Melewski’s international top 10

[Frobby]

Here’s the list, along with the year signed and Tony’s ranking among international prospects (which don’t include the 2024 signees). 
 

1.  Basallo (2021)(1)

2.  De Leon (2021)(3)

3. Almeyda (2023)(7)

4. Tavera (2022)(2)

5.  L. Arias (2022)(6)

6.  Liranzo (2023)(4)

7.  Sosa (2022)(5)

8.  Bencosme (2020)(21)

9.  E. Sanchez (2024)(NR)

10. S. Martínez (2024)(NR)

Write-ups of 2-10 here.  There was a separate write-up on Basallo yesterday.  Further rankings of 11-20 coming.  

[Just Regular]

I just googled for Dominican Republic population and got results ~11.5 million, a bit lower than the Los Angeles metro area.

Beisbol is life!

Japan's population is about 1/3 of the USA, and I do wonder if Shohei is capturing the imagination of any given 10-year old Japanese kid at more than triple the rate of an American kid, and how that might affect the mix of pitchers Samuel Basallo sees by the end of his career, or even Mike Elias looks to for replacements when Luis De Leon's years of Club control run out.

[RZNJ]

I would imagine that Melewski is getting input from Koby Perez or someone else in the organization.   I doubt he put this together by himself.  That's  not a knock on him.  Especially with Almeyda at #3 which is good to see.  

[Frobby]

1 hour ago, RZNJ said:

I would imagine that Melewski is getting input from Koby Perez or someone else in the organization.   I doubt he put this together by himself.  That's  not a knock on him.  Especially with Almeyda at #3 which is good to see.  

Well, Tony gets input from Perez et al. as well.  But I don’t think Tony just parrots whatever Perez tells him.  Not sure about Melewski.  

[Billy F-Face3]

Bencosme seems to be sliding down the list compared to last season.

Good seeing Almeyda living up to his top signing status so far.

[CaptainRedbeard]

The most interesting tidbits were that other teams were asking about De Leon and Liranzo in trades. There’s a trend in recent years where clubs like the Rays did a lot of scouting of opposing teams’ DSL/FCL leagues to target guys in trades before those teams really knew what they had. I think that’s a more well known strategy and less of a “market inefficiency” and a lot of teams do that now. De Leon obviously graduated from those levels last year so a bit different, but I think that’s noteworthy that other teams specifically like these guys as well. Maybe they read Tony’s write up of Liranzo 

Seems like a lot of great candidates for breakouts this year, Liranzo maybe at the top of that list. Should be starting to enter the time when the revamped international program really starts to pay off. 

[ThomasTomasz]

10 hours ago, Billy F-Face3 said:

Bencosme seems to be sliding down the list compared to last season.

Good seeing Almeyda living up to his top signing status so far.

When they promoted him in 2022 to Aberdeen to close the year, he struggled a bit- a little natural considering his progression that season and age versus competition.  

He also didnt improve much on that performance last year despite spending the whole season there.  Could be a variety of issues at play, but he made multiple top 500 fantasy lists over the 2022-23 off-season, and fell off almost all of those by the end of the season.  

I trust our development system to figure him out, so in those deep fantasy leagues I am holding him or looking to add him.  

[btdart20]

DeLeon at #2 is great to see.  Tony was pretty high on him as well (right after Povich) but with a 60-ceiling grade for now.  There's a case to be made that him hitting his ceiling would be the biggest win for future roster builds.

Given the A+/AA gap in MI talent, Bencosme is in a good put-up-or-shut-up position.  He'll get plenty of opportunities this year.  

[RZNJ]

12 minutes ago, ThomasTomasz said:

When they promoted him in 2022 to Aberdeen to close the year, he struggled a bit- a little natural considering his progression that season and age versus competition.  

He also didnt improve much on that performance last year despite spending the whole season there.  Could be a variety of issues at play, but he made multiple top 500 fantasy lists over the 2022-23 off-season, and fell off almost all of those by the end of the season.  

I trust our development system to figure him out, so in those deep fantasy leagues I am holding him or looking to add him.  

Bencosme was on fire at the end of the season so hopefully he figured something out and it carries over.

[Frobby]

International prospects 11-20:

11. Nunez (trade to O’s; Twins signed 2019)(8)

12. D. Cruz (2021)(19)

13. L. Sanchez (2019)(NR)

14. J. Mejia (2023)(20)

15. Morao (2023)(9)

16. A. De Los Santos (2021)(NR)

17. Mordan (2021)(23)

18. M. Hernandez (2021)(NR)

19. E. Garcia (2024)(NR)

20. A. Mejia (2023)(17)

So, 4 of Melewski’s 11-20 went unranked by Tony.  Garcia hadn’t been signed when Tony did his list, but Sanchez, De Los Santos and Hernandez all were.  

[sportsfan8703]

Who is the catcher that one site had in the top 10 catching prospects in the minors?  Not Basallo. 

[btdart20]

14 minutes ago, sportsfan8703 said:

Who is the catcher that one site had in the top 10 catching prospects in the minors?  Not Basallo. 

Adriander Mejia had a great first season at 16 y/o.  Maybe it was him?

Adriander Mejia Minor Leagues Statistics | Baseball-Reference.com

[sportsfan8703]

1 hour ago, btdart20 said:

Adriander Mejia had a great first season at 16 y/o.  Maybe it was him?

Adriander Mejia Minor Leagues Statistics | Baseball-Reference.com

Thanks.  It was either Mejia or Mordan.  Someone posted a list of top 10 catchers in the minors and it was surprising that one of them made it.