June 13, 2014

Minor League Update

Games of Thursday, June 12

by Jeff Moore

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Hitter of the Night: Aderlin Rodriguez, 1B/3B, Mets (St. Lucie, A+): 4-5, R, 2 2B, 3B.
On Wednesday night, I submitted a report to BP on Rodriguez saying that he had 80 raw power but a 30-grade hit tool that would limit him from ever becoming a major leaguer. Naturally, he went out Thursday and fell a home run short of a cycle, missing out on the one part he does well. Regardless of one good game, Rodriguez’s complete inability to recognize anything offspeed will keep the power from ever reaching anywhere near its 80 ceiling in games and will keep him from being a major leaguer. I was in attendance for his performance on Thursday and he did a great job of taking advantage of terrible pitching, but he won’t see those pitches very often.

Pitcher of the Night: Tyler Glasnow, RHP, Pirates (Bradenton, A+): 5 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 7 K.
Glasnow’s ceiling still remains as high as ever, but it’s been a battle for him this year to throw strikes and miss bats the way he did in his full-season debut last year. The control still has a long way to go, but this is closer to the Glasnow that the Pirates were hoping would make the transition from West Virginia to Bradenton.

Best of the Rest

Clint Frazier, OF, Indians (Lake County, A-): 3-5, 3 R, 2B, 2 K. Frazier’s pro career hasn’t exactly burst out of the gates the way many had expected, but all the tools are still there. He just needs to refine his approach at the plate to let it come out in games.

D.J. Peterson, 3B, Mariners (High Desert, A+): 2-5, 3 R, HR, BB, 2 K, SB. I wish the Mariners would just promote Peterson already, because blasting home runs—he now has 14—doesn’t tell me much about a high college pick from last year and I’m really interested to see how his aggressive approach works in Double-A.

Viosergy Rosa, 1B, Marlins (Jupiter, A+): 3-4, 3 R, 2 HR. Rosa is a big boy, but he doesn’t have the in-game power you’d expect from a large first baseman because his balls have so much topspin off the bat and don’t carry. The swing hasn’t resulted in power in the big parks in the Florida State League.

Dilson Herrera, 2B, Mets (St. Lucie, A+): 4-4, 2 R. I’ve seen Herrera about eight times this year and he always seems to be doing something productive. In my Eyewitness Report on Herrera, I noted that a pronounced wrap of the bat around his head lengthened his swing out and caused him trouble. He has worked to smooth this out since I saw him last and his swing was much shorter and direct to the ball. I’m still not sure exactly what kind of player Herrera is going to end up being, but the Mets have a major leaguer on their hands of some kind.

Josh Bell, OF, Pirates (Bradenton, A+): 2-3, 2 R, 2B, HR. There are still many inconsistencies in Bell’s game, but they are getting to be fewer and further between. He’s made great strides as a hitter this season and is getting closer to becoming the player his tools say he can be.

Raimel Tapia, OF, Rockies (Asheville, A-): 4-6, 2 R, HR, K. After a rough month of April, Tapia hit .340 in May and is now hitting .377 in June. Good hitters are going to hit, and Tapia is an extremely good one. His aggressive approach may get him in some trouble down the road, but he has plenty of time to smooth that out.

Fight Another Day

Delino DeShields, OF, Astros (Corpus Christi, AA): 0-4, 2 K. There are going to be a lot of people who blame DeShields’ horrific facial injury for his struggles this year - and that certainly couldn’t have helped, I don’t want to discount that – but he had his flaws before he got hit and they were masked last season by the California League. While his walk rate is good and fits his speed game, it comes with far too many strike outs. He’ll have to really work to get on base as he moves up the ladder in order to have enough value to play every day.

Mark Appel, RHP, Astros (Lancaster, A+): 3 IP, 6 H, 4 R, BB, 3 K. Well, this is better than his last start, but then again, so was your last root canal. At some point, we can make all the excuses we want for Appel (California League, adjustments to pitching every fifth day, tandem starting, etc.), but the fact remains he’s simply not getting the job done and the stuff isn’t the same as the stuff he showed in college. At this point, if he’s not hurt, there’s a bigger issue going on here. (H/t to Ron Shah (@rontrarian) for the live reports)

Joc Pederson, OF, Dodgers (Albuquerque, AAA): 0-4, BB, 4 K. Pederson can do a lot of things well, but man can he strike out in bunches. Thursday night’s game puts him in a stretch with 16 strikeouts in 35 plate appearances.

Notable Pitching Performances

• Daniel Norris, LHP, Blue Jays (Dunedin, A+): 5 IP, H, 0 R, 2 BB, 3 K.
• A.J. Cole, RHP, Nationals (Harrisburg, AA): 5 IP, 7 H, 5 R (3 ER), 2 BB, K.
• Matt Wisler, RHP, Padres (El Paso, AAA): 6 IP, 8 H, 3 R, BB, 3 K.

…and Joey Gallo homered.