NorthSideSox72

QUOTE (DirtySox @ Jul 28, 2014 -> 04:58 PM) From BA's hot sheet chat: Can't say I disagree really. I somewhat disagree. I still don't see Wilkins as more than a 15-20 prospect in the Sox system right now, give or take, but to completely dismiss him as having one tool and making 25 in AAA seem unusually old is a bit ridiculous. His hit tool and power are both pretty real, though he's stopped drawing walks which is an issue. And 25 in AAA isn't young, but it isn't exactly old either.

QUOTE (newguy @ Jul 29, 2014 -> 09:03 AM) Hello everybody. I am Brad's father. I will try to keep the emotion out of the discussion since I am obviously biased. I am only responding to this to provide some additional information. I certainly appreciate all of your positive comments & I hope Brad continues to improve & perform. Regarding the "velocity" concern. I was actually very happy to hear about all the movement of his offspeed pitches. I wonder if the person who wrote that was at the game? Anyway, regardling velocity, Brad typically sits around the 90-91 range, but on a few occasions this year, both at Great Falls & Kannapolis, he has been able to top out at 94. As you stated, more velocity will come as he continues to re-learn how to pitch. He hasn't pitched since his junior year of high school in 2009 & has only been a "pitcher" for about a year now. It was about this time last season at Great Falls that he actually got to pitch in games. Hope that info helps. Welcome to the forum! We've had a number of parents/siblings/friends/girlfriends of prospects post back here, and we always welcome it. It is also a nice reminder to look beyond the numbers. I've seen reports in the velocity range you mention, and certainly as a guy new to pitching, it will take some time for Brad to build up the specific strength needed for it. The movement is key, because if he can add some velocity, that could play very well. The Sox organization has a history of these conversions, and in one semi-recent case (Sergio Santos) the player even reached the majors. So we're always curious to hear more about them. I saw he struck out the side in the ninth last night. Best of luck to your son! And in a totally shameless plug, you can check out the FutureSox blog (www.futuresox.com), and/or our twitter (@FutureSox) or Facebook for updates. We do daily recaps and a bunch of other stuff.

QUOTE (Feeky Magee @ Jul 28, 2014 -> 10:17 PM) Braulio "A Better Prospect Than Rangel Ravelo According To MLB.com" Ortiz walked 4 in 2 innings tonight, gave up 3 hits and a run with 2 strikeouts and lowered his Birmingham ERA to 11.25. QUOTE (SoxPride18 @ Jul 28, 2014 -> 10:19 PM) How the heck did he earn a promotion to AA? He wasn't that good with the Dash either. Ortiz has some nasty stuff, just hasn't translated it to results. His fastball is solidly mid-90's with nice movement, and his slider flashes plus (though was, at last report, very inconsistent). His control and repeating delivery need serious work. QUOTE (ChiSoxJon @ Jul 28, 2014 -> 11:01 PM) Final Kanny Game Live report: -Thomore and Engel continue to cover a ton of ground in the OF, make everything look easy -Michalczewski, a HS SS (and WR in football) looks solid at third defensively but if he develops more at a higher level I'd like to see him move to first, actually no...we need a 3B - Many questioned Austin's D on draft day, but he looked solid this series, Dowdy has been a mess defensively - Brennan got lit up and had control issues early but settled down, has a nice slider or curve, couldn't really tell, but has a FB that reaches 91 at most - Christian Stringer is a very athletic and acrobatic and instintive defender, really impressed me -Hayes has some big time power, been killing the ball this weekend after a mini slump, when he's not hitting bombs he's always hitting smoked linedrives, good to see, could add some more muscle -Brennan looked comfortable on the mound which impressed me, got outta a few jams -Jacob Morris made his second monster throw of the series, has an absolute cannon, relatively accurate as well -Ryan Leonards has speed and plays quality D, I know he's 23 but if he doesn't make major hitting improvements by Sept., I'd love to see him repeat, has talent Any questions on any players or any reports needed from Kanny, please ask, loaded with information, even Philly prospects I saw too, had a few that impressed Thanks for all that! Austin looked pretty lost defensively in that national TV game they had, which I watched. Good to hear he's putting that together now. Dowdy is usually regarding as a strong defensive catcher, so his struggles are a little surprising. Brennan is in recovery mode. His fastball was a 92-95 sinker when drafted, but his strength is probably gone and he needs to build it back up. Honestly, if he can just do OK at Kanny this year, then maybe pitch in the fall instructs, that's a win. I've liked Stringer since last year, wrote him into the Next Wave article this past offseason. Seemed like a weird choice when they gave Shryock the job in Kanny and left Stringer in extended, but that's been righted now and Stringer has some interesting tools.

