Mariner Minors
Transaction Update:
According to the
Seattle Times, the Mariners have re-signed LHP Ryan Anderson, their 1st round pick in the '97 draft, and have signed CF Marquise Liverpool, their 33rd round pick of the '04 draft. According to
Baseball America, they have also released LHP Bill Pulsipher and RHP Bill Simas.
Anderson, 25, was one of the most highly regarded pitchers in the minor leagues and Baseball America's top Mariners prospect five years running. Unfortunately, he ran into arm trouble and has yet to live up to comparisons to Randy Johnson, which had him nicknamed "The Little Unit". Anderson is believe to be healthy again, but the M's know all too well the risks of rushing him and have held off using him in a regular season game until the 2005 season, when he is likely to start in Inland Empire or San Antonio due to their more favorable weather. Time will tell whether or not he will remain in the starter's role.
Liverpool, 18, was signed away from his letter of intent to Boston College, where he was going to play fullback for their football team. A star in football, baseball, and basketball, Liverpool was named to the second team of the New Jersey High School All-Stars as an outfielder in his junior year. He is one of many potential centerfielders drafted by the M's in 2004.
Pulsipher, 30, was the Mets' top prospect in 1994 and 1995. Pulsipher formed a fearsome trio of pitchers with RHPs Jason Isringhausen and Paul Wilson, but one by one they all succumbed to injuries and Pulsipher blew out his elbow in 1995. He made two starts for the fading Rainiers late in the season and pitched well in both, but was sidelined with arm troubles yet again and did not pitch for the rest of the season.
Simas, 32, was in the majors for parts of 1995-2000 as a reliever with the Chicago White Sox, but hasn't made it back to the majors since. He only pitched 11.2 innings with Tacoma this season, but oddly enough, three of the ten hits he gave up were home runs.
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Here are some notes from Baseball America's
California League chat wrap...
Q: Phil from Philadelphia asks:
Besides Felix Hernandez, what other Inland Empire players got some support? Jesus Guzman? Bobby Livingston? Any one else?
A: Kevin Goldstein: Livingston just missed to cut. His stuff in underwhelming, but he has great command and just knows how to pitch. The other player who got the most attention was Jon Nelson, an intriguing power/speed combination who is a little behind the curve because of a 2-year mormon mission.
Q: Wes from Seattle asks:
What do you think Felix Hernandez's chances are of making the 25 man roster for Seattle next year?
A: Kevin Goldstein: There's two questions here, really. Stuff/ability-wise, I think he'd be ready to get major league hitters out next year. The second question is why would a rebuilding Mariners team bring him up and start his service clock so quickly. Do you really want him being a free agent at 25? See Rodriguez, Alex.
Q: Jim from Connecticut asks:
What is the difference between Hernandez and Cain that elevates Felix to #1?
A: Kevin Goldstein: The obvious one is age. Hernandez is nearly 18 months younger than Cain, and Cain was one of the youngest pitchers in the league. There there is stuff. As good as Cain is, Hernandez throws harder, has a better curveball, and a more advanced changeup. In addition, Hernandez barely even threw his slider this year, which is reportedly as good as the other pitches. He is a special, once-in-a-generation type talent.
Q: FRANCHISE management from madison, wi asks:
thanks for taking my question: has any one raised the question about felix hernandez's age being legit?
A: Kevin Goldstein: Lots of Felix questions here in the second half. It's important to note the country of origin. Don't just automatically assume that every Latin American player might have an birthdateidentity issue. Hernandez is Venezuelan, which has a much better record-keeping system and stricter visa requirements than the Dominican Republic. The Mariners insist his age is correct, and to my knowledge, there has never been a Venezuelan player to be "age-gated."
I had asked a question similar to the first only in a few more words. There isn't really much to say on these that hasn't already been said, so be on the lookout for a Texas League prospects list on Sunday night/Monday. If Felix qualified there, he'll make another appearance.
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BA's
top 20 California League prospects are up now. Wild guess on the only M's prospect on the list. Need more info? The top prospect on the list.
There's not much that we don't already hear on Felix, but they're saying that his changeup could develop into a plus pitch, despite that fact that it was only really utilized starting this season. They also made mention of the slider, the 91 mph one that they don't let him throw yet. If they did, well, then you have a slider that's potentially plus plus and is faster than a major league average fastball, one of the best hard curves anyone's seen in recent memory, a well-located high 90s fastball, and a changeup that might become a plus pitch. The potential is scary.
Tomorrow at 3 ET, 12 PT there will be the chat on this list. The M's didn't get as much showing partially because that dangerous Lancaster team had five picks on the list and the league has ten teams, but if you want to drop in and ask a question or two, feel free. I'm going to try to do so myself.
