Prospect Mailbag

[Luke-OH]

7 hours ago, luismatos4prez said:

Is Keegin Akin a ML-caliber starting pitcher?

There is a chance, when he has his good stuff, he looks like a solid #4/5. But the quality of stuff he carries from game to game varies throughout the season and he doesn't have the feel at this point to battle through when he doesn't have good stuff. 

[Luke-OH]

9 hours ago, Lucky_13 said:

Has Keegan Akin's secondary stuff noticeably improved from last year/beginning of this season? It's been talked about that he's been directed to work on it so I'm curious. He's leading the International League in SOs. 

Any prospect that could be next year's Santander? A kind of forgotten about fringe prospect that makes an impact. 

I don’t think the secondary stuff has really improved much at this point, velocity has been up at times, he’s been throwing secondaries more, which equals more walks and more Ks.

Tanner Scott is my answer for the second question, he’s been inconsistent in the majors, but he leads the International League in FIP (40+ innings pitched).

[Luke-OH]

3 hours ago, IronMan6981 said:

We know about the obvious guys that will be added to the 40-man to be protected from the Rule V Draft but who do you think are the players most likely to be left off the 40-man and taken in the Rule V Draft? Will guys like Nick Vepsi and Zach Muckenhirn be exposed? 

Muckenhirn or Peralta or Fenter or Felix Bautista are probably the most likely to get left off and taken although I think it’s probably not likely anyone gets taken in the MLB phase.

[Obando]

Who is your favorite prospect at each position in the system as of today (including starting & relief pitcher)?  Not necessarily who you think has the highest upside, just simply who are “your guys,”  similar to how you evaluate players in the draft.  Thanks!

[LookinUp]

3 hours ago, Luke-OH said:

I might have forgot someone, I put guys with relief risk in relief because of the number of #5 SP profile guys who wouldn't fit well in relief. 

 

SP - DL Hall

SP - Grayson Rodriguez

SP - Zac Lowther

SP - Bruce Zimmermann

SP - Drew Rom

Swingman - Alex Wells

RP - Blaine Knight

RP - Gray Fenter

RP - Cody Sedlock

SU - Keegan Akin

SU - Dean Kremer

CL - Michael Baumann

C - Adley Rutschman

1B - Ryan Mountcastle

2B - Rylan Bannon

SS - Darell Hernaiz

3B - Gunnar Henderson

RF - Yusniel Diaz

CF - Zach Watson

LF - Kyle Stowers

DH - Josue Cruz?

Backup C - Brett Cumberland

4th OF - Ryan McKenna

Utility IF - Adam Hall

Super Utility - Toby Welk

 

Really interesting to me that you have Kremer behind Lowther, Zimmerman and Rom. I assume that's the case with him as a SU and the others as starters.

[hoosiers]

Awesome stuff, Luke.  Really awesome contribution to the OH - first rate.

[Luke-OH]

6 hours ago, LookinUp said:

Really interesting to me that you have Kremer behind Lowther, Zimmerman and Rom. I assume that's the case with him as a SU and the others as starters.

Nope, I don’t, did you read the note at the top? Kremer fits better in relief than those other three. I have Kremer ahead of all of them ranking wise.

[LookinUp]

21 minutes ago, Luke-OH said:

Nope, I don’t, did you read the note at the top? Kremer fits better in relief than those other three. I have Kremer ahead of all of them ranking wise.

Ahh. Makes sense, but I doubt the O's would operate that way in reality. Given that this hypothetical is about guys who never have been in the majors yet, I know you weren't really dealing with a real roster project moving forward, just a placement of this subset of players, so I get it.

[Frobby]

Watching a clip of Kremer on the mound, his bearing and delivery remind me a bit of Chris Tillman.   Not to mention the bite on his curve.    

[wildcard]

11 hours ago, Luke-OH said:

I might have forgot someone, I put guys with relief risk in relief because of the number of #5 SP profile guys who wouldn't fit well in relief. 

 

SP - DL Hall

SP - Grayson Rodriguez

SP - Zac Lowther

SP - Bruce Zimmermann

SP - Drew Rom

Swingman - Alex Wells

RP - Blaine Knight

RP - Gray Fenter

RP - Cody Sedlock

SU - Keegan Akin

SU - Dean Kremer

CL - Michael Baumann

C - Adley Rutschman

1B - Ryan Mountcastle

2B - Rylan Bannon

SS - Darell Hernaiz

3B - Gunnar Henderson

RF - Yusniel Diaz

CF - Zach Watson

LF - Kyle Stowers

DH - Josue Cruz?

Backup C - Brett Cumberland

4th OF - Ryan McKenna

Utility IF - Adam Hall

Super Utility - Toby Welk

 

So you are saying a 5 beats a 1 and a 2 at SS.

[wildcard]

Does Elias' player development approach seem far superior to the prior regime?

[MurphDogg]

4 minutes ago, wildcard said:

So you are saying a 5 beats a 1 and a 2 at SS.

He has said that Adam Hall looks like a second baseman, Dan Connolly's scout in The Athletic said the same thing.

And Gunnar Henderson may well outgrow shortstop.

[Luke-OH]

31 minutes ago, wildcard said:

So you are saying a 5 beats a 1 and a 2 at SS.

Henderson is according to a couple scouts who’ve seen him live, a better fit at 3B. Hernaiz is not the best chance to be a MLB SS, there is a bunch of risk there, but this (per the question) is a fantasy list, so in my fantasy, Hernaiz reaches his ceiling which is higher than Hall. It’s not to be mistaken for a prospect ranking.

[Punchandjudy]

much respect on a well written, analyzed, and argued article Luke.