Creed Willems 2024

[RZNJ]

1 hour ago, btdart20 said:

A year or two ago Elias said something to the effect of liking to promote a guy later in the season so he can get a taste of the competition, experience struggles/failure, and have something to work for in the offseason.  Maybe that's what we're seeing here.

Except he wasn’t promoted late in the season last year.

His first game with Aberdeen last year was May 30.

Edited April 17 by RZNJ

[ChuckS]

21 minutes ago, RZNJ said:

Except he wasn’t promoted late in the season last year.

His first game with Aberdeen last year was May 30.

Yea.  I think Creed was so hot the first two months in Delmarva that they wanted to promote him quickly after his first taste of sustained success since he was repeating the level.  

I'd like to see him get AT LEAST half a season in Aberdeen regardless of his performance.  I wouldn't object to him playing the whole season in Aberdeen either. 

[Tony-OH]

On 4/16/2024 at 11:12 AM, Jim'sKid26 said:

What do we know about his current catch and throw skills? My recollection is that he was not a defensive wizard as a youngster. Have these improved? I also recall some questions about conditioning and the ability to be behind the plate during the Dog Days of summer. 

He's an excellent blocker, I've never seen any red flags with his receiving, and he threw out 35% of base stealers last year in Aberdeen (this year has not been good so far). He's a solid defensive catcher in my opinion.

[btdart20]

 

43 minutes ago, RZNJ said:

Except he wasn’t promoted late in the season last year.

His first game with Aberdeen last year was May 30.

I knew he was there for a more than a few weeks, but didn't think it was a few months.

[doccat]

I'm a thumbs down on the mullet....  

 

I'd prefer the ZZ Top type beard- that'd be quite a look...

[Frobby]

20 hours ago, ChuckS said:

Yea.  I think Creed was so hot the first two months in Delmarva that they wanted to promote him quickly after his first taste of sustained success since he was repeating the level.  

I'd like to see him get AT LEAST half a season in Aberdeen regardless of his performance.  I wouldn't object to him playing the whole season in Aberdeen either. 

I’d rather see him promoted to Bowie midseason if he’s performing well.  No point in getting ahead of ourselves though.  It’s been 8 games.  

[Hank Scorpio]

16 hours ago, doccat said:

I'm a thumbs down on the mullet....  

 

I'd prefer the ZZ Top type beard- that'd be quite a look...

How about both!??!?! 

[yark14]

22 hours ago, doccat said:

I'm a thumbs down on the mullet....  

 

I'd prefer the ZZ Top type beard- that'd be quite a look...

Mullets are awesome.  If you are lucky enough to be born looking almost exactly like Kenny Powers, you have an obligation to uphold it.

[RZNJ]

1. Creed looks to be in the best shape he’s ever been in as an Oriole.

2. 9 homers and a .910 OPS

3. 20% strikeout rate

4. .316 ISO

5. Only a .263 BABIP (so not lucky)

https://pressboxonline.com/2024/05/15/orioles-catching-prospect-creed-willems-credits-improved-approach-for-hot-start/

 

 

[Fiver6565]

My lettuce thread died a quick death the other night but I should have mentioned Creed along with Jackson and Heston as the minor league lettuce all stars. That’s one glorious head of hair on that kid. 

[sportsfan8703]

On 5/20/2024 at 6:16 PM, RZNJ said:

1. Creed looks to be in the best shape he’s ever been in as an Oriole.

2. 9 homers and a .910 OPS

3. 20% strikeout rate

4. .316 ISO

5. Only a .263 BABIP (so not lucky)

https://pressboxonline.com/2024/05/15/orioles-catching-prospect-creed-willems-credits-improved-approach-for-hot-start/

 

 

I will agree about the best shape. He’s just 19 and has that “baby fat” face. Heck, Holliday sort of has that too. 

I think we unfairly judge Willems. He’s only 19 and catching full time in A+. He’s not a two level a year player. Even just being a one level per year guy, maybe more, he’s still on pace to hit AAA at 21/22. He can’t help that he’s the guy that we “threw” our draft savings at one year. Also, he’s a catcher. Generally, they move slower. Jonah Heim was on a similar path. Not saying he will be Heim. 

[Tony-OH]

He's been struggling the last 30 days slashing just .167/.319/.247/.566 with 19K and 6 BB over 82 PAs. He's hit just two homers over this span.

Watching him, he's struggling with breaking balls and offspeed and looks pretty non competitive against lefties for the most part.

There's talent in there, but he's going to need more time at High-A before being considered for promotion. 

[Tony-OH]

38 minutes ago, sportsfan8703 said:

I will agree about the best shape. He’s just 19 and has that “baby fat” face. Heck, Holliday sort of has that too. 

I think we unfairly judge Willems. He’s only 19 and catching full time in A+. He’s not a two level a year player. Even just being a one level per year guy, maybe more, he’s still on pace to hit AAA at 21/22. He can’t help that he’s the guy that we “threw” our draft savings at one year. Also, he’s a catcher. Generally, they move slower. Jonah Heim was on a similar path. Not saying he will be Heim. 

He's 21 years old, not 19. This would have been his junior draft year so the way to look at is he's going to have over 900 professional PAs before he would have been drafted. Who knows how he would have done in college, but he's definitely gotten more development time than he would have had he gone to college.

Looking at his skill set, I'd guess he would have ended up 3-5th round pick this year with teams hoping his power and good arm would translate at the pro level. 

All in all, he got more money to sign out of high school and now has more developmental PAs. He made the right choice to sign. 

He's still a prospect.

[RZNJ]

37 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

He's 21 years old, not 19. This would have been his junior draft year so the way to look at is he's going to have over 900 professional PAs before he would have been drafted. Who knows how he would have done in college, but he's definitely gotten more development time than he would have had he gone to college.

Looking at his skill set, I'd guess he would have ended up 3-5th round pick this year with teams hoping his power and good arm would translate at the pro level. 

All in all, he got more money to sign out of high school and now has more developmental PAs. He made the right choice to sign. 

He's still a prospect.

You could be right but Creed just turned 21 one week ago so he’d be one of the youngest college players in this draft.  Since we have no idea what kind of numbers Creed would put up in college let’s do a reverse lookup.  In 2022 both Keven Parada and Daniel Susan were first round catchers.  In their first full season at age 22, Parada put up a .787 OPS in 87 games.  Susac put up an .810 OPS in 97 games.  Willems at a year younger has a .773 OPS in 47 games.

Edited June 11 by RZNJ

[LookinUp]

1 hour ago, RZNJ said:

You could be right but Creed just turned 21 one week ago so he’d be one of the youngest college players in this draft.  Since we have no idea what kind of numbers Creed would put up in college let’s do a reverse lookup.  In 2022 both Keven Parada and Daniel Susan were first round catchers.  In their first full season at age 22, Parada put up a .787 OPS in 87 games.  Susac put up an .810 OPS in 97 games.  Willems at a year younger has a .773 OPS in 47 games.

Tony just said he's still a prospect. I'm sure whatever draft position he would fall to would be highly dependent on how he actually performed in college. Maybe he would still be uncompetitive against lefties, or maybe he would have faced some guys that were easy to barrel.

It really doesn't matter. I liked the post about him being a 1 level a year guy. It doesn't have to be precisely correct to get the point across. Crede Willems is not an elite prospect, but he's a guy who could continue to develop and have a ML career if his development goes well. You love to have that in this org, particularly at catcher and on a timeline at least a year+ behind Basallo.

Hopefully he just keeps putting in the work.