joejoedairy Posted January 6, 2009 Share Posted January 6, 2009 Cole Tyler Flowers Born: 1/24/86 6'4" 245 lbs Position: Catcher Bats: R Throws: R Drafted in 33rd round(1007th overall) in the 2005 amateur draft by the Atlanta Braves. Also drafted by Braves in 04 in 27th round but didnt sign Acquired by the White Sox from the Braves along with 3 other prospects for Javy Vazquez and Boone Logan Stats 2008 Winter Ball Played for Mesa Solar Sox of the Arizona Fall League AVG G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB SO SB CS OBP SLG OPS .387 20 75 25 29 4 2 12 23 73 10 22 0 0 .460 .973 1.433 2008 Season Played in High A for the Myrtle Beach Pelicans of the Carolina League AVG G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB SO SB CS OBP SLG OPS .288 122 413 72 119 32 1 17 88 204 98 102 8 7 .427 .494 .921 2007 Season Played in Low A for Rome of the South Atlantic League AVG G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB SO SB CS OBP SLG OPS .298 106 389 65 116 34 2 12 70 190 49 74 3 4 .378 .488 .866 2006 Season Played in Rookie ball for Danville of the Appalachian League G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO HBP IBB SH SF DP AVG OBP SLG OPS 34 129 24 36 9 0 5 16 0 0 16 30 4 0 0 1 1 .279 .373 .465 838 Also plays first base but spent most of last season as the catcher. Scouts aren't sure if he'll be good enough defensively to play catcher in the big leagues but his big bat may make up for some defensive problems Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joejoedairy Posted February 3, 2009 Author Share Posted February 3, 2009 (edited) Keith Laws scouting report #51 overall Tyler Flowers C Chicago White Sox TOP '08 LEVEL: A (Myrtle Beach) UR 23 Flowers wasn't on anyone's radar screen after a decent offensive year in Rome last year at age 21, since he wasn't young for the Sally League and will never be known for his defense behind the plate. He moved up to the Carolina League this year and hit .288/.427/.494 in a brutal hitter's park in Myrtle Beach, then obliterated Arizona Fall League pitching with a .387/.460/.973 line in 87 plate appearances. If you hit like Flowers hit in front of all of the scouts who go to see the AFL, you're going to get noticed, and Flowers' performance there helped him land in a trade out of Brian McCann's shadow to the White Sox, who did not have a catcher of the future in their organization. Flowers is, as you might imagine from the stat lines, a thick, strong kid with a good eye at the plate and 55-60 raw power; it's a high-effort swing and he starts with his hands so far back that he has to commit early, so he's going to swing and miss a fair amount in the big leagues. Behind the plate, he's an excellent hitter; he's playable back there but fringe-average is probably his defensive ceiling. As long as he can stay at the position and the White Sox can live with the cost of his glove, his bat is going to be star-caliber because of the low standard at that spot around the majors; otherwise, his bat will play at first base or DH, but he'll be an average overall player or slightly worse. Baseball America has him as #99 on their top prospects of 2009 Baseball prospectus has him as the sox number 5 prospect and gave him 3 stars. John Sickels has him as the sox number 3 prospect and gave him a grade of B. He wasnt with the sox yet when baseball america did their top 10. Edited February 25, 2009 by joejoedairy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scenario Posted February 3, 2009 Share Posted February 3, 2009 (edited) QUOTE (joejoedairy @ Feb 2, 2009 -> 11:21 PM) Keith Laws scouting report #51 overall Tyler Flowers C Chicago White Sox TOP '08 LEVEL: A (Myrtle Beach) UR 23 Flowers wasn't on anyone's radar screen after a decent offensive year in Rome last year at age 21, since he wasn't young for the Sally League and will never be known for his defense behind the plate. The comment about "will never be known for his defense behind the plate" is exactly the kind of B.S. that drives me crazy about Law. This was Flower's first full season behind the plate in the minors. And he made significant improvement since the beginning of the year. But Law, in his typical fashion, probably saw Flowers play once and decided he would never be any good behind the plate. And regarding his "not young for his league" comment. Law is either ignorant of the league average age in the minors or choses to ignore it. Because in 2007, when Flowers was 21, the league