Innholdsfortegnelse for December 2020 i Baseball America

Triple-A EL PASO CHIHUAHUAS The first week of March, Brad Taylor flew to Arizona, part of a small front office contingent from the El Paso Chihuahuas. Taylor, the club’s senior vice president and general manager, was having a standard, annual preseason meeting with executives from the San Diego Padres, for whom the Chihuahuas are the Triple-A affiliate. Almost immediately after he returned to El Paso, he realized he would be navigating through a very different season than he was talking about just days earlier. “One thing we weren’t going to do is sit around, wondering what’s next,” said Taylor, who is also the senior vice president of MountainStar Sports Group, which owns the Chihuahuas. The Chihuahuas stood up, pivoting amid the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic and using a lost…

1. ANDREW VAUGHN, 1B BORN: April 3, 1998. B-T: R-R. HT: 6-0. WT: 214. DRAFTED: California, 2019 (1st round). SIGNED BY: Adam Virchis TRACK RECORD: By the time he left California, Vaughn had established himself as one of the nation’s most decorated college baseball players. He was a part of USA Baseball’s Collegiate National Team as both a freshman and a sophomore, where he teamed with future White Sox prospects Nick Madrigal and Steele Walker (since traded). He won the Golden Spikes Award as the nation’s top college player his sophomore year, then followed by hitting .374/.539/.704 as a junior for the Golden Bears. The White Sox used the third overall pick on Vaughn in 2019 and signed him for $7,221,200. He spent most of his professional debut at low…

1. BOBBY WITT JR., SS AGE: 21. B-T: R-R. HT: 6-1. WT: 185. DRAFTED: HS—Colleyville, Texas, 2019 (1st round). SIGNED BY: Chad Lee TRACK RECORD: The son of 16-year major league pitcher Bobby Witt, Bobby Jr. has been around the game his entire life. He blossomed into a regular at premier national showcases while at Colleyville (Texas) Heritage High and shined on the national stage when he won the high school home run derby in Washington prior to the 2018 All-Star Game. He won the High School Player of the Year award in 2019 and was drafted second overall by the Royals. He signed for a franchise-record $7.789 million. Witt made his pro debut in the Rookie-level Arizona League and was slated to head to full-season ball in 2020 before…

1. JOSE GARCIA, SS AGE: 23. B-T: R-R. HT: 6-2. WT: 175. SIGNED: Cuba, 2017. SIGNED BY: Chris Buckley/Tony Arias/Miguel Machado/Jim Stockel/Bob Engle/Hector Otero. TRACK RECORD: The Reds have a long history of signing Cuban prospects and have gotten strong payoffs for their proclivity, most notably Aroldis Chapman and Raisel Iglesias. Garcia became the latest Cuban to join the Reds when he signed for $5 million as part of their 2016-17 international signing class. Garcia was slowed by a shoulder injury in 2018 but broke out to lead the high Class A Florida State League with 46 extrabase hits in 2019. He hit four home runs in 13 games in spring training with the Reds in 2020, which helped convince the club to fast track him to the majors once…

1. DYLAN CARLSON, OF AGE: 22. B-T: B-L. HT: 6-3. WT: 205. DRAFTED: HS—Elk Grove, Calif., 2016 (1st round). SIGNED BY: Zach Mortimer. TRACK RECORD: Before he retired at the end of the 2018 season, Elk Grove (Calif.) High coach Jeff Carlson was known for producing future big leaguers. A remarkable eight Elk Grove alums have reached the majors from Carlson’s 16 seasons at the school, including his son Dylan. Dylan Carlson was one of the youngest players in the 2016 draft class and late riser up draft boards. The Cardinals nabbed him with the 33rd pick. As one of the youngest players at every level he played, Carlson’s first couple of years in pro ball were solid but unspectacular. He broke out with an excellent 2019 season at Double-A…

Baseball gear makers responded quickly to the shutdown of team baseball because of the coronavirus pandemic in spring 2020. Instead of simply hunkering down and pushing off product launches, they re-energized their connections to the baseball community, refocused their efforts on creating an improved core line of products and rethought the way products came to market. With a baseball community largely held captive by quarantines, companies increased interactive opportunities, launched online discussions and shows with the game’s stars and influencers, developed training tips, pivoted to support players of all ages and even worked to create personal protective equipment to help healthcare workers. Then, as players returned to the diamond, those updated products came with them, showing a purposeful approach to creating a library of gear with excess stripped away to…

