Keller with his first great start. Good to see.
Hayes on a tear this month(two 4 hit games this month....3 for 4 a day before...avg up to .260 now with 28 Doubles, 3 triples, 10 HRs) looking for his call up in September. We Will get a look at our Franchise 3B. Not worried as much about his bat at first i just want to see him making gold glove type plays at 3B.
Looking forward to Tucker's second time around. We saw Newman improve, Im expecting Tucker too as well. Actually think Cole has more raw power and is still 3 Years younger than him.
Mason Martin, 2 more HRs last night for 34 (and 32 doubles, 4 triples) on the year to go with minors leading 123 RBIs. .950 OPS in A and High A combined. At 20 years old that's what is impressive about it. We now have him, Mitchell, Castro all 20 years old in High A. While Cruz is 20 at AA. We rarely had that in the past.
Swaggerty on a tear as well(.450 avg past month), and finally putting it all together. Yeah hes 21 but didnt have much experience in pro's. Also doesnt just rely on his bat. He has 22 steals and a great defender in CF.
Then guys like Oliva(.290 with 35 XBH and 35 steals), Jonah Davis with 18 HRs now in 50 games this year. We look stacked at CF throughout the system. Remember the name Jasiah Dixon who we surprisingly got to sign in the 23rd round this year. Thought for sure he would go to college and end up a 2-4th round pick. Hes batting .375 with 6 2B and 6 SB in 16 games for GCL. Sammy Siani as well at CF. So Id say we are fine there and could trade Marte for a great return. Sell high.
Catcher is the problem. And while it's too late to move guys like Will Craig or Mason Martin there(basically guys who have great power and a good arm but not really any other tools) I wonder if theyd give 16 year old 3B Alexander Mojica a change. If anyone remembers hes setting records in DSL and getting comparisons to some all time greats. Hes played 3B/1B/DH for DSL. Hed be the perfect candidate to try at Catcher. Thats what happened with Contreras and look how great hes been. If it doesnt work(ends up messing with his bat) then fine. But with no catchers in the system they need to start trying other guys. We are stacked at alot of other positions.
Even SS Ji- Bae. Putting up crazy numbers.....320/412/426 with 850 OPS while having no HRs. Has 28 doubles and 3 triples. Always on base...with 28 steals. Seems like we have a ton of guys in our system who can swipe bases(Tucker had 40 last year and led the league...Oliva 30+, Lolo Sanchez 30+ , Bae, Swaggerty with 22, and so on). Guys who can play solid D in Hayes, Tucker, Swag, etc. Hit for power in Craig, Martin, Jonah Davis, Jack Herman, Rodolfo Castro, and so on.
We've got a mix of everything finally instead of the usual swing for contact types who "will grow into more power". Today's game you need pure power bats. Theres a reason we are stranding so many yet one of the best lineups in league with BA. Because we are 25th in HRs. Then teams like Cubs, Brewers, Rays, etc all with avg in 20s(league wide) but filled with HR hitters and drive in runs. We need to add a few HR types (even if avg is .250 or lower) to go with the Reynolds and Newman's. For example Melky hit over .300 for most of season but how much did that help us? Moran .290 but king of singles. That doesn't cut it today. Polanco will help with that..can see him getting 30+. Have Bell. Marte hits enough. Need at least one more, and the one position thats open next year is Catcher. So Grandal would be the perfect sign.
Anyway Ill end this long post(DJ has been gone so somebody had to do it), with there is still ton to look forward to if youve paid attention to our system. Not just the top guys but ones like Mason Martin who came out of nowhere. And we had alot of pitchers do well. Cody Bolton emerged along with Aaron Shortridge having a breakout season. In his 2nd year. Will both start in AA next season. We had SPs from Greensboro light it up all season(the reason they are 74-54, since they dont have a great offense with a handful already getting called up to Bradenton(Brad Case, Bido, Economos, etc) and then the ones who took over for them doing great. We need to see that continue along with the ones lower....like Priester, Tahnaj Thomas, Braxton Ashcraft and whoever comes out of the rookie class this year(alot did well) along with the group in DSL Pirates 2. The whole damn team could have a bunch of players advance thru our system. Curious to see what they do over here next year.
As for Alexander Mojica , heres his numbers...
Alexander Mojica Minor Leagues Statistics & History | Baseball-Reference.com
Real impressive for 16 year old. I say try him at Catcher because he doesnt stand out at any position (being a DH in alot of games).
