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I'll take Powell, Bishop and Barbosa, in that order.
Look at ME... I can be... CENTERFIELD!
After Martin, there are a lot of options...
While there is some debate about how long Martin will last for the Mariners, there is a bit of a discussion behind the scenes... If Martin is not the long term answer, then who is?
This may come as a bit of a shock to some of you, but Jack actually did start collecting some CF candidates. Moreover, Jerry has added to the collection as well. So who are these guys?
The List and where they will start (I think):
Tacoma - Boog Powell (bats & throws left)
Jackson - Ian Miller (bats left - throws right)
Bakersfield - Aaron Barbosa (bats left - throws right)
Clinton - Austin Cousino (bats and throws left) , and Braden Bishop (bats and throws right)
Everett - Luis Liberato (bats and throws left)
Arizona League - Brayan Hernandez (switch hitter and throws right)
Some may recognize these names, but chances are good that few know how they rate. That is not meant as a slap to SSI readers, as the experts don't even know how these guys rank when compared to one another. SERIOUSLY! There is no concensus. Let me show you.
Baseball America - 1. Bishop, 2. Powell, 3. Cousino, 4. Liberato
Baseball Prospectus - 1. Liberato, 2. Powell, 3. Hernandez, 4. Miller
MLB.com - 1. Powell, 2. Liberato, 3. Hernandez, 4. Bishop, 5. Cousino, 6. Miller
Baseball Essential - 1. Powell, 2. Miller, 3. Liberato, 4. Hernandez, 5. Bishop, 6. Cousino
Razz - 1. Powell, 2. Miller, 3. Cousino, 4. Hernandez, 5. Bishop, 6. Liberato
Fake Teams - 1. Liberato, 2. Hernandez, 3. Powell
Prospect 361 - 1. Powell, 2. Liberato, 3. Hernandez
Top Prospect Alert - 1. Liberato, 2. Powell, 3. Hernandez
Confused yet???
Well, let's look at how the expert scouts rate these guys on the 80-20 scale on their skills:
Hit Skill - Powell 50, Liberato 50, Bishop 45, Miller 45, Barbosa 45, Cousino 45, Hernandez 45.... well that did not help much.
Run / Speed Skill - Bishop 65, Hernandez 60, Miller 60, Barbosa 60, Cousino 55, Powell 55, Liberato 55... OK, but...
Arm Strength - Hernandez 55, Liberato 55, Bishop 50, Miller 50, Cousino 50, Barbosa 45, Powell 40... interesting I guess...
Power / XBH skill - Liberato 50, Hernandez 40, Cousino 35, Bishop 35, Powell 30, Miller 20, Barbosa 20.... yeah but CF's aren't there for power
Fielding / Range / Routes - Bishop 65, Barbosa 60, Cousino 60, Miller 55, Powell 50, Hernandez 50, Liberato 50.... is the picture getting real fuzzy yet???
Well that did not get us any closer to who's best... Let's dig into these players and their pedigrees... maybe that will show something.
Bishop - 3 years at U of Wash, taken in 3rd round in 2015
Cousino - 3 years at U of Kentucky, taken in 3rd round in 2014
Miller - 4 years at Wagner College, taken in 14th round in 2013
Barbosa - 4 years at Northeastern U, signed in 2013
Hernandez - Int'l FA signed for $1.85M in 2014
Liberato - Int'l FA signed for $140K in 2012
Powell - High School, taken in 20th round in 2012
Huh... How about I dig deeper into their pro numbers so far, to see how they fit with Dipoto's "C the Z":
Powell - 294 games, 165W, 175K, 53 SB .308/.401/.387/.788
Bishop - 56 games, 5W, 33K, 13 SB .320/.367/.393/.760
Liberato - 64 games (in USA), 26W, 59K, 11 SB .231/.308/.403/.711
Barbosa - 265 games, 149W, 169K, 107 SB .280/.377/.311/.688
Miller - 223 games, 75W, 157K, 83 SB .276/.335/.337/.672
Hernandez - 50 games (in DR only), 18W, 44K, 9 SB .224/.295/.358/.653
Cousino - 130 games, 51W, 106K, 34 SB .239/.309/.342/.651
Well, you can see why Dipoto went after Powell... but there are a few guys who also seem to fit as well. I am surprised though at how little many of these guys have played even though being in the minors for several years.
