Watchlist Reports Are Finished
Just a quick note to pass along word that the 2023 Watchlist Reports are now complete. It feels like this has taken longer than usual, but this actually a lot earlier than 2022 and about the same time as 2021 and 2020.
The “donuts” have been made. Pitchers and catchers report next Wednesday. So far, just one Nationals game is to be televised—1 p.m. @ New York Yankees on ESPN—as MASN (as usual) has yet to release when (or if) it will televise any games in 2023.
Hooray for the Watchlists! That’s a lot of work, Luke, and much appreciated. Here’s a question, both for Luke and those reading: who are some of the under-the-radar guys who caught your eye as ones to watch this summer?
Marlon Perez and Amos Willingham for me
Jorgelys Mota. He seemed to be coming on late. I would love to see him make Fburg.
Mostly a bunch of arms.
Carlos Romero somehow turned into a completely different pitcher in 2022. Was that a fluke or something he can sustain, and do it in AA?
The Nats 2021 DSL crop: Atencio, Agostini, Ogando, Cedeno. For the most part, they were each pretty good in 2022, but it will be interesting to see if they can continue to rise up the farm ladder in ’23. Agostini, in particular, I’ll be watching closely.
But a couple bats: Brenner Cox. Is he the new TJ White?
Ricardo Mendez. He regressed majorly in ’22, but his ’21 was intriguing enough to keep my attention for another season.
Arguably, the ’22 picks who didn’t pitch or play last summer, because so little is to be found on them. For better or worse, this is when I get the majority of my research done; when there’s no daily deadline per se.
I share the curiosity about Brenner Cox. I didn’t buy into their overdraft/overpay of Infante, but I’m hoping there’s more to their reach with Cox.
Speaking of draft picks who didn’t play, Murphy Stehly (10th round) only got into one game at Fburg, so he pretty much qualifies. He’s already 24.5 years old, so his window of opportunity will be brief, but he intrigues me. He can play basically every field position (including SS in community college) and had a monster offensive season at U of Texas last spring.
With Stehly already mentioned, I hope they have some success with college hitters in general, some guys who can move through the system quickly while we wait on all the youngsters to develop. Looking at Frizzell, Lipscomb, and McKenzie in particular. Boisserie didn’t get off to such a great start. Baker and Young did, although there seems to be some doubt about how high their ceilings are. Of course there were similar doubts about Alu, who totaled only six homers across 166 college games but then hit 20 last summer. So you never know.