2021 Orioles #24 Prospect - Creed Willems - C

[Tony-OH]

https://www.orioleshangout.com/2021/11/15/24-creed-willems/

[LookinUp]

I like both of these picks. The projections are conservative, and I think that’s appropriate. Really nice upside with both guys. Let’s hope they develop.

[sportsfan8703]

I believe at one point that Willems had made it into the top 15 in the power rankings, but then didn’t put up the best stats in the FCL. Obviously the organization is high on him considering they gave him a $1 million dollar signing bonus. Basically 2nd round money. 
 

I’d say he has the build to play catcher. It’ll be fun to watch him and Basallo come up together. 

[Tony-OH]

5 hours ago, sportsfan8703 said:

I believe at one point that Willems had made it into the top 15 in the power rankings, but then didn’t put up the best stats in the FCL. Obviously the organization is high on him considering they gave him a $1 million dollar signing bonus. Basically 2nd round money. 
 

I’d say he has the build to play catcher. It’ll be fun to watch him and Basallo come up together. 

He may have, but remember, like I said when doing them, they are power rankings, not pure Prospect rankings. In other words, I move guys that were doing well or badly up nd down but not with full analysis.

I put much more analysis into the prospect rankings in the end. Willems has a nice upside, but he's going to have to put some numbers up next year hopefully in Delmarva to stay on the list, but he wasn't a consensus $1 million player.

 

[sportsfan8703]

2 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

He may have, but remember, like I said when doing them, they are power rankings, not pure Prospect rankings. In other words, I move guys that were doing well or badly up nd down but not with full analysis.

I put much more analysis into the prospect rankings in the end. Willems has a nice upside, but he's going to have to put some numbers up next year hopefully in Delmarva to stay on the list, but he wasn't a consensus $1 million player.

 

Would it be the worst thing in the world if he didn’t crack OD Delmarva?  I don’t think so. Another FCL season may be in line. Catchers always take longer to develop. 

[NCRaven]

Especially when they may be future stars and you want to manipulate their service time.

HAH!  Beat you to it Corn!

 

[Tony-OH]

1 hour ago, sportsfan8703 said:

Would it be the worst thing in the world if he didn’t crack OD Delmarva?  I don’t think so. Another FCL season may be in line. Catchers always take longer to develop. 

No, not the worse thing, but typically, the better high school prospects are able to compete in a full season club, which is why they got rid of the rookie leagues outside of the complex leagues. 

Now, I'm not saying Willems is not a prospect if he can't make Delmarva, but i am saying if he's able to make a full season club and put up decent numbers, it would solidify his prospect status.

For some reason he barely played this year after signing. Whether that was because the Orioles felt he needed work before playing in games of he had some kind of injury is not know, at least by me, but it would have been nice to seen him got 100 PA there. 

There were no catching prospects in the GCL last year and only Connor Pavolony was vaguely interesting who played in Delmarva last year so there is no one standing in his way other than his own abilities.

[Frobby]

3 hours ago, Tony-OH said:

There were no catching prospects in the GCL last year and only Connor Pavolony was vaguely interesting who played in Delmarva last year so there is no one standing in his way other than his own abilities.

For me an interesting story the next 1-2 years will be how Basallo and Willems progress and where they are placed.   Certainly the former will be at least in the FCL - does that push Willems to Delmarva?   Do they share the work behind the dish in the FCL?   Or does Basallo leapfrog Willems and be the one who goes to Delmarva?   He has 26 pro starts behind the plate compared to Willems’ 5, but he’s 14 months younger.   I can see these two battling it out over the next couple of years.  

[Tony-OH]

1 hour ago, Frobby said:

For me an interesting story the next 1-2 years will be how Basallo and Willems progress and where they are placed.   Certainly the former will be at least in the FCL - does that push Willems to Delmarva?   Do they share the work behind the dish in the FCL?   Or does Basallo leapfrog Willems and be the one who goes to Delmarva?   He has 26 pro starts behind the plate compared to Willems’ 5, but he’s 14 months younger.   I can see these two battling it out over the next couple of years.  

Well there are two FCL teams so they could both be on each. I'd like to see Willems make Delmarva at 19-years old like Hernaiz did. Hernaiz really didn't show much and his tools were underwhelming, but he was one of the youngest guys in the league.

Willems comes from a pretty baseball heavy area in Texas so he should be fairly advanced. If he does start in FCL, gotta hope he puts up pretty good numbers and finishes the year Delmarva like Mayo (Not that I think he's Mayo).

[sportsfan8703]

24 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

Well there are two FCL teams so they could both be on each. I'd like to see Willems make Delmarva at 19-years old like Hernaiz did. Hernaiz really didn't show much and his tools were underwhelming, but he was one of the youngest guys in the league.

Willems comes from a pretty baseball heavy area in Texas so he should be fairly advanced. If he does start in FCL, gotta hope he puts up pretty good numbers and finishes the year Delmarva like Mayo (Not that I think he's Mayo).

Good thinking that there are two FCL teams so he and Basallo could each be the primary catcher on each. However, being as he’s a catcher, the org can kind of protect him a bit even if they believe that Delmarva is a big jump for him.  Like resting him versus LHP early on. 

[LookinUp]

13 hours ago, Tony-OH said:

... (Not that I think he's Mayo).

In fairness, you didn't think Mayo was Mayo before last year. That's why we have to be patient. My guess is this kid is in the process of working hard on his fitness and agility. Add to that a very strong arm and prodigious power and his simplified profile isn't massively different than Mayo's.

With that said, I know you were highly impressed by Mayo and that's not likely to happen very often, much less with this guy. Still, they drafted him for the exit velocity and (I assume) strong arm. Those are tools that if nurtured will result in this kid rising up boards once he gets a full season under his belt.

[sportsfan8703]

His draft thread is a good read. Big strong TX kid. “Country strong”. I’m thinking with him being so young, and being a C, that they give him the Mayo treatment and set him up for success by starting in the FCL. We watched advanced NCAA bats like Burns and Trimble struggle when moved up to Delmarva. No need to push him too much.