Prospect
Watch
Prospects
are a pain to actually scout. It’s
more of how I scout that gives me issues versus real scouts but since I can
only go off what I see in the numbers I have to borrow heavily from others
work. As you’ll see with the three
I plan on doing today I don’t have many of the stats you’d see me quote to make
points and show how efficient a player is in some aspects. With that said I plan using the Baseball
Prospectus: Futures Guide 2014 to help fill in some of the gaps that I
can’t do myself. With that said
here’s my look at Byron Buxton, Carlos Correa and Noah Syndergaard.
Byron Buxton:
This
kid has talent and has already been elevated to the ranks of Mike Trout and
Bryce Harper in talent alone. On
the 20-80 scale Buxton rates as a 60 Hit, 70 Power, 80 Run, 70 Glove and 60
arm. This is what scouts look for
when they’re looking for a 5-tool player.
There has been some question if the Hit skill will match up as a 60 but
he wouldn’t fall any further than a 50.
The speed though is legit and game changing, look for him to be a
potential 30-40 SB guy in the majors.
That speed is why he has such a large BABIP sitting just south of .415;
speed tends to aid a player’s BABIP and his speed will aid him quite a bit. While he hasn’t played above the singe
A level in the minors he has already shown a decent eye for hitting and he is
improving his skill ending last year with a K/BB of 1.50 which isn’t amazing
but its an improvement form the previous season. The HR’s will come with time and training; at his best he
hit a HR every 33.75 AB giving him roughly 15 in a MLB season. As a quick look this guy look like he
could be the next big thing in baseball and we’ll be more intrigued with Trout
and Buxton play than when Harper and Trout meet up.
Carlos Correa:
He
may be one year younger than Buxton but that doesn’t mean he’s any less the
champ that Buxton can be. First
though he’s not nearly as fast and he’s bigger than Buxton. Why does this matter? Well Buxton plays OF and Correa is a SS
and there’s a good chance that Correa actually out grows position. Most assume he’d move to 3rd
but that’s not a huge loss. Correa
has a good eye having a K/BB of 1.59 and its getting better as he plays already
showing that he can hold his own against MLB pitching this last spring. Correa rates on the 20-80 scale as a 60
Hit, 65 Power, 50 Run, 60 Glove and 70 Arm. All of which put him safely as an All Star potential
talent. The speed isn’t going to
get any better but he can still steal bases but he needs to work on his actual
ability on the base path. Stealing
11 bases last year and being caught 12 times is not going to win any favors.
Noah Syndergaard:
A
kid with a lot of talent at his fingertips, having 3 plus pitches in his
arsenal and having one of the minor’s best fastballs helps. He has a 80 fastball, a 70 curveball
and a 65 changeup and has good feel for all three but wouldn’t hurt to add a 4th
pitch if he wants to be a frontline starter. Syndergaard has been able to limit the BB’s in his career so
far never having a season averaging over 2.7 BB/9. He also has a great talent in K’s; last year having a 32% K
rate and a 11.50 K/9 in 11 games in the Mets AA. Now the things that I see that is worrisome; a pitcher that
has this much talent shouldn’t have a BABIP against at over .300 in all levels
of play last year. Way to high and
could lead to issues. His strand
rate dropped in the AA level as well but that could be a problem of the team
not him. The BA against also went
up from his previous seasons, which could be cause of his bad tendencies of
throwing the ball up in the zone catching up to him. Overall he has good talent and should be in the majors soon,
given the Mets struggles I would had suggested giving him a bullpen role or
even closer role but the Mets seemed determined to see him start and nothing
else.
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