fatbeard
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Good for him, but barring injury there's nothing he can do to force his way into the lineup until September.
Good for him, but barring injury there's nothing he can do to force his way into the lineup until September.
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Thanks, Captain Obvious.
TC in Mississippi
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Right but there will be injuries. The Cubs used 4 catchers last year. I'd bet we see Contreras for his first look at the show by July.
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Almost all of Iowa is off to a hot start. Volgelbach is crushing.
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Trade him!
DanTown
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Age and length of time at a level matter in player evaluation. Alcantra having good numbers and slugging .890 in AAA at age 22 with good speed numbers was massively encouraging and it's something that a 24 or 25 year old repeating AAA for the third time is frankly impossible of matching in terms of accomplishment. Alcantra came out of nowhere to be a 4A type player and that's not a bad thing. I just think when I watch him he lacks the ability to consistently adjust to pitchers. It seems like he came up, pitchers figured out how to get him out, and since that point in mid 2014, he's been unable in either AAA or MLB to consistently hit.
I get the bias but even if you take Alcantra's small sample and say he's corrected, there's a clear difference between a guy who has a OPS of .890 in AAA and a guy who has a .789 OPS. Tommy LaStella had a OPS of .743 as a 24 y/o in AAA the last time he was a regular in AAA and he did that hitting one home run in 300+ PA. I don't even know what Alcantra's tool to the majors is beyond position versatility and speed. It's weird you champion his hit tool still when it's clear his path to the majors is speed+defense+versatility.
He plays multiple positions but doesn't excel at any of them; his speed is a nice tool but it's again not an asset if he can't get himself on base. If he's a pinch runner, there are faster guys than him for that role. Everything with him is "back two/three years ago, he flashed X". Since then, he's simply regressed. You compare these players in ways that are just illogical. He can steal 30 bases? In what world can he do that hitting like sub .200? He stole 31 bases getting 570 PA hitting .270 as a AA player at age 21 four years ago; if Alcantra got enough PA to steal 30 bases in the MLB, the Cubs would suck.
The only thing intriguing thing about him is the walks but the sample is clearly too small to be a determining factor. The rest shows he's had a lot of singles get through and getting singles in AAA at a .280 level isn't a great sign that future MLB hitting ability is there.
The key thing to take away from both of these "reports" is that your idea of scouting numbers in AAA is horrible. A guy hitting .286 with .333 isn't showing a MLB hit tool; the walks would be nice but he'd literally have to translate that to the MLB to be even a bad hitter and the odds of that are slim to none. If Almora next year can hit in the nine hole and be a GG defender who hits .230/.290/.325, I'd probably take it. Kiermaier was a 5 win player hitting .263/.298./.420. Last year Alcedes Escobar was a 1.5 WAR SS with those kind of numbers. Simmons was a 3.2 WAR SS with slightly better numbers.
But nothing in Almora's hitting numbers suggest he's ready for a jump in class; hitting .286 in AAA while slugging .333 doesn't show a mastery of hitting like say Soler hitting .282 while slugging .610 or Bryant hitting .295 while slugging .619 or Baez hitting .324 while slugging .527 shows.
DanTown
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Contreras having more XBH (4 doubles) than strikeouts (3) is very nice.
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Ian Happ is having good AB's at Myrtle Beach. Last night 4-4 with a couple of dingers. .313 so far on the season. I would think, if he keeps going like this, he will find himself in Tennessee at some point this season. He was D1 1st rounder. Does anyone have an idea what the Cubs may be planning for him?
TC in Mississippi
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It would seem that they have him targeted for 2B as Zobrist declines but Gleyber Torres could be an option there as well. With Torres starting to show his young age in a slow start at Myrtle Beach, Happ could have the edge there as Torres could take longer to develop than some thought last year.
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One of them is trade bait. I would assume Volgelbach, McKinney, Torres, Happ, Canderlairo, and some pitchers are all trade bait at this point. Don't let it fool you. Volgelbach would be enticing to a team like the Rays that struggle for hitting.
