2025 Prospects Thread

[D-train]

Crazy, all the experts on X tell me he is going to be 25 HR a season guy. Just a matter of time. Seems he disagrees.

“I’m a gap-to-gap guy who will hit it out occasionally, but (I’m) more a doubles-singles guy,” Emerson said. “Personally, if I went out there and I tried to hit like (power-hitting prospect) Lazaro Montes, it’s not going to work for me. He’s a beast. He hits home runs. Like, if I go out there and try to hit the ball like him, it’s never gonna work.

Listened to the interview, too. Colt is a farm-bred, corn-fed, baseball-loving son of a gun who has been a stud since 10. What you're forgetting is he does hit homers. Laz is a 45 homer dude. Colt will run into 20 bombs because his exit velo will continue to rise as he progresses up the chain.

But the homers don't really matter. As long as his average is .300+, his extra-base hits are 65+, he should be a .310/.400/.520 kid at the SS spot. That's AS level

Yes he hits HRs. 6 in 511 PAs. Rojas hit 8 in 476 PAs for reference.

[Vogelbomb]

Why are you only able to focus on one element? You're like a dog that sees a squirrel. SQUIRREL!!

I just went through all the other ways that will make Emerson great from avg to on base to gap to gap slug. He's been ELITE at every stage of his development since little league.

BTW, your little comparison with Rojas and Emerson? Yeah, Rojas is a man, he's 30. Emerson just turned 19.

[D-train]

He is a fine prospect. If he ithe best prospect in our system then our system isn't great.

[Vogelbomb]

He is a fine prospect. If he ithe best prospect in our system then our system isn't great.

hahahah
Keith Law just rated the M's system as No. 1 in the fucking sport. Pipeline has M's with most top 100s in the sport.
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/609458 ... ings-2025/

M's system is loaded. Felnin is likely the best player in it right now and he's got superstar written all over him. Then you've got solid to elite level contributors all over the middle of the diamond from Arroyo, Young, Emerson and Farmelo to Laz and Ford. You've got 7 top 100s and we're not even getting to Farmelo, Cijntje, Sloan, Peete and the new IFA class led by the Beast.

[DavidGee24]

Why are you only able to focus on one element? You're like a dog that sees a squirrel. SQUIRREL!!

I just went through all the other ways that will make Emerson great from avg to on base to gap to gap slug. He's been ELITE at every stage of his development since little league.

BTW, your little comparison with Rojas and Emerson? Yeah, Rojas is a man, he's 30. Emerson just turned 19.

If Darren sees a squirrel, then we're all seeing squirrels. Are you completely unaware that you make this forum shake its collective head more than anyone here, by far?

Again, I quote Moneyball: "If he's such a good hitter, then why doesn't he hit good?"

[D-train]

Keith Law loving our farm system is the Kiss of Death.

[GL_Storm]

Ranking our farm system #1 is fine but it doesn't matter that much. I think when all of the various system rankings come out and you sort of blend them together, we'll be comfortably in the top 5, which is as much precision as you need to understand that scouting and player development seem to be working pretty well.

[DavidGee24]

Ranking our farm system #1 is fine but it doesn't matter that much. I think when all of the various system rankings come out and you sort of blend them together, we'll be comfortably in the top 5, which is as much precision as you need to understand that scouting and player development seem to be working pretty well.

Not to mention that this is the third time since we started posting in this forum that we've had a "top" farm system. The first time it was headlined by Tajuan Walker, James Paxton and Danny Hultzen, and then the second time it was headlined by Dustin Ackley, Justin Smoak and Jesus Montero. Didn't exactly vault us into the postseason.

Unless a player is a can't-miss prospect who's performing in the minor leagues at a can't-miss level (like Julio and our starting pitchers were), he's nobody to get excited about. Right now it's pretty much only Celestin, Montes, and Arroyo who stand out performance-wise.

[D-train]

More Brilliance for Keith Law.

It reads like a piece from a day after the WS ended. lol

Do ya thinks so??? LMAO

Mariners prospect Cole Young
Young, a 21-year-old left-handed-hitting middle infielder, is widely considered to be the closest of the Mariners’ top prospect to reaching the big leagues. Since being drafted as a first-round pick in 2022, Young has quickly risen through Seattle’s farm system while showcasing an advanced approach and overall hitting ability. He spent last season in Double-A Arkansas, slashing .271/.369/.390 with nine home runs and a .759 OPS in 124 games.

