2021 General Minor League Discussion

[phillychuck]

I'm not too happy to hear that Yhoswar Garcia is 20 lbs lighter than Davonta Smith. They call him wiry-strong, but a 150 lb kid is unlikely to hold up for the normal MLB season.

[andyb]

That weight does not matter to me as much and he easily could be 10-20 pounds more these days also. Big question is more whether there is workable mid-range power there like with Johan Rojas. He does not seem to be a Tocci type where the bat just gets knocked out of his hands.

No idea whether he is a good prospect (and the whole age and bonus thing is obviously concerning), but we just are going to need several prospects like Rojas and Garcia to get one good major leaguer. Starting with guys that can play some D is not the worst place to be and it is interesting that the Phillies did not try to renegotiate the bonus like most overage players. That could mean the Phillies are trying to save face, but it also means they still like him as a prospect.

[allentown]

That could mean the Phillies are trying to save face, but it also means they still like him as a prospect.

I'd like to be proven wrong, but I'm a skeptic. They undoubtedly have a plus scouting report, but that also was written thinking he was a year younger than he is. That's what his bonus was based upon. At age 16, a year makes a big difference, especially for a skinny LA kid who had to wait another year to sign, so we don't know what if anything the Phillies were allowed to, or the buscone was willing to, do to see that he added weight and strength over that year. Than he basically sat another season due to Covid. If he's not 10-20 pounds heavier than the listed wait, that's a problem. Not convinced he's anything more than an over-aged Tocci.

As I recall, the Phillies did not make an effort to reclaim the multi-millions in bonus $ wasted on the two Koreans, whom Phillies staff said didn't look like the guys they had signed, when they arrived state-side.

It would mean more if the plus review of how he's doing in Extended ST was from a more unbiased observer than Bonifay. Organizational face-saving could prompt the big review.

[zambonir]

I think not pulling back from the bonus was probably pure politics. Whoever fooled them is someone they still need to have a relationship with, or perhaps the person they have a relationship with was also fooled. Or maybe the kid just literally didn't know his birthdate! I would also like to think there were other teams ready to sign him at that number if the Phillies had lowered theirs. Otherwise you'd think they had the leverage to squeeze him.

[bkox]

Bryson Stott (offense), Bailey Falter (pitching) and Luke Williams (defense) are @Phillies players of the month for May. @IronPigs @ReadingFightins

— Tom Housenick ( @TomHousenick ) June 5, 2021

[Lucky_Beagle]

I am just impressed the Phillies organization can have a defensive player of the month at any level

[fish]

If he's not 10-20 pounds heavier than the listed wait, that's a problem. Not convinced he's anything more than an over-aged Tocci.

For whatever reason it seems to take a few years for media records to update the weight of Latin players after they sign. Whatever he weighs now, he’s shredded. It’s a matter of will his power be 15 homers or 20+. He’s behind the curve developmentally because of the time he’s missed, but I can confidently say his body type is nothing like Tocci.

[andyb]

US beats Canada. Venezuela tonight for an Olympic spot:

Williams 7-13, 2 BB, and this (1 HR):
https://twitter.com/WBSC/status/1400973188234764291

And Saturday update. US beats Venezuela 4-2 and qualifies for the Olympics. Williams only 1-5 in the final but did score one of the runs. Todd Frazier 4-4 with a 2B and HR was the offensive star. Matthew Liberatore pitched well in the start. And old friend David Robertson closed it out. Anibal Sanchez took the loss. Probably a good idea we passed on him.

USA Baseball qualifies for Tokyo Olympics with win over Venezuela

https://olympicbaseballqualifier.wbsc.org/en/2021/e-2021-americas-baseball-olympic-qualifier/schedule-and-results/box-score/13280

[allentown]

That's a relief.

[Squire]

I am of the belief that Logan O'Hoppe got jobbed by not making this week's BA Prospect Hot Sheet.