average age was... 21. And in 2008, of the 16 position players who played 10 or more games for Myrtle Beach, only 3 were younger than Flowers. So... Mr. Law... who are you crappin'? Edited February 6, 2009 by scenario Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NorthSideSox72 Posted February 6, 2009 Share Posted February 6, 2009 Flowers' real first name is Cole? Kind of weird, since he'll be in camp with another catching prospect, Cole Armstrong. So who wins the battle between an Armstrong and a Flowers? Doesn't sound good for Flowers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyyle23 Posted February 6, 2009 Share Posted February 6, 2009 am i reading that right? He hit 12 homeruns in 75 atbats? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scenario Posted February 6, 2009 Share Posted February 6, 2009 (edited) QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Feb 6, 2009 -> 08:06 AM) Flowers' real first name is Cole? Kind of weird, since he'll be in camp with another catching prospect, Cole Armstrong. And they both went to Chipola College... the Cole Connection. QUOTE (kyyle23 @ Feb 6, 2009 -> 09:14 AM) am i reading that right? He hit 12 homeruns in 75 atbats? Yep. Good for a .973 SLG in the AFL this year. Flower power. Edited February 6, 2009 by scenario Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JorgeFabregas Posted February 6, 2009 Share Posted February 6, 2009 When you were young you were the king of Tyler Flowers... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joejoedairy Posted February 26, 2009 Author Share Posted February 26, 2009 Flower Sox career started off.... poorly. 0-2 with 2 ks and a couple passed balls behind the plate. Hey its the first game of spring training though so really who cares? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joejoedairy Posted April 13, 2009 Author Share Posted April 13, 2009 Tyler was assigned to AA Birmingham for the beginning of the 2009 season. He is part of a lineup with other big time prospects Beckham, Viciedo, Allen and Shelby. It is a very exciting team. After the first week (3 games played for Tyler) Flowers is 5-12 with 2 walks (500 obp) with a homer a stolen base. OPS is 1250. Behind the plate, teams have been testing him alot since hes relatively new to catching. He did throw out one guy. Pretty good start for FLowers and the Barons Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joejoedairy Posted April 15, 2009 Author Share Posted April 15, 2009 Baseball Cube page Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DukeNukeEm Posted April 19, 2009 Share Posted April 19, 2009 When you were young you were the king of Tyler Flowers... hahahaha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danman31 Posted April 19, 2009 Share Posted April 19, 2009 QUOTE (scenario @ Feb 3, 2009 -> 01:00 AM) And regarding his "not young for his league" comment. Law is either ignorant of the league average age in the minors or choses to ignore it. Because in 2007, when Flowers was 21, the league average age was... 21. And in 2008, of the 16 position players who played 10 or more games for Myrtle Beach, only 3 were younger than Flowers. So... Mr. Law... who are you crappin'? 21 wasn't young for the league. It's average age, like you said. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoxFan1 Posted May 18, 2009 Share Posted May 18, 2009 Flowers has drawn an astounding 27 walks in 31 games. .255 AVG .431 OBP .461 SLG .892 OPS 5 HR 19 RBI 4 2B 1 3B 24 R 33 K 27 BB 1 SB/0 CS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joejoedairy Posted May 18, 2009 Author Share Posted May 18, 2009 QUOTE (SoxFan1 @ May 17, 2009 -> 11:07 PM) Flowers has drawn an astounding 27 walks in 31 games. .255 AVG .431 OBP .461 SLG .892 OPS 5 HR 19 RBI 4 2B 1 3B 24 R 33 K 27 BB 1 SB/0 CS Ah, I just came to update his stats. Thanks for the help soxfan1 he hit his 5th homer today in the second game of a double header sweep for the barons pushing their record to 26-9. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marky Mark Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 Anyone know how Flowers has been defensively? Does he seem to be improving at all? How about game calling? