November 11, 2016

Minor League Update

Games of November 10th

by Mauricio Rubio

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It was a light day extra-base-hit wise. We’re at the end of a long, long season and more than a few of these players have been playing since March.

Hitter of the Day

Mauricio Dubon, SS, Boston Red Sox (Surprise Saguaros) 1-3, 2B. Dubon does a good job controlling the barrel and making consistent contact. He profiles to play a solid shortstop. With his contact skills and his defensive work he can be an everyday shortstop, albeit a relatively unexciting one since his power is light.

Pitcher of the Day

Rowan Wick, RHP, St. Louis Cardinals (Glendale Desert Dogs) 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 SO. Once upon a time Rowan Wick was a well-built outfielder with power potential and a strong arm. Pitch recognition issues derailed his position-player career and the Cardinals turned him into a hard-throwing righty bullpen arm. As is to be expected with a conversion pitcher command is an issue, as his mechanics are inconsistent.

Best of the Rest

Gleyber Torres, SS, New York Yankees (Scottsdale Scorpions) 3-4. I wrote a report on Torres that outlined a future at third base, off of shortstop. A few sources corroborated my opinion over the past year. Torres has a lot of skill with the bat and he’s going to be a nice, solid-average major leaguer, but a star future doesn’t appear to be in his profile.

Austin Gomber, LHP, St. Louis Cardinals (Glendale Desert Dogs) 5 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 3 BB, 2 SO. I got an extended look at Gomber during my trip to the Arizona Fall League. There are some things to like--he knows how to pitch and, despite ordinary stuff, he keeps the ball down in the zone. It’s a boring profile, but one that could be usable as a fifth starter or a swingman.

James Kaprielian, RHP, New York Yankees (Scottsdale Scorpions) 4.1 IP, 3 H, 5 ER, 2 BB, 5 SO. A bookend of bad innings highlighted a bad outing by the talented Kaprielian. His fastball was hitting the upper 90s earlier in the AFL and his slider shows promise. Kaprielian has an ideal starters build.

Mauricio Ramos, 3B, Kansas City Royals (Surprise Saguaros) 2-4. Hey, anytime there’s a chance to sneak two Mauricios in here I’m going to do it. Ramos has been in the Royals' system forever. He’s produced at a solid clip, but his profile has never been over-the-top exciting due to a lack of power and a utility future.

Jose Trevino, C, Texas Rangers (Surprise Saguaros) 3-3. Trevino started off the AFL by lighting it up and finding himself in the MLU on a consistent basis. One dry spell later and his production is way down, although his stock shouldn’t be.

Fight Another Day

Harrison Bader, OF, St. Louis Cardinals (Glendale Desert Dogs) 0-3. The saving grace here is that Bader did not strike out. Bader will have to work on cutting that strikeout rate down if he wants to start every day.

Zach Vincej, SS, Cincinnati Reds (Peoria Javelinas) 0-3, 3 SO. Vincej maintained low strikeout rates all the way through 2016, where it ticked up to 19.4 percent in his second year at Double-A. Solid contact skills, little power, good up-the-middle defender.

Mauricio Rubio is an author of Baseball Prospectus. Follow @MRubio52
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