The Official 2024 Minor League Stats, Scouting, Updates, and Reports Thread

[totdprods]

Brett Kerry is sort of like the new Matt Shoemaker, IMO. Kicking ass in the minors, probably deserves an MLB shot at some point, might even put together a surprisingly decent season or two, but is more than likely just a good org arm. 

[BTH]

2 hours ago, Chuck said:

One prospect that I don't get the hype on at all, especially after watching him a lot this season is Denzer Guzman. 

To me he's not a top-10 guy and I'd argue he's not even a top-30 prospect. 

I think the thing with Guzman is that if he can provide good defense at SS and hits even a little, he’s a MLB starter.

Might be a low-end starter like Miguel Rojas or Orlando Arcia, and it might not be for the Angels if Neto is here, but every offseason there is a shortage of competent shortstops.

Edited September 5 by BTH

[Chuck]

 

[Angel Oracle]

Randy deJesus is wrapping up a solid A ball season at age 19.

423 PAs, .817 OPS, 41 XBHs

Only issue is K’ing just under 30% of the time.

With his power potential, do they skip A+ and send him to AA in 2025?

[tdawg87]

46 minutes ago, Angel Oracle said:

Randy deJesus is wrapping up a solid A ball season at age 19.

423 PAs, .817 OPS, 41 XBHs

Only issue is K’ing just under 30% of the time.

With his power potential, do they skip A+ and send him to AA in 2025?

With the hitting issues at Tri-City I could definitely see that happening. 

[BTH]

The Angels have a lot of  outfielders that they need to find playing time for in the minors between A-AA, so some of them are gonna have to play in High-A.

A: Anthony Scull, Randy De Jesus, Jorge Ruiz, Kevyn Castillo, Alexander Ramirez, Rio Foster.

A+: Werner Blakely, Jadiel Sanchez, Joe Redfield.

AA: Nelson Rada, David Calabrese.

[totdprods]

On 9/5/2024 at 11:39 AM, Chuck said:

One prospect that I don't get the hype on at all, especially after watching him a lot this season is Denzer Guzman. 

To me he's not a top-10 guy and I'd argue he's not even a top-30 prospect. 

I think when Perry first came on board, they tried the same rapid promotion process for the international guys - Guzman, Vera, Placencia - and it wound up being a big mistake. They got to A+/AA, hit a wall, and are now struggling to get back into rhythm once demoted. 

They’ve seemed to be taking things a little more conservatively since, going slower with De Jesus, Scull, Flores, Ortiz, Ureña and I think they’ll do the same with Lugo, Lara, Soto, De La Rosa. Wouldn’t be surprised if those jumped all the way to IE already next year, but they might be inclined to keep them there all of next year no matter how well they play and not push them to A+ or Rocket City as quickly as they did with Rada and the infielders.

[totdprods]

1 hour ago, Angel Oracle said:

Randy deJesus is wrapping up a solid A ball season at age 19.

423 PAs, .817 OPS, 41 XBHs

Only issue is K’ing just under 30% of the time.

With his power potential, do they skip A+ and send him to AA in 2025?

Hard to say. I think both Tri-City is a bad idea and I think rushing to AA is a bad idea haha, but keeping him in IE might not be a good idea either.

They rushed our first classes of international guys - Vera, Guzman, Placencia, maybe Rada - and they seem to be taking it more cautiously with the wave currently in IE and DSL/AZL. 

Part of me almost wouldn’t mind leaving De Jesus, Ortiz, Castillo, Vargas, and other international signees in IE next year to begin the year. They were all young for the league this year, so it wouldn’t be a setback at all, and they could potentially move Lugo and a couple other guys from DSL straight to IE in 2025. Having all of those top international prospects playing together at IE might be good for all of them developmentally, and then gradually push De Jesus and the “older” IE guys to Tri-City or Rocket City mid year if they’re producing.

Edited September 6 by totdprods

[DMVol]

Saw the Trash Pandas tonight. Visiting a nephew who lives near Huntsville. The original plan was to see Christian Moore (I’m a UT Grad and nephew is a big UT fan, originally from Tennessee) but that obviously got altered. Let me qualify things first by saying I’m not as capable to evaluate players as most of you. I follow the minors generally but not to the extent some of you do. That said, pretty slim pickings with call ups and injuries, etc. but one guy stood out to me. I know he’s had a disappointing season but Rada has a terrific tool set. You can see the rationale for his ranking. He went 3 for 3 but that was secondary to the skill set. Fast as hell, smooth in CF. Probably rushed to AA but he looked comfortable tonight. Otherwise, Guzman is athletic and a good defender but looked pretty overmatched at the plate. Mershon reminds me of Fletcher. Of the pitchers, Espinosa can bring it, maybe has some potential. Erla started, got out of a jam and didn’t give up a run in 3 innings but didn’t jump out at you with big league potential. Be kind, my very uneducated thoughts. 
One more thing—-Moore was on the field pre-game. No limp or any indication that the knee was a problem. 

[totdprods]

I’ve been diggin’ Carlos Espinosa quite a bit this year. He’s had a few dominant stretches, tons of k’s, walks kept in check. Think he’s going to be in the bullpen depth sometime next year.

Not a bad return for Trey Cabbage.

[Angelsjunky]

Foster and DeJesus have crept up to the bottom of my top ten, which looks likes limp-dick than it did a few months ago.

