John Means & Prospect Lists

[HowAboutThat]

I was wondering which prospects were most likely to make a big jump and I noticed that John Means was only ranked 28( in our system, #28 should be the kiss of death) and had a FV of only 45.

my questions are: did I miss a more recent ranking that had him much higher? Did he just suddenly transform his game to warn his promotion? If so, was that because of new thinking from the coaches? Or Is he among the few who were old/experience enough to make the jump?

Finally, and most importantly, any other likely guys who can make the same leap?

thanks!

 

[HowAboutThat]

“Did he just suddenly transform his game to earn his promotion.”

typos...

[Tony-OH]

9 minutes ago, Philip said:

I was wondering which prospects were most likely to make a big jump and I noticed that John Means was only ranked 28( in our system, #28 should be the kiss of death) and had a FV of only 45.

my questions are: did I miss a more recent ranking that had him much higher? Did he just suddenly transform his game to warn his promotion? If so, was that because of new thinking from the coaches? Or Is he among the few who were old/experience enough to make the jump?

Finally, and most importantly, any other likely guys who can make the same leap?

thanks!

 

http://www.orioleshangout.com/2018/11/19/john-means-lhp-2018-28-prospect/

Means made a jump last year with his slider and became more consistent with his change. Clearly the Orioles have decided his change is going to be a heavy part of his repertoire as he threw almost as many of them as fastballs in his last appearance. 

He still has an upside of the back of the rotation starter, but the swing man/length guy is a pretty good role for him with a right-handed heavy rotation.

[Luke-OH]

17 minutes ago, Philip said:

I was wondering which prospects were most likely to make a big jump and I noticed that John Means was only ranked 28( in our system, #28 should be the kiss of death) and had a FV of only 45.

my questions are: did I miss a more recent ranking that had him much higher? Did he just suddenly transform his game to warn his promotion? If so, was that because of new thinking from the coaches? Or Is he among the few who were old/experience enough to make the jump?

Finally, and most importantly, any other likely guys who can make the same leap?

thanks!

 

In addition to Tony’s comment, he was a low upside major league ready guy, when the major league squad is lacking established talent, those types of players get a shot. Those types will rarely rank highly on a prospect list because there are a ton of prospects like that out there and very few make a significant impact (and usually the ones who do make a significant mechanical change to do so). It’s far too early to tell if Means is a valuable piece, I agree with Tony’s assessment that his expected role would be swingman/long relief (which is a 45 role).