2013 Prospect Mega Thread

[SoxFanForsyth]

Bradley 2/3 with a walk, 2B, and HR tonight. Ho hum. Hitting .365 on the year with a .466 OBP. He ready.

[italstallianion]

Bradley 2/3 with a walk, 2B, and HR tonight. Ho hum. Hitting .365 on the year with a .466 OBP. He ready.

 

 

There'd be another disciplined bat in our lineup. We might have a shot to walk as many times as we strike out. (With Middlebrooks on the DL and on Salty's day off)

[SoxFanForsyth]

Bradley watch:

 

After yesterday's game, he's hitting .360/.461/.547. That's a 1.008 OPS.

 

Just to be clear, he hit .359/.480/.526 in A+ last season and everyone thought it was because he was playing against too weak of competition.

 

Well, now he's in AAA and he's smoking the ball everywhere. This kid is going to be special.

[Standing Room]

Bradley watch:

 

After yesterday's game, he's hitting .360/.461/.547. That's a 1.008 OPS.

 

Just to be clear, he hit .359/.480/.526 in A+ last season and everyone thought it was because he was playing against too weak of competition.

 

Well, now he's in AAA and he's smoking the ball everywhere. This kid is going to be special.

 

Bradley also had two outfield assists yesterday. If his power is real, he's a five tool player.

[Standing Room]

Keith Law updated his list of the top 25 MLB prospects. He ranked Bogaerts at three and Cecchini at 23rd. He said Bogaerts will more likely than not stick as a shortstop. Says the following on Cecchini,

 

Cecchini is a high-IQ player with a good feel for hitting but no plus tools who just missed my preseason top 100 and now looks like he clearly should have made it, hitting .365/.475/.615 and translating that ability to hit into above-average power production. There's absolutely some randomness/sample-size stuff at work here, but the early reports from scouts are glowing -- it's hard not to write up a player positively when he goes 8-for-10 in a three-game series.

[Standing Room]

Jackie Bradley Jr. was called up again. He got in a double in his last at bat at AAA just for good measure.

[a700hitter]

Rubby had a good outing yesterday pitching 4 innings giving up run on 2 hits. It was his first outing in 11 days. Does anyone know why he got skipped.

[Standing Room]

Rubby had an intercostal strain.

[SoxFanForsyth]

Bogaerts has gone deep twice tonight in the first 3 innings. Yay.

[Standing Room]

And Ranaudo has allowed one baserunner through four with five strikeouts.

[SoxFanForsyth]

And Ranaudo has allowed one baserunner through four with five strikeouts.

 

Probably done, final line of 7 IP, 1 H, 0 BB, 8 K

[Rdsxmbnt]

dominant night for Xander (3/4, 2 HR, 1 2B, 1 BB ) and Ranuado

 

Almanzar also 3/4

 

On the year for Ranuado: 54.2 IP, 31 hits, 15 BB, 58 K, 1.48 ERA. People have to be on notice now, those are dominant numbers. They say tall guys take longer to get consistent mechanics (he's 6'7"), perhaps we're finally seeing him reach his potential

[Station 13]

Cecchini moving up in prospects ranking, coming in at #23 on Law recent listing. With his power beginning to develop, we could be looking at a really good prospect, probably a top 5 in the system.

[SoxFanForsyth]

Bogaerts went deep again last night. He's now sitting at 5 HR on the year and 3 in his past 3 games.

 

Maybe one of the best quotes I've ever heard from Boles, the Portland manager:

 

@alexspeier: Kevin Boles on Xander Bogaerts: 'After this guy gets done taking BP, scouts go down to the concourse to have a smoke' http://t.co/aWy2wUJTUp

[Standing Room]

Can we just all take a moment to appreciate the fact that Bogaerts is hitting .290/.380/.478 as a 20 year old in Double-A? He has the highest walk rate of his career and more and more scouts are saying he'll be able to stick at shortstop. If he gets hot this summer like he did last year, he could be ranked as the best prospect in baseball.

[rjortiz]

I don't want to be a downer, but I'm still skeptical of Cecchini. It's good to see him ranked highly by Keith Law, but he's still a little old for the Carolina League. I'd like to see what we can do at Portland.

[SoxFanForsyth]

Can we just all take a moment to appreciate the fact that Bogaerts is hitting .290/.380/.478 as a 20 year old in Double-A? He has the highest walk rate of his career and more and more scouts are saying he'll be able to stick at shortstop. If he gets hot this summer like he did last year, he could be ranked as the best prospect in baseball.

