The Official 2022 Los Angeles Angels Minor League Stats, Reports & Scouting Thread

[Inside Pitch]

7 hours ago, Docwaukee said:

I just watched Bachman's start.  35 pitches over 3 innings.  Very efficient.  25 strikes and I saw at least three or four other that could have been called strikes as well.  His nine outs were 4k's and 5 groundouts.  It was mostly fastball slider and in fact almost all fastball although he got some really ugly swings on the slider to finish guys off.  Velo was as expected per the broadcaster.  Mid to high 90's.  So no worries there.  Got a lot of swings through the fastball.  

Also, to the topic of milb.tv, the Pandas probably have one of the best setups I've seen.  Legit camera angles.  Replays (we take that for granted at the mlb level but it doesn't happen often in the minors).  Pretty good broadcaster.  

And as a bonus, I got to see JJ hit a bomb on a hanging curve.  His bat is very quick with a nice short swing.  Hopefully the recognition continues to develop.  which we've actually seen improve over the last two years.  Bump up last year and Similar this year.  He rushed a couple throws on defense and has a good arm but made the 1b come off the bag and tag a guy once and put another near the dirt.  But he seemed fluid and rangy from what limited reps I saw.  

Jordyn Adams too.

 

[T.G.]

1 hour ago, Inside Pitch said:

Jordyn Adams too.

 

IP taught him that 

[tdawg87]

3 hours ago, Inside Pitch said:

Jordyn Adams too.

 

I really like his swing. Not overly long. Looks like he could tap into some serious power.

[Angelsjunky]

Adams in AA: 70 PA, .313/.357/.484.

That can't all be on account of the ballpark. So the question is, why is he having a breakout now, when facing a higher level of pitching? Did the Angels actually make a brilliant move, showing confidence in him and being rewarded for it?

Is there really a chance?

[Angel Oracle]

Adams is still only 22, with only 3 seasons of MiLB experience thanks to 2020 season being cancelled.

The defense and athleticism are grade A.   If the hitting is coming together, there’s your starting CF in 2024.

[BTH]

40 minutes ago, Angelsjunky said:

Adams in AA: 70 PA, .313/.357/.484.

That can't all be on account of the ballpark. So the question is, why is he having a breakout now, when facing a higher level of pitching? Did the Angels actually make a brilliant move, showing confidence in him and being rewarded for it?

Is there really a chance?

All I know is that Tri-City’s ballpark in High-A is awful and depresses hitting stats.

He’s not as bad as he was in High-A, but probably not as good as he’s been in AA.

[Vlad27Trout27]

Adam always ha the skill sets, it was just him putting it together. We're seeing that growth, he has lowered his K rate, while also maintaining a walk rate. 

But, You also have to consiered how the stadium at A+ has effected him, his numbers weren't good. 

[Docwaukee]

1 hour ago, Angelsjunky said:

Adams in AA: 70 PA, .313/.357/.484.

That can't all be on account of the ballpark. So the question is, why is he having a breakout now, when facing a higher level of pitching? Did the Angels actually make a brilliant move, showing confidence in him and being rewarded for it?

Is there really a chance?

Jordyn has made substantial improvements this year in terms of contact.  It might not be hard contact as of yet but clearly he's progressing.  2019 and 2021 his k rates were in the mid to high 30's and now they're in the mid to low 20's.  My biggest concern was his ability to make contact.  

He's got 80 grade speed and needs to use it.  I'm not saying he should be some sort of slappy leg out a grounder dude.  I'd still like to see him elevate the ball more often, but with his speed and low k rate in A+ ball, his BABIP was .299.  That's what they saw.  

He was probably getting really frustrated as well.  My guess is he hit some balls hard and they went no where and it was discouraging for him to even try and hit the ball in the air.  

Still, I'm not exactly bullish on him as I see a mostly defense 4th OFer at this point but you never know.  

[Second Base]

I've always salivates over Adams potential because of the power, speed and defense. He can could be a legitimate superstar. But he's always had trouble accessing the tools during the game. Despite 80 grade speed, he's not much of a SB threat, for whatever reason. Despite having significant HR power, he never seems to drive many balls out of the park, at least not as many as he should.

