re: The ATL Thread: Offseason Edition

quote:

---

24. Jose Peraza 2B/SS
Peraza is a natural shortstop, but the presence of defensive wizard Andrelton Simmons in the major league lineup has led Atlanta to try Peraza at second base, where he should be a 65 or 70 defender and half of a historically great middle-infield tandem when he gets settled in the majors. At the plate, he has a very compact, direct swing that produces line-drive contact without power. He's a 70 runner, albeit from the right side, enough to have high impact on the bases but not enough to give him Billy Hamilton-type value from pushing bunts toward third base. He's not a patient hitter since his hand-eye coordination and short stroke mean he can square up almost anything in the zone. As long as he's hitting .330, that trick works, but Howie Kendrick, who hit .360 in his minor league career, can testify to how that skill doesn't always translate to the majors if you don't work the count.
Peraza has a very high floor, as Kendrick did, thanks to his speed, defense and ability to make contact. He could become an impact leadoff guy if he can work himself into 20-30 more walks a year.
47. Mike Foltynewicz RHP
Foltynewicz went from Houston to Atlanta in the January trade that sent Evan Gattis to the Astros, but he alone is a more valuable asset than Gattis is and should help Atlanta in the near term. He's a high-beta prospect with the upside of a potential No. 1 starter if he can develop a more consistent arm slot and find an average third pitch to go along with an 80-grade fastball and 70-grade curveball. He drops down on the fastball at times and comes back up to get depth on the curveball, a trick that major league hitters will exploit and an impediment to his command. His changeup will show plus, and ditching his slider (which he did early in 2014) might allow him to spend more time working on the change, but the change isn't good enough now to keep lefties from sitting on his four-seamer. He has to throw more strikes, and more quality strikes, and develop that third pitch to remain in the rotation.
Drafted in the first round in 2010, he has never seen the disabled list and has the size and frame to be a durable, 200-inning starter. His floor is a Nathan Eovaldi type, and he'd be a wipeout reliever, but Atlanta has to develop him as a starter and hope the changeup comes along to the point where he can lead their rotation in 2017.
66. Ozhaino Albies SS
It's hard to picture the diminutive Albies -- he's listed at 5-foot-9, 150 pounds, and that's a generous number on the height -- on a major league diamond, but his tools are outstanding for a player so small and young. Atlanta signed Albies out of Curacao in July 2013 for $350,000, a bold bet since he was probably 5-6, 130 pounds at the time, but they liked his combination of plus running speed, an above-average arm, very good hands and a compact (how could it not be?) stroke at the plate.
Albies projects as an everyday shortstop if he hits enough for it. His hands are soft and he has good instincts at the position, with enough arm for all but perhaps the play deep in the hole. He used to have a wide base with no stride at the plate, but Atlanta has added a little toe-tap to force him to transfer some weight. He'll never have much power, but at least he showed he could make hard contact this year, hitting .364/.446/.444 at age 17 across two short-season leagues. As the youngest player in the Appalachian League, Albies finished fourth in batting average and OBP, and his pace would have led the league in singles if he'd kept it up for a whole summer. It's hard to call a player this age a high-floor guy, but I'd be shocked if he didn't at least turn into a quality utility infielder. If he has the strength to maintain these high contact rates and OBPs and develop doubles power, he'll be an above-average everyday player at short.
82. Tyrell Jenkins RHP
Jenkins was off the prospect map for two years while he tried to come back from shoulder surgery, but it wasn't until the second half of 2014 that he finally felt fully healthy, and it showed when he pitched in the Arizona Fall League. Out in the desert, his fastball was at 93-96 mph with good downhill plane, really turning over well even at 95 mph and generating lots of ground balls. His slider was plus at 83-87 mph -- with curveball depth -- while his changeup was fringy, straight at 86-88 and effective because his delivery of the pitch is close to the fastball's but lacking any life or action.
He's an excellent athlete who repeats his delivery very well, with outstanding makeup and a very competitive approach on the mound. Jenkins has yet to throw 100 innings in a calendar year as a pro, with his 98? in 2014 (including the AFL) a new career high. He has to show he can hold up for a full season, and with his arsenal, he should miss more bats; I project he'll do more of the latter than ever before now that his shoulder is as good as new.
93. Rio Ruiz 3B
Ruiz has matured quickly both in terms of his body and his plate discipline; his walk rate put him among the top 10 percent of minor league hitters this year, even though he was just 20 in high-A. Lancaster is a tremendous place to hit, however, and his power output was a little light given his home environment. He has good natural feel to hit and much of his contact is hard, but his load gets too deep with his weight too much on his back side, interfering with his timing and reducing his ability to drive the ball.
At third base, he has the hands and arm, but he lacks rhythm in his feet and the ball tends to play him unless he's coming in on it; I'd leave him at third for now, but it's at least 50-50 that he moves to first. Unlike a lot of young, left-handed hitters, he has no real problem facing lefties. He projects as something similar to what Matt Carpenter has become for the Cardinals -- a high-OBP doubles hitter, a little less glove, a little more pop -- if he can stay at the hot corner.
100. Max Fried LHP
Fried was the seventh overall pick in the 2012 draft, going nine picks ahead of high school teammate Lucas Giolito after the latter hurt his elbow in March of his senior year. Giolito needed Tommy John surgery that summer, while Fried stayed healthy until the spring of 2014, when his elbow snapped and he had the same operation. It'll cost him all of 2015 other than a possible return for instructional-league work if he doesn't suffer any setbacks.
When healthy, Fried would sit in the low 90s with a plus curveball and an above-average to plus changeup; he's an excellent athlete with a long stride toward the plate but a slightly long arm action. The Padres had become a bit frustrated with Fried's approach to pitching, trying to throw the perfect pitch rather than trusting his stuff, and the change of scenery might help him, as Atlanta has had a lot of success in recent years developing young arms. If the surgery and rehab go well, he still has the ceiling of a No. 2 starter.

---

quote:

---

Posted by Finkle is Einhorn Yay we have an ok farm system but have no major league players left

---