Recap posted.

Every year the Sox find new and creative ways to abuse the minor league DL's. I mean, Cales was on BHAM's DL, then off to pitch a couple games, then on again, then off to go to AAA, then pitched, then on again to make room for Beck. They're just outright trolling at this point, daring some other team to file a grievance. Fortunately, no team is going to do that, unless the DL is messing with a Rule V or 40 man situation or something that impacts another team. No one cares about David Cales.

If you want a comprehensive read on the catching prospects currently in the system (minus Brett Austin who was added after I wrote this), give this post a read on FutureSox. By way of updates, since that was written, Brett Austin was drafted in the 4th round but is likely at least a couple years away. Jose Barraza has apparently started figuring it out, but he's even further off.

QUOTE (ChiSoxJon @ Jul 28, 2014 -> 02:24 PM) Gonna see Kanny tonight live Looking forward to any reports!

QUOTE (SoxPride18 @ Jul 28, 2014 -> 01:23 PM) FutureSox.com ‏@FutureSox 2m Roster move: OF Michael Danner, 34th rd pick this year, promoted from AZL to @Intimidators Interesting move. I wonder why Danner over Michael Suiter. Suiter has been killing the ball in Arizona Danner is about to turn 23, and he's a bench guy in AZL, so I wouldn't read too much into this. Probably just Kanny needs a 4th OF or a temporary injury fill-in.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 28, 2014 -> 01:03 PM) Honestly, in terms of the numbers, I see a lot of similarities to Conor. I've seen nothing from Ravelo to say that he is going to have 20 homer power. He hasn't even hit 10 in one season yet. Even in the minors, Butler was putting up some serious power numbers. Home runs in the minors doesn't necessarily dictate home runs in the majors. Hell, look at Jim Thome. Or Keon Barnum for that matter. I think there is real potential there for much bigger HR totals from Ravelo. You seem to think that Barnum has tons of power ceiling room (which he does), but that Ravelo doesn't have that (but he also does). Remember too, even at draft time, there were scouting reports that specifically talked about Ravelo having significant potential for future power.

Also, this is a good time to link again to Brian's in-person report on Beck, including video, from May.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Jul 28, 2014 -> 12:38 PM) Maybe he'll pull a Rondon and improve after promotion. That does sometimes happen, and usually that is an indicator they were "working on something" at the lower level.

QUOTE (Feeky Magee @ Jul 28, 2014 -> 11:54 AM) Have you heard anything about his anaemic strikeout rate? I know there's a running theory that it's because he's emphasising use of the fastball, but have you heard anything from the team/scouts about it? One of our writers actually witnessed this back in May. Beck was using his fastball almost exclusively in that start. We don't know the exact reason WHY he was doing that, but he was. And whether or not that has been the issue all along, we don't know either. Though it is hard to believe he's been doing that all year. I have significant concerns about the lack of K's, but I am also pretty sure you have to take some of the stats with a grain of salt.

There isn't anyone at W-S who "has" to move up, though there are a couple guys who could (Bucciferro most likely). So this is not a move to make room in B-Ham (though it is worth noting, Bassitt was just added back to B-Ham). This is because they think Beck is ready for AAA challenges.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jul 28, 2014 -> 10:47 AM) Did you guys take your kids with you? No, this was an anniversary trip, the kids were with my wife's parents. But I can tell you there would be plenty for kids to do. The Milwaukee Art Museum (which is pretty cool by the way), has a bunch of kid-focused exhibits, and does little classes during the day right in the galleries that any kid can just jump into. They do drawing and painting and stuff. And next door to the MAM is a Discovery museum that is heavily kid-focused, lots of interactive exhibits, etc. So it would work well with kids too.

So this will sound odd, but, I was really impressed with Milwaukee. It's really like a mini-Chicago. Stayed in a fairly new boutique hotel called the Iron Horse, which was fantastic. Ate at a bunch of very good restaurants, particularly recommend The Noble. Museums were fun, and the whole 3rd ward area has a lot going on. I had no idea there was such a strong young urban scene there, but there is. We didn't get to do a lot, ran out of time, but I highly recommend it for a quick weekend trip. You can even take the Amtrak right there, faster than you could drive it, and the town is surprisingly walkable.

