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

[Vlad27Trout27]

15 minutes ago, totdprods said:

Three things I see about Kikuchi that give me some interest…he’s taken a marked step forward the last two seasons, he’s been really durable, and his age and track record probably limit him to a 2-3 yr deal, so less commitment. 

• ‘23-‘24 average: 32 GS, 170 IP, 4.03 ERA, 3.83 FIP, 103 ERA+, 1.24 WHIP
• Prior average: 26 G, 117 IP, 5.02 ERA, 5.08 WHIP, 83 ERA+, 1.42 WHIP
• His per/9 rates saw a slight decrease in HR, an extra K per/9 and one less walk per/9 the last two years. 

I’m not really putting him at the top of any FA wishlist, but if they were able to get him for a deal comparable to what Wacha (2/$32M) or our own Tyler Anderson (3/$39M) got I wouldn’t be upset at all. 

I would say I think I’d have a little more interest in Matthew Boyd (will be 34, sporting a 2.72 ERA, 3.19 FIP, 1.13 WHIP in 8 starts with Cleveland) and Sean Manaea from the left-side. I think Manaea has a much better track record of consistency than Kikuchi, though potentially a lesser ceiling, and Boyd might have the highest ceiling of all three if he’s back to being healthy. 

Signing any of those guys for a 2-3 year deal valued around $10M-$16M annually would not be bad, especially if they coupled it with a decent righty FA arm too. Would give them flexibility in non-tendering Canning and considering trading Anderson or Detmers too. I don’t wanna give up on Detmers, but if a team offered an interesting young bat back and we had added a couple FA arms, I think I’d strongly consider it. 

I'm interested in Kikuchi because he won't cost $20 million a year more likely in the $13-16 million range. I think Seattle struggled with pitching development back then and didn’t fully utilize his potential. The Blue Jays and Astros have made some adjustments that seem to be working for him. If he can perform at his 2023-24 levels on a $45 million deal over 3 years years, it'll be a solid investment.

For me, I feel like there is more upside with Kikuchi than Manaea, but that just me. 

 

But overall goal of this years free agency has to be centered around pitching, more so starting pitching and a power bat to add to the middle of the line-up. 

[Ron Mexico]

Ranked 21 I will take it.

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/10136313-final-mlb-farm-system-rankings-of-the-2024-season

[Stradling]

Since I don’t really value bleacher reports nor do I give a lot of credence to farm rankings, this doesn’t mean a ton to me. 

@Inside Pitch which outlet does the best job of ranking farm systems?  To me it seems like an impossible task, where most of them seem to value draft position versus actual performance.  

[BTH]

I don't think Bleacher Report even has a dedicated prospect person who goes out and scouts the players, which automatically puts them in a seperate category from BA/ESPN/FanGraphs/The Athletic/etc.

[Inside Pitch]

29 minutes ago, Stradling said:

Since I don’t really value bleacher reports nor do I give a lot of credence to farm rankings, this doesn’t mean a ton to me. 

@Inside Pitch which outlet does the best job of ranking farm systems?  To me it seems like an impossible task, where most of them seem to value draft position versus actual performance.  

Baseball Prospectus is likely the most well rounded of all the sites. 

They are numbers based but their MLE's essentially PECOTA is one of, if not the most accurate when it comes to converting the performances of minor league stats to MLB ones and as such are extremely useful when trying to project players transitioning from MiLB to MLB.  Kevin Goldstein, Keith Law, half the execs in MLB seemed to work at BBP at some point, they just get a lot of things right because they stick to the analytics and are less prone to fawn on tools -- they aren't immune to it, but they seem to stick to what their MLEs project.

People get far too caught up in rankings.

[Inside Pitch]

11 minutes ago, BTH said:

I don't think Bleacher Report even has a dedicated prospect person who goes out and scouts the players, which automatically puts them in a seperate category from BA/ESPN/FanGraphs/The Athletic/etc.

That Bleacher Report list is pretty funny to me.  I don't want to shit on someone not shitting on the Angels but their comments/view of the teams they are ranking behind the Angels is IMO borderline comedy.

If I had to rank a site dead last when it comes to their baseball opinions in general it would probably be BR.

