Cleveland Sports Forum

BA posts scouting reports of the top 25 International prospects. None is projected to sign the Indians.

My memory may be off here, but seems to me we traded someone some of our international signing pool money in one of our deals last year.

If so, may explain why we don’t have any of the top rated guys.

But honestly, we rarely do, and we seem to do alright any way.

We have been doing exceptionally well in recent years. Each team has the same pool of $ [but as you say with the right to trade some of it away] so the quality of scouting is especially important.


Turns out I'm not quite right; smaller market teams get bigger pools. I found an article listing pools in 2019-20 which were set about April 10. So I suppose this year's will be announced soon. We were in the biggest pool and will be again, unless we sold some of the cap.

If you can open it, here's a link to a Baseball America prospect video on Nolan Jones

https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories ... dium=email

Or perhaps this is the entire transcript:

SCOUT: From the day he stepped into pro ball, Jones had an impressive approach at the plate. He seems like a real student of the game in the box.

Jones follows pitch sequences well and sits on pitches he can handle. He makes the most of his opportunities in the box with a plus approach. He shows plus raw power in BP but really only gets to his power on mistakes in the game. Again, has shown the ability to really capitalize on his chances and doesn’t miss what he shouldn’t miss.

There is some length to the swing and I have seen him get beat by velocity on the inner half of the plate. You can’t let him get his arms extended in the zone and he doesn’t really chase outside of the zone much at all, so it’s a small window where you can get him out.

My biggest concern is that guys in the big leagues who can really command their fastballs inside might give him some trouble. He is going to have to kill righthanders to cover up the fact he doesn’t like lefthanders much at all. He is still young and does compete against lefties but clearly is much better against righthanders.

Watching him live, he takes a much more confident, commanded at-bat against righthanders than lefthanders. It’s night and day at times in the ballpark, especially against lefties who have some velocity and a sharp slider. It’s more a rhythm-based, timing swing than pure bat speed but again, he is a smart hitter and can time up pitches well. You are going to have to beat him in the zone and he isn’t going to get himself out.

This guy can really throw the baseball. It’s a double-plus arm when he needs it from third base. His feet are a little heavy and he will be challenged ranging side to side. He is a better runner than he is a mover in small spaces and could see him moving out to right field and profiling as a solid everyday player there. His hands are solid and he makes the routine play well. Biggest concern for me is the lateral range at third base.

Everything else checks all the boxes there. No reason to think if the first step quickness and lateral range isn’t enough at the big league level at 3B, he can’t run around the outfield with plenty of arm to be a weapon in RF.

The kid seems to love baseball and you can see his baseball IQ immediately just by how he handles at-bats and works counts. There are no glaring weaknesses in his game, just some minor concerns on the range at third base, the struggles vs. lefthanders and the hole vs. velocity, especially inside. I love his approach to the game and he is a worker and think that his makeup and baseball smarts will give him every chance to reach his ceiling.

Overall, I see this guy as a solid-type everyday player who will do his damage vs. righthanders and have to compete on the days they face a lefty. If he stays at third base, his defense is always going to be average at best with the limited range.

Me, not a scout speaking here: I compare most 3rd baseman to my definition of "solid major league average: i.e. Casey Blake. Jones sounds rather Blakish, which means a good fit on a team with other stars.

A 2020 Minor League Baseball Season Grows More And More Unlikely

[and the financial future of minor league teams beyond is bleak, too]

If this were a normal year, the MiLB season would be one week old. But as we all know, there is nothing normal about 2020. And it’s becoming all too easy to imagine the complete 2020 season being cancelled.

While most everyone involved in MiLB is cautiously optimistic publicly, the reality is it is going to be quite difficult for any MiLB team to play at all this year. In off-the-record discussions with people all around the game, there is a near-universal acknowledgement that there are a massive amount of hurdles that have to be overcome to make any MiLB season happen.

Public pronouncements in recent days make the resumption of the season difficult. Multiple governors have said they find it unlikely that mass events, including sporting events, will be allowed in the next several months. In an interview with Snapchat this week, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said that sports will only return this summer in very controlled circumstances with no fans.

That’s only the first hurdle. Many MiLB leagues stretch across numerous states. Getting approval from each state, county and city to resume adds several additional logistical hurdles—the South Atlantic League (a league that plays in 14 cities in seven states) or Pacific Coast League (which has 16 teams in 11 states) can’t easily resume if only half of its teams are in areas where mass meetings are allowed.

Even if somehow those issues were resolved and MiLB leagues were cleared by local and state governments to play, there are further obstacles. MLB teams would have to decide they are comfortable sending players to travel from town to town for a MiLB season.

