Ask Baseball America By James Bailey
Download 1 Mb.
|
- Navigate this page:
- May 9, 2000
May 11, 2000I'm seeing a lot of questions these days that run along the lines of "What happened to Prospect X? Why isn't he playing?" A whole lot. Like maybe half the questions that people send in since the season started. I hate that we can't answer them all, but the truth is, we don't know in many cases what's holding someone back. Most times it's a minor injury of some type and the player is rehabbing in extended spring training. These cases are so common that they don't make a lot of news unless it's a really noteworthy prospect. That's one reason it's so hard to find out what happened to these guys. Of course, there are a lot of questions about players who are perfectly healthy, but still don't appear on a full-season roster. This again is very common for young players who were drafted last year, etc. If someone played last year in the Rookie Leagues and doesn't appear on a Class A roster right now, he most likely will be assigned to a short-season league next month. As for players on the Top 100 list, I'm going to refer you to the Top 100 Prospects Update we did last week. We'll update it at the beginning of each month. Some people are still sending Nick Johnson and Wilfredo Rodriguez questions in and the answers are all there. That aside, I've turned my attention today to tracking down a few of the MIAs. Here's what we know . . . I was wondering how Jeremy Ward (Arizona Diamondbacks) is doing this year. It appears that he has only thrown two innings this year. Is he hurt or has something happened to him. Isn't he close to being called up? Jack Neumann Long Beach, CA Ward has been suffering from tendinitis in his right elbow. He was looking like he was about ready to get back into game action this week, but apparently he's had a minor setback and his return is still up in the air. It's a shame, because if Ward could have picked up where he left off last year, he'd be knocking on the door of the big leagues right now. He made short work of the Diamondbacks minor leagues, reaching Triple-A just a couple of months after signing. Ward isn't alone on the DL at Triple-A Tucson. Lefthander Nick Bierbrodt and righthander John Patterson are out as well. Bierbrodt has been bothered by a back injury. Patterson had barely come off the DL before he was back on it. He is having a lot of pain in his elbow that might be caused by a bone spur. He's scheduled to see Dr. Lewis Yocum tomorrow. Yocum has done his share of Tommy John surgeries, but so far there are no indications Patterson will be in for anything that serious. I heard something happened to Luis Rivera's shoulder. Is this serious? Any updates as to his condition? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks Jason Harrisburg, PA Rivera left a game against Buffalo a week ago tonight after warming up for the third inning. He complained of tightness in his shoulder, though an examination by the team doctor after the game didn't reveal anything too serious. He was placed on the 7-day disabled list as a precautionary measure, so if everything is going well, he could be back in action this weekend. I can't find any info on these guys who don't seem to appear on any minor league rosters: Chris Enochs (Oakland), Jermaine Van Buren (Colorado) and John Nicholson (Montreal). Can you help me out? Thanks, Allen Telgenhof Charlevoix, MI
Apologies for the lateness of the column today. These things can happen on a deadline day (for the magazine) here. I could have just cranked out a few quick answers and slapped it up on the web a couple hours ago, but, no, you deserve a little more than that. So it took some time. And what's time in the long run? Just another one of those things we never have enough of. Anyway, here are your four questions for the day. See you Thursday. What can you tell me about Keith Ginter of the Double-A Round Rock Express. His early hitting statistics are as impressive as any player this year. Just as impressive seems to be his BB totals (25 as of this writing). Does he have a future with Houston? Scarhawk4@aol.com Ginter is making a push to become the first triple crown winner in the Texas League since . . . last season. Just as Adam Piatt forced himself into the prospect picture, Ginter is making folks take notice. He's currently leading the league in hitting (.440) and is tied for tops in homers, with 11. He's just one behind Midland's Jason Hart for the RBI lead as well, with 38. Last year at Class A Kissimmee, Ginter hit .263 with 13 homers and 46 RBIs in 376 at-bats. He was drafted in the 10th round of the 1998 draft, out of Texas Tech. In his first pro season, he was named to the New York-Penn League all-star team after hitting .315 with 22 doubles and eight homers and drawing 60 walks. He's up to 26 walks this year, and getting on base is definitely a big part of his game. I think you can compare Ginter to Marcus Giles in the Braves system. Neither is your prototypical second baseman, and at first people were reluctant to throw Giles in the prospect category. But he just kept on hitting and after a while people couldn't ignore him any longer. Ginter is actually two years older, so he's joining the prospect party later, but they are both playing at Double-A this year. Of course, Giles doesn't have Craig Biggio standing in his way. Last year's TL triple crown winner had to move to the outfield to reach the big leagues. I think Ginter would be happy to make that tradeoff if it would help his cause. Over the past several years the Mets have traded away the majority of their farm prospects for "established" players. Can you refer to those Mets prospects who have been traded and what they are doing now? Was this a wise business move for New York? Curious, Josh Lapin