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USS Mariner just put up an
interesting piece on RHP Scott Atchison and his recent dominance which has led some to consider him a valuable releiver for the future. Rather than merely paraphrase it here, you should check it out.
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News around the minors...
The Sporting News is listing off
players to watch in this years Arizona Fall League and Mariners OF Shin-Soo Choo is listed as one of two prospects to watch in the coming soon department...
Signed out of Korea, where he was a stud pitcher, Choo followed up a solid 2003 in high Single-A (.286-9-55-18) with a breakout year in Double-A this year, hitting .315 with 15 homers, 84 RBIs, and 40 steals, getting caught just eight times. Those numbers put him fifth in batting average and third for steals and RBIs in the Texas League. There's more power on the way too, as shown by his 17 doubles and seven triples.
Call me a non-believer, but earlier before the season I wasn't too sure how Choo was going to deal with this year because he didn't seem to rebound completely from his foot injury in the 2003 season (that and Wolff Stadium is not conductive to hitting). I repent, I believe now. Choo struck out only once every 5.3 at-bats this year, as opposed to one in 4.9 last year and one in 4.5 for his career up until this year. He was stealing bases at a 83.3% clip this year, whereas in the last two years that was more like 64%. He just seems to keep getting better.
Meanwhile, a few days ago, FoxSports was passing out their
minor league awards. Guess who was their "pitcher to watch?"
One of the great power curves you'll ever see. Blew away the competition despite being much, much younger than his peer groups. He thrived in Double-A against hitters four and five years his senior. He boasts devastating stuff and a deep repertoire. Pitching prospects are never sure things, but "King Felix" is as close as you'll get to a fait accompli.
As for the content around here, I've got the minor league offensive review via SECA and Runs Created all set up in terms of data (except ages and bats/throws in the DSL), but for the sake of spreading out content, I'm going to hold off on that until BA is done reviewing leagues. While we're waiting for that to happen, I'm going to be putting together the pitching review, so hopefully both will be in place within a short time span.
Also, I'm not entirely certain with all of the other things going on recently, but I think RHP Brett Evert may have slipped through waivers and will remain with the organization.
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M's fans didn't get too much time in the
Midwest League top 20 chat, but considering 14 teams are represented, you couldn't have expected it to be easy. Instead, we got our attention during the lightning round...
Q: Tokoyo , Janpen from seattle asks:
Wisconsin LHP T.Oldham has a good season whit high so rate and SOBB,but he didn't in the list,what was the opinion on him .
A: Jim Callis: Old for the league at 22, changeup was his best pitch, fastball average at time, curveball still a ways to go as his third pitch.
Q: Jon from Peoria asks:
What type of ceiling does Ryan Feierabend have? Also, how would you compare Brian Dopirak with Jason Stokes?
A: Jim Callis: Feierabend has good control for a young guy, no real standout pitch at this point, so he'd be more of a No. 4 or 5 starter. Dopirak and Stokes have similar light-tower power and plate discipline.
Feierabend is another name you can add to the "left-handed, changeup is his best pitch" list. As for Oldham, that's generally why I haven't given a great deal of praise for him, but he continued his act into the Cal League and was off to a good start there. Same principle applies to RHP Brandon Moorhead and LHP Jason Mackinotsh. Both put up some sickening strikeout numbers at times, Moorhead for a greater duration, but they're 23 and 24 respectively to start the 2005 season and not out of low-A yet. The pitching staff, as a whole, for the 2004 T-Rats was questionable and eventually they had to fill some holes with recent draftees. I don't know how they're going to build it up again as they move players up in the offseason.
Remember, Cal League Top 20, coming up on Wednesday.
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The
Midwest League Top 20 is up at Baseball America. Notables on the M's side of things were
OF Wlad Balentien at 11 and
SS Adam Jones at 13.
Hammer's placement on this isn't exactly a surprise, though he might have ranked higher had he not been dealing with shoulder issues early in the season. That and his plate discipline has an odd tendency to take off towards the end of the season, so perhaps he's the type that would benefit from a run through winter ball (personal opinion). They say he has power to all fields, but aren't to impressed with his D or arm. Learning to hit to the opposite field and up the middle would help his status dramatically.
Jones is still impressing from the tools end of the spectrum, but now they're saying that his offensive potential may outshine that? Hitting to all fields is certainly a start, and some studies have indicated a sort of corrolation between arm velocity and power potential in position players. But if he wants to stay at short, he'll have to work on his defense (31 errors).
The chat's coming a little earlier at 12 ET, 9 PT tomorrow. Drop on in and ask a few if you want. Next up will be the California League, coming Wednesday.
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