Minor League Notes, May 10th, 2011

by John Sickels on May 10, 2025 12:00 PM EDT

Minor League Notes, May 10, 2025

**Arizona Diamondbacks outfield prospect A.J. Pollock missed all of 2010 with a fractured growth plate in his right elbow, but he's making up for lost time with a hot start for Double-A Mobile, hitting .311/.353/.426 in his first 29 games. He's stolen seven bases in 10 attempts, and is showing no ill effects from the missed development time. A first-rounder out of Notre Dame in 2009, Pollock has slightly above average tools across the board, though some scouts have seen him as a tweener. He runs well enough to play center field right now, though if he loses speed as he ages that won't be true, and his bat won't play quite as well at a corner. For now, Arizona should be happy with his progress from the injury.

**Another outfield prospect who missed all of 2010 is White Sox '09 first-rounder Jared Mitchell. Unlike Pollock, Mitchell is seriously struggling this year, hitting just .205/.250/.385 in 117 at-bats for High-A Winston-Salem, with a horrible 6/46 BB/K. He was always raw for a college guy and while he always struck out a lot, he also drew walks at LSU and in Low-A. That has completely left him this year. He's also stolen just three bases in six attempts, and while the word is he hasn't lost the speed he had before his horrible ankle injury last spring, it sure isn't showing up in the numbers. He's in a very deep slump currently, 6-for-40 (.150) in his last 10 games, with 20 strikeouts.

**Another slumping tools player is Minnesota Twins prospect Aaron Hicks, hitting .167 in his last 10 games, although he's at least drawn nine walks in that stretch. He's hitting .206/.322/.309 in 26 games for High-A Fort Myers. Hicks is playing great defensively and draws walks, but he simply hasn't shown the power that the Twins have felt was in his bat, and with two-plus seasons of A-ball under his belt, he needs to start showing more offense. If he'd attended college instead of signing in '08, he would NOT be a first-round candidate in the deep 2011 draft. It's too soon to conclude he won't improve and the tools are still here, but there is a lot of work to do.

**New York Mets outfield prospect Cesar Puello hit .292/.375/.359 last year with 45 stolen bases for Low-A Savannah at age 19, which was enough for him to rank third on the Baseball America Mets prospect list. I was a lot less enthusiastic, ranking him 12^th on my Mets list, and giving him just a Grade C+. In my Mets prospect review last October, I wrote "others may rank him higher due to speed and tools. Very young, fast, lack of power is a concern, many similar players have failed and something is making me cautious here." So far, my concerns look warranted: he's hitting .250/.295/.317 for High-A St. Lucie, with a poor 4/26 BB/K in 120 at-bats and just four steals in eight attempts.
While my worries about Puello look justified right now, in fairness I should point out that I've liked Mitchell and Hicks a lot, and they are playing poorly, too.

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Read More: Jared Mitchell (CF - CWS), A.J. Pollock (RF - ARI), Cesar Puello (RF - NYM), Aaron Hicks (OF - MIN), Minnesota Twins, Arizona Diamondbacks, Chicago White Sox, New York Mets

Comments

Not that I disagree that all three of these guys are projects but it should be noted that:

Puello turned 20 last month and has a ton of projection left. Plus, being an IFA, didn’t face the same quality of pitchers in his youth and lacked overall experience.

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by JD Sussman on May 10, 2025 12:18 PM EDT reply actions

Puello always seems to start off slow

There haven’t been any huge red flags. He just needs to get going.

by psiogen on May 10, 2025 1:59 PM EDT up reply actions

his ugly K/BB and SB/CS ratios aren't red flags?

"Fantasy, reality, science Fiction. Which is which? Who can tell?"

by feslenraster on May 11, 2025 6:57 AM EDT up reply actions

Not given his age and experience. Not yet.

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by JD Sussman on May 11, 2025 8:48 AM EDT up reply actions

Jared Mitchell's 6/49 BB/K and 37% K/PA is a red flag

Puello is striking out at something like a 19% rate, which is well within normal range and suggests (to me at least) that he’s slumping rather than completely lost and overmatched.

by psiogen on May 11, 2025 12:51 PM EDT up reply actions

You're pretty much talking around his point

Of course Puello’s K rate isn’t a problem in and of itself. No one said it was. The issue is that he’s struck out nearly 7 times for every walk he’s taken. That’s nearly as bad as Mitchell’s 8:1 mark.

He’s young enough and its early enough that’s its not a big deal yet, but its certainly at least a yellow flag (as opposed to a red one).

by nixa37 on May 11, 2025 2:08 PM EDT up reply actions

Well, yeah, I brought up the K% because I think it's important, not because someone said it wasn't

My point is that Puello’s bad BB/K is primarily because he hasn’t drawn enough walks, which is not as worrying to me as a BB/K ratio resulting, like Mitchell’s, from not drawing enough walks and striking out at a horrific rate.

by psiogen on May 11, 2025 3:21 PM EDT up reply actions

Jared Mitchell is a bit of a straw man though

No one is saying he doesn’t have huge red flags due to his strikeouts and discipline. Of course Puello’s numbers aren’t as bad because the strikeouts aren’t horrific, but the lack of walks are and combined with a K rate that still needs improvement its definitely something that bears watching.

by nixa37 on May 11, 2025 4:44 PM EDT up reply actions

I'm sure Jared would be offended by your characterization of him as a straw man :)

Obviously Puello needs to do better, I’m just saying that the nature of his current slump is pretty mundane and isn’t troubling enough to, say, make me start to question whether he’s the prospect we thought he was.

by psiogen on May 12, 2025 10:50 AM EDT up reply actions

Tough to be upbeat on Mitchell...

