Midwest League Prospect Update
With the closest Midwest League stadium five hours away, my providing first hand scouting coverage of that league is difficult to say the least. Fortunately, a contact has been kind enough to provide me the scouting scoop on more than a handful of the league’s top prospects. These aren’t exact quotes, but summaries of conversations had over the course of the first two months of the minor league season.
On Indians shortstop phenom Francisco Lindor: A gold glove shortstop in the making, Lindor doesn’t have off the charts agility, but he makes up for it on defense with an uncanny ability to always be positioned correctly and anticipate balls off the bat. As a prospect, Lindor is different than Jurickson Profar and Orioles Manny Machado, but belongs in the top-three shortstop prospects in all of baseball. In relation to Profar directly, the Rangers uber-prospect has a bit more bat, but a little less glove as well leaving the two somewhat of a wash. Where Profar profiles as an above average offensive shortstop in all areas, Lindor may wind up being a bit BABIP dependent as he does not profile for as much power or as many walks as Profar.
On the Lansing Lugnuts rotation: Aaron Sanchez is the clear top dog in the rotation featuring both a fastball and curveball which profile as future plus offerings leaving this contact shocked Sanchez lasted so long in the draft. In terms of raw stuff, it’s arguably the second best in the league behind Diamondbacks first rounder Archie Bradley.
No, Daniel Norris isn’t in Lansing yet, but the contact ranked the Jays best young four in this order after seeing them all in person;
- Aaron Sanchez
- Daniel Norris
- Noah Syndergaard
- Justin Nicolino
As for Nicolino, he profiles as more of a back end command/control lefty even though the stat line is top shelf right now.
Syndergaard has a fantastic fastball, but his secondary pitches lag behind his other offerings.
Norris has the advanced command/control ability associated with successful left-handed pitchers, but the raw stuff is much better. Norris/Syndergaard was a near dead heat and could have ranked 2A and 2B.
What about Archie Bradley anyway?: Bradley-versus-Bundy led to a surprising debate in which the contact had a hard time believing a better 2011 high school arm could be in existence. After seeing Bradley struggle in a second appearance, he conceded Bundy was probably the better pitcher, but it’s not the first time I’ve heard Bradley discussed as one of the five-to-eight truly elite arms in minor league baseball.
Surprising take on Austin Hedges: In a series where he was downright brutal defensively, his bat saved him which is the exact opposite of how he was perceived heading into the season. In game action, Hedges simply had hard hands leading to a number of passed balls to the point where the contact would have written him off as a catching prospect had the defensive hype on the young catcher not been so huge.
Like anything else related to prospects, this information is not meant to be a be-all-end-all. Another contact put it best when he said, “place 10 scouts in a room and eight will pretty much see the same thing. One scout will like player X much more than the group and another will think much less of him. It doesn’t mean one one scouting opinion is better than another, only different.”
Great stuff, Mike.
Question: Would Javier Baez be a close 4th in SS prospects, w/ a little more bat than Lindor but little less glove? Is he in the discussion w/ Lindor for that coveted ’3rd best SS prospect’ in baseball?
Thanks in advance.
Mike, would love to hear your answer to this. Seems like Machado and Profar are top tier. Curious how Lindor, Baez and Boegarts compare in the next level.
Don’t forget Alen Hanson.
Or Andrelton Simmons and Trevor Story
Yeah, Story looks good but I saw a box score where he was playing 3rd the other day. Given Rockies have Tulo and Arenado, I’d say Story ends at 2b. Although he is still 3 years out probably. But I suppose Bogaerts is also projected for 3rd perhaps, so for now Story is in the conversation.
At this point, I think the first tier of true SS prospects is a pretty clear Profar-Machado-Lindor.
As for the rest of the names mentioned, I’ve seen Story/Bogaerts and am big fans of both, but it’s not 100% that either winds up a SS.
I haven’t personally seen Hansen, Baez or Simmons in person, but Baez is not a lock to stick at SS, Hanson is a newbie to the prospect radar and Simmons is MUCH older than the three top tier guys. Hak-Ju Lee also probably deserves mention as a 2nd tier guy as well.
Thanks for the write up…
any word on Miguel Sano?
Sano will receive many words actually. As will Rosario when I post a 2nd half to this piece tomorrow most likely.
“…but it’s not the first time I’ve heard Bradley discussed as one of the five-to-eight truly elite arms in minor league baseball.”
Would Sanchez be included in that group?
There is no way he would be included in that group, but he still has great potential. Bundy,Bradley,Bauer,Teheran,Miller,Taijuan,Coler,Walker all easily > Sanchez.
*Cole
Hultzen too!
This contact as seen a number of those guys and I suspect Sanchez would rank favorably in terms of raw stuff. I’ll have to ask and update at a later time.
Taillon, as well, I presume.
It should be noted that Bradley has walked 26 in 45 innings so far. His current control issues may mean absolutely nothing in the long-term, but it is a significant red flag.
Glad to see a bit of an update for Norris, he went to the high school where I live. We’ve got Steve Spurrier and Now Daniel Norris (hopefully) to be proud of.
I provide a daily Jays propsect report and Aaron Sanchez has easily been the most impressive thus far. Gose is starting to hit, while showing patience and d’Arnaud has come around as well. Curious to see how the rest of the season progresses.
Deck McGuire has looked overmatched at Double-A, giving up a ton of hits.
Glad you wrote this piece Mike very insightful. Fellas at LansingLugnuts.com had similar things to say about Sanchez (electric FB and CB), Syndergaard (future ace stuff), and Justin Nicolino. The Jays definitely have plenty of pitchers to dream on going forward.
What have you heard about Baez so far this season?
Wobatus as much as I’d want Hultzen to be in that group I don’t believe he is
AL Eastbound I dropped Deck in deep dynasty league Tyler Austin (feel that was a no brainier, but either way Deck’s outlook has diminished quite a bit, as much as I hate to say it.)
I will see plenty of MWL baseball this summer and talk to even more people who do. I think with Nicolino you have present pitchability and some physical projection as well. If he gets increased velocity in the next year or two, look out. He might end up the best of all of them.
Jorge Bonifacio needs mention. And a guy in West Michigan that has a fair amount of helium in Steven Moya.