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JPN366 Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 QUOTE (Markbilliards @ Jun 2, 2009 -> 11:35 AM) Anyone know how Flowers has been defensively? Does he seem to be improving at all? How about game calling? The thing I've noticed is his footwork. I think that is his biggest issue that he needs to work on. His arm is fine, I just think he is slow popping up and moving his feet when he throws. His game calling is fine as well, nothing of concern to me. I wouldn't say he's a defensive stud, but I haven't seen anything that leads me to believe that he's not at least above average, with room for improvement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marky Mark Posted June 2, 2009 Share Posted June 2, 2009 That's good to hear. Coming into the organization it had sounded like he was pretty awful, yet didn't have a lot of professional catching experience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joejoedairy Posted June 9, 2009 Author Share Posted June 9, 2009 AVG G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB SO SB CS OBP SLG OPS 280 48 157 36 44 10 1 7 27 77 40 46 1 0 .442 .490 .932 getting on base at a rediculous rate hitting 380 with a 1203 ops against lefties. possible platoon for aj next season? dont want to stunt his development but that could be a good way for him to break into the bigs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maggsmaggs Posted June 9, 2009 Share Posted June 9, 2009 QUOTE (joejoedairy @ Jun 8, 2009 -> 08:57 PM) AVG G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB SO SB CS OBP SLG OPS 280 48 157 36 44 10 1 7 27 77 40 46 1 0 .442 .490 .932 getting on base at a rediculous rate hitting 380 with a 1203 ops against lefties. possible platoon for aj next season? dont want to stunt his development but that could be a good way for him to break into the bigs I actually think that might be the best option. Against righties this year, AJ has got a .856 OPS. Against lefties, Flowers has, as you mentioned, a 1.203 OPS. That position immediately becomes a great offensive position for the Sox. It would also help him know the Sox pitchers and gives him one year before he takes over full time. It also gets his major league experience and coaches to help him defensively. The downside, which would probably preclude this from happening: Ramon Castro and the D. Making him AJ's platoon makes the Castro trade pointless and gives us two bad defensive catchers. However, I think it is probably the best for the Sox. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fathom Posted June 9, 2009 Share Posted June 9, 2009 Castro's a FA after this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maggsmaggs Posted June 9, 2009 Share Posted June 9, 2009 QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 8, 2009 -> 09:09 PM) Castro's a FA after this year. Then maybe it will happen, still leaves the team pretty bad defensively at that position, but I guess we've been this way for awhile so mind as well just make it an offensive position. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marky Mark Posted June 9, 2009 Share Posted June 9, 2009 In terms of his offense growth, wouldn't that worry you guys to have him getting only part time at bats? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NorthSideSox72 Posted June 10, 2009 Share Posted June 10, 2009 QUOTE (Markbilliards @ Jun 9, 2009 -> 02:33 PM) In terms of his offense growth, wouldn't that worry you guys to have him getting only part time at bats? Yes, and I think its a bad idea, but even more so on defense than offense. I'd rather see someone like Castro or Lucy back up AJ in 2010 with Flowers getting another full time year under his belt in Charlotte, then get called up during 2010 sometime, to be the starter in 2011. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joejoedairy Posted June 16, 2009 Author Share Posted June 16, 2009 Our resident Minor Leauge expert (JPN) thinks Flowers is ready for the bigs right now. I doubt he'll be up this season and their are still questions about his defense since he's only been playing catcher for a short period of time but its still encouraging. Futuresox Article Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joejoedairy Posted June 22, 2009 Author Share Posted June 22, 2009 Stats as of june 21 G 58 AB 194 R 43 H 54 2B 13 3B 2 HR 10 RBI 38 SB 1/1 BB 44 K 62 AVG .278 OBP .426 SLG .521 OPS .946 Defensively Errors 2 Field % .995 Opposing base runners 37/53 on steals so he has thrown out 30% its an improvement from last season which was his first full time at catcher Baseball Reference page Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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