I very nearly trashed the issue when I got it a couple of weeks ago. There are two players in the M's system that are flying below the radar, and they didn't list them? Un-freakin' believable!
I'm talking about Nate Tenbrink and Vinnie Catricala. The four or five people who actually read what I write knows about them because I've been trumpeting them for two freakin' years now!
Take a look at Tenbrink's numbers over at BB-Ref or where ever. Take a look at the "Hitting Evolution" piece I did on him, and you will see a young man on the rise. I've recently been told that Jack Z has been to every one of Tenbrinks batting cage outtings so far.
Vinnie "The Cat" Catricala is coming off of a season where he ripped up the Midwest League, but like everyone on that team he was over-shadowed by Franklin. Check out his numbers also at BB-Ref, or even take a look at the "Hitting Evolution" piece I did on him. Prepare to be impressed. In many ways Catricala's season with Clinton was better than Franklin's.
Both of these guys should have been in this years issue, and leaving them out is very, VERY short-sighted.
Lonnie
=== Jack Frost with a .310 OBP ===
Heard on the Weather Channel that 31% of the U.S. is covered in snow. Couldn't be warmer from Dr. D's war room in Bonney Lake, though. Baseball's here :- )
One of Mrs. D's 10 fave days of the year arrived on the 14th, and karma was served on the 15th: One of Dr. D's 10 fave days of the baseball season arrived. In the form of BaseballHQ's Minor League Baseball Analyst.
So SSI gets to wallow in the green pastures into which we 'net sheep have been led by Pastor Zduriencik. In Bushes Green ... He Leadeth We ... the sweeeeeeet waters byyyyyyyy...
............
And, after we're done counting down (and moshing off) HQ's top 15, we'll all be enjoying the Arizona pre-season and getting back the fab reports on Senors Pineda, Robles y todos.
So the 101-loss crash is officially gone in SSI-land. Re-boot. We're oh-and-oh, lads :- )
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=== Givin' It Up for Gordon and Deloney ===
Not that any one top 15 is correct, unless it's G-Moneyball's. But Dr. D has HQ about eight Kentucky Derby lengths ahead of Baseball America, Fangraphs, HBT and the rest of the pack.
Gordon and Deloney have legitimately good judgment as to what matters and what doesn't, and they are as saber-literate as you or I (well, as saber-literate as you! ... ) are.
They're pretty much national G-Moneys, except able to ply their trades fulltime, and they are one of the few who pass Dr. D's acid test for national analysts: they're able to tell us (accurate) things that we did not know about local players.
Also included nowhere else, that I know of, are pitch velocities for every minor league pitcher in the book -- for virtually every pitch.
Take Erasmo Ramirez, for instance...
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Comments
Both players are bat-first guys who were old for their league and put up un-remarkable numbers. If you are a 21-year old first baseman in low A-ball, you probably aren't very good and it would take some monster numbers to suggest otherwise. A .488 slugging percentage doesn't cut it, especially when you are striking out twice as often as drawing a walk. Same thing goes for a 23-year old in Double-A; a .427 Slg% is a bad thing not a good thing. I don't know how many players are covered in the book but I see no reason why these two should be. They are organizational filler right now.
The median birthdate in the Midwest League in 2010 was 5/10/1988, which would make the median age 22, so I don't see how you can justify Catricala as being old for the league when he didn't turn 22 until October.
The median SLGing in the MWL was .381 in 2010. This is low in part because the MWL is predominantly a pitchers league. That makes Catricala's .488 appear to be almost Ruthian.
Granted, right now Vinnie Catricala is a player without a true position. Last year he split his time between 1st (54 games), 3rd (26 games), and LF (26 games). Identifying him as a 1st baseman, especially since prior to 2010 he had been a 3rd baseman, isn't being very accurate.
Now how about Tenbrink at AA. You say that his .427 SLG is a bad thing. The median slugging in the Southern League in 2010 was... Wait for it... .374! Hell, Ackley's slugging was a gargantuan .384!
In 2010 the median DOB of a player in the Southern League was 2/16/1986. Tenbrink's DOB is 12/21/1986, which would make him almost a year younger then his contemporaries.
No, you need to research these guys a bit more closely before you start calling either of them "organizational filler". There are about 500 position players in the book, and I'm willing to bet that 65% of them are "organizational filler".
Perhaps you need to define what impresses you and what doesn't...
Lonnie
I wouldn't classify either one as old for his league.
As for Tenbrink, I think Papa, with all due respect, is missing the speed element: 10 triples and 26 SB with only 3 CS. He was 2nd in the org in SB, and do that with 45 xbh and 60 walks makes me pay attention, especially with the extremely low failure rate. As a rookie at Everett he swiped 24 bases in just 61 games.
I think the combination of LH hitter, eye ratio, speed, and some positional versatility makes him at least an interesting prospect. Not a monster slugger, but someone who can get on base and steal a bag, but also has some pop in the bat.
Catricala is less intriguing to me, largely becuase the Z regime has shown a clear preference for lefties or switch hitters at the corner positions and, if they were to go with a RH hitter, he's pretty clearly behind Liddi as a 3b, behind Poythress as a 1b, and behind Chavez as a corner OF, all of whom are in roughly the same age bracket. I don't regard him as being as likely to contribute at the MLB level as Tenbrink. But I wouldn't classify him as "filler" at this point.
... about guys like Catricala and Tenbrink is that if they keep producing like they have then they would make some interesting trade chips down the line.
Personally, I think that Tenbrink would produce better than Saunders in LF.
After thinking about things a bit more clearly, I think that I may have taken a bit too defensive tone with my response. I apologise Cool Papa.
Lonnie