Braves manager Brian Snitker had his doubts about camps reopening on July 3 after a three and a half month shutdown. MLB was attempting its season in the midst of a pandemic. “I was skeptical,” Snitker said. “I didn’t think this thing was going to get off the ground. I think it took about two weeks of that second camp for the players to register, too.” MLB made it through, and the Braves posted one of their best seasons in recent memory despite myriad rotation issues. They came within 12 outs of a World Series berth largely thanks to what might be remembered as Snitker’s best managerial performance. Snitker embodies the baseball lifer. After several seasons playing in the Braves’ minor league system, then-executive Hank Aaron informed Snitker of his…

1. TRISTON McKENZIE, RHP AGE: 23. B-T: R-R. HT: 6-5. WT: 165. DRAFTED: HS – Palm Beach, Fla., 2015 (1st round supp). SIGNED BY: Juan Alvarez. TRACK RECORD: The last few years have been up-and-down for McKenzie, but he finished 2020 on a decidedly upward trajectory. He made his major league debut three weeks after his 23rd birthday, excelled down the stretch and earned a spot on the Indians’ playoff roster. It was quite the turnaround after McKenzie missed all of 2019 with an upper back injury. Scouts have questioned McKenzie’s durability since the Indians drafted him 42nd overall in 2015 due to his rail-thin 6-foot-5, 165-pound frame, but he’s excelled when healthy. He won the high Class A Carolina League’s pitcher of the year award in 2017 and ranked…

1. ALEX KIRILLOFF, OF/1B AGE: 23. B-T: L-L. HT: 6-2. WT: 215. DRAFTED: HS—Pittsburgh, 2016 (1st round). SIGNED BY: Jay Weitzel. TRACK RECORD: The 15th overall selection out of high school in the 2016 draft, Kirilloff was thought of as one of the better pure high school hitters in the class as the son of a hitting coach. Four years later, he is one of the better pure hitting prospects in baseball. While wrist injuries and Tommy John surgery have slowed down Kirilloff’s development, the Twins still trusted him to make his big league debut in the 2020 playoffs despite not having a minor league season. He became the first Minnesota player to make his major league debut in the postseason and also collected his first hit. SCOUTING REPORT: Kirilloff’s…

1. BRICE TURANG, SS AGE: 21. B-T: L-R. HT: 6-0. WT: 175. DRAFTED: HS—Corona, Calif., 2018 (1st round). SIGNED BY: Wynn Pelzer. TRACK RECORD: Turang became well known in scouting circles early in his high school years, playing for USA Baseball’s 15U National Team in 2014. He put himself in the conversation among the top prep hitters in the country, winning a gold medal for Team USA and making the all-tournament team at the U-18 World Cup in 2017. Turang didn’t quite meet the high expectations scouts had for him as a senior and slid down the first round to the Brewers, who drafted him 21st overall and signed him for $3.411 million. In his first full season in 2019, Turang hit well in the low Class A Midwest League,…

BALTIMORE ORIOLES The opening of the Orioles’ instructional camp enabled prospects to get more work beyond their homes during the pandemic. But it also allowed team officials to gauge the development of international players who signed last year. Such players were denied games in the Dominican Summer League this year because of the cancellation of the minor league season. Righthander Luis Sanchez kept grabbing the attention of Chris Holt, the organization’s director of pitching who was elevated to big league pitching coach this offseason. Holt provided detailed reports to senior director of international scouting Koby Perez. Sanchez displayed impressive velocity, especially for a 17-year-old. “Holty told me Sanchez is touching mid 90s,” Perez said. “(Holt) thinks there’s going to be more in there because there’s a lot of mechanical work…

@JJCOOP36 When Major League Baseball Players Association president Marvin Miller was negotiating with major league owners at the dawn of free agency in the mid 1970s, he knew something that many of the myopic owners failed to grasp. Miller wanted free agency for players—but not all at once. The Athletics’ Charlie Finley was the lone owner who seemed to grasp the concept. He proposed that all major league players be granted free agency annually. That was Miller’s nightmare scenario. Free agency would unleash salaries for players who had long been hamstrung by the reserve clause that bound players to teams in perpetuity. But total free agency would flood the market, crushing players’ earning potential. As the book “Lords of the Realm” explained, the MLBPA would have a hard time turning…

