Huge win tonight. Tellez is a great example of why you need to give players some rope to figure shit out. If he doesn't make that play defensively, we lose. After he flipped to Keller, I said to my GF, we just won the game. Sometimes you just "feel" it.
As much as we're hyped on Skenes, let's please remember, at some point, he's going to get tagged. Might be tomorrow, but it's bound to happen at some point. The postseason won't be decided by tomorrow. With that being said, I expect a win. Already feel that when big papa toes the rubber.
On another topic.
We should be very excited about the organizational pitching strides made under Cherington.
This is a major improvement under the last regime, who found some success in buying cheap veterans (Liriano and Burnett come to mind right away) and getting the maximum production given their cost and age.
But the actual development of minor leaguers and young arms was putrid. Few reached their ceilings and then turned around and turned into dominant #1 types upon leaving in short order (Cole, Glasnow).
Consider Cherington drafted:
Skenes (1.1 - 2023) - unicorn who was
not pegged to us by almost every expert last year up until draft day, so again, I'm giving Ben and his team credit for making what should have been the easiest pick since Harper and Strasburg. A franchise altering addition.
Jones (2.44 - 2020) - Strider-esque stuff, the command out of the gate was surprisingly great, after being just solid throughout the minor leagues. If the command/control remains plus moving forward and the arm holds up, he's essentially a #1 pitching in the 2 or 3 spot for us.
Bubba Chandler (3.72 - 2021) - Our current top prospect, he should be a consensus top 50 player league wide if things hold as they are. As DJ mentioned, it would be very tough to see him traded and the player coming back better be controllable and cheap or relatively so. I wouldn't move him for anyone mentioned on the market right now, unless you're talking someone like Skubal, who is a pipe dream for a team like ours. Chandler's a midseason 2025 call up if things break the way we hope.
2024 #'s (AA - Altoona)
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Thomas Harrington (CB-36th - 2022) 23 years old- Hard not to see him coming in as our #2 pitching prospect given he's 1.5 years younger than Ashcraft and throwing extremely well in AA. I'm very impressed by his command which stands out for a guy having his 1st taste in the upper minors. 4 HR's against is a fantastic stat, he's been just as impressive as Chandler. Given he's spent the entire year at AA, it's hard not to see him getting a cup in AAA before the year out, or at least certainly starting there to begin 2025, with a summer call up in the works if all goes to plan.
2024 #'s (AA-Altoona)
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Hunter Barco (2.42 - 2022) 23 years old - Some people were miffed at picking a guy who had just undergone TJ surgery but before his arm went at Florida, the arrow was pointing up according a lot of evaluators so we obviously took a gamble on him recovering and building off what scouts saw. Fast forward to July 2024, and he's been mighty impressive in a very hitter friendly league, seeing a promotion to Altoona just yesterday, where he got off to a great start. He should finish the year in Altoona, begin there in 2025 but get a quick call to Indy if he gets off to a hot start. A lefty arm is something I'd love to see added to a playoff rotation.
2024 (A+ - Greensboro w/1 start yesterday at AA - Altoona)
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Zander Mueth (CB-67 - 2023) 19 years old - Can't say that I've seen him pitch given he's spent his first year in rookie ball, but the numbers are certainly encouraging. Rookie ball isn't exactly telling for future success, but I don't see anything that is alarming, other than needing to work on bring the walk rate down, which is true of every kid coming out of HS and most coming out of college. He's not getting hit hard, sub .200 BAA, just 1 HR given up, and better than 9K/9 over nearly 50 innings. Would be surprised to see him not get a start or 2 up in A ball before the year is out.
2024 (Rookie Ball)
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Patrick Reilly (5.140 - 2023) 23 years old - Like Barco, he's posted strong numbers in a very hitter friendly league, The control needs to improve but he's already showing vast improvements from the very uneven career he had at Vandy.
2024 (A+ - Greensboro)
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This doesn't include Ashcraft (2018) and Burrows (2018) who are both still viable prospects, especially the former.
Solometo is a name everyone knows, and while he's struggled this year in AA, let's not forget the cat is 21 and hasn't really been healthy. Long way to go before we know whether his struggles are long term. Before this season he was a projectable #3 or 4 and posting more than respectable numbers at every stop.
We also should keep an eye on guys like Michael Kennedy, Carlson Reed, Kristian Curtis and just drafted names.
Mitch Keller wasn't drafted by Cherington, but his people got him to where he is now, which is a strong #2 and passable 1.
Luis Ortiz is showing good things, again, developed under the new regime. Preister is slowly improving, still only 23. Bailey Falter was huge for us when the rotation was in the pre-Skenes days. Marco Gonzales has been respectable when healthy.
I don't care for Shelton or Haines. Those are both on Cherington directly, and the results thus far, are subpar, to say the least. I'm willing to ride this out and see how far we can get, but the sole focus should be maximizing our window with Skenes. That includes getting the best baseball people managing the players on the ground level.
If we can just get the offensive development on par w/the pitching, the postseason will be a regular occurrence.