With guys like Adams, it's a lottery ticket, and there's rarely any in between. Either their athleticism allows them to success immediately without adjustments, or it takes a few years, but once it clicks they're unstoppable. Either they become very good major league players, or they go the way of Chevy Clarke and never make it beyond A ball. 

[Angel Oracle]

14 minutes ago, Second Base said:

I've always salivates over Adams potential because of the power, speed and defense. He can could be a legitimate superstar. But he's always had trouble accessing the tools during the game. Despite 80 grade speed, he's not much of a SB threat, for whatever reason. Despite having significant HR power, he never seems to drive many balls out of the park, at least not as many as he should.

With guys like Adams, it's a lottery ticket, and there's rarely any in between. Either their athleticism allows them to success immediately without adjustments, or it takes a few years, but once it clicks they're unstoppable. Either they become very good major league players, or they go the way of Chevy Clarke and never make it beyond A ball. 

He’s upped his SB game this season.

22 for 25 with 1.5 months remaining 

[Angelsjunky]

48 minutes ago, Second Base said:

I've always salivates over Adams potential because of the power, speed and defense. He can could be a legitimate superstar. But he's always had trouble accessing the tools during the game. Despite 80 grade speed, he's not much of a SB threat, for whatever reason. Despite having significant HR power, he never seems to drive many balls out of the park, at least not as many as he should.

With guys like Adams, it's a lottery ticket, and there's rarely any in between. Either their athleticism allows them to success immediately without adjustments, or it takes a few years, but once it clicks they're unstoppable. Either they become very good major league players, or they go the way of Chevy Clarke and never make it beyond A ball. 

My only quibble here is that there is something of an in-between: when a player's athleticism gives him success through the minors without adjustments, but then hits the brick wall called "major league pitching." I would argue this is almost a worse-case scenario, because it means such a player hasn't made the necessary developmental adjustments early on, and falsely believed that pure athleticism would fly in the majors. That's a hard problem to fix - better to do it on the way up.

But we don't know anyone like that, now do we?

[Angelsjunky]

So the silver-lining for Adams is that he's faced adversity early on, so if and when he does reach the majors, it will probably have included a lot of refinement - or more than "the other guy."

[Inside Pitch]

11 hours ago, Angelsjunky said:

Adams in AA: 70 PA, .313/.357/.484.

That can't all be on account of the ballpark. So the question is, why is he having a breakout now, when facing a higher level of pitching? Did the Angels actually make a brilliant move, showing confidence in him and being rewarded for it?

Is there really a chance?

His swing has been consistent all year, his actions as well.  The park in Hi-A was doing to him what Arkansas did to Marsh when he was in AA, it was absolutely masking his development.

People always tend to underestimate the impact a park can have on a hitter and yet we see it all the time at the MLB level.  For young hitters trying to develop it's easily more impactful.  His HR/FB rate has gone from 0.00% to 15.4%.  That sort of an in season jump is likely a byproduct of moving from a park with a HR rate of 56 to one with a HR rate of 135.  But you have to figure it was getting into his head.  You hit a ball square only to see it die.  Adams GB/FB rate is nearly identical to what it was in Hi-A; currently 1.62 .vs 1.59 at Gesa, so it's not like he's suddenly elevating the ball more, he's just getting better results when he does. The big change seems to be he's not trying to go opposite field all the time to avoid the wind tunnel effect at Gesa

See that thing...  Basically what happens there is the wind hits that thing and as it works it's way around it drags the air in from left field into a weird vortex.  When I said a big part of looking at these guys is paying attention to park conditions in response to TG I should have probably stressed it's a HUGE part of it. 

The biggest improvement Adams made this season was dropping his K rate/upping his contact rate -- and the improvement there was huge.  His .317 average right now is likely smoke and mirrors unless he's finally using his speed to leg stuff out... he's got a near .400 BaBIP that's unlikely to stay there, but he's got the speed to be a .350 BaBIP guy in his sleep.

So, I personally wouldn't call what's happening a breakout, maybe more of the beginning of a "breakthrough" although I guess maybe thats just semantics.   For me the real breakthrough/breakout will be when he learns to use his speed in games or he starts elevating pitches more often and that BP power shows up in games more consistently,

Mostly this just lends credence to the idea that Gesa was a rough park for him.

