Minor League Prospect Notes, May 29, 2012

by John Sickels on May 29, 2025 5:00 PM EDT

March 20, 2012; Scottsdale, AZ, USA; Arizona Diamondbacks starting pitcher Trevor Bauer (61) delivers a pitch during the first inning against the San Francisco Giants at Salt River Fields. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-US PRESSWIRE

Minor League Prospect Notes, May 29, 2025

**I haven't talked much about Arizona Diamondbacks phenom Trevor Bauer lately, although I'm getting a lot of questions about him after his promotion to Triple-A Reno. Thus far he's made three starts for the Aces, with a 24/10 K/BB in 19 innings and just 11 hits allowed. Overall, he's fanned 84 in 67 innings this year between Reno and Double-A Mobile, allowing a mere 44 hits with a .186 average against. His walk rate is high (36 free passes) and there's some concern that he could use better command of his otherwise outstanding curveball, but I think Bauer's stuff is just too good for minor league hitters, and that they won't be able to expose any weaknesses. He remains a Grade A prospect for me.

**The other guy at the forefront of pitching prospectdom generating plenty of questions is Baltimore Orioles prospect Dylan Bundy, who was promoted to High-A last week after making Low-A hitters look like Little Leaguers. He threw five innings in his first start for Frederick, looking human by giving up six hits and two runs, but fanning six and walking nobody. This is obviously a more appropriate level of completion for him. Zack Greinke went from high school to the majors in two years, and I think Bundy is fully capable of replicating that, given his stuff/command combination.

**The Chicago White Sox activated right-hander Jeff Soptic from extended spring training and assigned him to Low-A Kannapolis in the South Atlantic League. He was a third-round pick last June from Johnson County Community College in Kansas, and presents an intimidating 6-6, 220 on the mound. He also has an intimidating fastball clocked as high as 100 MPH as an amateur and in the mid-90s last summer. Development of his erratic slider and changeup will determine if he starts or relieves at higher levels.

**A bat to watch: Colorado Rockies catching prospect Will Swanner, currently hitting a robust .330/.398/.624 with five homers, 15 doubles, 10 walks, and 28 strikeouts in 124 plate appearances for Low-A Asheville in the Sally League. His home/road splits are even, and he's made substantial progress improving his strike zone judgment and contact ability, cutting his strikeout rate by more than half compared to 2010 and 2011.

A 15^th-round pick in 2010 from high school in Carlsbad, California, Swanner's offensive potential is highly intriguing, but he is still quite rough behind the plate, throwing out just 12% of runners this year and 14% in his career despite a strong throwing arm, thanks to a slow release.

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Read More: Zack Greinke (P - MIL), Trevor Bauer (P - ARI), Dylan Bundy (P - BAL), Baltimore Orioles, Colorado Rockies, Arizona Diamondbacks, Chicago White Sox

Comments

John

You notice one of the guys you root for (Michael Fiers) is taking Estrada’s spot in MIL’s rotation?

by RedHopeful on May 29, 2025 5:06 PM EDT reply actions

didn't see that, but I like it.

by John Sickels on May 29, 2025 5:32 PM EDT up reply actions

Bauer's pitching in the PCL though

I’d be shocked(thrilled) if he kept putting up numbers like this. It’s basically like pitching on the moon.

by txzona on May 29, 2025 5:33 PM EDT reply actions

second guessing myself in whether I think the move to AAA really did anything for Bauer

I don’t think minor league hitters can really touch him. The only person that’s going to beat Bauer right now is Bauer. I guess it’s just to challenge his approach regarding fly balls and have him face a little more adversity with the environment, though I doubt it’s going to change his performance much.

by CaptainCanuck on May 29, 2025 7:21 PM EDT reply actions

Yep

It’s what is in between the ears that needs to most work. Just really needs to be focused correctly and throughout a game.

