2025 Prospects Thread

[D-train]

I don't know what's going on with Cole Young, but you shouldn't see this much of a drop off from AA to AAA. I think, probably, we're still dealing with small sample size. Hopefully that's all it is.

125 PAs is not a large Sample size but isn't small and it is getting bigger every day. Kelenic has a .941 career OPS in AAA.

What does Kelenic have to do with Cole Young?

Because he was great in AAA and still couldn't hit MLB pitching. If Cole can't hit AAA pitching he is doomed.

[GL_Storm]

125 PAs is not a large Sample size but isn't small and it is getting bigger every day. Kelenic has a .941 career OPS in AAA.

What does Kelenic have to do with Cole Young?

Because he was great in AAA and still couldn't hit MLB pitching. If Cole can't hit AAA pitching he is doomed.

You can say that about any player though. If the player can't hit in AAA, he almost certainly won't hit in MLB. I don't see why Kelenic is some sort of special benchmark. Maybe you should start another Kelenic thread to explain.

[Juliooooo]

Updates on our top prospects:

Colt Emerson, 19, at Everett: hitting .263 with a .733 OPS. Not sure why he's our #1 prospect, but at least he seems solid.

Lazaro Montes, 20, at Everett: hitting .263 with five HRs and a .988 OPS. And this seems like a slow start for him. Dude's a BEAST.

Harry Ford, 22, at Tacoma: hitting .210 with one HR and a .679 OPS. Has a nice 20 BB to 17 K ratio, but kind of discouraging. If he doesn't hit he's not going to be drawing all those walks in the show.

Cole Young, 21, at Tacoma: hitting .191 with 0 HRs and a .577 OPS. Hate to say this what with him being Vogelboob's favorite player, but he sucks.

Felnin Celestin, 19, at Modesto: hitting .319 with an OPS of .821. All this kid does is rake. Unless his glove sucks, why isn't he our #1 prospect?

Celestin has done nothing but get injured. If he can stay healthy, he will be our top prospect by midseason. I think young will be fine. He’s still just 21 in AAA. And Emerson is 19. Both I think can be solid major league pieces. Montes and Celnin are the highest ceiling guys though for sure

He's been healthy so far this season except for missing 4 games, which I think came from fouling a ball off of his foot, or something like that.

And they don't really change their rankings until around midseason, which is why he might jump up then.

But at the time these evaluations were made, he'd really just had a history of being injured, and he wasn't going to be ranked #1. I'm simply trying to answer your question about why is he isn't our #1 prospect.

[bpj]

I have a hard time getting excited about any prospect when power isn't an obvious part of their game.

What is there to hope for? A Dansby Swanson type?

I don't follow our minor leagues much because it never seems to matter much in the MLB lineup. Cal Raleigh and Kyle Seager are obvious exceptions and they deserve credit for those two. Julio, obviously.

Although they still managed to knock Seager down a rung on the value ladder by moving him 3B instead of 2B because Ackley was the heir apparent at 2B. (I know the positional adjustment of the two positions is ~equal now, it wasn't always that way)

And they signed Julio to a superstar contract and paid him way more now than he'd be earning, which ate into the 2025+ payrolls, shooting themselves in the foot. Robbing Paul to pay Peter.

This team just finds a way to be frustrating at every turn.

[D-train]

What does Kelenic have to do with Cole Young?

Because he was great in AAA and still couldn't hit MLB pitching. If Cole can't hit AAA pitching he is doomed.

You can say that about any player though. If the player can't hit in AAA, he almost certainly won't hit in MLB. I don't see why Kelenic is some sort of special benchmark. Maybe you should start another Kelenic thread to explain.

Are you trying to be obtuse? Kellenic is a reference because everybody knows who he is and he proved that even if you hit well in AAA it doesn't guarantee MLB success. It demonstrates the massive jump in pitching.

[GL_Storm]

Because he was great in AAA and still couldn't hit MLB pitching. If Cole can't hit AAA pitching he is doomed.

You can say that about any player though. If the player can't hit in AAA, he almost certainly won't hit in MLB. I don't see why Kelenic is some sort of special benchmark. Maybe you should start another Kelenic thread to explain.

Are you trying to be obtuse? Kellenic is a reference because everybody knows who he is and he proved that even if you hit well in AAA it doesn't guarantee MLB success. It demonstrates the massive jump in pitching.