A lot of of have bemoaned the fact our AAA park plays the way it does, but IMO, that Hi-A park is even worse from a developmental standpoint.  A straight pitcher's park is one thing. A park where the stadium itself creates uncommon conditions is just plain bad.  That sunscreen thing creates an unnatural condition that impacts play.  It's terrible.

[Inside Pitch]

2 hours ago, Trendon said:

All I know is that Tri-City’s ballpark in High-A is awful and depresses hitting stats.

He’s not as bad as he was in High-A, but probably not as good as he’s been in AA.

His Home and Away numbers in Hi-A made it clear the park was a hinderance and yeah -- the bump in HR's is almost directly tied from going from one park to the other.  

[Angelsjunky]

1 hour ago, Inside Pitch said:

His swing has been consistent all year, his actions as well.  The park in Hi-A was doing to him what Arkansas did to Marsh when he was in AA, it was absolutely masking his development.

People always tend to underestimate the impact a park can have on a hitter and yet we see it all the time at the MLB level.  For young hitters trying to develop it's easily more impactful.  His HR/FB rate has gone from 0.00% to 15.4%.  That sort of an in season jump is likely a byproduct of moving from a park with a HR rate of 56 to one with a HR rate of 135.  But you have to figure it was getting into his head.  You hit a ball square only to see it die.  Adams GB/FB rate is nearly identical to what it was in Hi-A; currently 1.62 .vs 1.59 at Gesa, so it's not like he's suddenly elevating the ball more, he's just getting better results when he does. The big change seems to be he's not trying to go opposite field all the time to avoid the wind tunnel effect at Gesa

See that thing...  Basically what happens there is the wind hits that thing and as it works it's way around it drags the air in from left field into a weird vortex.  When I said a big part of looking at these guys is paying attention to park conditions in response to TG I should have probably stressed it's a HUGE part of it. 

The biggest improvement Adams made this season was dropping his K rate and upping his contact rate -- and the improvement there was huge.  His .317 average right now is likely smoke and mirrors unless he's finally using his speed to leg stuff out... he's got a near .400 BaBIP that's unlikely to stay there, but he's got the speed to be a .350 BaBIP guy in his sleep.

So, I personally wouldn't call what's happening a breakout, maybe more of the beginning of a "breakthrough" although I guess maybe thats just semantics.   For me the real breakthrough/breakout will be when he learns to use his speed in games or he starts elevated pitches more often and that BP power shows up in games more consistently,

Mostly this just lends credence to the idea that Gesa was a rough park for him.

A lot of of have bemoaned the fact our AAA park plays the way it does, but IMO, that Hi-A park is even worse from a developmental standpoint.  A straight pitcher's park is one thing. A park where the stadium itself creates uncommon conditions is just plain bad.  That sunscreen thing creates an unnatural condition that impacts play.  It's terrible.

That all makes sense, and thanks for the break down about the parks (vortex is a cool word).

I guess i'm just wondering about the psychological component - and how that interacts with both the park factors and also his confidence and maybe even feeling like the org has faith in him. 

Success breeds success, and failure breeds failure. This is why I keep saying that I'm not ready to say that Trout is in decline - in terms of his actual hitting skills; I think his decline is showing up through an inability to stay health - or that this team is really as had as they've played the last two months. I think at least some of it was a kind of "psychological snowball" effect: After going 24-13, they came back to earth a bit, injuries struck, they lost a few in a row against better competition, Trout began to press, etc etc. A perfect storm.

[Inside Pitch]

25 minutes ago, Angelsjunky said:

That all makes sense, and thanks for the break down about the parks (vortex is a cool word).

That thing on the 1st base side is an oddity that makes it hard to gauge performance all around.  I put almost no faith in the pitching stats in that park save for the things the pitcher can control.  Adams hitting so many balls into the ground just seems like the sort of guy that would get punished.  So he's likely an extreme case -- only thing that may have maybe made it worse is if he was left handed.

