and he's done well, but needs to bring the walk rate down to maintain his progress.
3) Hank Conger, C, Grade B: Hitting .299/.366/.425 for Arkansas. Hasn't really broken out but not a failure either.
4) Nick Adenhart, RHP, Grade B-: Rest in peace.
5) Will Smith, LHP, Grade B-: 3.58 ERA with 82/22 K/BB in 98 innings, 91 hits allowed for Class A Cedar Rapids. Holding his own but not spectacular.
6) Peter Bourjos, OF, Grade C+: Hitting .276/.351/.419 for Arkansas with 28 steals in 40 attempts. Cooled off after a hot start, killing lefties at .347/.400/.611 but just .252/.333/.355 against RHP.
7) Kevin Jepsen, RHP, Grade C+: 5.30 ERA with 30/12 K/BB in 36 innings in the majors, 45 hits allowed. Not great obviously, has the potential to improve.
8) Mark Trumbo, 1B, Grade C+: Hitting .286/.325/.443 for Arkansas. Another not great but not terrible season.
9) Anthony Ortega, RHP, Grade C+: Limited to just 19 innings in the minors and 13 in the majors due to injuries.
10) Clay Fuller, OF, Grade C+: Hitting .239/.346/.361 with 27 steals, 64 walks, 109 strikeouts in 410 at-bats for Rancho in the Cal League. Draws walks and steals bases, but the hoped-for breakthrough season is not occurring.
11) Sean O'Sullivan, RHP, Grade C+: 6.60 ERA with 26/15 K/BB in 44 major league innings, 55 hits. Threw a no-hitter for Salt Lake, needs more adjustment time in the Show.
12) Tyler Chatwood, RHP, Grade C+: 4.10 ERA with 97/59 K/BB in 105 innings for Class A Cedar Rapids, 90 hits. Doing OK, needs to lower walk rate.
13) Manuarys Correa, RHP, Grade C+: 4.54 ERA with 67/40 K/BB in 149 innings for Cedar Rapids, 159 hits. Eats innings, but K/IP is poor and he's quite hittable.
14) Alexander Torres, LHP, Grade C+: 10-3, 2.74 with a 124/63 K/BB in 121 innings for Rancho, just promoted to Double-A where he's 2-1, 3.60 with a 17/14 K/BB in 20 innings. Needs to improve command, but gets lots of ground balls and fans people.
15) Ryan Chaffee, RHP, Grade C+: 3.69 ERA with a 112/57 K/BB in 107 innings at Cedar Rapids, just 72 hits allowed, 2.61 GO/AO ratio. Very intriguing pitcher.
16) Luis Jimenez, 3B, Grade C+: Hasn't played this year. Not sure why.
17) Michael Kohn, RHP, Grade C+: 1.76 ERA with 96/24 K/BB in 61 innings combined between Cedar Rapids and Rancho, just 32 hits allowed. Relief arm to watch closely for 2010.
18) Ryan Mount, 2B, Grade C+: Hitting .226/.279/.318 for Arkansas. Doesn't draw walks, power hasn't translated well to Double-A, still gets hurt a lot.
19) Jose Perez, RHP, Grade C+: Has pitched 13 innings in the Arizona Rookie League, with a 20/3 K/BB.
20) Gabe Jacobo, 1B, Grade C+: Hitting .247/.313/.410 for Cedar Rapids. Unable to maintain momentum from last year.
Trevor Bell has had a good year in the minors but I had him as a Grade C type heading into the season and didn't put him in the book, given negative scouting reports about his velocity last year. The untimely death of Nick Adenhart was a huge blow, of course. Next year's list will likely look much different.
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Wood/Rodriguez?
Is it safe to assume that Wood and Rodriguez weren’t eligible for ranking? If they were, where would they appear on your list?
I believe that neither were eligible
Otherwise they would obviously be on the list. But I want to know what John thinks of them. Personally I think they will still be better major leaguers than any of these guys. I like Wood’s chances of becoming a regular more than Rodriguez’s still. Wood may be old news, but I still find him very intriguing as a prospect in my eyes.
