2024-2025 Winter Ball - Arizona, Latin America, Australia, etc

andyb 2024-11-16 14:13:04 UTC #89

They can certainly do that if they have power. It is just harder to do it as a speed player when you cannot do much damage with a first pitch fastball. Power hitters gain that OBP by being pitched around.

I would not put much stock in a Crawford HR at elevation in an tournament with uncertain quality opposition. He does not need to be a 30 HR guy, but I do think he may need to be a 15 HR guy that can also bunt enough to keep his average in the 270-300 range. That is a really good player assuming the CF defense grades out well. We'll need to see more of that to judge whether he is closer to Rojas or Marsh defensively or (most likely) somewhere in between.

rpmcmurphy 2024-11-16 14:59:19 UTC #90

The stat line that his father Carl put up (.290/.335/.435) over 15 seasons would be great. We shouldn’t be messing with his swing too much. Having a father who is a former successful big leaguer means that he has already had elite coaching his whole life. Don’t mess with the kid’s head. If they do then we could wind up with Scott Kingery 2.0.

zambonir 2024-11-16 16:00:08 UTC #91

If it was easy every hitter would figure it out and no team would tinker. I think the issue - expressed by some of the scouts and prospect lists already - is that with his current ground ball profile Crawford simply won't ever be as good as his father (let alone hit where PC wants him to be). But he also doesn't have to be either if he is in fact an everyday, plus CF. There was hope his bat may yet play in a corner, and maybe that's just not something worth pursuing (or maybe he works just as well as Marsh if he provides elite defense in RF or LF).

The kid is still only 20 years old with 40 games in AA, so it's the next 80 that will be telling.

Austinfan 2024-11-16 16:27:05 UTC #92

You can tweak swing mechanics, Schmidt noted he changed his mechanics three times in his ML career.
Or look at Schwarber last season, adjustments to make more contact.
On the other hand, Howard couldn't adjust as he aged, remained a dead pull hitter and pitchers exploited that.

The problem came when hitting coaches went gaga over elevation, swinging for HRs isn't a tweak but a total re-invention. And it makes contact more difficult for most hitters.

With Crawford, a slight change in bat angle could play major dividends, you're not trying to turn him into a power hitter, you're trying to turn GBs into line drives. Though with two strikes, with his speed, I'd much rather have him "slap" GBs than strike out.

phillychuck 2024-11-16 20:12:08 UTC #93

The key with Schmidt is HE tweaked his swing. I don't have any problem with Crawford working on his own mechanics, I DO have a problem with know-it-all coaches trying to change every hitter into a clone of whatever their ideal is, which happens too frequently in modern baseball. Having worked for 40 years as a coach at the high school level (in basketball) and attended more than 100 workshops or conferences, I can tell you for sure that when two experts spoke back-to-back on shooting technique, for example, there usually wasn't more than 20% agreement in their ideas. The best guys would give you a few basics and tell you to let the shooters work out what details (foot placement, thumb position, off hand mechanics, load position, finger "feel" on release, etc.) worked for them. The bad guys would insist that only their ideas worked. I think a lot of the driveline guys and the analytics guys are the bad type. And, historically, the Phils have broken more prospects than they have helped.

julio 2024-11-18 16:47:56 UTC #94

23 posts were split to a new topic: Kyle Schwarber and Fiddling with Swing Mechanics

zambonir 2024-11-18 03:44:20 UTC #112

I just hope Schwarber's time in Winter Ball this year pays off.

phillychuck 2024-11-18 07:38:09 UTC #114

Hahaha,,,this did start from a winter ball conversation about tweaking Crawford's swing...

Taudawg 2024-11-18 11:16:55 UTC #115

Maybe this will get the thread back on topic - maybe nothing, hard to tell from video.

DurhamBull 2024-11-18 13:10:49 UTC #117

As the one who helped steer this thread off topic, thanks!

I hope Rojas isn't seriously injured. I think he has a lot of promise and I want to see what he can do. He's such an asset when he can get on base.

zambonir 2024-11-18 13:41:29 UTC #118

That is too bad for Rojas. Hopefully not serious. He probably wasn't going to play that many games (he only played five in 2022. Last year De La Cruz played four for the same team). So hopefully he just gets healed. They will probably want him to just get to Clearwater if it's not minor. Given they said he was going to live there in the off-season I wonder if the Phillies were eager to have him there or if it was more that they couldn't stop him from going home for a while so he may as well play.

andyb 2024-11-18 17:24:52 UTC #119

On the video you can see him grimace as he tried to get out of the box on that ground ball. That might mean more ankle than hamstring I guess. Hopefully nothing serious. He is one of the major league roster players that needs more at bats rather than winter rest.

andyb 2024-11-18 17:55:08 UTC #120

As anticipated, Painter is Pitcher of the Year in Arizona.

https://www.mlb.com/milb/news/andrew-painter-named-2024-arizona-fall-league-pitcher-of-the-year

andyb 2024-11-19 17:31:28 UTC #121

Looks like Rojas was back in there yesterday so no injury issues. Crawford's next round in the Premiere 13 tournament starts tomorrow (but no idea when that is on the East coast).

Rojas 4-6 yesterday in an extra inning game so clearly healthy again.

Crawford's HR from last week here:

JUSTIN CRAWFORD’S TURN #Premier12 pic.twitter.com/NZhVTRBu4R
— USA Baseball ( @USABaseball ) November 15, 2024

fish 2024-11-26 14:45:59 UTC #122

Interesting that BA’s AFL “pitchers of intrigue” write up they included Jason Ruffcorn with Painter. He got hit around as a 25 year old but maybe he found something striking out 21 in 13 innings. He certainly was complimentary for the things the Mariners have done for his development.

andyb 2024-12-02 17:49:04 UTC #123

Rojas has had a pretty good stretch. He is now hitting .306 for the season (15-49) with 3 BBs and 14 Ks. 7 SBs. Modest power for a 787 OPS.

Panama has also started their league and Eduardo Tait is playing for Aguilas Metropolitanas. Team is 2-0 so far. Their webpage is here (without too much in the way of stats). Sosa is listed on the reserve roster and is on the video introduction on their website but doubt he will play much.

https://www.aguilasmetropolitanas.com/

andyb 2024-12-05 20:22:13 UTC #124

Steve Potter has found more winter leagues in Nicaragua and Colombia. Jhailyn Ortiz is playing in Colombia though the more interesting current prospect down there is Nolan Beltran (735 OPS in FCL last year at age 19).

fish 2024-12-10 21:43:54 UTC #125

The elusive decent video of Painter in the AFL. A thing of beauty.

https://x.com/PhilsPlayerDev/status/1860057704288678218

phillychuck 2024-12-11 11:16:59 UTC #126

First comment below the video is speculating his release is such that it puts his arm health in danger. ("another TJ in 2 years") I'm not good enough to see any danger signs there...anyone agree with the poster?

fish 2024-12-11 14:59:26 UTC #127

Nah. His delivery/arm stroke is very similar to Verlander, but with what looks like less of a shoulder tilt (which is a little more efficient). I don’t love the long arm stroke behind him but verlander does the same and he seems to hide the ball well with what he’s doing.

He falls off to his glove side after he throws. Once he tightens that up his delivery should look a little smoother, but if it was really bad he’d have control problems. again Verlander does this too, just a little less.

At the end of the day, he’s 6’7” and throws 100 mph. If he will last will depend more on god-given gift than anything minor in his delivery.