As part of Perfect Game's recurring PG in the Pros series David Rawnsley will take a look at some of the top prospects in minor league baseball and their impact on the sport prior to their professional careers. This will be done in a six-part series, one feature for each division in Major League Baseball while identifying one of the top prospects for each team. Links are provided below to past installments of the PG in the Pros series for other reports on prospects, both past and present.
2016-17 PG in the Pros Series: NL East | NL Central | NL West | AL Central | AL East
Houston Astros
Before They Were Pros, 2013-14 – Carlos Correa, Mark Appel, Mike Foltynewicz, Lance McCullers
Before They Were Pros, 2014-15 – Brett Phillips, Colin Moran
PG in the Pros, 2015-16 – Alex Bregman
Derek Fisher, OF
Fisher grew up Lebanon, Pa. and was a dominant high school player, hitting .440 with nine home runs as a junior. He had competed in a handful of WWBA tournaments up to that time but had a low national profile overall. That all changed when he played at the 2010 East Coast Pro Showcase and left a very strong impression with the scouts, including this one. Here are my notes from that event:
Put on a show. Very advanced hitter, aggressive lefthanded swing, pull power, very good balance, has lift, wore out the fence in BP, squared up everything in the game, too, second best hitter here behind Dakota Smith, plus-strong. Good arm strength, 6.65 speed. Looks very similar to a young Jay Bruce. Could be a 2012 with his age. Needs to be ranked in top 40 in class.
Fisher's stock continued to soar during his senior year, when he hit .484-11-28 and PG had him ranked as the 17th best high school prospect in the 2011 class. Teams were cautious about his signability, however, and he slid to the sixth round and the Texas Rangers and eventually did move on play collegiately at Virginia.
While scouts continued to be fascinated by Fisher's tools, especially his combination of power potential and speed, he was never a dominant college player. His best college season was as a sophomore, when he hit .293-7-48. Fisher even hit .333 in 36 games in the Cape Cod League after his sophomore season but only had six extra-base hits, all doubles, in 120 at-bats.
Fisher also broke the hamate bone in his right wrist early in his junior season, further hampering his present power and bat speed. While broken hamate bones generally get a pass from scouts, it meant that they would have to continue to project on Fisher's in-game power instead of seeing it first hand.
As they usually do, tools and potential won out in the 2014 draft and Fisher was picked 37th overall by the Astros, who also likely factored in that Fisher was a very young college junior who would play most of the summer at 20 years old. He signed for a $1,534,100 bonus.
Los Angeles Angels
Before They Were Pros, 2013-14 – Kaleb Cowart, Randal Grichuk
Before They Were Pros, 2014-15 – Nick Tropeano, Cam Bedrosian
PG in the Pros, 2015-16 – Joe Gatto
Matt Thaiss, 1B
Matt Thaiss played in 17 Perfect Game tournaments during his years at Jackson Memorial High School in New Jersey, almost all of them as a member of the Tri-State Arsenal. He was also an active member of the showcase circuit and preformed at the 2011 PG Junior National and 2012 PG National Showcase in addition to the 2012 Area Code Games and 2012 East Coast Pro Showcase.
When you see a prospect that often, you can get a pretty good evaluation on him and the report written after the National Showcase, in retrospect, pretty much says it all about Thaiss and his tool set.
Strong compact athletic build. 7.23 runner, quick actions behind the plate, shows athleticism and flexibility, very good arm strength, quick release, 1.87 best pop, can work on softening hands receiving. Lefthanded hitter, open stance, quick hands, has present bat speed, can handle 90-plus velocity, aggressive swing but retains bat control, flashes pull power, sound hitting approach. Very well rounded tools for a catching prospect, follow very closely. Plays the game hard. Excellent student, verbal commitment to Virginia.
This scout's notes from the East Coast Pro Showcase later that summer also didn't leave any doubt about the strength of his evaluation.
First pitch of BP for home run, love that, good game swings, pulls the ball hard, has bat speed and strength, quick athletic receiver, throws out runners, consistent mechanics/throws, I just really like him.
Thaiss was indeed a very good student and Virginia is a hard school and program to say no to and thus Thaiss wasn't considered signable out of high school, although the Red Sox took a flier on him in the 32nd round.
Virginia had a two-year starter returning at catcher in 2014, so Thaiss only picked up 68 at-bats as a freshman but started the next two seasons, hitting .323-10-64 as a sophomore and .375-10-59 as a junior. Maybe the most impressive number about his junior season was that Thaiss walked 39 times and only struck out 16 times, an absurd ratio for a power hitter playing in a high-level baseball conference.
Going into the 2016 draft, Thaiss was considered one of the top hitting prospects in the class, college or high school. However, lots of questions had begun to arise with scouts about his defensive future, most of those having to do with his hands, as was referenced on his PG National report from four years previously. The feeling was that while Thaiss might eventually evolve into an average big league catcher, the time spent doing so would be a hindrance to his offense and his time line to the big leagues.