[tdawg87]

On 9/6/2024 at 11:21 PM, DMVol said:

Saw the Trash Pandas tonight. Visiting a nephew who lives near Huntsville. The original plan was to see Christian Moore (I’m a UT Grad and nephew is a big UT fan, originally from Tennessee) but that obviously got altered. Let me qualify things first by saying I’m not as capable to evaluate players as most of you. I follow the minors generally but not to the extent some of you do. That said, pretty slim pickings with call ups and injuries, etc. but one guy stood out to me. I know he’s had a disappointing season but Rada has a terrific tool set. You can see the rationale for his ranking. He went 3 for 3 but that was secondary to the skill set. Fast as hell, smooth in CF. Probably rushed to AA but he looked comfortable tonight. Otherwise, Guzman is athletic and a good defender but looked pretty overmatched at the plate. Mershon reminds me of Fletcher. Of the pitchers, Espinosa can bring it, maybe has some potential. Erla started, got out of a jam and didn’t give up a run in 3 innings but didn’t jump out at you with big league potential. Be kind, my very uneducated thoughts. 
One more thing—-Moore was on the field pre-game. No limp or any indication that the knee was a problem. 

Your thoughts are just as educated as most of us and your input is very appreciated. 

Glad to hear about Rada. Crazy how young he still is. 

[rafibomb]

Klassen with a solid start

4 IP  2 ER  2 H  3 BB  6 K  60 pitches and 39 strikes

Will be exciting to see how he does back at Rocket City next season

[rafibomb]

 

[Inside Pitch]

23 hours ago, tdawg87 said:

Your thoughts are just as educated as most of us and your input is very appreciated. 

Agree wholeheartedly.  Sometimes a fresh set of eyes sees things others may not see because they have grown accustomed to things being how they are.

I wish more people would go to and then report back on what they see at these games.  Thank you for doing just that.

[totdprods]

7 hours ago, rafibomb said:

 

Such a positive development from the international signees. They seem to be taking this wave a little more conservatively and it might be a sign that the international signings are turning around. 

Also kinda wild how little Tucker Flint is talked about here. Promoted to AAA last night and hit a HR in his SLC debut while playing SLC. He’s been real solid in AA last two years. Solid pop, lots of walks.

[jsnpritchett]

Just realized that Landon Wallace has played at all 5 levels of the U.S.-based Angels minor leagues this year:

https://www.milb.com/player/landon-wallace-695068

[Tank]

with those spectacular batting averages, it's easy to see why he keeps getting promoted. 

 

[totdprods]

58 minutes ago, jsnpritchett said:

Just realized that Landon Wallace has played at all 5 levels of the U.S.-based Angels minor leagues this year:

https://www.milb.com/player/landon-wallace-695068

They seemed to just use him as a plug and play guy whenever a team was short. Think he’s still something of a project and working in Arizona much of the year when not active. I remember some folks were pretty stunned he went undrafted and that it was a bit of a coup that the Angels got him as an UDFA, but I don’t know much about him beyond that. 

[jsnpritchett]

8 minutes ago, totdprods said:

They seemed to just use him as a plug and play guy whenever a team was short. Think he’s still something of a project and working in Arizona much of the year when not active. I remember some folks were pretty stunned he went undrafted and that it was a bit of a coup that the Angels got him as an UDFA, but I don’t know much about him beyond that. 

Yeah, I don't know what to make of him based on his results from this year. He turns 23 next February, so he's not particularly young for any of the leagues he's been in. Seems like a crapshoot and someone you just cross your fingers about, but don't spend too much time thinking about in terms of future planning. 

[Stradling]

 

[m0nkey]

Damn, are the bats that bad?

[jsnpritchett]

1 hour ago, m0nkey said:

Damn, are the bats that bad?

Other than Christian Moore, there's not really anyone who seems like an obvious impact bat.  Rada showed the challenges of being an 18-year-old in the Southern League this year; I still like him, but it's pretty clear he needs more time in the minors. 

After those two, there's a bunch of international signees, some of whom have been disappointing since they signed, and some of whom are too new to really have a firm read on yet (though Joswa Lugo is intriguing so far). 

Cole Fontenelle made some waves in spring training and was off to a pretty good start before he got injured--but, again, he's kind of a question mark until we see how he comes back from his injury next year. 

Laverde and Flores are interesting young catching prospects, but neither will likely be ready for another couple years.

I'm sure others will chime in on guys like Flint, Matthew Lugo, etc., but those type of guys feel more like AAAA filler.

 

[Angel Oracle]

1 minute ago, jsnpritchett said:

Other than Christian Moore, there's not really anyone who seems like an obvious impact bat.  Rada showed the challenges of being an 18-year-old in the Southern League this year; I still like him, but it's pretty clear he needs more time in the minors. 

After those two, there's a bunch of international signees, some of whom have been disappointing since they signed, and some of whom are too new to really have a firm read on yet (though Joswa Lugo is intriguing so far). 

Cole Fontenelle made some waves in spring training and was off to a pretty good start before he got injured--but, again, he's kind of a question mark until we see how he comes back from his injury next year. 

Laverde and Flores are interesting young catching prospects, but neither will likely be ready for another couple years.

I'm sure others will chime in on guys like Flint, Matthew Lugo, etc., but those type of guys feel more like AAAA filler.

 

Need to start drafting a few more bats in early rounds?

 

[jsnpritchett]

Just now, Angel Oracle said:

Need to start drafting a few more bats in early rounds?

 

I personally think so, yes.  But to be fair, they've drafted Neto, Schanuel, and Moore in the first rounds of the last 3 drafts--so they're going for quick-to-the-majors bats first, then pivoting to pitching-heavy picks.  I do think they need to inject some higher-level offensive talent throughout the system pretty soon, though.