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Vogelbach is not an NL fit. It's also clear that he is blocked and I hope he gets traded to an AL team where he has a chance to get to the Big Club.
TC in Mississippi
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Yep I would assume so. I wonder about Vogelbach though. Most AL teams develop guys like him and not all of them make it to MLB. I would think he has value but how much?
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I don't know how much they develop guys like him. I believe Volgelbach is a complete hitter. He got lost when the Cubs drafted all these big names and traded for some. He has a great eye that sprays it to all fields. He has worked hard on his body and his weight loss. He was 300 pounds as a junior. Scouts have always believed he would be a complete hitter just has no position. I want to see the power in AAA because it dipped when he lost weight, but that could have just been an adjusting period. I have read the Rays have always kept an eye out on him.
TC in Mississippi
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Albert Almora is slashing .324/.390/.353 at Iowa. Whatever he figured out in AA late last year has carried over.
beckdawg
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It'd be nice if his power came around a bit but that's just nit picking at this point. His ISO is pretty ridiculously low at .029. But as I've said for awhile, whatever you get offensively out of Almora is more or less gravy as gold glove CF is enough to make you a starter on pretty much any team without mike trout. It's also nice to see his walk rate even higher than last season.
fatbeard
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I've had my doubts about whether Almora would be anything more than a 4th OF, but it seems his renewed focus and dedication was more than just the offseason puff piece that it generated. I'm curious to see whether his defense translates as well to the majors; he reads & reacts very well, and makes a lot of athletic plays, but ultimately I think his oft-mentioned GG defensive potential is limited by his below-average speed for a CF. I would think 81 games at Wrigley would somewhat mitigate this issue, but he could be exposed in larger ballparks.
beckdawg
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I mean I get people's hesitation when talking about his offense but the Mets are basically every bit as good a team you would normally hope for and they have been running Juan Lagares out in CF for multiple years. This is the same Juan Legares who possess a career .261/.297/.364 triple slash and is a 20.0 UZR/150 over 2792.2 innings in CF. That's almost assuredly you're worst case scenario for Almora. And while I'm sure the Mets would love to have someone better, they haven't made it a priority which tells you they can live with what he gives you.
Also don't think most scouts would agree he has below average speed for a CF. Most places I've seen have him roughly around a 55 grade which isn't quite "plus" but as you mentioned he reads the ball well and that along with route angles are far more important than pure speed. The fact is there's not a lot of good defensive CF. Last season there were 13 players at 0 or higher DRS and likewise 13 who were above 0 in UZR/150. In other words, roughly 17 teams had CF who were costing them runs defensively. So, if you can get a plus or plus-plus defender in CF you generally take it and live with the rest because he's not only some what rare himself but a player like Almora makes it possible to play someone like Schwarber in LF. One of the things I read leading up to the offseason was some scouts suggesting Schwarber could play in LF but you'd essentially need 2 CF to cover for him which in essence is what the cubs did with Fowler and Heyward.
I think it is a case where certain teams just wont like Almora because they A) don't buy into defense as hard as others and B) don't have enough offense. But in both cases, the cubs should have that covered. And while it's great we now have all these cheap young players, sooner or later they are gonna start getting paid which is generally why a guy like Lagares despite being a shitty hitter sticks around in the majors as a starter.
beckdawg
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Also apparently Almora hit his first HR last night and I didn't realize it. Guess I got my wish for more power.
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Highly doubt he develops more power. He would have to get bigger it seems and he really cant lose any speed if he wants to be a CF. He gets by on his excellent jumps and routes. I remember when scouts said he could hit 20 homeruns. I never saw it. I never cared for him when the Cubs drafted him. He seemed like an over achiever that talent would eventually catch up to. He is probably a major leaguer in some capacity, but I never saw out future CF for a long period.
beckdawg
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Well what I meant was more average to slightly below average power vs the juan pierre like player he's been thus far this year.