Back At It With The Snakes and Hotlanta
The off-season is officially upon us.....time to review
It’s time to take a little review of the season that was, catch up with some Canadian Dirtbags out there and review some top prospects in each organization. What I’ll be doing for each organization is review W/L records, the Top 5 Prospects in each organization, my personal prospect selections that I’m looking forward to seeing next year and which Canadians are in the organization.
Let’s get into it starting with the Diamondbacks and the Braves.
Arizona Diamondbacks (74-88, 37GB, 4th in AL West)
AAA Reno Aces, 85-63, 1st in PCL West
AA Amarillo Sod Poodles, 36-32, 2nd in Texas League North Second Half
High A Hillsboro Hops, 31-35, 3rd in Northwest League Second Half
Single A Visalia Rawhide, 25-41, 4th in California League North Second Half
Top 5 Prospects (per MLB Pipeline as of this writing)
Corbin Carrol, OF, DBacks, 115PA, .358 wOBA, 1.4 fWAR
Druw Jones, OF, suffered a shoulder injury after being drafted with the #2 overall pick in 2022. Pipeline Scouting Grades Hit: 55 Power: 60
Run: 70 Arm: 65 Field: 70 Overall: 60
Jordan Lawlar, SS, Sod Poodles, .303/.401/.509 across 4 levels (complex - AA)
Brandon Pfaadt, RHP, Aces, 167 IP, 11.75 K/9, 33 BB, 1.16 WHIP across 2 levels (AA - AAA)
Blake Walston, LHP, Sod Poodles, 124 IP, 9.94 K/9, 1.40 WHIP across 2 levels (A+ - AA)
Personal Prospect Picks
Outside of Pipeline’s Top 5 there are two players I am looking forward to seeing more of next year. The first is MLB Pipeline’s #7 prospect in the organization - RHP Landon Sims. Coming off TJ in March, I am interested to see how recovery and rehabilitation has gone. Arizona drafted Landon at #34 in the 2022 MLB Draft out of Mississippi State, signing him for $2,347,050. after TJ. The fastball sat mid-90s, touched 98, with a 70 grade slider per Pipeline. If you flashback to his time in Starkville, you will recall a truly dominant pitcher out of the bullpen who was converting to a role in the rotation when injury ended the season. Definitely a name I’m looking to get my eyes on next season.
My second selection is #10 prospect 1B Ivan Melendez. The slash line for “The Hispanic Titanic” was not very impressive (.207/.349/.368) over 87 AB in Visalia. The 60 grade power, raw power higher than that, is impressive and he’ll have to continue to show it. He’s a 1B/DH profile with no other position options so the former Longhorn is going to have to hit and hit and hit. Maybe hit a bit more. Ivan will keep moving through the org as he shows an ability hit and with some power. Will be keeping an eye on his K% staying at a reasonable level as pitching advances. Once he adds a really good number of ABs, will take a peek at what his ISO looks like.
Canadian Content 🍁
C Andy Yerzy, Toronto, ON., Sod Poodles
C Gavin Logan, Medicine Hat, AB., Hillsboro Hops
RHP Eli Saul, Vancouver, BC., ACL-Red
Atlanta Braves (101-61, 1st NL East, L in Wildcard v SD 2-1)
AAA Gwinnett Stripers, 69-79, 8th in International League West, 21.5 GB
AA Mississippi Braves, 33-34, 2nd in Southern League South Second Half
High A Rome Braves, 38-24, 1st in South Atlantic League North Second Half
Single A Augusta GreenJackets, 33-32, 3rd in Carolina League North Second Half
Top 5 Prospects (per MLB Pipeline as of this writing)
Kyle Muller, LHP, Stripers, 134.2 IP, 10.6 K/9, 40 BB, 1.18 WHIP, 12.1 IP with the Braves
Jared Shuster, LHP, Stripers, 139.1 IP, 9.37 K/9, 38 BB, 1.05 WHIP across 2 levels (AA - AAA)
Owen Murphy, RHP, GreenJackets, 12.0 IP, 17K, 1.08 WHIP across FCL and Single-A, 20th overall pick in 2022 MLB Draft
JR Ritchie, RHP, GreenJackets, 14.1 IP, 14K, 0.98 WHIP across FCL and Single-A, 35th overall pick in 2022 MLB Draft
Braden Shewmake, SS, Stripers, 278 AB, .259/.316/.399, Overall 50 grade per MLB Pipeline
Personal Prospect Pick
An easy one for me to keep an eye one in the Braves organization. Fellow Canuck, Adam Maier. Maier comes in at #14 in the system on Pipeline. Coming out of the relative obscurity of the University of British Columbia baseball program, Adam had a coming out party in the Cape Cod League during summer 2021. No one was talking about him after UBC not playing at all in 2021 and a shortened 2020 due to the thing that shall not be named. After the 2021 Cape season? No one wasn’t talking about him. Maier transferred to Oregon for 2022, but was shelved after only 3 starts due to an elbow injury. Pre-draft and injury Prospects Live reported the following - “Maier transferred to Oregon for 2022 where he's been up to 96 with significant arm-speed and athleticism on a heavy heater. Some believe Maier is a starter long-term. He's got an extremely high-spin slider exceeding 3000 RPM, as well as a deceiving changeup that gets whiffs against lefty bats. Maier will need to show he can hold velocity over long outings, but the arm talent is substantial.”
Canadian Content 🍁
RHP Mike Soroka, Calgary AB, Atlanta Braves
RHP Indigo Diaz, North Vancouver, BC, Mississippi Braves
LHP Adam Shoemaker, Cambridge, ON, Rome Braves
RHP Cedric de Grandpre, Saint Simon-de-Bagot, QC, Greenjackets
RHP Landon Leach, Toronto, ON, Greenjackets
INF David McCabe, Courtice, ON, Greenjackets
RHP Adam Maier, Vancouver, BC, FCL Braves
That’s about it for now. As usual, I’ll see you in a while and until then Keep It 80 Grade.