Madison, WI It's probably not fair to say they've dealt away "the majority" of their prospects, but the Mets have not been afraid to trade young players in recent years. I went back through the last three years' worth of Mets trades and pulled out the ones that involved prospects of any significant stripe. In most cases, the Mets were the team sending the prospects away, as you can see: Dec. 18, 1997: Traded outfielder Fletcher Bates and lefthander Scott Comer to the Marlins for lefthander Dennis Cook. Feb. 6, 1998: Traded lefthander Jesus Sanchez, righthander A.J. Burnett and outfielder Robert Stratton to the Marlins for lefthander Al Leiter and second baseman Ralph Milliard. (Stratton was later sent back to the Mets for righthander Brandon Villafuerte and infielder Cesar Crespo when his physical revealed a bad back.) May 22, 1998: Traded outfielder Preston Wilson, lefthander Ed Yarnall and a player to be named (lefthander Geoff Goetz) to the Marlins for catcher Mike Piazza. July 31, 1998: Traded outfielder Bernard Gilkey and righthander Nelson Figueroa to the Diamondbacks for righthander Willie Blair and catcher Jorge Fabregas. July 31, 1998: Traded righthander Leoncio Estrella to the Blue Jays for outfielder Tony Phillips. Dec. 10, 1998: Traded third baseman Joe Randa to the Royals for outfielder Juan LeBron. Dec. 14, 1998: Traded outfielder Butch Huskey to the Mariners for righthander Lesli Brea. June 18, 1999: Traded lefthander Allen Watson to the Mariners for righthander Mak Suzuki and a player to be named (righthander Justin Dunning). July 23, 1999: Traded outfielder Terrence Long and lefthander Leoner Vasquez to the Athletics for lefthander Kenny Rogers. Dec. 23, 1999: Traded outfielder Roger Cedeno, righthander Octavio Dotel and lefthander Kyle Kessel to the Astros for lefthander Mike Hampton and outfielder Derek Bell. What has this netted the Mets? Dennis Cook, Mike Hampton, Al Leiter, Mike Piazza and Derek Bell at the major league level, and Juan LeBron, Lesli Brea and Justin Dunning on the farm. All that at the cost of A.J. Burnett, Octavio Dotel, Jesus Sanchez, Geoff Goetz, Ed Yarnall, Leo Vasquez, Nelson Figueroa, Leo Estrella, Preston Wilson, Terrence Long, Roger Cedeno and a few other semi-prospects. Talentwise that's probably a wash. Maybe the Mets are actually ahead when you figure that not every prospect they dealt away is going to blossom into a productive major leaguer. Burnett and Dotel could hurt, and hurt for years, if they pitch like it seems that they are capable. But you've got to give up something to get something. The bottom line is that the Mets would have a much younger team with a lower payroll had they not made these deals. They also might not have made the playoffs last year and maybe the entire John Rocker incident never would have occured, because Mets fans wouldn't have gotten on him like they did. Think about that. We could have had an offseason where we didn't see Ol' Rockhead on the tube every five minutes. If Mets GM Steve Phillips had known what the future held when he started sending all his prospects to the Marlins, maybe things would have turned out differently. As it is, he probably doesn't have too much to regret. They didn't win the World Series, and they have a lot of holes in their farm system, but they still do have something to show for most of the deals they made. I guess it all depends on your view of what constitutes "wise business." There are certainly other teams out there that have done a much poorer job over the last three years. What do the Brewers plan on doing with Brad Tyler in Indianapolis. He's put up great numbers so far, and I hear trade rumors about a Burnitz trade. Thanks, Mike Rogers Fond du Lac, WI
Somerville, MA Like just about everything else in baseball, I think plate discipline is best taught in the minor leagues. It's an important part of the game, and a facet that is often missing when young players get rushed to the big leagues. The A's have put a distinct emphasis on it in their system, basically requiring that their players learn to walk. It's no coincidence that you see so many high on-base percentages in the A's system. If you look through the career stats of a minor leaguer and don't see any trend toward the good in his walks, the odds are pretty good it's not going to all of a sudden just click into place for him when he reaches the big leagues. He'll probably never learn to walk much. That doesn't mean he's not capable of learning to walk, but only that he's not really interested in doing so, for whatever reason. Perhaps if his organization stressed to him that his learning to walk once a week was a condition of major league employment, he would suddenly find the interest. I'm not sure sometimes who is doing the "discovering" when a young big leaguer can't draw a walk to save his life. Is it him, or is it his team? How long should a team put up with a .280 on-base percentage from an "aggressive" hitter? What the team usually discovers, if you give them enough time, is that some players are just never going to walk very often. And if you put enough of those guys in one lineup, you can finish in last place. Directory: mlb mlb -> By Ken Gurnick mlb -> Los angeles dodgers clips mlb -> 2010 – What’s the name of the umpire whose errant call cost the Tigers’ Armando Galarraga a perfect game in 2010? (Jim Joyce) gabp mlb -> Wednesday, September 23, 2015 headlines: Verrett stumbles in the fifth as Mets lose to Braves 6-2 mlb -> All-Star History In what city was the first All-Game played? (Chicago, 1933) Baseball & Pop Culture mlb -> Los angeles dodgers clips mlb -> Los angeles dodgers clips mlb -> Los angeles dodgers clips mlb -> The Impact of Television Revenue on Major League Baseball mlb -> Los angeles dodgers clips Download 1 Mb. Share with your friends:
|