Minor league promotions/movement 2022

[ChuckS]

2 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

Right, like he's not very good. Let's face it, if your Million kid can't beat out the flotsam and jetsom that they let catch at Delmarva, he might not be as good as you thought.

Now, it could be just that Matt Blood thinks it's better for him to get more instruction before playing in Delmarva, but again, this is a kid who played in a high level high school system and had all offseason to be prepared to win a job in Delmarva. then again, he wasn't able to compete very well in the FCL last year.

Look, I hope the kids comes up to Delmarva and tears things up and makes me looks foolish for having concerns, but the way the Orioles are handling him since they signed him tells me he was much more of a project then they thought he was when they choose him as the overslot guy that they saved by drafting Cowser.

That makes sense, I was just holding out some hope that there are other factors at play aside from his performance.

I seriously doubt he's improved by leaps and bounds over just a month or two, so if he is this major project we should find out quickly. 

[interloper]

3 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

I think the team should be stressing physical fitness.

I'm sure they are. He looks pretty good to me. As long as he's doing what they ask. 

[interloper]

3 minutes ago, ChuckS said:

That makes sense, I was just holding out some hope that there are other factors at play aside from his performance.

I seriously doubt he's improved by leaps and bounds over just a month or two, so if he is this major project we should find out quickly. 

He's an 8th round pick that they clearly liked, but an 8th round pick all the same. 18 years old. I see no reason to use Creed as an example of bad draft strategy or something. It's wild how much higher expectations Elias and Ciolek get held to versus previous draft directors. But it is what it is.

[ChuckS]

5 minutes ago, interloper said:

I'm sure they are. He looks pretty good to me. As long as he's doing what they ask. 

He looks about 30 pounds overweight.  

These are baseball players not track athletes, so it's not the worst thing in the world to be a little heavy.  But that can't be great on your knees as a catcher to carry that extra weight and typically metabolism does not improve with age. 

[Tony-OH]

1 minute ago, interloper said:

He's an 8th round pick that they clearly liked, but an 8th round pick all the same. 18 years old. I see no reason to use Creed as an example of bad draft strategy or something. It's wild how much higher expectations Elias and Ciolek get held to versus previous draft directors. But it is what it is.

Who has made any proclamations over a draft strategy? I provided facts. He's the guy they gave the overslot money to by saving the money they did by drafting Cowser. It's going to be years before we'll know whether that worked out with either guy.

[interloper]

Just now, ChuckS said:

He looks about 30 pounds overweight.  

These are baseball players, not track athletes so it's not the worst thing in the world to be a little heavy.  That can't be great on your knees as a catcher to carry that extra weight and typically metabolism does not improve with age. 

Sure. Again, he's 18. Vlad Jr. lost like 20-30 pounds after he already made the bigs. No one was trashing the Jays before that, but that's because Vlad Jr. is an incredible talent. Creed is not an incredible talent and therefore folks will have much less patience with how he looks. 

[interloper]

Just now, Tony-OH said:

Who has made any proclamations over a draft strategy? I provided facts. He's the guy they gave the overslot money to by saving the money they did by drafting Cowser. It's going to be years before we'll know whether that worked out with either guy.

Ok, I agree with that. I just think it's hasty to read anything into him not starting at Delmarva. They're just doing what they think is best for him. Rather that than throw him in Delmarva with bad fundamentals. 

[Can_of_corn]

1 minute ago, interloper said:

Sure. Again, he's 18. Vlad Jr. lost like 20-30 pounds after he already made the bigs. No one was trashing the Jays before that, but that's because Vlad Jr. is an incredible talent. Creed is not an incredible talent and therefore folks will have much less patience with how he looks. 

Plenty and I mean plenty of folks were talking about Vlad jr's weight. 

It was very much a topic of conversation.

I don't think folks were putting the blame on the Jays as much as they were Vlad.

Only so much a team can do.

[interloper]

1 minute ago, Can_of_corn said:

Plenty and I mean plenty of folks were talking about Vlad jr's weight. 

It was very much a topic of conversation.

I don't think folks were putting the blame on the Jays as much as they were Vlad.

Only so much a team can do.

Maybe he was held back to work on his conditioning, in which case, good! 

Anyway, I can only talk about Creed Willems so much. He's a dude they hope mashes some taters, not the second coming of Adley. 

