Ask Baseball America By James Bailey
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February 16, 2000Several of my co-workers and I spent last night hobnobbing with local baseball folk at the Raleigh Hot Stove League banquet. We got to see Josh Hamilton again, as he was honored as the Wake County high school player of the year for his work last spring. He’s still as humble as ever, which is actually about what you’d expect. Also saw former Wake Forest University star Jon Palmeiri, who was honored as the college player of the year. And speaking of honors, they gave Baseball America the media award this year. That was awful nice of them. I think the dinner kind of got everyone around here fired up for the season to start. But I don’t guess there’s anything we can do to speed up the timetable on that. At least we have spring training to keep an eye on now. And questions from you, the home viewer. Being an avid White Sox fan, I know a lot about both their major league and minor league players. When your top ten prospects list came out for the White Sox, I was a bit surprised not see Josh Fogg anywhere on the list. I know he is a junk-ball pitcher, but he was a second round pick. His stats at A ball were very impressive, especially his 2.95 ERA. I was wondering where you would rank him, if the list went past 15. I also was wondering where you would put Chad Durham and Brian West. Thanks for the answer, John Schneider The White Sox are awash in talent these days, so for Fogg and West to miss the Top 10 isn’t such a surprise. They, along with Durham, probably fall right in after the top 15. Fogg pitched well for Winston-Salem last year, going 10-5, 2.96 in 17 starts, with 109 strikeouts in 103 innings. He’s always displayed good command, and that continued even when he struggled at Double-A Birmingham late in the season. In 10 starts at Birmingham, Fogg posted a 3-2, 5.89 record. Fogg, who ranked second among NCAA Division I closers with 13 saves at Florida in 1998, was viewed as a closer prospect when he was drafted. The White Sox moved him into a starting role so he could get more innings, a common move with young relievers. Fogg has done so well as a starter, though, that it may have changed some thinking about his future. He definitely appears to have the ability to fulfill either role down the road. West is a big, hard-throwing righthander that the Sox took in the supplemental first round last June. A $1 million bonus lured him away from a football scholarship to Texas A&M. He was a standout defensive end in high school. He’s got a long road ahead as a pitcher, but he has exciting stuff. He went 1-3, 11.12 at two Rookie-level stops last year after signing. Durham was a teammate of West’s at Bristol, where he led the Appalachian League with 57 stolen bases while hitting .324-0-36 in 278 at-bats. It’s hard to read too much into those numbers, however, when you consider that he actually played the 1998 season in the Class A South Atlantic League (hitting .233-2-34 in 480 at-bats at Hickory). The White Sox dropped him back to Rookie ball so he could concentrate on learning center field, after moving from second base. He definitely has some tools, namely speed, and you can’t dismiss the numbers he posted at Bristol, but he’s a guy you want to see do it at a higher level before you get too excited. Speaking of White Sox prospects, here’s a question about two from the past. I remember back at the end of the '80s or beginning of the 90's the White Sox shocked me by bringing a couple of college guys they drafted straight to the big leagues. As I remember it, both Robin Ventura and Alex Fernandez made their professional debuts in the American League. Looking back on their cases and any others like them, what would you say about how this affected their careers? What, if any, lessons would you draw from this in regards to the way in which players should be brought along? Thanks Josh Chrisman Actually, Fernandez and Venture both debuted in the minor leagues, but neither stayed on the farm long. The White Sox’ first-round pick in 1990, Fernandez made eight minor league starts, at three different levels, before earning a ticket to the big leagues. He made 13 starts for the White Sox that year, going 5-5, 3.80 in 88 innings. Ventura was Chicago’s first-round pick in 1988 and didn’t sign until October of that year. He made his pro debut the following April at Double-A Birmingham, where he hit .278-3-67 in 454 at-bats. He arrived in Chicago late that year, hitting .178-0-7 in 45 at-bats. I’d say both Fernandez and Ventura were about as ready to move that quickly as anyone is. Fernandez moreso than Ventura. He really held his own in the big leagues that first year and pitched fairly well in 1991, when he made 32 big league starts. Ventura might have benefited by a half-season in Triple-A. In 1990, his first full season in the majors, he hit .249-5-54 in 493 at-bats. The following year he saw his numbers jump to .284-23-100, establishing a more Ventura-esque standard. Maybe with a little more seasoning he’d have been able to produce more as a rookie. As for bringing players along in general, it really has to be considered on a case-by-case basis. Both of these players had experience at the major college level. Ventura is still regarded as one of the all-time greatest collegiate hitters for his work at Oklahoma State, and though Fernandez was drafted out of Miami-Dade CC, he spent a season at Miami prior to that. Not all college players are ready to move to the big leagues after less than a season in the minors, but there are exceptions. I think there are too many cases where teams rush a guy to the majors, and in most cases if you could give a player an additional half a year at Triple-A, he’d probably be better off in the long run. But speaking of guys who jumped to the major leagues, here’s a question on Kevin McGlinchy. I can’t believe these questions are segueing together so nicely. I was curious about where Kevin McGlinchy will fit in this year and for the coming years on the Braves pitching staff. He has been a top prospect and looks as though he is going to stay in the Majors, but in what role. With the Rocker situation will he be given the opportunity to be one of the closers? Is he being groomed to be a closer or will he stay as a middle relief guy? Are there any plans to start him someday. The kid has great stuff and it would seem to me that he would be wasted as a middle relief guy. Can you help? Kevin McDonnell There seemed to be a lot of thought before last spring that McGlinchy was a candidate for the closer’s job in Atlanta before long. He had a terrific winter (1998-99) and looked so good in spring training that he broke camp with the team after just six appearances above Class A. He did a good job in middle relief last year, but it looked obvious to me in the postseason that Braves manager Bobby Cox was hesitant to use him in a big ball game. And when he finally saw some action against the Mets, he didn’t look too good. He’s still just 22 years old and another year in middle relief probably would be a good thing for him. He definitely has an arm worthy of a bigger role in the future, but there’s no rush on that front. I can’t see him moving back to a starting role with the Braves any time soon, but that’s only because they are so deep with starting pitchers. If there were a need there, that might be a different story. 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