Minor League Musings for July 10th, 2017

The normal Gameday thread will be posted later this afternoon. Right now I just want to share some random musings. These aren’t intended to be particularly analytical; these are opinions, and not necessarily well-supported ones. Basically I want to do some old-fashioned blogging and this may become a daily feature if you guys like it.

****The Futures Game was disappointing this year for me, entirely due to the way it was presented by MLB Network. The constant interviews interrupted the flow of the game and kept the focus off of some very important players.

If elected dictator, I would drop the sideline interviews and have Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo lead the discussion, with an experienced play-by-play person who knows when to shut the hell up and let the experts talk.

****If elected dictator, I will also drop Harold Reynolds from Draft Day coverage and have Callis, Mayo, John Manuel of Baseball America, and Dave Rawnsley of Perfect Game doing the commentary.

****He’s not a top prospect by any means but if you are looking for someone to potentially come out of nowhere and be a good middle reliever, keep track of right-hander Tristan Archer in the Brewers system. He could be a useful Chase Whitley-like arm.

****He gets a lot of attention in the Gameday threads, but I very very much believe in Tampa Bay Rays outfield prospect Jesus Sanchez.

****Detroit Tigers outfield prospect Christin Stewart needs more attention and if anyone has a chance to see him in person soon, a detailed report would be very interesting. The surface slash looks good enough (.268/.346/.533) but he has a sharp home/road split (.306/.392/.667 at Erie, .232/.301/.406 on the road). There’s also an unusual reverse platoon split: he’s solid against right-handers at .257/.346/.500 but is murdering lefties at .295/.347/.614.

****A reader recently pointed out that I compared Trey Mancini to Paul Goldschmidt back when Mancini was drafted in 2013. I also backed off that when Mancini had some early adjustment issues. I’ll write up something that comp later this week.