Vote for Your Favorite Bats
If it’s not going to interfere with your Cyber Monday plans, it’s time for the revival of the annual determination of the most viable trade bait position players in the Washington farm system.
The deal is pretty simple. Send me your ten favorite position players in the minors, ranked 1 to 10, to enfieldmass-top10bats[at]yahoo[dot]com (link will open your preferred email client) or post them in the comments. Forty-man guys with rookie status – Keibert Ruiz, Riley Adams, Yasel Antuna, and Donovan Casey – are in play.
I’ll add up the votes and rank them in reverse order (#1 = 10 points, #2 = 9 points… #9 = 2 points, #10 = 1 point). When it feels like I’ve got a decent number of submissions, I’ll update this post.
Remember that “bat” is shorthand for position players. This may be the last time I have to remind you that the DH is coming, so you can drop your quills (along with that extra space after a period; hasn’t been necessary since about 1986, i.e. when electric typewriters and word-processors became more common than manual, monospaced typewriters) but until it’s a done deal, you should probably factor in defense… even the Nats don’t.
Later on this week, we’ll have the 11th NationalsProspects.com Top 10 Bats list.
Tonight is the non-tender deadline for MLB, moved up in deference to both sides’ mutual interest in having this point settled before the lockout on Wednesday. Mr. Boss, as usual, has the analysis of the big boys the Nats should hold on to or let slip.
As for the CBA itself, I’m sure there’ll be plenty of analysis in the coming days but I suspect, as usual, the casual (uninformed) fans will side with the owners and buy the load of shit that the owners have been losing money this year and last. Pay no attention to the flurry of multi-million dollar deals signed in the past week or so. Or the $3.7B broadcast deal with Turner Sports. And how to quantify MLB’s ankles-behind-the-ears approach to gambling?
The question for fans of the minor leagues will be: How much (or what) will the MLBPA take/give away from those not on the 40-man roster to get what they want?
Hooray! Let’s see, there’s Ruiz and House, and um, um, um, I’m going to have to break out the Ouija board. But at least there’s Ruiz and House, which is a heck of a lot more hope than we had previously.
Would love to see A Arias join this list in a year ..
Luscious Fox dates bavk to KC with Watson
Elementary ..
After the years in Philly I sensed Cesar Hernandez
Would end up a Nat one day . Interchange able parts around the infield .
Alex Binelas old Nats draft pick unsigned shipped in big Bradley JR
Deal
Well months of lockout ..
I already sent mine in; forgot about my sentimental favorite, Jake ‘no respect’ Alu.
1. Keibert Ruiz
2. Brady House
3. TJ White
4. Riley Adams
5. Jake Alu
6. Daylen Lile
7. Ricardo Mendez
8. Roismar Quintana
9. Donovan Casey
10. Armando Cruz (really struggled with how to rank Cruz)
HM: Pineda, Infante, Frizzell, Cluff, Baker, Millas, Connell, Rhinesmith, Rivero, de la Rosa, Boissiere, J. Young, V. Pena (almost left the last 4 guys off entirely, the “dishonorable mentions, if you will, but with a good 2022, some of them could be in contention for top 10 spots again)
And that’s basically an exhaustive list of every bat that is a “prospect” in the system.
I also struggled with whether/how to rank Cruz. I was disappointed that he wasn’t sent to the FCL, like most of their touted Latin prospects in the past, and even more disappointed by his numbers in the Dominican league. I kept him on the list for this year, but that’s the last social pass/promotion he gets.
They don’t make the list but two Guys Coles should also pull aside in spring :
MeregilDO and Ydens ( ten taters in less than 250 ABs )
Sure would be cool if Coles pulled Junior Martina aside in spring camp if he is out of whatever doghouse he is in ..
Ruiz
House
Cruz
De La Rosa
Adams
Lile
Casey
Millas
Cluff
Antuna
(If we can add Vaquero and Gutierrez, move them into 3 & 4, respectively, and move the others down – 9 & 10 would come off the list).
Seems to be some confusion if Ruiz and Adams still have rookie status, but I’m happy to include them since the list is really sad without them.
