Sickels' Top 20 Angels Prospects for 2018

[Vlad27Trout27]

If thesis does not develop his power, I believe he can be a James loney type of hitter, having him and his OBP in front of trout and the other run producers 8s going to be benefactor to us.

[Angelsjunky]

4 hours ago, totdprods said:

I keep coming back to this for Thaiss...
.257/.330/.418/.748, 106 OPS+ with 27 doubles, 21 HRs, 4 steals, 61 walks, 139 strikeouts. That's Kole Calhoun's 3-yr average. 

If Thaiss can come up and give us Kole-level offensive production at 1B for league minimum,  it's still an improvement offensively at 1B and it's not an unfathomable level to reach. 
Then you're just hoping once Jones or Herm bumps Kole from the OF, you get production from one or a combo of both of those guys that exceeds what we've been getting from 1B now. 

I figure Thaiss is closer to MLB-ready contribution than our OFs (except perhaps Herm, but I don't see him getting much of a shot unless someone's hurt, whereas Thaiss has a clearer path, so it balances out) so it's easier for me to look at his offensive contribution replacing Kole's first rather than what we're getting at 1B.

 

Yes, I feel similarly. And Thaiss should give a higher OBP than that Calhoun line.

[Docwaukee]

there are 83 qualified seasons over the last 10 years of 1bmen slugging .450 or less.   10 of them were able to achieve a WAR of 2 or more.  

Thaiss power has to develop or the odds of him having a successful career as a starting major league 1bman are slim to none.   Also bear in mind that the vast majority of the 10 seasons mentioned above came from guys who played top notch defense.  Which Thaiss does not at this point.  

If he has any chance at playing a position other than 1b, they should try him out.  

[totdprods]

11 hours ago, Angelsjunky said:

Yes, I feel similarly. And Thaiss should give a higher OBP than that Calhoun line.

Yeah Thaiss' slash probably would be a little higher BA and lower SLG, and with more doubles than HRs, but I think hoping for him to match Calhoun's general production (.750 OPS, 106 OPS+) starting around the '19 season is a good starting point, even if it's at a different position than Kole currently plays.

[Second Base]

7 hours ago, Dochalo said:

there are 83 qualified seasons over the last 10 years of 1bmen slugging .450 or less.   10 of them were able to achieve a WAR of 2 or more.  

Thaiss power has to develop or the odds of him having a successful career as a starting major league 1bman are slim to none.   Also bear in mind that the vast majority of the 10 seasons mentioned above came from guys who played top notch defense.  Which Thaiss does not at this point.  

If he has any chance at playing a position other than 1b, they should try him out.  

I feel pretty confident that more offensive output is coming. He's making the adjustments. 2018 will be much better than 2017 was. 

He won't be an all-star, but I do feel confident that's he'll hit more than 30 DB a year, around 15 HR a year, get on base at least 36% of the time and eventually turn into a pretty decent defensive 1B.

Remember how bad Cron was in AA and when he was first promoted? Thaiss is already better than that and has only played the position for one year. Eventually he's going to be a good defender. Cron himself became pretty solid.

[Angelsfan1984]

I'm hoping for a career similar to Billy Butler out of Thaiss. If we can get that i'll be happy.

[Angel Oracle]

As I said in another thread, a legendary 1B in the SoCal area started off as a 3B and didn't hit for a lot of power, until moving to 1B.

He finally started hitting for solid enough power in his age 25 season, averaging 32 doubles and 23 HRs from his age 25-31 seasons, and was maybe the best fielding 1B in the 1970s despite being just 5-10.

Name?  

 

Steve Garvey  

[eaterfan]

19 minutes ago, Angel Oracle said:

As I said in another thread, a legendary 1B in the SoCal area started off as a 3B and didn't hit for a lot of power, until moving to 1B.

He finally started hitting for solid enough power in his age 25 season, averaging 32 doubles and 23 HRs from his age 25-31 seasons, and was maybe the best fielding 1B in the 1970s despite being just 5-10.

Name?  

 

Steve Garvey  

I don't think anyone is saying Thaiss has no chance of making it in the bigs. It's just not a likely outcome. The 1978 was 40 years ago. For every Steve Garvey there are 1,000 guys under 6 feet tall who don't make the bigs at 1st.

[Hubs]

Does anyone not believe that Taylor Ward will be our backup Catcher for some if not all of the 2019 season?

If he sits behind Maldonado (or say Yasmani Grandal) for two or three seasons, then perhaps he will work himself into a legit starting Catcher.

Thaiss has to produce immediately for him to get any playing time at 1B.

 

[Second Base]

6 hours ago, Hubs said:

Does anyone not believe that Taylor Ward will be our backup Catcher for some if not all of the 2019 season?

If he sits behind Maldonado (or say Yasmani Grandal) for two or three seasons, then perhaps he will work himself into a legit starting Catcher.

Thaiss has to produce immediately for him to get any playing time at 1B.

 

True, but at the same rate, Ward is looking at playing a fraction of the amount that Thaiss will play, and Thaiss is younger.