Danks is, this year, a #4 starter. But people seem to be forgetting that he was really more of a #3 before the injury, and this is his recovery year. No one should have expected he'd be 100% his usual self this season. He's still building up strength. So really what you are trading is a guy who is a #4 now, but very likely could be a #3 in the remaining two years of his contract. And at that level, his salary is more or less in line with value. Keeping that in mind, if the Sox are willing to trade him and maybe send some money (say $5M a year for each remaining, so $10M total), then you are giving another team significant differential value. Will that get you an elite prospect? No, but it could very likely give you a couple or three prospects who might turn into something. The team who gets Danks gets a cost-controlled starter for 2.5 seasons who, if healthy next year gives you mid-rotation quality. There's value there, but the Sox are probably considering whether it is better to wait and trade him this offseason or even next year at the deadline, when he's likely to be performing better.

QUOTE (thxfrthmmrs @ Jul 28, 2014 -> 09:23 AM) Any publication that has Rodon and Adolfo arriving in the same year shouldn't be taken seriously. And since it's an MLB piece, it shouldn't be taken seriously to be begin with. It's funny, Jim Callis was really good for Baseball America. And he knows a ton. But I think what happens is, MLB is heavily influenced by input from the clubs themselves. So even with Callis there, you still get a lot of noise. So the list has value, but not in the way you may think - it may tell you how the team is looking at certain players.

QUOTE (Dunt @ Jul 28, 2014 -> 09:48 AM) Bye bye Johnny Danks Eh?

Ravelo is a serious head-scratcher. On the flip side, so is Adam Lopez. During the offseason, he didn't make anyone else's Top 20 or 25 or 30 even. A couple of us FS voters had him getting a couple low-end votes on a T30, but then we heard about the knee surgery. Now, he's missed most of the year, was already old for level, and in addition to the knee is now having "elbow problems". And he's #16? WTF?

Regions Park, the new (as of last year) Birmingham ballpark, is maybe a slight hitters' park at most. Out of 10 Southern League parks, Regions is 4th in run-produced ballpark factor (1.085 multiplier). That's overall. For home runs specifically, it is actually LESS hitter-friendly than the average park, at a HR multiplier of 0.827. So I would say there really isn't going to be any park-related inflation of HR totals worth noting, and in fact it may be the opposite. The reason it probably SEEMS so hitter-friendly to JPN is that the old park was so VERY pitcher-friendly. From 2010-2012, the park run factor (multiplier) was 0.835, and the home run factor was very, very low at 0.513 (that is a dramatic number). Long story short, Birmingham went from an extreme pitcher-friendly park to a middle-of-the-road park. I would not be concerned about that park doing any measurable inflation versus other teams/parks in the league. All the data is here.

Source says Chris Beck is headed for Charlotte.

QUOTE (Leonard Zelig @ Jul 25, 2014 -> 02:16 PM) Farmteam is talking about St. Louis. Ah yes. Wrong brewery. Still something to do in either place though, haha.

QUOTE (farmteam @ Jul 24, 2014 -> 08:50 AM) The history museum in Forest Park is pretty neat. A-B brewery tour is fun too. Delmar in U-City is awesome on summer weekend nights. Street music, all that stuff. Some great bbq in little holes-in-the-wall just off the main drag, too. At least there was, I haven't been there in nearly a decade. QUOTE (SnB @ Jul 24, 2014 -> 09:01 AM) http://www.lakefrontbrewery.com/ Far and away the best brewery tour I've been on. Thanks on both, definitely a brew tour will be on tap.

QUOTE (danman31 @ Jul 25, 2014 -> 02:14 AM) Anybody catch that Jeffry Santos was the PTBNL in the Doran trade? He's played 8 games in the Appy League affiliate for Houston and I just noticed that lol. I tweeted it over FS a while back. Or RT'd some Houston writer, I think.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jul 24, 2014 -> 08:58 PM) Was Ross Gload a contributor? I'm sure his path was even more circuitous. QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jul 24, 2014 -> 09:02 PM) Gload played in the major leagues as a 24 year old. QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jul 24, 2014 -> 09:03 PM) He also didn't have Adam Dunn, Jose Abreu and Paul Konerko blocking him. Gload was blocked by the likes of Frank Thomas, Paul Konerko and Mark Grace. Not to say Gload would have been a star otherwise of course, but it is worth noting.