MLB has studied ways to play fan-free MLB games where its teams would stay isolated from the public at large, possibly by staying at their spring training sites. Even for MLB, the idea of playing games at its own stadiums, which are spread across 26 different metropolitan areas, seems unfeasible in the near future, which is why it has discussed the idea of playing all games in the Phoenix metropolitan area.

The hurdles of having MLB teams play at their home stadiums are small compared to those faced by the minor leagues. MiLB games take place in more than 150 cities and towns all around the country. While MLB teams fly from city to city on chartered planes, Triple-A teams fly commercially, while almost every other team buses from city to city. If the plan is to potentially keep MLB players isolated from the community at large, there’s no real way to do the same with MiLB players playing outside of the MLB teams' spring training complexes.

Without a massive change in the health and safety environments of communities all around the country, it’s hard to see when MLB is going to be comfortable sending players on the road (and whether players would be comfortable to go).

But even if governments approve letting MiLB teams play and if MLB agrees to send players out and if those players are comfortable going, there’s still one further hurdle for MiLB teams. Will fans be willing to come to games in significant numbers before a vaccine has been developed and distributed?

Fan-free games might work in the major leagues, where TV revenues are significant. In the minors, they are a non-starter. MiLB relies on packing fans into the stands on its most successful weekend dates and using those full houses to make up for the sparse crowds on less-attended days. Spacing out a few hundred or even a thousand fans around the park is a money loser.

MiLB teams rely on the fireworks nights, bobblehead giveaways and holiday weekends to produce a significant amount of their in-season revenue. Theoretically, there may be scenarios where teams see modest revenue (and potentially non-profitable games) as better than no revenue, but it’s very hard for MiLB to make sparsely attended games successful.

All of these issues make it difficult for MiLB teams to play games this summer. And unlike MLB, which has discussed pushing the season end back significantly (to November or even December) if needed to get games in, such an option is unrealistic in the minor leagues.

There are no domed stadiums in the minor leagues. Geographically, many MiLB cities are in areas where the weather becomes downright cold in October. More importantly, the current and expiring Professional Baseball Agreement does not allow games to go past the end of September.

So that’s the bad news for minor league teams.

But it gets even worse.

If MiLB does not play games in 2020, the economics in 2021 will become much more dire, even if the country has somehow put the coronavirus pandemic into the past and the situation returns to normal next spring.

MiLB teams, especially in full-season ball, had just finished their offseason sales of advertisements, promotions and season tickets when the coronavirus shutdown hit.

When the season was delayed, teams all across the country began calling their advertisers and ticket holders. The message was generally the same whether the conversation was taking place for a Pacific Coast League club or one in the Carolina League: Don’t worry, we’ll make sure to take care of you.



Without a season, the best way for minor league teams to take care of season ticket-holders and advertisers is to offer make-goods for 2021. With no 2020 season, an advertiser who has paid in full has effectively already paid for 2021. One who has made a partial payment is due a refund or some other make-good.

The same is true for the sponsor of the picnic area or the between-inning sumo promotion. A season ticket-holder or mini-group ticket buyer who paid in full for this year gets to roll over those purchases for 2021 (and likely will get a bonus of extra tickets or credits to spend on concessions as an inducement to roll the tickets over rather than ask for a refund).

That’s the best-case scenario for MiLB teams, but even that means cutting dramatically into next year’s revenues. Many teams have longstanding relationships with their season ticket-holders and advertisers and have modest churn from year to year.

It means next year’s sales season begins in an almost impossible hole. Every wall sign or ticket already committed for 2021 is one that can’t be sold next year. Such rollovers will guarantee that teams next year will have less than normal revenue as well.

For those ticket buyers and advertisers who aren’t willing to push their ads and tickets into next year, the other alternative is a refund. For minor league teams, that’s means returning money at a time when teams are struggling to have the cash flow to meet payroll.

There is a modest bit of good news for teams.

No season this year will also lead to reduced expenses for next year. Most teams had already spent on uniforms, giveaways and other of the thousands of items that are needed to get ready for a season. Most of those are durable goods that can be used next year instead.

But the reduction in expenses doesn’t come close to matching the reduction in revenue. With no season, MiLB teams face an entire year with almost no income (other than the modest revenue that comes from merchandise sales). Already, many teams around the country have begun to furlough or lay off significant numbers of full-time employees. Many successful teams with large full-time staffs have found they don’t have the cash flow or the reserves to keep meeting payroll month after month.

For many teams, the federal government’s payroll protection program is providing a cash influx to keep people employed for now—although some MiLB teams who are owned in large part by their MLB teams may have issues qualifying as a small business. There have been discussions of MiLB teams potentially receiving further help from the federal government, although nothing is certain.

Without outside help, multiple MiLB operators predict that the layoffs will increase dramatically if the season is eventually cancelled. With no season (and cancellation of the concerts, beerfests and other events that many teams have added in recent years), there’s no income to provide cash flow to pay employees.