[Can_of_corn]

1 minute ago, interloper said:

Maybe he was held back to work on his conditioning, in which case, good! 

Anyway, I can only talk about Creed Willems so much. He's a dude they hope mashes some taters, not the second coming of Adley. 

Yep.

I do not have high expectations for an eight round pick, overslot or not.

[Hazmat]

11 minutes ago, interloper said:

He's an 8th round pick that they clearly liked, but an 8th round pick all the same. 18 years old. I see no reason to use Creed as an example of bad draft strategy or something. It's wild how much higher expectations Elias and Ciolek get held to versus previous draft directors. But it is what it is.

I think the round in which he was selected is a lot less relevant than the amount for which he signed.  As I understand it, the preceding Orioles picks and associated savings are what enabled them to entice him to sign and forego college.  Whether the strategy was bad or not remains to be seen.

[Tony-OH]

12 minutes ago, interloper said:

Ok, I agree with that. I just think it's hasty to read anything into him not starting at Delmarva. They're just doing what they think is best for him. Rather that than throw him in Delmarva with bad fundamentals. 

Ok, let's go by your statement, "They're just doing what they think is best for him. Rather that than throw him in Delmarva with bad fundamentals."

If that's true, then are you happy they took a raw two-tool (raw power and arm strength) overweight kid with bad fundamentals and gave him late second round money?

I'm certainly willing to take a wait and see approach, but I do think there's something to his late start in Delmarva. Were they upset with the shape he showed up in? Did he not hit or catch well this spring? Does he have as you put it, "bad fundamentals?" 

All I know is the guys that made Delmarva should not be playing catcher in A Ball so it's not like they had other prospects just ahead him. Literally whatever he did this spring was enough for the team to keep him in extended while they sent two non-prospects to start the year in Delmarva.

[bobmc]

6 minutes ago, interloper said:

Maybe he was held back to work on his conditioning, in which case, good! 

Anyway, I can only talk about Creed Willems so much. He's a dude they hope mashes some taters, not the second coming of Adley. 

Yep Kyle Schwarber lite.  Lots of fun to see if it works.  As long as we spend all of the allotment we are happy, amirite?  

[RZNJ]

39 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

The Shorebirds catchers are abysmal currently. I'm not sure how bad he was this spring to have them beat him out, but hopefully he's improved. Guess we'll see.

I don't think that's necessarily the case, that he got beat out.  Trendon Craig also didn't make a full season team. Nor relievers, Gillies, Pham, and mystery man Dylan Heid.  Christian Cespedes and Dylan Harris also were left behind.  

I suspect, if neither Brayan Hernandez or Mantecon are hurt that we should take it as a positive that Willems was promoted.  Also, as we're seeing with guys like Ramirez and Deson, who excelled in the FCL, the jump from FCL to low A is the toughest bump in the minors.  I am not going out on a limb if I guess that there are very few 19 year olds doing well in the South Atlantic league. Go Creed!

[interloper]

8 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

Ok, let's go by your statement, "They're just doing what they think is best for him. Rather that than throw him in Delmarva with bad fundamentals."

If that's true, then are you happy they took a raw two-tool (raw power and arm strength) overweight kid with bad fundamentals and gave him late second round money?

I'm certainly willing to take a wait and see approach, but I do think there's something to his late start in Delmarva. Were they upset with the shape he showed up in? Did he not hit or catch well this spring? Does he have as you put it, "bad fundamentals?" 

All I know is the guys that made Delmarva should not be playing catcher in A Ball so it's not like they had other prospects just ahead him. Literally whatever he did this spring was enough for the team to keep him in extended while they sent two non-prospects to start the year in Delmarva.

I really don't know. I know that I'm not getting worked up about Creed Willems, or even the prospect of missing on an 8th rounder. I don't think they gave Colton underslot specifically to give Willems the overslot. I'm sure they liked Colton and were prepared to go overslot for anyone on their board that made sense to do that with. Wasn't Tavera also considered an overslot? 

Yeah, Willems isn't making Elias and Ciolek look too good right now, but I don't even know if it's the kind of draft pick you can even really call a bust because it's the 8th round and 8th rounders don't "bust". They can only be pleasant surprises. It's purely the money spent on him that would make people think that way, and I get that.