 

Especially when you consider the following:

 

Mike Trout at AA, age 19: .326/.414/.544

Manny Machado at AA, age 19: .266/.352/.438

 

Bogaerts, AA ages 19-20: .302/.371/.518

 

That's pretty outrageous. He's special.

[SoxFanForsyth]

I don't want to be a downer, but I'm still skeptical of Cecchini. It's good to see him ranked highly by Keith Law, but he's still a little old for the Carolina League. I'd like to see what we can do at Portland.

 

He's only 22. Jackie Bradley was 22 in high A last year, where he hit .359/.480/.526. Cecchini is hitting .357/.460/.577.

 

Eerily similar numbers. Part of me really hopes we hang on to Cecchini. Between him, Bogaerts, Bradley, and Pedroia, we could have four guys in our order putting up OBP's in the .375-.400 range. That is how you build sustained success.

 

Cecchini reminds me a lot of Pedroia. Very smart baserunner, high contact, excellent plate discipline, etc.

[Rdsxmbnt]

Bogaerts on base 4 times again. 2/2 with a 2B and 2 walks

 

Webster 6.1 IP, 4 hits, 2 ER, 3 BB, 6 K

 

Workman: 8.0 IP, 3 hits, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K

 

Almanzar 1/4 with a HR

[BornToRun]

Where do you think we put Checchini when he's ready? His numbers in the minors are absurdly awesome and he's still just 22 as SFF pointed out. If WMB sticks with the big club, do we consider moving one of them to first?

 

An IF of Garin, Xander, Pedey, and WMB with Iggy as a bench guy would be pretty awesome.

[Station 13]

Cecchini corner OF doesn't look bad.

[rjortiz]

Where do you think we put Checchini when he's ready? His numbers in the minors are absurdly awesome and he's still just 22 as SFF pointed out. If WMB sticks with the big club, do we consider moving one of them to first?

 

An IF of Garin, Xander, Pedey, and WMB with Iggy as a bench guy would be pretty awesome.

 

WMB as the 1B?

[BornToRun]

Cecchini corner OF doesn't look bad.

 

I was thinking that might work too. Eventual OF of Garin, JBJ, and maybe Brentz?

[rjortiz]

I don't think Brentz is an everyday player. Too many K's, not enough walks. He's probably a .240/.300/.440 hitter in the majors.

[BornToRun]

He also fails to follow the basic rules of firearms safety.

[User Name]

He also fails to follow the basic rules of firearms safety.

 

[SoxFanForsyth]

I don't think Brentz is an everyday player. Too many K's, not enough walks. He's probably a .240/.300/.440 hitter in the majors.

 

He is Will Middlebrooks in RF.

 

The question is, if the Sox retain Cecchini, Bogaerts, Bradley, Lavarnway, and also have Pedroia in the lineup, that's 5 of 9 guys who will OBP 375-.400+. So, do you give up a little OBP for some 25+ HR pop in Middlebrooks and Brentz?

[SoxFanForsyth]

Middlebrooks doesn't hit enough to merit 1B. Cecchini doesn't have enough pop right now to play a corner OF IMO, but he certainly could develop 20+ HR pop and if so, you throw him out there. If he can develop into a .305/.395/.490 hitter with 18-22 HR, you've got yourself Kevin Youkilis 2.0 (in his prime) and you can easily stick that production at 1B so long as you gain a little hr pop elsewhere (I'm lookin at you, Mike Stanton).

[BornToRun]

Middlebrooks doesn't hit enough to merit 1B. Cecchini doesn't have enough pop right now to play a corner OF IMO, but he certainly could develop 20+ HR pop and if so, you throw him out there. If he can develop into a .305/.395/.490 hitter with 18-22 HR, you've got yourself Kevin Youkilis 2.0 (in his prime) and you can easily stick that production at 1B so long as you gain a little hr pop elsewhere (I'm lookin at you, Mike Stanton).

 

Am I the only one who's not too high on Stanton? Sure, he's awesome at baseball but he seems kind of injury prone.

[jacksonianmarch]

Am I the only one who's not too high on Stanton? Sure, he's awesome at baseball but he seems kind of injury prone.

 

Stanton would be a game changer for the sox. And, if he were to come to Beantown, he'd have a fair share of games at DH once Papi moved on. The guy would be a perennial 50HR candidate in the bean