As you can see, these guys all have their strengths... and yet no one stands out from the crowd too much.
I have my own ideas on how these guys rank when compared to one another, but I'll let you guys tell me.
Who do you rank these guys? Who is NUMBER 1?
Comments
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instead of having everyone numbers at the end, I almost had Player A - F... but that may have upset some people.
Thanks Maq for contributing. I do like Barbosa too though no expect ever ranks him.
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NIce writeup, Tac Rain! SHort term ratings don't mean much- unless someone is going to skip a level and displace someone else on your list. Longer term, I like Liberato, Bishop and Powell- but would love to see a return on our investment in Hernandez!
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As far as short term rankings... NONE of these guys was on anyone's list in 2014. Now several were not in the Mariner's system yet, but even Powell was not on the A's radar yet.
Based on experts and these guys ranked abilities, I wonder how much longer Liberato will actually get to play CF, before he bumps into the guys ahead of him though since he already played some RF with Bishop in CF last year... especially since Liberato seems to be the only one with average or at least gap power.
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Ultimately, the deciding factor will be whether any of those guys (beyond Boog, who is less of a MLB unknown) can go pick it as a MLB CF.
But there is much to worry about in almost all of those guys.
Bishop had 5 BB's in 55 games! Eeeek! He did, however, hit .320 in Everett. he better hit like that if he can't walk at all.
Barbosa, at age 23, just slugged .276 in the Cal League launching pads. Eeek! He does have a decent Eye, however.
Cousino was terrible in '15.
Liberato was in Jackson by age 19 and slugged .453 in Everett at the same age. Not bad.
Hernandez was 11 or 12 years old last year (well, 17), so who the heck knows.
A name that could be considered is Julio Morban, who was pretty good in Jackson in '14 but was lousy in Jackson/Tacoma in '15.
And were I in Tacoma next season, I would be sure to give some CF time to Tyler Smith. Not to make him a fulltime CF'er but to make him a more flexible and valuable MLB'er. if Marte is our SS future then only 2B is potentially available to Smith, who hits (and walks) everywhere he goes. 2B is blocked as long as Cano still has the range to play there.
I like Smith, a lot. I would maximize his skill set.
But of the guys you've listed, give me Powell, Bishop and Liberato, in that order. I might fliip Bishop and Liberato, if I think about it enough. Even with some shine to them, both those guys have unknowns that are fairly large, which is why they are "prospects," isn't it?
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The question is whether any of them can become Peter Bourjos, or even better. Hopefully they all are young enough that Dipoto's system can change one into Paul Blair or Cesar Geronimo.
One thing I chose not to do (for fear of numbers overload) was show where each guy placed in the top 10 or 20 or 30 prospects on the different lists. I kinda found it scary that on the MLB.com and the Baseball Essential's lists that everyone of these guys except Barbosa was on their list. I'm not sure I like what that says about the rest of the guys on the list.
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I want to hear that name roll off Dave Sims' tongue everytime he makes a play.
"And what a catch by LOU-ESE LIB-ER-OUGHT-TOE!"
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I'd have to put Bishop #1. After that it gets tougher, in my view. The BB total is something to watch but I don't think at his level it should be a concern yet. If he does that this year after the implemented focus at all levels I'll be concerned. The combination of #1 speed and fielding with decent arm and hit and not horrible power is hard for others in the group to surpass.
There are definitely more to watch and like than I realized before this post so thank you for that. I'll just root for all of them.
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As Dipoto stressed yesterday, "C the Z" does not mean guys need to start going to the plate looking for a walk... just control the zone, which will be interesting how that varies from "look for a fastball out over the plate and drive it"... as Wedge and others tried to get guys to do.
Thus since Bishop has at least 5 years of "C the Z" to come, and one of the top draft choices from last year... he will be expected to learn this philosophy thoroughly. If it works, and with Braden's already superior defensive skills, Bishop could be the quite a prospect in 4 years from now.
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Absolutely ZZZZZERO power...they'll knock the bat right out of his hands at higher levels.
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Yes Barbosa lacks power... I do not remember seeing a 20 rating for anybody on any skill before... and Barbosa and Miller are 20's... but Powell at 30 does not excite me either.
That said though, Dipoto wants these guys to embrace the type of hitter that they are, and to expand upon it using "C the Z". It will be interesting to see how these guys avoid becoming the next Chone.