[Inside Pitch]

@Stradling

Very old article but pretty much everything still rings true...  https://tht.fangraphs.com/a-theoretical-blueprint-for-improving-mles/

MLEs should be everyone's starting point when looking at minor league performances 

As you said, trying to rank every minor leaguer is as close to impossible a task as there is, but being able to look at a .300/.350/.450 batting line in the Midwest League .vs the PCL and what those numbers actually mean is useful.  Parks, player ages, time spent in the league, all those things have a huge impact on performance, so being able to tell if a guy hitting .220/600 OPS in a terrible hitting environment grades out to more like 275/800 guy in MLB is obviously more valuable than subjective player/system rankings.

[Tank]

1 hour ago, Inside Pitch said:

Baseball Prospectus is likely the most well rounded of all the sites. 

They are numbers based but their MLE's essentially PECOTA is one of, if not the most accurate when it comes to converting the performances of minor league stats to MLB ones and as such are extremely useful when trying to project players transitioning from MiLB to MLB.  Kevin Goldstein, Keith Law, half the execs in MLB seemed to work at BBP at some point, they just get a lot of things right because they stick to the analytics and are less prone to fawn on tools -- they aren't immune to it, but they seem to stick to what their MLEs project.

People get far too caught up in rankings.

so you've given up on the Jon Heyman Report?

[Angel Oracle]

2 hours ago, Tank said:

so you've given up on the Jon Heyman Report?

Paul Heyman >>> Jon Heyman.

[TroutField]

On 9/16/2024 at 1:38 PM, Blarg said:

High winds, high heat during the season. It would be a bad location without a dome and nobody is doing a 3/4 billion dollar dome for the minor leagues. 

I was about to say… I live in Cathedral City and there is zero percent chance you could safely play baseball games out here from June-Late September/October. Not to mention getting people to support the team, the IE is much more populated. 

[AngelStew43]

I am not sure Ontario and Rancho Cucamonga can support two teams.  I guess we’ll find out

[oater]

3 hours ago, AngelStew43 said:

I am not sure Ontario and Rancho Cucamonga can support two teams.  I guess we’ll find out

Is that a joke?  The IE has a larger population than the San Francisco-Oakland bay area.

[Inside Pitch]

3 hours ago, AngelStew43 said:

I am not sure Ontario and Rancho Cucamonga can support two teams.  I guess we’ll find out

The Inland Empire population is big enough it could possibly support a third MLB team in SoCal.

[Angels 1961]

23 minutes ago, Inside Pitch said:

The Inland Empire population is big enough it could possibly support a third MLB team in SoCal.

They only have one right now and AAA team

[FromJapan]

On 9/19/2024 at 7:09 AM, Inside Pitch said:

Pretty on point right after that Franmil Reyes tweet/post.

It was revealed that Franmil Reyes will definitely stay with the Fighters next season. It appears that the team has offered him a multi-year contract. In August, he batted .403, 8 HRs, and 23 RBIs, and was named Player of the Month. 

Source in Japanese: DOSHIN SPORTS on Sept. 27, 2024

[FromJapan]

On 9/22/2024 at 1:10 PM, FromJapan said:

The following players have signed one-year contracts with NPB teams for 2024. The ages of the players are as of September 22nd.
I don't watch many NPB games, so there may be some omissions or factual errors.

[Central League]

J. B. Wendelken  (age 31, formerly of the Diamondbacks) is a pitcher for the Yokohama DeNA BayStars.
His stats (MLB) (NPB)

Elier Hernández (29, formerly of the Rangers) is an outfielder for the the Yomiuri Giants.
His stats (MLB) (NPB)

Coco Montes  (27, formerly of the Rockies) is an infielder for the the Yomiuri Giants.
His stats (MLB) (NPB)

Alberto Baldonado  (31, formerly of the Nationals) is a pitcher for the the Yomiuri Giants.
He joined the Giants in 2023 and remained on the payroll in 2024.
His stats (MLB) (NPB)

Miguel Angel Yajure  (26, formerly of the Giants) is a pitcher for the Tokyo Yakult Swallows
His stats (MLB) (NPB)

[Pacific League]

Luis Castillo (29, formerly of the Tigers) is a pitcher for the the Orix Buffaloes.
His stats (MLB) (NPB)

Anderson Espinoza (26, formerly of the Padres) is a pitcher for the the Orix Buffaloes.
His stats  (MLB) (NPB) 

(September 23, 2024) With other teams both at home and abroad showing interest in Espinoza's future, the Buffaloes' front office acted swiftly to reach an agreement for him to remain with the team through next season in 2025.

