Mariners minors. Thread for interesting news and stats.

[GL_Storm]

Locklear is likely the position player that reaches the bigs first. He is 22 yo already. Hopefully he straight rakes in Everett and is promoted to Ark after a couple months.

I thought this was kind of an interesting observation:

Locklear has some stiffness to his swing and his bat moves in and out of the zone quickly...

I think what they're talking about here is where the bat head enters the zone. Some hitters, like Haniger, gear their swing so that the head of the bat enters the zone slightly farther back in relation to the plate and the hitter's body, and the idea is that this gives you an extra millisecond or two to adjust the path of the bat to meet the ball. Haniger actually reworked his swing in the minors for that purpose. Someone, probably Divish, wrote about that this last summer I believe.

With Locklear, I think what they're saying is that he kind of does the opposite, that he goes direct to the ball. I imagine the approach that's most suitable for the individual depends on all sorts of variables including vision and pitch recognition, hand-eye coordination, bat speed, and probably some subtle issues around anatomy like height, arm length, torso length, etc. I personally like the Haniger approach just because it seems like the most logical way to go about trying to hit the ball, but I'm also so far out of my depth that I couldn't possibly say that one way is better than the other.

[D-train]

Locklear is likely the position player that reaches the bigs first. He is 22 yo already. Hopefully he straight rakes in Everett and is promoted to Ark after a couple months.

I thought this was kind of an interesting observation:

Locklear has some stiffness to his swing and his bat moves in and out of the zone quickly...

I think what they're talking about here is where the bat head enters the zone. Some hitters, like Haniger, gear their swing so that the head of the bat enters the zone slightly farther back in relation to the plate and the hitter's body, and the idea is that this gives you an extra millisecond or two to adjust the path of the bat to meet the ball. Haniger actually reworked his swing in the minors for that purpose. Someone, probably Divish, wrote about that this last summer I believe.

With Locklear, I think what they're saying is that he kind of does the opposite, that he goes direct to the ball. I imagine the approach that's most suitable for the individual depends on all sorts of variables including vision and pitch recognition, hand-eye coordination, bat speed, and probably some subtle issues around anatomy like height, arm length, torso length, etc. I personally like the Haniger approach just because it seems like the most logical way to go about trying to hit the ball, but I'm also so far out of my depth that I couldn't possibly say that one way is better than the other.

Sure but I was Very unimpressed with Mitch's Plate Discipline the past couple years. Locklear barely had over a 20% walk rate. Of course vs. Low A pitching. His walk rate was bad though.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/regi ... ckle000tyl

[GL_Storm]

Locklear is likely the position player that reaches the bigs first. He is 22 yo already. Hopefully he straight rakes in Everett and is promoted to Ark after a couple months.

I thought this was kind of an interesting observation:

Locklear has some stiffness to his swing and his bat moves in and out of the zone quickly...

I think what they're talking about here is where the bat head enters the zone. Some hitters, like Haniger, gear their swing so that the head of the bat enters the zone slightly farther back in relation to the plate and the hitter's body, and the idea is that this gives you an extra millisecond or two to adjust the path of the bat to meet the ball. Haniger actually reworked his swing in the minors for that purpose. Someone, probably Divish, wrote about that this last summer I believe.

With Locklear, I think what they're saying is that he kind of does the opposite, that he goes direct to the ball. I imagine the approach that's most suitable for the individual depends on all sorts of variables including vision and pitch recognition, hand-eye coordination, bat speed, and probably some subtle issues around anatomy like height, arm length, torso length, etc. I personally like the Haniger approach just because it seems like the most logical way to go about trying to hit the ball, but I'm also so far out of my depth that I couldn't possibly say that one way is better than the other.

Sure but I was Very unimpressed with Mitch's Plate Discipline the past couple years. Locklear barely had over a 20% walk rate. Of course vs. Low A pitching. His walk rate was bad though.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/regi ... ckle000tyl

Plate discipline is a different thing though. This was about swing mechanics.

[D-train]

Sure but I think that good swing mechanics would lead to less Ks and a higher average. Since 2019 he had a 26% K rate and only hit .244.

[Juliooooo]

4. Gabriel Gonzalez | OF
Born: Jan 4, 2004
Bats: R Throws: R
Ht.: 5'10" Wt.: 180
Signed By: Luis Martinez.
Minors: .321/.410/.468 | 7 HR | 9 SB | 252 AB

Track Record: Gonzalez signed with the Mariners for $1.3 million out of Venezuela in 2021 and quickly established himself as one of the organization's most promising offensive talents. He led the Dominican Summer League in extra-base hits in his pro debut and continued to produce in his first season stateside in 2022. Gonzalez hit a team-best .357 in the Arizona Complex League and earned a promotion as an 18-year-old to Low-A Modesto, where he impressively held his own over the season's final month.

