Analysis: Full-Season Minor League Rosters
Victor's vector points to Jackson; D.J.'s in the desert

 

Minor league rosters for the full-season leagues have been announced.

  • Our man Ji-Man Choi will be in Tacoma with Nick Franklin and Jesus Montero.
  • Jabari Blash tore up AA Jackson at the end of last year, but he'll get a return trip, where he'll be joined by teen pitching phenom Victor Sanchez.
  • D.J. Peterson will start at High-A High Desert, though it might be a short tour.  Yes, Tyler Smith is there too.  And Tyler Pike joins Dylan Unsworth on the tricky mound.
  • Edwin Diaz will lead Low-A Clinton, along with The Tank Tyler O'Neill.

Full story here.

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Comments

1

Surprised to see Kivlehan back at High Desert. He played well there last year in over 300 PAs and isn’t getting younger. DJ I understand them trying to slow down a little, and maybe to give the High Desert folks a show for a little bit, but Kivlehan can’t be being held up for Morla at third base, not when he’ll be splitting 3B at-bats with Peterson in theory. Maybe they’re moving Kivlehan more to the OF and want to get him reps with the crazy desert wind first… because they hate him… Hopefully he’s not shifting to first. That’s quite a waste of all that speed.
It’s gonna be a very interesting system, though. I was surprised Pike got the High Desert nod. We don’t usually make our really good pitching prospects suffer there. Pineda pitched there (and didn’t suffer at ALL while he was still adding MPH to his fastball) but we skipped guys like Walker and Erasmo and Paxton (and now Sanchez) right over it. Still, all the teams will have players to hold our interest. And Marlette should be a beast in the desert. I hope they give him more of a full-time catching gig this year.
I want to see how much sharing goes on between Choi and Montero at 1B in Tacoma. Both guys can DH, but Choi is the better fielder and Montero needs all the work he can get there to improve. Of course, Choi is by far the less experienced player overall (Montero has almost 3000 pro- PAs compared to Choi’s 1000) and he too could use the reps. Should be fun to watch. Hopefully both guys hit like they’re capable of.
Time for the next wave of minor leaguers to provide the depth and star-quality we’re looking for. Let’s play ball!
 

2

Seems that only 3 OF's have been assigned to Tacoma plus both Taylor and Franklin. Taylor will get S/2B time. Franklin will get SS time...and 2B/OF.
I must admit to being disappointed that DJ and Pizzano are in High Desert. I detest that place.
Blash in Jackson again is surprising, too. By the end of the year, Sanchez is in Tacoma. If he flourishes and Hultzen gets healthy, we will have to really think about which of our young arms get peddled.

4

Let's use some of MLB.com's rankings (since you aren't done with yours yet Spec) and potentially notable names who didn't make their cut. #1 (Walker) and #3 (Paxton) are unavailable, as is #15 Romero and #18 Almonte (and #14 Hultzen, stupid injury), but for the rest:
Tacoma:
Hitting: Franklin, Montero, #7 Taylor, Choi (who should be top-10)
Pitching: #11 Smith, #12 Leone, Maurer
I don't worry so much about Tacoma's offense in the early going, but their pitching... could get rough. We're running pretty thin after Beavan and Maurer take their turns in the rotation. I'm curious as to whether Gilheeney is gonna be a starter. He'd make a nice lefty reliever in a pinch.
Jackson:
Hitting: #16 Marte, #17 Morban (eventually), Blash
Pitching: #6 Sanchez, Landazuri, Shipers, Hobson
The offense is Jamal Austin, Kevin Rivers and Mickey Wiswall out there with Landry in the OF, and Morla, Marte, Paolini and Marder in the IF.  They are going to be looking forward to reinforcements from High Desert, I'm thinking. Marte's "offense" is pretty offensive still. Hicks is good for the young staff, tho, and the pen could have some fun pitchers in it too.
High Desert:
Hitting: #2 DJ Peterson, #8 Marlette, #10 Guerrero, #19 Kivlehan, Pizzano, Henry, Smith, Lopes
Pitching: #9 Pike, Unsworth, Ogando
Like I said, surprised to see Pike in High Desert, but it'll be good for him in the short-term. Ogando has lots of stuff - hopefully he can find his control in the desert.  Unsworth has plenty of that already.  As for the offense... if I didn't know better, I'd think the M's FO was trying to pump up hitter value for trades... ;-)
Clinton:
Hitting: #13 Wilson, #20 O'Neill, DeCarlo
Pitching: #4 Diaz, Campbell, Huijer, Pagan
Clinton looks a little light in both areas.  I think Wilson and O'Neill are absolutely breakout candidates, and I'm glad they're playing together in the OF, and I think DeCarlo had an abortive season due to injury last year so I want to see him take another shot.  But we don't have a ton of high-powered arms their this year. Diaz is one, and I like Campbell more than most, but Huijer is craftier (tho crafty pitchers can kill at low levels).
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We seem to be trying to keep a more even spread this year, rather than clustering our prospects at one level. Maybe that's a coincidence of readiness, maybe not.  Some of the moves, like Kivlehan and Peterson in High Desert, are not designed to get them to the bigs ASAP, which may be to our benefit more than theirs.  We're pretty full at the inn with young players right now.  If it takes Peterson an extra year, or even half-a-year, to start pressing for a role, maybe that helps us sort it out before he gets here.

5

Luiz Gohara and Isaiah Yates both miss the cut for full-season ball? That's a bummer, but they'll be just down the street for me to watch in June so kinda cool. Sure hope Gohara shoulder is healthy. Did anybody report on him from spring training?

7
SonicBOOM!'s picture

The most exciting day of the year... when all minor-league assignments are sorted out and announced! I'm always sorry to see cuts of players I've become attached to- I've followed Moran LaFramboise, Triunfel over the years, for example, and sorry to see them each playing for SoCal teams this year. Of course there isn't room for everyone, but I would have kept "Bobby the Raspberry" or Colin's big brother over Lucas Luetge, whom I've seen blow up way too many times! High Desert looks stacked; perhaps Everett also. Surprised not to see Gohara, or Pimental, or Calderon, or Simpson in full-season ball. Surprised Huijer seems to be targeted as a reliever- their most effective starter in Everett last year, I'd say. Hoping to see Wilson on the move, mid-year.

8

No need to rush Gohara, he's still only 17.
My understanding was the shoulder issue was nothing serious, but they were being extremely cautious.  I didn't see any reports from spring training.
 

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