Albert Abreu (28, formerly of the Yankees) is a pitcher for the the Saitama Seibu Lions.
His stats (MLB) (NPB)

I had forgotten about Kyle Keller, who played for the Angels during the 2020 season.

Kyle Keller (31, formerly of the Pirates) is a pitcher for the the Tokyo Yomiuri Giants
His stats (MLB) (NPB)

Article in English: The JapanNews on Aug. 13, 2024

[FromJapan]

Right now (October 1, Japan time), the game between the Chiba Lotte Marines and the Rakuten Eagles is underway in Sendai city*, with Sasaki starting. The Dodgers president of baseball operations, Andrew Friedman and vice-president of player personnel, Galen Carr, are at the stadium.

*Sendai, a regional city, where the Eagles is based, about 200 miles from Tokyo.

 

[Angel Oracle]

Where are you, Minasian?

[jsnpritchett]

8 minutes ago, Angel Oracle said:

Where are you, Minasian?

As I've said before, anyone who is seriously hoping the Angels sign Sasaki is just setting themselves up for disappointment. Probably best to not even think about it and then if by some miracle it happens, it'll be a nice surprise. 

But, realistically, there's no logical reason he would sign with the Angels, given that everyone can offer him the same deal if he gets posted this off-season. 

[totdprods]

25 minutes ago, jsnpritchett said:

As I've said before, anyone who is seriously hoping the Angels sign Sasaki is just setting themselves up for disappointment. Probably best to not even think about it and then if by some miracle it happens, it'll be a nice surprise. 

But, realistically, there's no logical reason he would sign with the Angels, given that everyone can offer him the same deal if he gets posted this off-season. 

Only chance is if a player has watched Ohtani on the Angels and somehow thought “this seems like a good environment for me” - at least off the field - and that gives them some advantage in negotiations. But I have seen nothing re: Sasaki to think that’s gonna happen here.

Also he might not even be posted. 

[Angel Oracle]

He will be a year younger in 2025 than Ohtani was in 2018, and so the not being posted yet is in play.

Edited Tuesday at 04:42 PM by Angel Oracle

[taylorblakeward]

On 9/15/2024 at 12:31 PM, BTH said:

@taylorblakeward

Saw this in an LA Times article and remember you tweeting something about this.

This has been something of an open secret within the California League: The Dodgers’ affiliate would move from Rancho Cucamonga to Ontario, the Angels’ affiliate would move from San Bernardino to Rancho Cucamonga, and the Seattle Mariners’ affiliate would move from Modesto to San Bernardino.

https://www.latimes.com/sports/story/2024-09-15/minor-league-baseball-in-california-dodgers-athletics

What would be the advantage/reason for the Angels moving to Rancho? Are their facilities better? And if so, why wouldn’t Seattle themselves just move there?

I was in pretty direct communication with Bill Shaikin on this. I had reached out to JP Hoornstra, Fabian Ardaya, and Bill on if they had heard anything before I started reaching out to league and Dodgers executives, and Bill was already working on the story.

There's still a lot up in the air on this, but the Dodgers will be moving to Ontario in 2026 from what I understand which means there will be decisions made between San Bernardino and Rancho Cucamonga. It's not a given the Angels would move but it doesn't really matter except for location. The facilities are both up to par with the only big difference being the standard safety of the region.

Rancho Cucamonga has a much lower crime rate than San Bernardino and plays as a more neutral park from a metric standpoint, but that's about the only big difference. Rancho was an Angels affiliate when I was in high school, so there's still some connection there.

[FromJapan]

He was born in October 11, 1989.
His stats

[greginpsca]

1 hour ago, FromJapan said:

He was born in October 11, 1989.
His stats

35 years old? No thanks.

[drpiranha]

How would you rate him vs Kikuchi?