Rylan Bannon 2019

[Frobby]

Infielder Rylan Bannon, 23, hasn’t hit much in the Arizona Fall League, slashing .197/.256/.254 in 18 games with the Surprise Saguaros before last night. But 2019 has been a very good year.

Bannon, obtained from the Dodgers in the Manny Machado trade, batted .317/.344/.549 with 10 doubles, three home runs and 17 RBIs in 20 games with Triple-A Norfolk after moving up from Bowie on Aug. 13.

A scout from another organization who watched Bannon at Bowie compared him to Dodgers infielder Justin Turner “at the same stage.”

That alone should grab your attention.

“He’s a tough, strong, athletic baseball rat,” the scout said. “High intensity with lots of intangibles. Both his bat and glove have made mega strides. He’s much better defensively at third base than second base. He shortened his stroke and is hitting the ball with authority. His power is coming.”

https://www.masnsports.com/school-of-roch/2019/10/this-that-and-the-other-189.html

[Tony-OH]

21 hours ago, Frobby said:

Infielder Rylan Bannon, 23, hasn’t hit much in the Arizona Fall League, slashing .197/.256/.254 in 18 games with the Surprise Saguaros before last night. But 2019 has been a very good year.

Bannon, obtained from the Dodgers in the Manny Machado trade, batted .317/.344/.549 with 10 doubles, three home runs and 17 RBIs in 20 games with Triple-A Norfolk after moving up from Bowie on Aug. 13.

A scout from another organization who watched Bannon at Bowie compared him to Dodgers infielder Justin Turner “at the same stage.”

That alone should grab your attention.

“He’s a tough, strong, athletic baseball rat,” the scout said. “High intensity with lots of intangibles. Both his bat and glove have made mega strides. He’s much better defensively at third base than second base. He shortened his stroke and is hitting the ball with authority. His power is coming.”

https://www.masnsports.com/school-of-roch/2019/10/this-that-and-the-other-189.html

Wow, that would be a first I've heard anyone even remotely come up with that comp. 

Let's look at the numbers.

At 23 years old

Bannon (AA):  .255/.345/.394/.740 in 444 PAs with 47/72 BB/K ratio 
Turner (AA): .289/.359/.432/.792 in in 323 PAs with 33/54 BB/K ratio

Now, we have to remember that Justin Turner had an amazing and unorthodox jump in power and production at the age of 29 years old so it's tough to use his minor league comps.

Bannon of course hit well with the super balls being used in AAA, but did not face a lot of the same teams much so word didn't get around on how to pitch him. Over his last 42 games at AA he slashed .214/.313/.372/.686 in 166 PAs, as teams learned they could pitch him up in the zone and induce pop ups and fly outs. 

Bannon does hit lefties well, but he's been pretty ordinary against righties where he slashed .258/.327/.388/.716 in 386 PAs in AA this year. 

Saying that, Turner has similar splits during his AA season at 23. 

I'd be more apt to believe that Bannon can become the pre-LA version of Turner (.260/.323/.361/.684) at the major league level more than the All-Star version.

[Frobby]

Thanks, Tony.   I don’t think anyone watching Turner in the minors thought he’d become what he became.    He’s just a classic case of how you never know for sure how and when a player will develop, and a rare case.    I don’t see how anyone could “expect” Bannon to develop in a similar way.    I agree that matching the “old” Turner is more realistic.  

[Tony-OH]

13 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Thanks, Tony.   I don’t think anyone watching Turner in the minors thought he’d become what he became.    He’s just a classic case of how you never know for sure how and when a player will develop, and a rare case.    I don’t see how anyone could “expect” Bannon to develop in a similar way.    I agree that matching the “old” Turner is more realistic.  

That's why I think that's a very disingenuous statement by the "scout". 

[Luke-OH]

2 hours ago, Tony-OH said:

Wow, that would be a first I've heard anyone even remotely come up with that comp. 

Let's look at the numbers.

At 23 years old

Bannon (AA):  .255/.345/.394/.740 in 444 PAs with 47/72 BB/K ratio 
Turner (AA): .289/.359/.432/.792 in in 323 PAs with 33/54 BB/K ratio

Now, we have to remember that Justin Turner had an amazing and unorthodox jump in power and production at the age of 29 years old so it's tough to use his minor league comps.

Bannon of course hit well with the super balls being used in AAA, but did not face a lot of the same teams much so word didn't get around on how to pitch him. Over his last 42 games at AA he slashed .214/.313/.372/.686 in 166 PAs, as teams learned they could pitch him up in the zone and induce pop ups and fly outs. 

Bannon does hit lefties well, but he's been pretty ordinary against righties where he slashed .258/.327/.388/.716 in 386 PAs in AA this year. 

Saying that, Turner has similar splits during his AA season at 23. 

I'd be more apt to believe that Bannon can become the pre-LA version of Turner (.260/.323/.361/.684) at the major league level more than the All-Star version.

I agree completely that it’s irresponsible to use Turner as a comp because he had a ridiculous late blooming power surge. 

I will say regarding the AA stats at age 23, despite the lower OPS, Bannon performed better when compared to league average. 120 wRC+ vs 113 wRC+ for Turner. Bannon performed 20% better than league average in AA and 20% better than league average in AAA, which shows the huge discrepancy in league wide offense.

[Tony-OH]

5 hours ago, Luke-OH said:

I agree completely that it’s irresponsible to use Turner as a comp because he had a ridiculous late blooming power surge. 

I will say regarding the AA stats at age 23, despite the lower OPS, Bannon performed better when compared to league average. 120 wRC+ vs 113 wRC+ for Turner. Bannon performed 20% better than league average in AA and 20% better than league average in AAA, which shows the huge discrepancy in league wide offense.

Good points, but I'd expect you take up for your boy!