Law believes Young would give the Mariners the best chance of dealing from their farm system to acquire an impact bat for 2025. Just weeks ahead of spring training, Seattle still has a pressing need to bolster its lineup to pair with a stellar starting rotation that led the majors in ERA last season.

“They’ve gotta go get a bat,” Law said. “If they want to contend this year, they have to do something to boost the offense. (Young) is the name that’s always jumped out at me. It’s not that I’ve heard him in trade rumors. I’m just trying to take their front office perspective, looking at the system thinking who’s the guy who’s good but who we could part with and who other teams would also be willing to value.

“That’s the best way for them to get 2025 impact from the current farm is trading somebody – and he’s just the name who jumps out.”

[Vogelbomb]

If Darren sees a squirrel, then we're all seeing squirrels. Are you completely unaware that you make this forum shake its collective head more than anyone here, by far?

Again, I quote Moneyball: "If he's such a good hitter, then why doesn't he hit good?"

Well, a .765 ops isn't awful. Obviously, you desire more from an elite 1st rd pick. He dealt with multiple injuries last season and played at two levels. He did tear the cover off ball in 50 AFL ABs, getting to a .910 ops I believe.

Again, he's 19

To your other point, I don't really care. I have always been a contrarian thinker. As one example outside of my baseball takes which you're all probably well familiar with, I was always a "Seahawks LOB-era teams won on defense, not Russell. Russell holds onto the ball too long, his success comes from scramble, ad-lib plays, the Hawks OL wasn't the issue etc.. etc."

I don't care about what's popular or what may or may not rankle people. Right now the collective thought around the M's is this ownership is cheap, they should sign more FA bats at top of the market, take advantage of this window. I don't see the ownership as cheap, I see it as prudent. Idk what the books look like, maybe the revenue vs expenses is getting tight??? idk. But I do know that spending at the top of the market for FAs wasn't a smart strategy in 2018 and its even worse heading into 2025 w/ the difficulty of being a MLB player on the rise. Players are falling off harder and faster than ever before.

Stanton has stated he doesn't want to invest in free agents, especially those 30 and older. I think that makes sense.

Now, that said, I am for signing more veteran, established relief help. I'd have liked to bring in a Kenley Jansen type, even Paul Sewald. Picking up Ryan Pressly in trade would've been cool, idk if HOU would've dealt him here, though.

And I'm also in favor of bringing back Polanco to play 3b if he's willing. Bliss/Young/Moore feel more well suited for 2b but again, I'm not privy to the internal discussions. Maybe org likes Bliss potentially at 3b, Moore at 3b, idk.

They have money for Jansen and Polanco at this point. Let's see what the team ends up doing.

Also, I believe in this club 100 percent as it sits TODAY to win the AL West. People can whine about the offseason nonaction all they want, can continue to be pessimistic about the offense and forget all about how good the staff is and can even be better. An infield of Raley-Bliss-Crawford-Moore with Solano, Young, Dunn isn't bad. Yes, it's not big-namers, but there's solid players there, above avg defense, above avg base running and some real potential with likes of Raley, Bliss, Young and Dunn. Solano is just a real, real solid player in a platoon capacity.

And the OF has star power/possibility with Robles-Julio-Arozarena. I love Robles' game. That dude just gets after it. He could be a superstar if he becomes a 2b-3b machine. And honestly, as long as he gets on base, he's turning it into a 2b with his SB capacity. And once he's on second, he's scoring on anything.

We need to get more from Arozarena. Hopefully he adjusts his approach and starts finding more contact. He has it in him. Dude was special to start his career. If he falls off even more, you have Raley that can slide in (more ABs for Solano and/or Locklear at 1b) or Haniger/Canzone.

So the offense has big time potential. It's not stacked with LAD names and HOFers like Ohtani and Freeman, but it has players that can be 115 wRC+ dudes and guys that can be 140+ wRC+ guys in Julio, Robles, Raley, Cal. That's an offense that will win games especially with this pitching staff. This is a team that can be more gap to gap, get on base, steal bags, go 1st to home... just really put pressure on opponents like teams of old. Especially if it goes Bliss at 2b and Moore at 3b