[Second Base]

I don't know about you guys, but I'm still pissed the Angels passed on Cam Collier. Don't get me wrong, Neto is fine, but there's definitely a little Will Wilson feel to this. I feel like they passed on what will be one of the better starting 3B in baseball, who will be a major leaguer by age 20, for a starting SS that should hit .280 with 15 HR and is a major leaguer at age 24. 

[Inside Pitch]

5 minutes ago, Second Base said:

I don't know about you guys, but I'm still pissed the Angels passed on Cam Collier. Don't get me wrong, Neto is fine, but there's definitely a little Will Wilson feel to this. I feel like they passed on what will be one of the better starting 3B in baseball, who will be a major leaguer by age 20, for a starting SS that should hit .280 with 15 HR and is a major leaguer at age 24. 

Cam was my guy.  Was amazed they had a shot at him. Don't know enough about Neto to be upset.  By all accounts Neto is legit but I'm always concerned when I see swing hitches or crazy leg kicks.

[Second Base]

10 minutes ago, Inside Pitch said:

Cam was my guy.  Was amazed they had a shot at him. Don't know enough about Neto to be upset.  By all accounts Neto is legit but I'm always concerned when I see swing hitches or crazy leg kicks.

A guy I talked to said they saw him a couple of times in the Cape. They have no doubt he'll stick at SS but said there's no way the power plays up. The big leg kick unlocked power as part of his game but the better competition he saw in the Cape worked ahead in the count immediately, and with two strikes the leg kick leaves and so does his power. 

[BTH]

2 hours ago, Second Base said:

I don't know about you guys, but I'm still pissed the Angels passed on Cam Collier. Don't get me wrong, Neto is fine, but there's definitely a little Will Wilson feel to this. I feel like they passed on what will be one of the better starting 3B in baseball, who will be a major leaguer by age 20, for a starting SS that should hit .280 with 15 HR and is a major leaguer at age 24. 

One factor to consider is signing bonuses.

Neto was underslot at $3.5M.

I’m guessing Collier’s signing bonus will be significantly higher, maybe $5M+

[Angel Oracle]

2 hours ago, Trendon said:

One factor to consider is signing bonuses.

Neto was underslot at $3.5M.

I’m guessing Collier’s signing bonus will be significantly higher, maybe $5M+

If Madden and Dana become the real deal, it will be well worth it.

[Angel Oracle]

Eric Torres is still kicking arse in the Trash Pandas pen.

32.1 innings, 1.67 ERA, 0.94 WHIP, 50/13 Ks/BBs

Has he mainly pitched the 7th or 8th innings?

Could he get called up this season?

[Docwaukee]

38 minutes ago, Angel Oracle said:

Eric Torres is still kicking arse in the Trash Pandas pen.

32.1 innings, 1.67 ERA, 0.94 WHIP, 50/13 Ks/BBs

Has he mainly pitched the 7th or 8th innings?

Could he get called up this season?

took a minute to watch a couple of his outings.  

Deception.  All deception.  Low 3/4th from behind his body.  Gun was flashing 89-90 on the FB.  Doesn't command it all that well but it's clear that hitters couldn't pick it up.  Good tilt on the slider.  Seemed the ball was getting on guys quicker than the gun was reading so maybe it wasn't completely accurate but based on what I saw, I doubt he finds his way to the bigs this year.  Didn't locate all that well in any of the clips I saw.  

[Angel Oracle]

14 hours ago, Docwaukee said:

took a minute to watch a couple of his outings.  

Deception.  All deception.  Low 3/4th from behind his body.  Gun was flashing 89-90 on the FB.  Doesn't command it all that well but it's clear that hitters couldn't pick it up.  Good tilt on the slider.  Seemed the ball was getting on guys quicker than the gun was reading so maybe it wasn't completely accurate but based on what I saw, I doubt he finds his way to the bigs this year.  Didn't locate all that well in any of the clips I saw.  

In other words, similar to Loup’s style of pitching?

[HaloSpurs]

20 hours ago, Trendon said:

One factor to consider is signing bonuses.

Neto was underslot at $3.5M.

I’m guessing Collier’s signing bonus will be significantly higher, maybe $5M+

Yeah he got 5 mill. Definitely don’t mind us going under slot on Neto to sign a couple of good pitching prospects