Cleveland Sports Forum

BA's list of the day is of Minor League Hitters With Traits to target in fantasy leagues" and includes some of the top position players, including:

Bo Naylor, C, Guardians

The 2018 first-rounder has put his rough 2021 season in the rear view with a breakout 2022. Naylor has a strong foundation of well-rounded plate skills, with plus bat-to-ball skills (79% contact rate), elite swing decisions (16% chase rate) and impact (103 mph 90th percentile exit velocity). Naylor has had a good statistical season but still may be underperforming his true talent based on his quality of contact, barrel accuracy and plate discipline. Naylor does not need to be added to the Guardians 40-man roster until this offseason meaning we may not see Naylor in the big leagues until next spring.

as as the young man we dealt with Phil Maton for Myles Straw

Yainer Diaz, C, Astros

On the surface Diaz has been a very productive performer over the last two seasons hitting .300 or above with a slugging percentage above .500 for consecutive seasons. Diaz pairs above-average bat-to-ball skills (74% contact rate) and plus raw power (106 mph 90th percentile exit velocity), which allows him to work within an aggressive chase-happy approach. He’s more than likely to stick behind the plate, though he still needs more seasoning. He’s seen time at first base and the outfield corners this season.

I forgot to note that Bibee made the hot sheet again for his superb 10 K game last week. Quite a first year as a pro for 5th round pick.

G’s Angel Genoa (a shortstop naturally) was rated top prospect in tne Arizona Summer League

Missed ya civ!

Still away but back in a couple days
Still checking major and line boxes
Games begin at about 1:30 am and a couple days ended just before 7.

Have noted several G minor leaguers made Best Tools lists including (no surprise) a couple for best control (Will Dioni think Tanner Bibee as well.

And Captains and Hillcats won their first round series

Looks like the A teams are now done for the year. And Akron, too. Clippers still going, split a pair yesterday

Game 1: Nolan Jones single and double; Valera 9th AAA homer and 3 rbi; Lavastida 4th AAA homer and 3 RBI, he had been demoted to Akron and didn't hit much there. Will he stay on the 40 man roster? Mercado is hot, double and 2 singles, up to 280. Maybe he'll find a team that he can help in 2023.
Logan Allen finishes up a really bad debut season in AAA with a line of 4 7 5 5 1 5 7.08 ERA

Game 2: 2 singles for Rocchio, AAA average 230, OPS 643.

Arizona Fall League rosters, mostly an uninspiring group from the Guardians:

Pitchers big relievers 6-6 RH Mason Hickman and 6-5 RH Cade Smith and generally injured Lenny Torres
Catcher: 26 year old David Fry who while in akron played more 1b and 3b than catcher
Infield: 20 year old very impressive Angel Martinez whos borderline Top 10 Cleveland prospect
Outfield: 22 year old Connor Kokx, played about half this summer, maybe he was injured? His walks vs strikeouts are impressive, some power, on paper nothing special, 12th round pick so less likley to emerge than 5th round Kwan but who knows. I'd prefer to see Isaiah Greene who came from the Mets in Lindor deal

These aren't prospect ratings but raw numbers; BA has listed minor league leaders in offensive and pitching categories, not by level but for minors as a whole.

Guardians rate among Top 10s as follows;

OFFFENSE

Home Runs Noel with 32 ties for 6th
RBI: Brennan No. 6 with 107
Hits: Brennan NO. ONE with 166
Doubles: Brennan tied for 2nd with 40
Walks: Isaiah Greene 7th with 97

PITCHING

Gavin Williams: No. 3 in ERA at 1.96 No. 5 in WHIP 0.95 No. ONE in in Avg against .173
Will Dion No. 5 in ERA at 2.11
Trevor Bibee No. 6 in ERA at 2.17 No. 8 in WHIP at 0.96
Jack Leftwich No. 2 in WHIP 0.91 No. 10 in Avg Against .194
Logan Allen No. 3 in Strkeouts with 177
Peyton Battenfield No. 4 in IP with 153 2/3

Arizona Fall League

I have not been paying much attention. Only one of our participants is a prospect of note:

CLE WIN Angel Martinez, IF 5 1 1 2 0.208

there a bunch of pitchers who are bullpen candidates at best, one at work ineffectively yesterday

CLE WIN Mason Hickman, RHP 1.1 3 3 3 2 4 8.31

baseball America issues lots of lists; today it's Prospect All Star Teams by age; how do the Guardians fare?

No 19 year olds
20 year olds: Honorable mention: The Guardians' Angel Martinez
21 year olds: George Valera OF who reached AAA his batWAR was 3.1 I don't know what that means but the other 21 year OF's were higher
22 year olds: Catcher Bo Naylor "Catcher is so deep in the minor leagues right now that the 22-year-old all-star team includes three of them! Endy Rodriguez and Logan O'Hoppe were two of the better overall performers in the minor leagues, but excluding Bo Naylor and his 20-homer, 20-steal performance just didn't seem right.
'and P: Gavin Williams, the no. 4 rated pitcher of his age; I have no idea what his 2.99 FIP or 157 ERA+ signify

23 year olds: P Tanner Bibee is no 3 rated; his FIP is 2.70 and ERA+ 151. Is that better or worse than Williams?

civ - you are such a gem with your minors coverage - thanks!

I can help you out with ERA+ and FIP.

I believe 100 is league average for ERA+. So the higher the better. 157 means 57% above league average. The + means it adjusts his ERA for ballparks and opponents. So pitching in a hitter ballpark inflates a regular ERA and ERA+ would factor that in accordingly.

FIP means Fielding Independent Pitching. It is those factors which a pitcher can control. Generally it is factored by simply using strikeouts and walks to innings pitched. It does not factor in hits because those can be fielding influenced.

civ - this was by Keith Law today in The Athletic. He attended a bunch of AFL games and did writeups on various kids:

• Guardians infielder Angel Martínez has caught some eyes with his very strong plate discipline numbers, walking 52 times against just 78 strikeouts between High A and Double A this year at age 20, but the real standout is his bat speed. He homered at Chase Field on a hanging curveball, hitting it out at 101 mph, and grounded out in the same game at 97 mph, while earlier in the week he took a good cutter from a lefty back up the middle at 106 mph. I wouldn’t be surprised if his walk rate dipped in the majors, but the other skills held up, and if anything he might end up with more power and less OBP than you’d guess by scouting the stat line. He’s not a shortstop but should be fine at second or third.

Martinez and Rocchio seem to be serious candidates for the majors. Someday Rosario will be traded to make room for one of them, I guess, unless he stays on as super utility man

OR of course a trade clears some of that logjam.

Law did have the opinion that Martinez was not really a SS long term. And at the present time 2B and 3B are occupied indefinitely.

Yes they are! Rocchio is a real shortstop, I think,