• 1955: Alou helps the Dominican Republic win gold at the Pan-American Games in Mexico, prompting the New York Giants to sign him. The Giants would also subsequently sign his brothers Jesus and Matty. • 1958: Alou makes his major league debut for the San Francisco Giants in June after two and a half seasons in the minors. He is the second Dominican player ever to reach the majors. • 1962: The Giants become the first pennant-winners with a heavy Latin presence. In addition to Alou, the club also has Dominican Juan Marichal and Puerto Ricans Orlando Cepeda and Jose Pagan in everyday roles. • 1966: In the Braves’ first year in Atlanta, Alou has his career year at age 31. He leads the National League with 218 hits and…

The team with the blue-accented uniforms got to the World Series based on the many of the tenets and principles Andrew Friedman believes strongly in, including a deep roster with positional versatility, a pitching staff with flexible roles, a focus on run prevention, a strong and positive clubhouse culture and a manager who embraces data and is willing to make bold decisions with buy-in from his players. Oh yeah, and the Dodgers were there, too. As much as Friedman has been lauded—and honored here as Baseball America’s Major League Executive of the Year—for the Dodgers’ success that culminated with the 2020 World Series championship, his imprint was also evident on the Rays. He played a key role in transforming them from one of baseball’s worst franchises to an annual contender,…

1. SPENCER TORKELSON, 1B AGE: 21. B-T: R-R. HT: 6-1. WT: 220. DRAFTED: Arizona State, 2020 (1st round). SIGNED BY: Joey Lothrop. TRACK RECORD: Torkelson was a jack-of-all trades at Casa Grande High in Petaluma, Calif., playing football and basketball in addition to baseball and spending time as both a pitcher and position player on the diamond. He was on the fringe of draft radars but went undrafted out of high school. As a freshman at Arizona State, Torkelson led the nation with 25 home runs and smashed Barry Bonds’ school freshman home run record. He followed up by batting .351/.446/.707 with 23 home runs as a sophomore and entered his junior season on the verge of breaking the Sun Devils’ career home run record and entering the national top…

1. BRAILYN MARQUEZ, LHP AGE: 22. B-T: L-L. HT: 6-4. WT: 185. SIGNED: Dominican Republic, 2015. SIGNED BY: Mario Encarnacion/Jose Serra/Alex Suarez/Louie Eljaua. TRACK RECORD: The Cubs signed Marquez out of the Dominican Republic for $600,000 in 2015, the largest signing bonus given to any lefthanded pitcher in that year’s international class. He sat in the low 90s with a projectable body when he signed and has since filled out to become one of baseball’s hardest-throwing lefthanders. Marquez began touching 98 mph as a starter in the short-season Northwest League in 2018, then in 2019 began sitting in the upper 90s and touched 102 mph as he conquered both Class A levels. The Cubs sent him to their alternate training site in 2020, where he held his own facing more…

1. KE’BRYAN HAYES, 3B AGE: 24. B-T: R-R. HT: 5-10. WT: 205. DRAFTED: HS—Tomball, Texas, 2015 (1st round). SIGNED BY: Tyler Stohr. TRACK RECORD: The Pirates drafted Hayes with the 32nd overall pick in 2015. He’s the son of former major league third baseman Charlie Hayes, who played for the Pirates in 1996 and spent 14 years in the majors. (His brother Tyree also pitched professionally.) Hayes entered the 2020 season as the Pirates’ top position prospect but tested positive for Covid-19 during summer camp, which set his progress back. He returned in late July and made his major league debut in September, exploding onto the scene with numbers that were among the best of the rookie class. He hit .376/.422/.682 with seven doubles, two triples and five home runs…

ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS Righthander Slade Cecconi thought he made the most of his time during quarantine—and he thinks it helped him make the most of his time at the alternate training site and instructional league this year. Cecconi was a sort of post-draft revelation for the D-backs this fall, showing dominant stuff and generating overpowering results, to the point that some already view him as the organization’s top pitching prospect. “A big goal of mine was to go out and really show people what I know I can do,” Cecconi said. “I haven’t necessarily been able to showcase what I’m capable of yet.” The 21-year-old said he wants to prove Arizona right for drafting him in the supplemental first round out of Miami. Cecconi came with the reputation for good stuff…