His plate discipline is really frightening. Like you said, I expected the strikeouts, but I also expected a decent amount of walks to go along with them. Is there any silver lining here? And I’m a little curious why they are hitting him third.

by polodude017 on May 10, 2025 12:23 PM EDT reply actions

I think so

I went through a similar injury and while I was back on the soccer field (albeit limping and about a quarter of the player I was pre-injury) in 10 months, I didn’t fully recover (not thinking about it during games/practice) for about 18 months. Mitchell is a spectacular athlete and I think he will get going late in the season and be a monster next year. injuries like that mess with your head for awhile and that can’t be discounted.

by thehitonecafe on May 10, 2025 1:12 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions

True.

And I could see how that would affect things like his defense, base stealing, etc. But I don’t know that that would play much into his horrible plate discipline. Hopefully he shakes off the rust and starts taking more pitches.

by polodude017 on May 11, 2025 8:15 AM EDT up reply actions

Having not seen him this season...

But, getting leverage on your swing from your lower half would definitely be affected, as would pushing off that leg during your swing. The twisting motion you make with your hips feels like hell on the leg because your putting fairly awkward pressure on the lower leg and your wearing cleats that are dug into the ground (try it at home in tennis shoes on a hardwood floor). Also, I’d imagine he is a little slower catching up to balls he’d normally make contact with just due to rust. Traumatic injuries like this take a toll mentally and physically. I think he will right the ship but I think he will lose a step of speed in the process and due to the nature of bone breaks will probably always be of less value in cold months than during the summer. 17 years later and I still feel terrible during extreme cold.

by thehitonecafe on May 11, 2025 11:35 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions

Even the likes of Mark Reynolds and Ryan Howard never struck out so often in the minors

88 K in 238 AB? Yikes.

by psiogen on May 10, 2025 1:55 PM EDT up reply actions

I am confounded by Hicks

The scouts rave about him, he has all the tools in the world, but he just cannot seem to bring it all together. I really thought getting him out of the MWL would be the kickstart he needed, but apparantly that is not the case. I have no idea what to think about him.

by guru4u on May 10, 2025 12:36 PM EDT reply actions

Hicks and Simmons?

2 way players that scouts thought should, in the case of Simmons, stay on the mound and, in Hick’s case, stay in the field. Yet, doing the opposite could find success (Simmons looks to be relatively legit at Low-A).

by apoxonbothyourhouses on May 10, 2025 12:40 PM EDT up reply actions

True

I wonder if Hicks continues to struggle throughout the year if the Twins decide to move him back to the mound.

by guru4u on May 10, 2025 4:20 PM EDT up reply actions

I never got the Hicks love

The guy can take a walk but he has no clue how to use his ‘tools’ in game situations.

Big Sexy

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by King Billy Royal on May 10, 2025 3:15 PM EDT up reply actions

Tolleson

When is Shawn Tolleson’s video game like numbers in A ball going to get some play here. He is averaging amost 2.5 strikeouts an inning.

by RaptorstoTopes on May 10, 2025 5:37 PM EDT reply actions

Mitchell

Saw him get the platinum sombrero the other day - Sunday. Struck out 5 times (4 swinging, 1 looking) in 8 innings. I’ve seen close to (or maybe over) 1000 professional games in my life and I don’t ever recall a platinum sombrero in a regulation game.

He was swinging the whole time until his last AB. Everything was off-speed and mostly sliders and curves that were thrown for strikes. By the 5th AB he was holding his bat, but the pitches were being called strikes anyway. He looks lost at the plate - he just can’t hit the pitch even in the strikezone. No one on that team other than Jose Martinez is hitting the ball and sometimes it seems contagious - but Mitchell will swing at the same pitch every time - gotta think it’s his timing.

I don’t see his future in CF either - again the injury could have some play in this - but he doesn’t have speed or coverage of the field you’d want in a CF. His routes are sometimes odd.

I’ve been spoiled seeing a Joe McEwing managed team the last few years. This entire team is pretty lackadaisical in the field and makes a lot of errors that don’t get recorded (like bobbling a double play ball and only getting 1 out instead of 2). Mitchell is suffering along with the entire team, but his strikeouts are all on him. At this point he’s very disappointing - he’s working hard and one of the first guys out on the field to warmup (they don’t let us watch batting practice anymore so…) but still disappointing.

by KSM on May 11, 2025 1:47 PM EDT reply actions

as for the SB

This is not a running team - it comes from the manager. I’m not sure Mitchell has lost his speed as much as this manager doesn’t run. Course you have to get on base to steal it (OBP .250). The whole team only has 12 SB and 7 are from Dan Wagner.

by KSM on May 11, 2025 1:52 PM EDT up reply actions

excellent

excellent observations. Sounds like a combination of things at work here….lost at the plate, his outfield range was always good before, so perhaps there really is a loss of running speed (this shows up in a poor range factor in CF) from the injury, maybe the managing/coaching isn’t too hot…

by John Sickels on May 11, 2025 2:56 PM EDT up reply actions