There also will be virtually nothing for those employees to do—the lack of a 2021 schedule until a new Professional Baseball Agreement is finalized with MLB adds to uncertainty.

Around the country, a large number of teams will likely prune back to a very minimal staff, with the hope that they can survive to the resumption of baseball, hoping they can add staff back quickly at that point.
It’s a bleak prognosis, but it’s becoming an ever-increasing possibility

BA adds 6 more International prospects to the 25 previously written up. still none anticipated to sign with Cleveland.

You get to missing the young'ans, Civ, here is a good Podcast to listen to. Todd Paquette from @IndiansPro talking minor leaguers on Paul Hoynes' podcast.

https://www.cleveland.com/tribe/2020/04 ... dcast.html

Saw it. I'm surprised the attention he gives to Benson and Gonzalez although I guess we can agree that Benson's power and speed are awfully exciting if he can just hit the ball a lot more often. Great speed, power, arm, defense but that doesn't work with a sub-Branyan. He got around to Valera after those 2 although usually he's rated the top OF prospect. The two kids who are exciting that he didn't mention are C Bo Naylor and 2B Aaron Bracho.
An entirely absent season for these very young prospects could turn out to be devastating to their development.

Which MiLB Teams Are On The List To Be Eliminated? It's Impossible To Say

As MLB and MiLB continue to work to try to hammer out a deal on a new Professional Baseball Agreement, we at Baseball America are constantly asked which MiLB teams are on "the list" of teams slated to be dropped from affiliated ball if MLB gets its way to cut to 120 affiliated teams.

The simple answer is, there's no easy answer to that question.

The “list” is the 42 teams that are potentially not going to be part of the affiliated minor leagues if the two sides come to an agreement on the 120-team affiliated plan that MLB has proposed.

For one, there is as of yet no deal on a new Professional Baseball Agreement. Until there is a finalized agreement, there is no finalized list.

For now, any of the proposed lists that has been published are a snapshot of a moment in time. From our reporting, who is on and off of “the list” has continued to change.

There was initially a list of 42 teams MLB proposed last year, and since then there have been verifiable instances of teams moving on or off the running list (to get to MLB's desired 120 affiliated teams, for every team that moves off the list, another has to move on). The reasons for moving on and off the list have differed -- some teams have gotten facility improvements approved, others have demonstrated enough political pull to be given a second look and others simply may have proved to fit better into MLB’s goals for realigning leagues.




That could continue going forward. So a team that seems safely off the list right now could end up on a future version and vice versa.

There are currently 160 teams in affiliated baseball above the complex level (which are the Dominican Summer, Gulf Coast and Arizona Leagues). Ten of those teams in the Appalachian League are a unique case, as they are MLB-owned clubs who then enter into operations agreements with operators in those cities. MLB has long had the right to shut down the Appalachian League with six months notice, independent of any PBA negotiations.

For the other 150 teams, the MiLB teams themselves are all franchises that operate within Minor League Baseball. Major League Baseball agrees to provide players and coaches through the PBA, but the teams themselves are owned and operated independently (although some teams are owned by MLB owners).

Until there is an agreement between MLB and MiLB for a new PBA, there is no final number for how many teams will operate in affiliated baseball in 2021. Baseball America, the Associated Press and others have reported that the parameters of a potential deal would likely revolve around 120 affiliated teams. But that has not been finalized.

And if it is, it does not guarantee that it will provide a final list. The Associated Press is reporting that within the parameters of a new deal is the potential for a provision where full-season teams slated to be cut out of the 120 could be granted provisional licenses to be retained if they show the prospect of a new stadium or significant facility improvements.

those tentative 42 were:

Double-A

Binghamton Rumble Ponies
Chattanooga Lookouts
Erie SeaWolves
Jackson Generals

High Class A

Lancaster JetHawks
Daytona Tortugas
Florida Fire Frogs
Frederick Keys

Low Class A

Beloit Snappers
Burlington Bees
Clinton LumberKings
Lexington Legends
Hagerstown Suns
West Virginia Power

Short-Season: this is almost the entire NYPL although I don't see [Brooklyn or Aberdeen MD or Hudson Valley or West Virginia Black Bears i.e. Morgantown or Norwich CT

Auburn Doubledays
Batavia Muckdogs
Connecticut Tigers
Lowell Spinners
Mahoning Valley Scrappers
Salem-Keizer Volcanoes
State College Spikes
Staten Island Yankees
Tri-City Dust Devils
Vermont Lake Monsters
Williamsport Crosscutters

