FCL Orioles 2024

[jabba72]

41 minutes ago, RZNJ said:

Son of a gun.  I was just going to find Frobby’s double digit strikeout thread and post this.  

I thought of it but decided the FCL thread was more relevant. But your more than welcome to.

[Frobby]

Bonus baby Luis Almeyda is having a disappointing FCL campaign (.154/.294/.291), but he does lead the team in homers with 5, a pretty good total for an 18-year old.   He has two homers and a double in the last three games.   

[Tony-OH]

1 hour ago, Frobby said:

Bonus baby Luis Almeyda is having a disappointing FCL campaign (.154/.294/.291), but he does lead the team in homers with 5, a pretty good total for an 18-year old.   He has two homers and a double in the last three games.   

His K rate is pretty abysmal and his 1 double to go along with his awful average and OBP suggests he's a mistake hitter hunting fastball most likely. He's been a pretty big disappointment for sure. At least he's showing some pop, but he's going to need a major rebound next year or he's going to be mentioned with Maikol Hernandez among bonus baby busts. some of these kids just take more time, but his professional numbers have been pretty bad while playing at age. Just goes to show how much of crapshoot that DSL process is down there when Estrada is the best positional prospect behind Basallo and he was had for $175 K.

[Sports Guy]

32 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

His K rate is pretty abysmal and his 1 double to go along with his awful average and OBP suggests he's a mistake hitter hunting fastball most likely. He's been a pretty big disappointment for sure. At least he's showing some pop, but he's going to need a major rebound next year or he's going to be mentioned with Maikol Hernandez among bonus baby busts. some of these kids just take more time, but his professional numbers have been pretty bad while playing at age. Just goes to show how much of crapshoot that DSL process is down there when Estrada is the best positional prospect behind Basallo and he was had for $175 K.

Give me 10 200K guys over 1 2M guy any day.

[Tony-OH]

32 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

Give me 10 200K guys over 1 2M guy any day.

And I truly think that has been Elias and Koby's thought process for the most part. It's a numbers game. I think the 200-500K guys seem to be the sweet spot for guys that have popped a little or at least shown the best. So far Basallo has been the only Million-plus bonus baby to really pop. 

It's just so hard to project out tools for kids that are 14 and 15 because some of them look fantastic, then but peak out at 17 or 18, while others start to really peak out at 20-21. I always try and remember that Adley Rutschman slashed .234/.322/.306/.629 as a 19-year old Freshman in Oregon State. Grant it he was playing against a lot of 20-22 year olds, but still it goes to show that show guys don't really start to mature until they hit their 20s.

Now, if guys have really poor stats against age specific talent like we've seen from a lot of the failing bonus babies, then that's a red flag, particularly if they K-BB ratio is really poor. 

I wonder if anyone has done a study to see what the % of million bonus babies out of Latin America make it vs the lower bonus players. I'm sure the Orioles have done something.

[btdart20]

33 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

Elias and Koby's

I wonder how much Koby was actually involved with Almeyda (other than the cost center the money was charged to) considering he's from NJ.

Maybe it's more like a Carter Young target.

[Rbiggs2525]

Almeyda has been on a little hot streak recently. Great to see.

[glenn__davis]

Almeyda slashing .271/.415/.458 in July.  Hasn't homered in a bit but 5 HRs in 142 AB is pretty impressive for an 18 year old.  Will be interesting to see where they start him next season.  I doubt he makes the move to Delmarva with the FCL season ending soon.

[Rbiggs2525]

1 hour ago, glenn__davis said:

Almeyda slashing .271/.415/.458 in July.  Hasn't homered in a bit but 5 HRs in 142 AB is pretty impressive for an 18 year old.  Will be interesting to see where they start him next season.  I doubt he makes the move to Delmarva with the FCL season ending soon.

Wouldn’t be a horrible idea. Seems like the kids struggled his whole career so why not struggle there too.

[RZNJ]

50 minutes ago, Rbiggs2525 said:

Wouldn’t be a horrible idea. Seems like the kids struggled his whole career so why not struggle there too.

His “whole career” consists of 65 games interrupted by labrum surgery.   

[Frobby]

52 minutes ago, RZNJ said:

His “whole career” consists of 65 games interrupted by labrum surgery.   

Are you sure Almeyda had labrum surgery?  I don’t recall that.  I do remember him having some injuries last year.  

[RZNJ]

23 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Are you sure Almeyda had labrum surgery?  I don’t recall that.  I do remember him having some injuries last year.  

More

First Round Redraft For The Second Half!(5:34)Share

Almeyda underwent season-ending surgery on his left shoulder Thursday, Jake Rill of MLB.com reports.

The 17-year-old wound up playing just 19 games in Dominican Summer League this season due to a previous ankle injury and now shoulder surgery. Almeyda -- who broke an Oriolesrecord for an international signee with a $2.3 million bonus in January -- is expected to be ready for the start of next season.

 

[86this]

30 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Are you sure Almeyda had labrum surgery?  I don’t recall that.  I do remember him having some injuries last year.  

Saw this from Melewski back in early May 2024.

https://www.masnsports.com/blog/a-look-at-the-orioles-florida-complex-league-roster

[Frobby]

15 minutes ago, 86this said:

Saw this from Melewski back in early May 2024.

https://www.masnsports.com/blog/a-look-at-the-orioles-florida-complex-league-roster

It definitely appears he had shoulder surgery.  Whether it was a labrum or something else isn’t clear.  I guess it’s irrelevant to @RZNJ’s point, which is that Almeyda had a serious interruption of his career last season.  

I’m really happy he’s having a strong July and I hope he runs through the tape in the final week and a half.   Either way, I’d be tempted to start him in the FCL again next year.   He can always be moved to Delmarva after a few weeks if he’s thriving down there. 
 

[linedrive]

Just curious to see if anyone has any info on today's 6-5 loss (7/20/24). Looks like the O's affiliate had a 5-4 lead going into the 7th inning, and they brought in their shortstop for the save. This was the second position player they used in this game. Are they short on pitchers? Or are they trying to find out if these position players can be converted to pitchers? Part of player development? Seems strange to lose a game like this. The team has been struggling and it kind of looks like they were giving it away.