1. Ruiz
2. House
3. Adams
4. Cruz
5. Lile
6. Casey
7. White
8. Millas
9. Mendez
10. Alu
“Honorable” mention in case they aren’t still rookies: De La Rosa, Antuna.
I’m banging my head trying to figure out slots 8 through 10, and it really is deck chairs on the Titanic, so I’ll give up. I tried to come up with some vision where Casey, Alu, and Mendez (already Rule 5-eligible) defy age and get remarkably better, but I couldn’t. They’re good players, but it’s hard to imagine them with a regular MLB role. I tried to convince myself that Mendoza, Antuna, Infante, and Pineda will live up to their physical gifts, but I doubt it (but would be glad to be proven wrong). And I have no idea what to think about De La Rosa, who has “played up” but floundered terribly.
So I’ve decided to put my faith in the unknown. Aside from Ruiz and Adams, who likely won’t be back in the minors anyway, the rest of these guys have barely tasted pro ball. They’re blank canvases on whom we can dream. I imagine that half of them (or more) won’t be on my list next year, but perhaps we’ll have some real reason to get excited about the other half.
1. Keibert Ruiz
2. Brady House
3. T.J. White
4. Riley Adams
5. Will Frizzell
6. Roismar Quintana
7. Daylen Lile
8. Armando Cruz
9. Branden Boissiere
10. Jacob Young
all eyes on Frizzell with his mamouth power in NCAA. will it translate.
Here are two stat lines of large humans from final seasons in the SEC:
A: .374/.469/.659/1.128, 14 HRs, 18 doubles
B: .343/.451/.686/1.137, 19 HRs, 13 doubles
A is Alonso, B is Frizzell. Now, there are NO guarantees that any of this translates to pro ball, but heck yeah, I love the Nats taking an 8th-round flier on numbers like that.
It doesn’t seem that the Nats had a whole lot of faith in Frizzell after they drafted him.
Those numbers in the SEC cry out for him to go immediately to Fredericksburg.
He had a measly 32 AB’s in Florida.
Yes re Frizzell, although he also only played in nine games in Florida. It’s possible that he showed up with a nagging injury after the long college season or something. Also, they sent the higher-drafted Boissiere on to FredNats to play 1B.
C: .348/.440/.691/1.131, 18 HRs, 17 doubles
C is Luke Heyer drafted in the 8th round out of Kentucky in 2018. He just batted .045/.083/.091 in A+ ball this season.
Just trying to temper expectations…
They’re duly tempered. But as I said, it’s certainly worth an 8th-round flier to see if those Powerball numbers actually hit. There’s a whole lot better chance of getting something out of someone with those numbers than there ever was taking Renda or Kobernus in the 2d round, or several others we could name. I thought Mendoza, Wiseman, Hague, and Banks were worth 3d/4th-round picks to see if they could replicate what they did in college. Their struggles just show how hard it really is to excel at pro ball.
We know Richard Urena
Won’t make this list but he should be in the Rochester mix with Lara , maybe Flores , Freeman ….
Another winter subject to comment on ; prospects ego might double hop fast in 2022 up the ladder as in checkers .
Darin Baker leads this list ….
Darren Baker is a fun story, but he’s basically Cole Freeman with less pop, if that’s possible. It will be interesting to see if they really turn Baker loose on the base paths and try to turn him into Billy Burns.
Remarkably, his SLG (.407) and OPS (.782) in 2021 for the FCL Nats and FNats was way, way higher than his best college season (also this season at Cal, .354 and .756).
I’m not sure if we can expect much more from Baker than what we saw in 2021. And that’s not touching upon that Baker’s biggest selling point (his speed) wasn’t nearly as good as advertized, getting thrown out in half of his 4 attempts. Still, if he could match Billy Burns’ career, I’d consider it a wild success (not least because if Baker could match Billy Burns’ career 0.9 WAR, he would become the 2nd most valuable draftee to play for the Nationals since 2012).
What shall we make of Armand Upshaws 10 HRs compared to Jeremy Ydens @ FRED?? Swinging at City Isle ?
Here is my10.
1 Ruiz
2 Cruz
3 Alu
4 Antuna
5 Cluff
6 Rhinesmith
7 Pineda
8 Lara
9 Casey
10 House