Today
we are going to take a look at some of the players we haven't profiled
yet that show up on Baseball America's mid-season Top 25 (or so)
prospects.
Jacob
McGee - Rays Starter
- Throws Left - 6-3, 190 - 8/6/1986
The
Rays may not have a ton of pitching at the major league level but there
is some talent in the pipeline as two of their young arms show up on
BA's mid-season top-25.
There's
nothing that gets an organization more excited than a 6-3, 190
left-hander with velocity, unless it's when that kid has outstanding
life on that fastball. If that same left-hander is only 20 years old
with three hundred pro innings under his belt, well, people start to
get giddy.
Jacob's
171 strikeouts in the MWL last year led the league. He cruises in the
low-90s with a fastball that has a great tail and Jacob can top 95 on
occasion. His curveball is advanced with bite, although it could be
deeper. Jacob's change has life as well and he throws it with good arm
action.
Right
now he has the problems of a typical 20-year-old. He needs to be more
consistent in both mechanics and location. He is still overpowering
people so he will have to learn the joy of keeping the ball down in the
zone, probably the hard way, as he faces more sophisticated hitters
next year. Jacob could also develop a little more speed differential
among him pitches.
McGee
also has some problems most 20-year-olds would love. He needs to
develop a relationship with the life on his fastball and harness that a
bit. And he has time to add a 4th pitch, although the Rays haven't
asked that of him yet. Adding a cut fastball or slider would make him
even tougher.
Jacoby
already has the physical size and stuff to project as a middle of the
rotation starter. A year from now when he's seen some AA hitters, as
well as added 10 pounds and another foot to his fastball, we may be
looking at a solid #2 level starter prospect who still has a little
ceiling left.
Long
Term Fantasy Grade - A-
Seas
Lvl W L
ERA IP K/9
BB/9 HR/9 AVG WHIP 2006
A 7 9 2.96
134.0 11.5 4.4 0.5
.214 1.25 2007
A+ 5 4 3.23
97.2 11.4 3.0 0.7
.214 1.10
Wade
Davis Devil - Rays Starter
- Throws Right - 6-5, 220 - 9/7/1985
Yes,
another starter in the Rays pipeline, this one right handed and a
little bit further along that Jacob McGee. Wade finished second to
McGee in strikeouts in the MWL League last year and he does bring four
pitches to the mound starting with a 92-94 mph fastball that will
occasionally produce 98. Wade also has a hard but vertical curve and a
bting slider. And he is making progress with a change.
Davis
has very good size which should make him a workhorse, but that size
creates mechanical problems for him and Wade has not yet nailed down
his mechanics. When he doesn't repeat his best delivery every pitch
suffers including his fastball which straightens out. Last year he also
showed that his incoinsistency can linger beyound a couple of pitches
or an inning or two. Davis got out of sorts in the middle of the season
and took 6 weeks to get back in sync.
Right
now Wade projects like a starter that could eat significant and
effective innings in the big leagues like a usable #3 or a good #4. But
I'm not yet convinced that's his top end. When he has been on, Wade has
been very impressive. If he gathers some consistency and command and
can repeate his best stuff more often, he could be a very strong
starter. Should he add a change that is more than a show-me pitch, he
might approach the level of a poor man's (poor team's?) #2.
So
far this year he has adjusted quite well to AA and he is beating better
hitters. This is very encouraging. The Rays will try to bring along his
change and continue to polish his delievery. Given the state of the big
club's staff, Wade could be a factor in spring training next year.
Long
Term Fantasy Grade - B
Seas
Lvl W L
ERA IP K/9
BB/9 HR/9 AVG WHIP 2006
A 7 12 3.02
146.0 10.2 4.0 0.3
.231 1.29 2007
A+ 3 0 1.84
78.1 10.1 2.4 0.6
.196 0.96 2007
AA 4 0 2.23
36.1 8.7 3.0 0.3
.238 1.21
Jeff
Clement - Mariners Catcher
- Bats Left - 6-2, 215 - 8/21/1983
You
may remember Jeff as the third overall pick in 2005, but you'd be
forgiven if you do not. Jeff ran into knee and elbow surgeries in his
first pro season, missing valuable development time, collecting just
113 MWL ABs. When he returned for 2006 the M's inexplicably threw him
to the AAA wolves. That would have been daunting enough for any hitter
but considering he is a catcher, a catcher that has a lot of defensive
polishing to do, you start to understand his AAA stat line from last
year.
Jeff
is a Slugger. He topped J.D. Drew's prep school HR record and then
challeneged Mark McGwire's HR mark at Southern Cal. As you can see he's
doing a lot better in his second tour at AAA. His 16 HRs and 44 XBH
tells you all you need to know about his power and he still hits more
ground balls than he eventually will.
Jeff
is showing that he can make adjustments when asked. He hit just .208
vs. lefties last year in 53 ABs with a .321 SLG%, but he has shown the
ability to adapt this year, hitting .333 off of LHP with a .738 SLG%.
This year he has struggled a bit with right-handed pitching, hitting
.249 against righties this year with a .400 SLG%. Last year he hit .275
off of them. If he simply repeated his 2006 performance vs. RHP his
2007 line would look even more impressive.
A
slugging left-handed hitting cather is a huge find for an organization
and a catcher with 30-homer potential is a huge fanatsy asset. However
the jury is still out as to whether Jeff can catch well enough to play
behind the plate in the majors on any kind of regular basis.It probably
doesn't matter in Seatlle where they have first base and catcher
covered for the time being. That wion't stop Jeff though. The M's have
fast tracked him from the beginning and they are anxious to see him in
their MLB lineup. If things weren't going so well with the big club
this season he might be there already. Expect a September call up and a
full time arrival in 2008 for Clement.
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