03 May 2010

A month in and looking at the minors . . . Delmarva

Delmarva's roster was largely short on established positional talent, but pretty thick with high upside arms. The big story, as we expected it to be, has been how 2009 1st round draft pick Matt Hobgood would fare in his first season of full season professional baseball. He has been good with a glimpse of top 50 prospect greatness. In one game, he went seven innings while allowing only two singles and a walk to go along with six strikeouts. That was superb. His other starts have been somewhat inconsistent as he does not miss enough bats (6.0 k rate) and walks too many (3.5 bb rate), but this is, of course, only after 28.2 innings.

I figure he will show better as the year progresses and will be a top 100 prospect at the end of the year, but I doubt he will break the top 50. There just is not enough projection in his frame to anticipate any increase in speed, so his value is dependent upon him refining his repertoire and missing more bats as he progresses. Now, Zach Britton was able to take the same trajectory, but it is certainly something that should not be taken as a given. There is much to be happy about though as his four seamer has been solid (reaching 95mph in his last start) and his curveball has been generating a good deal of movement at times. The stats to date are solid too as his FIP is below 4 and he is getting >50% grounders and around 15% line drives. It is still early and we will know a lot more in another month or so.

After the jump, short notes on some notable arms and bats.


Pitchers

Jesse Beal - 53.1%GB, 14.8%LD, 6.0 k/9, 3.73 FIP
Good line, needs to further establish himself.
Ryan Berry - 56.5%GB, 12.0%LD, 7.8 k/9, 2.99 FIP
Excellent line, probably will be promoted mid-season.
Robert Bundy - 34.6%GB, 11.5%LD, 11.2 k/9, 5.76 FIP
In relief role, promising stuff, but is getting hit hard.
Jake Cowan - 51.2%GB, 20.9%LD, 8.2 k/9, 3.19 FIP
Polished pitcher for A ball, LD rate a concern at higher levels.
Randy Henry - 50.0%GB, 13.3%LD, 16.2 k/9, 2.29 FIP
In relief role, should eventually transfer to starter. Promising.

Bats

Brian Conley - RF - 362/470/594, 471babip
Towson product excelling in Delmarva, somewhat old for league.
Stephen Bumbry - CF - 304/360/449, 488babip
Quite athletic, good contact skills, plate discipline is woefully inadequate.
Justin Dalles - C - 370/452/630, 381babip
Seasoned has been abbreviated due to concussion, shown an excellent bat. Promising.
Tyler Kolodny - 1B/3B - 267/347/605, 309babip
Kolodny's bat is too advanced for this league, but he still strikes out too much.
Michael Ohlman - C/DH - 156/263/188, 200babip
One of the youngest players in A ball. Ohlman has struggled greatly.
Garabez Rosa - SS - 333/354/533, 387babip
Gap power, should stick at shortstop, needs to maintain his contact rate to succeed.
Tyler Townsend - 1B
Injuries have limited him to only three games.

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