Rookie

Billings Mustangs
Bluefield Blue Jays
Bristol Pirates
Burlington Royals
Danville Braves
Elizabethton Twins
Grand Junction Rockies
Great Falls Voyagers
Greeneville Reds
Idaho Falls Chukars
Johnson City Cardinals
Kingsport Mets
Missoula Osprey
Ogden Raptors
Orem Owlz
Princeton Rays
Rocky Mountain Vibes

13 Breakout MLB Prospects With Top 100 Potential

Daniel Espino, RHP, Indians: Espino had some of the best pure stuff of any pitcher in the 2019 draft, where he went to the Indians with the No. 24 overall pick. His lively fastball reaches 99 mph and his breaking stuff has sharp, late movement to miss bats, while his changeup comes in firm but shows promise based on its action. Espino has a long arm stroke that gives some scouts pause about his future control, but if he's able to corral his stuff in the zone, he has the electric arsenal to pile up strikeouts.

Aaron Bracho, 2B, Indians: Two Indians international signings from their 2017 class—outfielder George Valera and shortstop Brayan Rocchio—have already flirted with Top 100 prospect status. A third member of that class, Bracho, is also a top 10 prospect in the organization and could take a significant leap if he keeps hitting once he gets to the low Class A Midwest League. An offensive-oriented second baseman, Bracho has a short, fluid swing from both sides of the plate and strong contact skills. His plate discipline also sticks out—he walked more than he struck out last year in the Rookie-level Arizona League—and makes him a potential high OBP threat in the middle of the diamond.

posted the same in the Draft folder

2020 ORG TALENT RANK: 19th

2019 MLB RECORD: 93-69

STATE OF THE SYSTEM: The Indians’ system is filled with youth and upside, especially among their Top 10 Prospects. Six of those players were born in the year 2000 or later, and none has played above Double-A. The group’s youth, tools and upside should make the progress of Cleveland’s minor leaguers extremely interesting over the next few years.

BEST DRAFT PICK OF THE DECADE: SS Francisco Lindor (first round, 2011). Lindor isn’t just the Indians’ best draft pick of the decade. He’s one of the best draft picks of the past decade, period. The 2011 No. 8 overall pick finished second in the 2015 Rookie of the Year voting, has finished among the top 10 in MVP balloting three times and has accrued 27.6 WAR (as measured by Baseball Reference) over his five-season career. Behind Lindor, the title probably goes to righthander Shane Bieber, who has developed into a top-end starter since the Indians took him in the fourth round of the 2016 draft.

WORST DRAFT PICK OF THE DECADE: LHP Brady Aiken (first round, 2015). After questionable MRI results in 2014 kept Aiken from signing with the Astros as the No. 1 overall pick, the Indians drafted the lefthander and signed him with the 17th pick in 2015. Aiken was coming off Tommy John surgery and didn’t make his pro debut until 2016. In the four seasons since his selection, Aiken has failed to advance past low Class A and has pitched all of 0.2 innings over the last two seasons.

DEEPEST POSITION(S): Middle infielders. By far, this category goes to middle infielders. Seven of their Top 30 Prospects are shortstops—including Top 10 Prospects Tyler Freeman, Brayan Rocchio and Gabriel Rodriguez. Two more—Aaron Bracho and Jose Tena—project as second basemen, giving the team nine prospects who should play up the middle in the big leagues. That means the team should have plenty of options to potentially replace Lindor, who is a free agent after next season.

WEAKEST POSITION(S): Center field. The Indians have a dearth of true center field prospects. George Valera and Oscar Gonzalez project as left fielders and Daniel Johnson and Will Benson should wind up in right field. None of the team’s Top 30 Prospects, however, have center field pedigree. With promising rookie Oscar Mercado in tow, however, they might not have to worry about that position for a while.

DRAFT TRENDS: The top of the Indians’ drafts in recent years has been predominantly populated by high schoolers. Fourteen of Cleveland’s top three picks over the past five years have come from the prep ranks. The only exception was Oregon State catcher Logan Ice, whom the Indians selected in the second supplemental round in 2016.

2020 DRAFT BONUS POOL RANK: 14th

Our 15th round pick last year, Troy Benton, recovering from Tommy John surgery, is now throwing.

He, a RHP from East Carolina, was a guy most people felt would go much higher. As high as 3rd or 4th round by some. So hopefully he gets back better than ever. Could be a potential sleeper.

OK, not earth shattering news, but not like there is much else going on...

No more 15th round picks. Can't believe the new 5 round draft is good for baseball.

Reduction in Minor League teams good for baseball?

Anybody know the % of Major Leaguers signed from outside the draft?

Well. off that list that civ provided of minor league teams slated to be eliminated I live 30 miles or so from Batavia (Muckdogs).

I can tell you that franchise has struggled for years and I'm surprised it's taken this long to eliminate them.

Wouldn't be surprised if there were a lot of those listed just like that.