The 2008 Rogelio Moret League Fantasy Baseball Champions!
by The Congo Hammer on Aug 25, 2009 5:23 PM EDT up reply actions
Rodriguez
I read a comp somewhere on minorleagueball where somebody thought Rodriguez was an Uggla-clone, but with more speed. That’s REALLY valuable if that’s the case.
That's also REALLY wrong
Uggla struck out much less as a minor leaguer and always had the ability to hit pitchers’ pitches. Sean Rodriguez has only succeeded when he’s gotten a mistake pitch or in environments (like SLC) where breaking balls aren’t as effective. They also had really different career paths.
by realitypolice on Aug 25, 2009 7:05 PM EDT up reply actions
I see Conger's had a lot more time behind the plate
How has his defense been?
I read somewhere recently
That it looks like he’ll probably be able to stick there.
jiminez
believe he had surgery for torn labrum from spring training injury
Will Smith
Are you suprised to see him remaining committed to baseball with his acting career continuing to flourish?
"When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him."
-Jonathan Swift
by King Billy Royal on Aug 25, 2009 2:15 PM EDT reply actions
Reckling
That was a pretty aggressive ranking that paid off, although, as I toured the list and took in the names, it was pretty logical.
How did Matt Sweeney miss this list before the season?
If you cut one of his legs off, he’s still got a better chance of becoming a valuable big-leaguer than Fuller does.
Sweeney
I gave him a Grade C due to the uncertainty regarding recovery from his 2008 ankle injury. In the book I wrote that I had him as a Grade C+ with some breakout potential if he was fully healthy.
by John Sickels on Aug 26, 2009 1:17 PM EDT up reply actions
Not that much here
Obviously some other players have stepped up and there are new players from the draft. But, while a few players on this list are interesting I am mostly struck by the fact that there is/was very little value on this list-I could certainly see the highest grade among this entire lot of players coming out at B-.
I'm a big...
Sean Rodriguez fan and I think he’s an excellent buy low candidate this offseason for somebody.
Jonathan Bachanov
Just curious what peoples’ thoughts are on Bachanov…his line looks incredible right now, though he’s just in Rookie ball (also, still only 20 years old). Just the fact that he’s back on the mound after 2 years seems a good sign, but wondered if anybody has got to see him and how he looks.
Bachanov
He’s also pitching in relief it appears.
This list will definitely look a lot different based purely on this year’s draft. I expect Trout, Grichuk, and maybe even Tyler Skaggs will get consideration.
re: Bachanov
Well, he’s pitching in relief to work him back in slowly. He’s been increasing his IP late. His latest yieled 5 K in 2.2 innings. From the small bit I’ve been able to find, the plan would still be to try him as a starter.
Maybe
But at this point he is in relief, so predicting how he’ll perform as a starter is problematic. It’s one thing to maintain your stuff and command one, maybe two times through the order. Also, I wouldn’t use the phrase only 20 for a guy in Rookie ball. That might actually be a year or two old for the competition by most standards, right? He could prove to be advanced enough to move quickly to a more appropriate league, but in ARL terms his age is probably at least a slight demerit. Fortunately he’s a pitcher, where ARL is less of an issue imo, at least as long as you’re not talking 25-year-olds in the NY Penn league.
by blackoutyears on Aug 27, 2009 3:04 PM EDT up reply actions
Fair enough...
I meant ‘only 20’ as in, his missed time came early enough for him to recover and he’s still young enough to be given proper development. I implied he’s little old for the level, just meant he still has plenty of time. But I agree with what you’re saying about him…it just looks like they’re slowly adding innings to his appearances in hopes he’ll be able to start. So we really won’t know how he holds up a couple times through an order til at least next year.
I was hoping somebody hear has got to see him throw and could tell me how everything looks.
Sure
And like I said, I don’t think ARL applies to pitchers in the same way it may hitters (unless they’re catchers perhaps).
I’d be impressed if anyone who frequented these forums was going to AZL games. Do complex leagues get a lot of spectators?
by blackoutyears on Aug 28, 2009 3:29 PM EDT up reply actions
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