For me, looking at the instrux rosters is often a thumbnail sketch on the past draft and the GCL, which of course, until this year was usually a whole lotta “meh.” The last winning season was in 2009, which probably comes as no surprise since there was a sizable contingent from the 2008 DSL champions.
It bears repeating, so I will. The invites can be broken down into three categories:
1. Young
2. Changing roles or position
3. Working on a specific skill/pitch
Unlike years past, #1 is less relative and more actual. A year ago, there were nine that were 21 or younger; this year, nine of them are teenagers. Not much has been heard about any possible #2 scenarios, which at this point, is only noted for position players. Given that first base isn’t a deep position for the Nats (or anyone else, really, as scouts have been complaining about the lack of true 1B lately) don’t be surprised if any of the 3B or LF-types become converts.
No. 3 of course is arguably the most important and obviously the most nebulous. It’s also why scouts hate instrux. For example, a pitcher with a FB-CV-CH repertoire might not throw his curve at all because he’s working on his change. A small-ball guy might be told not to bunt at all (“We know you can do that, let’s work on what you gotta do when the bunt is off”). Thus, what they see is not a complete picture and not entirely accurate.
Getting an invite used to mean that player was definitely moving up. That, of course, was more true in the previous front office and when the parent club had major-leaguers that would be on the bench or on the AAA squad of most, if not all of the other 29 teams. Now, you can count on roughly half a dozen of these guys returning to where they left off.
That’s about it. To steal from another prospect follower, instrux is a lot like Vegas: what happens there, stays there. Last year, we were fortunate enough to get a couple of dispatches, which you can read here and here if you find yourself getting the shakes or anything like that.
The next planned post is a review of the 2013 Watchlist. As always, the goal at this point in the offseason is to periodically update the site as time (and content) allows until the AFL starts up. It’s one of the dead times of the year for us, but not unwelcome after the 12-week marathon when all seven affiliates are playing, not to mention a couple weeks’ worth of playoffs.