by RedHopeful on May 29, 2025 9:58 PM EDT up reply actions

Lots of that second guessing about Bauer

Maybe, just maybe Bauer knows what he is doing. I learned to believe after watching him mow down some pretty good PAC10 hitters week in and week out. So far those band box, lauching pads of the PCL don’t seem to have proved conventional baseball wisdom correct. Bauer is still pitching up in the zone and his K and BB rate have stayed the same. Only thing that seems to have changed is that opposing teams BAs have sunk even further. Kind of remarkable. And yet everyone knows, “you have to keep the ball down in the zone”. ESPECIALLY in those hitters parks like the PCL. So now it’s minor league hitters that are the problem. Not just the AA level. If Bauer is successful at the Major League level, will we continue to be apologists for “conventional baseball wisdom”. Or will we just look for some other scapegoat to explain away his success. Oh, there is one other thing that has changed, I get to watch him on the web. A real treat for us devout Bruin fans that are following him through the minor leagues.

by bruin1111 on May 30, 2025 2:51 AM EDT up reply actions

You're beating a strawman

No one is saying Bauer doesn’t have a clue as to what he has to do to be successful. All I simply said was that I wasn’t sure if the change in ball parks will really do much since minor leaguers haven’t been able to touch him to begin with, and that he’s the only one stopping himself right now with all the walks.

Besides, you’re being a bit of a Bauer apologist, don’t you think? Bauer isn’t an all knowing being. There are going to be plenty of times where he’s going to need to adjust because the approach he’s using just isn’t working. If he really was then he wouldn’t be struggling so much getting deeper into ball games, and no matter how many times he says the walks and command woes aren’t an issue, they are. You can’t be fully successful when you need 100 pitches to get through 5 innings, or when you’re wasting pitches by giving batters a free opportunity to first base; base runners are not a good thing, especially when the result of that at bat was all on you.

When you challenge conventional wisdom, you’re going to be met with skepticism. But that doesn’t mean people are telling you you’re completely wrong or you don’t know what you’re doing, or that people hate you because they point out your flaws. If he wants to continue with his own approach and not what is expected of every other pitcher, then fine, but he’s going to need to show sustained success doing it. And not at college or at the minor league level. Bauer’s not going to get challenged by hitters until he’s in the majors, and he’s in AAA right now all because at that level, he can tinker all he wants without consequence.

Also, in a way I’m actually glad Bauer’s walking batters right now. The biggest thing holding him back right now isn’t really overall command (though it’s not really great either), but more specifically, command of his fastball. It’d be too easy for him to simply use the pitch less to throw more strikes, he’s got enough of a repertoire to do that, but that won’t help him prepare and get better for the big leagues, which is the sole reason he’s in the minors right now. He needs to throw the fastball more at this moment, because presumably, the more he uses it, the more command of it he’ll harness. He won’t get the desired results doing so, but it’ll be better for him in the long run. The results he gets now don’t matter on their own.

I think Bauer will be just fine, but he does have his flaws, and highlighting them is essential for his success in Arizona as it tells him what he needs to improve on. He needs to approach AAA hitters with his worst weapons, because being challenged is the best way for him to improve.

by CaptainCanuck on May 30, 2025 4:52 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions

ETA?

by Arlo Brunsberg's Swing on May 29, 2025 9:01 PM EDT reply actions

John do you think Swanner gets moved to 3B or RF at some point?

"Yankee hurler Lefty Gomez once faced him[Jimmie Foxx] in a key situation at Fenway. Gomez shook off the first sign from catcher Bill Dickey. He shook off the second sign and the third. Finally Dickey called time and strode purposefully to the mound. "I've gone through every pitch you have! What do you want to throw to him?" the Hall of Fame receiver demanded. "If you want to know the truth, Bill," said Gomez. "I was kind of hopin' he'd get bored and go home."

by TomCat009 on May 29, 2025 9:38 PM EDT reply actions

With a low teen % of runners caught it will happen if that doesn’t improve. I’m sure they’ll give him every chance to stick, since he has the arm, and a good bat for the position. He just needs to focus on his pop times.

by Cormican on May 30, 2025 11:46 AM EDT up reply actions