7/14: Rhodes Hits Three Solo HR And Wagner Goes 4 For 6

[cboemmeljr]

MINOR LEAGUE GAME SUMMARIES

[Tony-OH]

Quite the night for Rhodes. Would be nice to see some continual pop from him.

[RZNJ]

4 hours ago, Tony-OH said:

Quite the night for Rhodes. Would be nice to see some continual pop from him.

I know Billy Cook is a couple of years older than Rhodes but he seems to be emerging as an under the radar player.   He can run a little and looks to have a plus arm and power.   Any feelings on him as well?

[emmett16]

Is Rhodes the kid from Kentucky that had a fairly gnarly injury right after-or-before being drafted?  Off to the interests for more info. 

[emmett16]

4 minutes ago, emmett16 said:

Is Rhodes the kid from Kentucky that had a fairly gnarly injury right after-or-before being drafted?  Off to the interests for more info. 

Nothing on the injury but a good article nonetheless:

https://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2023/jul/10/former-chattanooga-christian-star-john-rhodes-a/

[cboemmeljr]

3 hours ago, RZNJ said:

I know Billy Cook is a couple of years older than Rhodes but he seems to be emerging as an under the radar player.   He can run a little and looks to have a plus arm and power.   Any feelings on him as well?

I think he is one to keep an eye on.  Currently slashing  .260/  .332/  .442/  .774 with a 110 wRC+

He hits the ball to all fields fairly equally.

I'm sure @Tony-OH can break him down on more levels.

[Tony-OH]

13 hours ago, RZNJ said:

I know Billy Cook is a couple of years older than Rhodes but he seems to be emerging as an under the radar player.   He can run a little and looks to have a plus arm and power.   Any feelings on him as well?

I don't know if I'd call Cook a prospect, but he is a good draft pick for a 10th rounder. He's versatile, has occasional pop, is ok defensively in the outfield, and has shown the ability to hit a little despite having too much swing and miss. Good org guy overall for me.

[RZNJ]

12 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

I don't know if I'd call Cook a prospect, but he is a good draft pick for a 10th rounder. He's versatile, has occasional pop, is ok defensively in the outfield, and has shown the ability to hit a little despite having too much swing and miss. Good org guy overall for me.

Looks like he’s making better contact in AA (about 25% strikeout rate) than he did in A ball.   52 career stolen bases and only 7 caught in his relatively short career.    Lead off homer tonight.  OPS approaching .800 after a terrible April.     Not that Haskins or Rhodes have become top prospects but Cook seems to offer the same type of tools if not even better overall.

[Tony-OH]

12 hours ago, RZNJ said:

Looks like he’s making better contact in AA (about 25% strikeout rate) than he did in A ball.   52 career stolen bases and only 7 caught in his relatively short career.    Lead off homer tonight.  OPS approaching .800 after a terrible April.     Not that Haskins or Rhodes have become top prospects but Cook seems to offer the same type of tools if not even better overall.

He's been putting up pretty good numbers over the last few months and is a bit of a grinder. I agree that he's not too far away from those guys overall, but I'm not super high on either one of them either though I still like Haskins as a potential 4th outfielder type if he can stay healthy.

Rhodes probably has the most upside because of his age. 

Cook struggles a bit against more mature pitching so I'd need to see him in AAA before anointing him "one the prospect scene." Saying that, he's a bit of a grinder and his power, speed combo could get him into that 4th outfielder category if he can prove he can hit upper level AAA/AAAA pitching. 

[Hazmat]

At what point does Cook become threadworthy?  His OPS is now a tick above .800 and he has 16 doubles, 12 home runs, and 18 stolen bases on the year in AA.

[RZNJ]

26 minutes ago, Hazmat said:

At what point does Cook become threadworthy?  His OPS is now a tick above .800 and he has 16 doubles, 12 home runs, and 18 stolen bases on the year in AA.

I think I like his future more than Rhodes or Haskins.   He just keeps improving.