Birmingham Barons ‏@BhamBarons 26m

 

Three members of the 2013 Barons made their @MLB debuts last night: Erik Johnson (1st start), Marcus Semien (2-for-4, RBI) and Daniel Webb.

Birmingham Barons ‏@BhamBarons 26m

 

Three members of the 2013 Barons made their @MLB debuts last night: Erik Johnson (1st start), Marcus Semien (2-for-4, RBI) and Daniel Webb.

 

Good to see the Knights were on their game too

With the regular seasons over, and the playoffs over for all but B-Ham, now is a great time to update your AAP threads!

 

Another decent outing by B'ham RP Ryan Kussmaul, after a lengthy stay on DL. Never did hear what the problem was.

 

Northsider, do you think Sox will protect him?

Another decent outing by B'ham RP Ryan Kussmaul, after a lengthy stay on DL. Never did hear what the problem was.

 

Northsider, do you think Sox will protect him?

27 year old RH reliever repeating AA 2nd full year? Highly doubt it. I will say I am a bit puzzled he wasn't in AAA this year, but he's got marginal stuff. Not worth the slot, IMO.

 

27 year old RH reliever repeating AA 2nd full year? Highly doubt it. I will say I am a bit puzzled he wasn't in AAA this year, but he's got marginal stuff. Not worth the slot, IMO.

But, he gets hitters out. I bet someone picks him up if not protected. We'll see.

But, he gets hitters out. I bet someone picks him up if not protected. We'll see.

 

NO one is picking him in the Rule V draft.

NO one is picking him in the Rule V draft.

Let's re-visit this after the Rule V Draft. You might be right, but I see a lot of bad relief pitching every year. Guys who are afraid to throw strikes, etc. I can give you several examples on the Rockies' staff. (Corpus, Lopez, Oswalt). Kussmaul has been solid every year untill he went on the DL a few months ago. Not that this makes a big difference in the grand scheme of things.

Let's re-visit this after the Rule V Draft. You might be right, but I see a lot of bad relief pitching every year. Guys who are afraid to throw strikes, etc. I can give you several examples on the Rockies' staff. (Corpus, Lopez, Oswalt). Kussmaul has been solid every year untill he went on the DL a few months ago. Not that this makes a big difference in the grand scheme of things.

I couldn't figure out how teams with no OF depth didn't grab Jordan Danks when he was made available like a year and a half ago. I'm pretty well convinced teams miss plenty of opportunities in the Rule 5.

Let's re-visit this after the Rule V Draft. You might be right, but I see a lot of bad relief pitching every year. Guys who are afraid to throw strikes, etc. I can give you several examples on the Rockies' staff. (Corpus, Lopez, Oswalt). Kussmaul has been solid every year untill he went on the DL a few months ago. Not that this makes a big difference in the grand scheme of things.

 

Guys with mediocre stuff who aren't afraid to throw strikes end up with ERAs in the 7s in the majors. No one is picking Kussmaul, and if they do, he'll be returned to the Sox shortly thereafter.

Kussmaul had some sort of finger injury this year, was nothing major despite how much time he missed.

Let's re-visit this after the Rule V Draft. You might be right, but I see a lot of bad relief pitching every year. Guys who are afraid to throw strikes, etc. I can give you several examples on the Rockies' staff. (Corpus, Lopez, Oswalt). Kussmaul has been solid every year untill he went on the DL a few months ago. Not that this makes a big difference in the grand scheme of things.

 

Relievers who get picked in the Rule V draft are guys with spectacular stuff who haven't been able to control it yet. Guys who throw 90 out of the pen don't get picked in Rule V. As a matter of a fact pitchers who throw 90 don't get picked, let alone relievers.

Kussmaul had some sort of finger injury this year, was nothing major despite how much time he missed.

It was a blister type issue, something along those lines, as I recall.

 

Kussmaul will probably be in the Charlotte pen next year, but it is also possible he's gone to another team.

 

Relievers who get picked in the Rule V draft are guys with spectacular stuff who haven't been able to control it yet. Guys who throw 90 out of the pen don't get picked in Rule V. As a matter of a fact pitchers who throw 90 don't get picked, let alone relievers.

 

Some of them get picked, especially lefties. I'd say bout 95% of those guys get returned to their original teams.

 

You're right though, you don't take relievers if their long-term upside is mediocre reliever or ROOGY with more likelihood being long reliever or AAAA player. You pick guys who can be dynamite players. It happened like 10 years ago already, but the Sox saw something in Jason Grilli and gave him a shot. He failed miserably and bounced around for a few years and then found that slider death grip.

Some of them get picked, especially lefties. I'd say bout 95% of those guys get returned to their original teams.