[andyb]

No love for Baron Radcliffe's last 6 games: 2-10, HR, 18 BB, 4 Ks? The classic 200/714/500 slash. Deserves a helium watch at least. He is tied for 5th in the minors in BBs though he started late and most starters have 30 more plate appearances.

Stott actually has 1 more BB (29) with the minor league lead being 30. That has been the biggest surprise about Stott to me. Like JP Crawford, he could actually be a useful offensive player even if the power never develops beyond 10-15 HR a year. There is value in a high OBP.

[julio]

I was doing a routine update of my minor league rosters, and noted that, as of June 1st, every player on the GCL Phillies West roster has been transferred to the GCL Phillies East roster. The GCL West roster is empty.

Have we seen any reports concerning whether the Phils will field one, as opposed to two, complex teams this summer?

[bkox]

Have we seen any reports concerning whether the Phils will field one, as opposed to two, complex teams this summer?

MILB GCL countdown page lists two:

The Official Site of the Gulf Coast League

[julio]

Have we seen any reports concerning whether the Phils will field one, as opposed to two, complex teams this summer?

MILB GCL countdown page lists two:

The Official Site of the Gulf Coast League

Yes, I've seen that. But it's not clear to me whether that list of teams has been updated in the past year. There are no games listed under the "schedule" tab., and no actual news articles posted since January 2020.

At this point, I frankly don't know how they would populate a second Complex roster. I've only identified 11 guys who are listed as "Phillies Organization" who aren't on either one of the other domestic rosters (AAA, AA, A+, A, GCL East) or on the Dominican rosters. The GCL East roster only has 22 players on it as of now. I can't imagine they're going to bring 20 additional kids in from the Dominican later this month - even if they wanted to, the visa/COVID issues would likely preclude that. The draft isn't until July.

So, if I had to guess, based on what I'm seeing, I don't see how they have two Complex teams. They don't seem to have the bodies.

[andyb]

Matt Winkelman's depth chart has the number in the low 40s (43) for players in extended:

Phillies Depth Chart

They would probably need to bring that close to 60 to have two teams. PhuturePhillies is noting the season goes from 6/28 to 9/12, so the length of season might be a little over 60 which is somewhat longer than in the past. I just wonder why they have not started these games already. There should have been no reason to wait since new draftees are not part of the picture.

I think with all the injuries it is just really tough to field more than 5 teams with a 180-player organizational limit.

Probably still going to have 2 DSL teams though.

[julio]

Hmmm. There are discrepancies between Matt's depth chart and the rosters cuurently on milb.com - and kind of "both ways." For instance, the GCL East roster lists RHP Carlos Betancourt, but when I look at the actual transactions, he was assigned to GCL East in June of 2019. Is he really still on that roster? Matt lists him as being in the Dominican.

On the other hand, Matt lists Camilo Brazabon as in the Dominican, while he shows on the GCL East roster - and the transactions list him as being assigned there... last week, on June 1... so it's reasonable to conclude that he's really on that roster.

Whatever. I agree that, regardless of these little discrepancies, there aren't enough players there to fill two rosters - and that's before you discount the inevitable injuries.

Do we know when the DSL will begin play? I Googled, and wasn't able to find much of anything.

[allentown]

A lot of the guys to fill out the two teams will come from the draft and the signing of undrafted players.

[andyb]

Do we know when the DSL will begin play?

PhuturePhillies says 7/12 through 10/2. Since those dates are different than in the past I imagine Jim got it from the Phillies.

[julio]

Do we know when the DSL will begin play?

PhuturePhillies says 7/12 through 10/2. Since those dates are different than in the past I imagine Jim got it from the Phillies.

Thanks, andyb!

[bkox]

Per BA's reporting, the Phillies will have only 1 GCL team. Only teams with two GCL teams are the Tigers, Orioles, and Pirates. Royals, Giants, and Brewers in the AZL complete the group with 2 complex league teams.

— Matt Winkelman ( @Matt_Winkelman ) June 14, 2021