But why do you need that reference when the player isn't hitting at all? The discussion was about Cole Young, who so far is hitting under .200 at AAA. You don't need to reference Kelenic or any other notable failures to make the point that a sub-.200 batting average won't cut it in the major leagues. Where the Kelenic reference makes more sense is when you have a player killing it in AAA, similar to Kelenic numbers. Then you can point to Kelenic and make the point that AAA performance doesn't automatically translate to MLB performance. That's where the comparison makes sense.

[Seattle or Bust]

I don't get what is special about Cole Young at all.

Why would you draft a guy w. the 21st pick overall whose comp is Adam Frazier? Much less get excited about him.

Not hitting in AAA is one thing, hitting .271 in the minors when your calling card a "60" hit tool is the most concerning part for me. First round pick with supposedly elite contact skills hitting .271 while Kelenic hit .297? While Julio hit .331? While Cal hit .275?

Oof.

Look at this moron... updated ESPN prospect rankings:



Laz at 9... Young at 3. Makes total sense.

[Captain 97]

I have a hard time getting excited about any prospect when power isn't an obvious part of their game.

What is there to hope for? A Dansby Swanson type?

I don't follow our minor leagues much because it never seems to matter much in the MLB lineup. Cal Raleigh and Kyle Seager are obvious exceptions and they deserve credit for those two. Julio, obviously.

Although they still managed to knock Seager down a rung on the value ladder by moving him 3B instead of 2B because Ackley was the heir apparent at 2B. (I know the positional adjustment of the two positions is ~equal now, it wasn't always that way)

And they signed Julio to a superstar contract and paid him way more now than he'd be earning, which ate into the 2025+ payrolls, shooting themselves in the foot. Robbing Paul to pay Peter.

This team just finds a way to be frustrating at every turn.

Sometimes Power is the last thing to come. Edgar was in AAA for 4 years and hit 21 Home runs in in 950 AB's. Id much rather have a prospect who is hitting line drives all over the place in the minors over a guy who has some pop but struggles to make regular contact.

[Seattle or Bust]

I have a hard time getting excited about any prospect when power isn't an obvious part of their game.

What is there to hope for? A Dansby Swanson type?

I don't follow our minor leagues much because it never seems to matter much in the MLB lineup. Cal Raleigh and Kyle Seager are obvious exceptions and they deserve credit for those two. Julio, obviously.

Although they still managed to knock Seager down a rung on the value ladder by moving him 3B instead of 2B because Ackley was the heir apparent at 2B. (I know the positional adjustment of the two positions is ~equal now, it wasn't always that way)

And they signed Julio to a superstar contract and paid him way more now than he'd be earning, which ate into the 2025+ payrolls, shooting themselves in the foot. Robbing Paul to pay Peter.

This team just finds a way to be frustrating at every turn.

Sometimes Power is the last thing to come. Edgar was in AAA for 4 years and hit 21 Home runs in in 950 AB's. Id much rather have a prospect who is hitting line drives all over the place in the minors over a guy who has some pop but struggles to make regular contact.

Edgar also didn't really tap into that power until he was 32 years old. He didn't become a regular ball player until he was 28.

I'm not sure the M's have the luxury to wait around for Cole Young to hit .240/.320/.300 for the next few seasons while he finds it.

[D-train]

You can say that about any player though. If the player can't hit in AAA, he almost certainly won't hit in MLB. I don't see why Kelenic is some sort of special benchmark. Maybe you should start another Kelenic thread to explain.

Are you trying to be obtuse? Kellenic is a reference because everybody knows who he is and he proved that even if you hit well in AAA it doesn't guarantee MLB success. It demonstrates the massive jump in pitching.

But why do you need that reference when the player isn't hitting at all? The discussion was about Cole Young, who so far is hitting under .200 at AAA. You don't need to reference Kelenic or any other notable failures to make the point that a sub-.200 batting average won't cut it in the major leagues. Where the Kelenic reference makes more sense is when you have a player killing it in AAA, similar to Kelenic numbers. Then you can point to Kelenic and make the point that AAA performance doesn't automatically translate to MLB performance. That's where the comparison makes sense.

It is to drive home the point that one of our top three prospects can't hit AAA pitching and how most prospects even ones that can't hit MLB pitching rake in the PCL.