 

You're right though, you don't take relievers if their long-term upside is mediocre reliever or ROOGY with more likelihood being long reliever or AAAA player. You pick guys who can be dynamite players. It happened like 10 years ago already, but the Sox saw something in Jason Grilli and gave him a shot. He failed miserably and bounced around for a few years and then found that slider death grip.

 

Wasn't Grilli a mid 90's guy back then? Either way the drafted him as a starter, not reliever.

Wasn't Grilli a mid 90's guy back then? Either way the drafted him as a starter, not reliever.

 

Yes he was, or at the very least, low 90s (91-93) and reports were that he had a good to great slider. We never saw that slider.

Wasn't Grilli a mid 90's guy back then? Either way the drafted him as a starter, not reliever.

 

 

There was a great SI column about Grilli some months ago. He just basically talked about how he was expected to pitch multiple innings and needed to throw 3-4 pitches. He just couldn't sustain it and always wore down. He said a couple of years ago he decided to just go fastball-slider only and he increased MPH on the fastball. Once he decided to be a closer he was much more successful.

 

Toby Thomas, a '13 draft pick who had a pretty good year playing mostly shortstop, says he is playing some catcher in the Instructs. Interesting. Could be nothing, could be an actual change.

 

 

Scott Merkin ‏@scottmerkin 1h

 

Interesting Winter League assignment: White Sox prospects Jacob May and Joey Demichele are going to play in Australia

Baseball America ‏@BaseballAmerica 23m

 

Minors Update: Akron Floats A New Nickname: RubberDucks - In his first year as owner of Double-A Akron, Ken Babb... http://ow.ly/2B9S8h

The following players are now Minor League Free Agents:

 

RHP Simon Castro

RHP Jason Berken

RHP Scott Carroll

RHP Jhan Marinez

1B Travis Ishikawa

INF Steven Tolleson

OF Jimmy Gallagher

 

They can be re-signed, if the Sox want to. My personal guess is the re-sign Castro at least. Marinez, Tolleson and Gallagher are maybes, IMO.

I thought Marinez looked OK. I'd like him and Castro to get one more chance in the system, but I'm not going to be upset if they don't bring them back.

Baseball America ranked Tyler Danish #2 on a list of "closest 2013 HS picks to make the major leagues".

 

Kohl Stewart of the Twins org. was ranked above him. He was the 4th pick overall in June. He spent all 20 IP this fall in Rookie ball.

 

In the same article. Adam Engel was ranked the 4th fastest player in the 2013 draft, Tim Anderson #3 and Toby Thomas #5 on list of the most impressive pro debuts for a JuCo player drafted.

Baseball America ranked Tyler Danish #2 on a list of "closest 2013 HS picks to make the major leagues".

 

Kohl Stewart of the Twins org. was ranked above him. He was the 4th pick overall in June. He spent all 20 IP this fall in Rookie ball.

 

In the same article. Adam Engel was ranked the 4th fastest player in the 2013 draft, Tim Anderson #3 and Toby Thomas #5 on list of the most impressive pro debuts for a JuCo player drafted.

Can't wait to see them all in Kanny

My Way too early/stupid Kanny Projection:

C: Zach Fisher, Trey Wimmer

1B: Dan Hayes

2B: Cleuluis Rondon, Christian Stringer

3B: Nick Basto, Zach Voight

SS: Tim Anderson (short assignment), Trey Michalczewski, Tyler Shyrock, Toby Thomas

OF: Jacob May (short assignment), Adam Engel, Corey Thompson, Nolan Earley

SP: Tyler Danish, Franc Montas (short assignment), Jake Sanchez, Andrew Mitchell,

Bullpen: Johansel Delgado, Robinson Leyer, David Putnam, Jeff McKenzie, Kelvis Valerio, ETC

Can't wait to see them all in Kanny

My Way too early/stupid Kanny Projection:

C: Zach Fisher, Trey Wimmer

1B: Dan Hayes

2B: Cleuluis Rondon, Christian Stringer

3B: Nick Basto, Zach Voight

SS: Tim Anderson (short assignment), Trey Michalczewski, Tyler Shyrock, Toby Thomas

OF: Jacob May (short assignment), Adam Engel, Corey Thompson, Nolan Earley

SP: Tyler Danish, Franc Montas (short assignment), Jake Sanchez, Andrew Mitchell,

Bullpen: Johansel Delgado, Robinson Leyer, David Putnam, Jeff McKenzie, Kelvis Valerio, ETC

Basto will be lucky to even be in the org next year, he certainly won't get in the way of any actual prospects. Sox not happy with him. Michalczewski not going to play SS either, he'll be at 3B most likely. I think Anderson gets the fast-mover treatment and starts at W-S, even though I personally think that's a bad idea. Danish is 50/50 to be at W-S, maybe leaning slightly in.