Scouting Report: Gonzalez is a physical, righthanded power hitter with a fast, powerful swing. He demolishes pitches in the strike zone with his quick hands and plus power and is adept at driving balls the other way for opposite-field home runs. He already posts exit velocities up to 116 mph--the same maximum exit velocity as Austin Riley and C.J. Cron in the majors in 2022--and has the natural hand-eye coordination, pitch recognition and contact skills to get to his power in games. Gonzalez doesn't swing and miss much for a power hitter, but he frequently chases pitches out of the zone for weak contact and has to improve his pitch selection. His hand speed, strength and natural feel for contact give him a chance to be a fringy to average hitter if he improves his swing decisions. Gonzalez has a thick, physically mature body and has already slowed to a fringe-average runner. He is limited to a corner outfield spot defensively, where he has marginal range but good instincts and plus-plus arm strength. He projects to be a fringy to average defensive right fielder as long as he doesn't get too big and lose his mobility.

The Future: Gonzalez has the thump to be a middle-of-the-order power threat, but he'll need to improve his swing decisions and monitor his conditioning. He should reach High-A Everett in 2023.

Scouting Grades: Hitting: 45. Power: 60. Speed: 40. Fielding: 45. Arm: 70

4 is too low for him. He hit .324 last year, don't know why his hitting is ranked so low. He could be a top 30 prospect by midseason if he keeps hitting like he has been

[GL_Storm]

4. Gabriel Gonzalez | OF
Born: Jan 4, 2004
Bats: R Throws: R
Ht.: 5'10" Wt.: 180
Signed By: Luis Martinez.
Minors: .321/.410/.468 | 7 HR | 9 SB | 252 AB

Track Record: Gonzalez signed with the Mariners for $1.3 million out of Venezuela in 2021 and quickly established himself as one of the organization's most promising offensive talents. He led the Dominican Summer League in extra-base hits in his pro debut and continued to produce in his first season stateside in 2022. Gonzalez hit a team-best .357 in the Arizona Complex League and earned a promotion as an 18-year-old to Low-A Modesto, where he impressively held his own over the season's final month.

Scouting Report: Gonzalez is a physical, righthanded power hitter with a fast, powerful swing. He demolishes pitches in the strike zone with his quick hands and plus power and is adept at driving balls the other way for opposite-field home runs. He already posts exit velocities up to 116 mph--the same maximum exit velocity as Austin Riley and C.J. Cron in the majors in 2022--and has the natural hand-eye coordination, pitch recognition and contact skills to get to his power in games. Gonzalez doesn't swing and miss much for a power hitter, but he frequently chases pitches out of the zone for weak contact and has to improve his pitch selection. His hand speed, strength and natural feel for contact give him a chance to be a fringy to average hitter if he improves his swing decisions. Gonzalez has a thick, physically mature body and has already slowed to a fringe-average runner. He is limited to a corner outfield spot defensively, where he has marginal range but good instincts and plus-plus arm strength. He projects to be a fringy to average defensive right fielder as long as he doesn't get too big and lose his mobility.

The Future: Gonzalez has the thump to be a middle-of-the-order power threat, but he'll need to improve his swing decisions and monitor his conditioning. He should reach High-A Everett in 2023.

Scouting Grades: Hitting: 45. Power: 60. Speed: 40. Fielding: 45. Arm: 70

4 is too low for him. He hit .324 last year, don't know why his hitting is ranked so low. He could be a top 30 prospect by midseason if he keeps hitting like he has been

It's still pretty small sample size and low level competition, but I'm sure other lists will have him higher. I agree though that this could be his Noelvi year where he flies up the rankings. I think there are a few guys like that in the system, which is why I like our system right now and why I think it's better than the publications will give it credit for.

[GL_Storm]

Sure but I think that good swing mechanics would lead to less Ks and a higher average. Since 2019 he had a 26% K rate and only hit .244.

You know I was just using Mitch as an example to illustrate a point, right?

[GL_Storm]

Here's some Locklear swings from college: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JbiPS5I488

You can sort of see in the video what the BA evaluation is talking about. He's swinging to make contact vs. trying to launch the ball. He doesn't rear back at all.

[Juliooooo]

It's still pretty small sample size and low level competition, but I'm sure other lists will have him higher. I agree though that this could be his Noelvi year where he flies up the rankings. I think there are a few guys like that in the system, which is why I like our system right now and why I think it's better than the publications will give it credit for.

Yep. Not a lot of guys knocking at the door, other than a few pitchers. Could have multiple guys jump into the top 100 with a good year.

Ford (already top 100, but could be top 25)
Young
Ford (vanilla missile)
Axel
G2
Montez

[D-train]

ARod kicked to the curb