LSB Community Prospect Project: #27

prounounces it*

I’d been calling him Strop like it rhymed with drop.

That ruins it. Jacque Strope isn’t cool at all. Well, my night is ruined.

I’ll get you for this, Z.

I really and truly will.

Same.

as hate to say those guys should be ahead of Lemon? How is that hateful?

It’s just weird that people get real passionate about the 26th ranked prospect in the organization. With 25 guys on a roster, there’s a decent chance that none of the guys ranked in this range play significant roles in the majors. After all, if you have Marcus Lemon ranked ahead of Pedro Strop, you could still believe there’s a 49% chance that Strop will turn out to be a better player than Lemon.

…I have some issues with that. First, weak is weak. The fact that he’s 5-11 doesn’t mean that he has the frame to project to hit the ball with authority. He can fill out, but he just doesn’t look like he’s going to be very strong or ever hit the ball very hard. Second, he is a middle of the diamond player, but at the one spot that demands the least physically, second base. And I don’t think he’s much more than passable there even. Third, and here is where I’ve always had my concerns with Lemon, he is a very polished player. That’s not a bad thing. But it means that his performance at a young age and medium levels is less meaningful. It’s good that he’s been physically able to handle the Cal League, but he’s had every advantage in his experience, every adjustment that can be made easier has been. So I worry that his advantage there will be chipped away at, and his age relative to level advantage will be less and less meaningful. And his one big strength, his OBP, could possibly be compromised as he moves up. As Adam has suggested, it makes sense that a player who cannot punish pitchers will have a relatively harder time maintaining a high walk rate in the majors. I’ve never disliked Lemon as a prospect, but all of that creates a picture of a nice infield utility player who is not an asset defensively. That’s something, but if I’m choosing, I see a lot more value in taking a pitcher who has the potential to play a more important role than that.

As far as these pitchers, the injury that I’m aware of with Strop is an elbow stress fracture, not anything with his shoulder. And I haven’t understood that it’s so much mechanics that caused it, but possibly just how fast his arm action is. Maybe I’m off base there, and maybe he will have problems moving forward with it. But guys often work through this problem, and he is an athletic guy with nasty stuff. If his package comes together he’s a serious late reliever, the kind of guy who could be a Jose Arredondo type of factor. That just holds a lot of value.

And Gomez has underwhelming stuff? My impression was that his stuff was actually pretty good, which, combined with a very impressive year, is why I would favor him.

he slugged over .400 in his age 19/20 season. Had a greater (way greater) LD% than either Borbon or Vallejo at Bakersfield and is only 20 years old. Not to mention that he doesn’t hit many groundballs (meaning that he’s getting his avg through contact, and not speed).

Why is it that some players (like say, Vallejo) are given the title of projectable, well Lemon is not?

I think he’s got a good chance to be an above average major league second baseman at the big league level for many years. Or a really good chance to at least be a very nice utility guy.

And this isn’t some Little Tugger thing where we were all just rooting for the little guy to make it against all odds. Lemon is a kid we bought out of his UT scholarship with a seven figure bonus. They must’ve thought kind of highly of him to go that high for a 4th rounder, right?

and I’ve read most of that (and started most of the arguments), but all I’ve heard so far is that “well, he’s not real projectable” what makes him so? That’s the argument that we should have, especially given some of the other players we choose to label as such.

I had it in my head that the thought was that he was capable of sustaining 90/91 plus velocity if he runs with it, but I have not proactively researched what the results were from him on the mound at instructs.

For one thing, I don’t know what adjustments he might have made. He was pretty bad in the NYP, then very good in teh MWL. Maybe there is a good reason for that, or maybe he will in fact be exposed at the next level or two.

The upper part means nothing to me. He was old relative to guys they want to rank, and the list of guys who had no right being left off lists like that but were is extremely long.

He’s Rule 5 eligible after next year and a minor league free agent after 2011. The clock is ticking. 121 strikeouts in 360 PAs in A ball is downright ugly.