Thus it was no real surprise either when the Angels picked Thaiss with the 16th overall pick, signing him for a under slot bonus of $2,150,000, and immediately switched him to first base full-time.
Oakland Athletics
Before They Were Pros, 2013-14 – Addison Russell, Michael Choice, Bobby Wahl, Daniel Robertson
Before They Were Pros, 2014-15 – Matt Olson, Chad Pinder
PG in the Pros, 2015-16 – Casey Meisner
Jharel Cotton, RHP
Jharel Cotton has taken an unlikely path to becoming one of early contenders for the 2016 AL Rookie of the Year, a path that started back when he was a teenager and was virtually ignored by the scouting community.
Cotton was born in the Virgin Islands but moved with two teammates to Virginia in 2008 to attend high school in Newport News, Va., in hope of raising their exposure as baseball players. He competed in a pair of Perfect Game tournaments, including one after being passed over in the 2012 draft. The PG database notes a smallish righthander with an upper-80s fastball, a soft curveball with some depth and a nice changeup, but little else.
One of Cotton's teammates from the Virgin Islands, fellow righthander Deshorn Lake, received much more notice than Cotton, with a fastball up to 94 mph, and was picked in the 11th round out of high school in 2011 by the Red Sox but choose to attend Mount Olive College and is now in the Yankees system.
Cotton attended Miami-Dade Junior College for two years, going 8-5 in 126 combined innings with 136 strikeouts and only 37 walks and was drafted in the 28th round by the Mets after his sophomore year but chose instead to go to East Carolina. As a junior at East Carolina, Cotton, who had just turned 20 years old prior to the spring season started, went 8-3,3.65 in 15 starts as ECU's Sunday starter. At that point, Cotton was throwing low-90s heat with a slurvy breaking ball and a "make you look silly," changeup according to one scouting report.
The Dodgers drafted Cotton in the 20th round of the 2012 draft but he turned down their initial $40,000 offer. After Cotton reportedly hit 98 mph during a collegiate summer league game, the Dodgers upped their offer to $75,000 and Cotton signed.
Seattle Mariners
Before They Were Pros, 2013-14 – Taijuan Walker, Edwin Diaz, Tyler Marlette
Before They Were Pros, 2014-15 – D.J. Peterson, Austin Wilson
PG in the Pros, 2015-16 – Drew Jackson
Tyler O'Neill, OF
Tyler O'Neill grew up in Maple Ridge, British Columbia and took a path to professional baseball very similar to another B.C. native, White Sox infielder and former first round pick Brett Lawrie. Most of his competition and training took place with the Langley Blaze, one of the top programs in Canada and especially in Western Canada.
O'Neill's only PG event was with the Diamondbacks Scout Team British Columbia in Jupiter in 2012. The DBacks Scout Team was essentially the Langley Blaze team, whose head coach, Doug Mathieson, is also an Arizona scout. The scout notes from O'Neill in Jupiter paint a glowing picture of O'Neill's bat:
Balanced swing, stays inside the ball very well, makes very hard contact, fluid stroke with excellent bat speed, good extension with lift in his swing, ball jumps off his bat, impact type bat.
The solidly build 6-foot, 200-pound O'Neill was a primary catcher in high school and also played some left side infield. His best defensive tool by far was his raw arm strength, which most scouts considered a plus tool. Between the value in his righthanded bat and the time and effort that would be needed to make him an average big league catcher defensively, most scouts projected him as a right fielder in the near future.
There was plenty of late first round talk on O'Neill, an Oregon State signee, as the 2013 draft approached but teams may have been cautious due to his relative lack of exposure and his future position switch. He lasted until the draft's second day and the Mariners at the 85th overall pick, where he signed for a $650,000 bonus.
Texas Rangers
Before They Were Pros, 2013-14 – Roughned Odor, Luis Sardinas, Nick Williams, Joey Gallo
Before They Were Pros, 2014-15 – Alex Gonzalez, Lewis Brinson, Travis Demeritte
PG in the Pros, 2015-16 – Luis Ortiz
Josh Morgan, IF
The time tested and well deserved reputation of middle infield prospects from Southern California, although there are occasional exceptions, is that the good but not great athletes are outstanding baseball players whose baseball skills and actions stand out due to the amount of high level baseball they play and are exposed to while developing.
Morgan played in Perfect Game tournaments with Trombley Baseball and his first PG showcase was the 2012 California Underclass after his sophomore year at Orange Lutheran High School. Morgan's polish and skills, even as a sophomore, jumped out immediately on defense. Here are the defensive notes from three different scouts from the event:
Very fast release, quick arm, quick feet, flashy, solid arm, having fun out there and looking great doing it, high level 2B; Short arm action, quick transfer and release, feet work, good carry, knows what he is doing; Quick actions and feet defensively, arm works, arm strength, good defensive tools, high upside, makes it look easy; Silky smooth middle infield actions, excellent footwork.
A 7.14-second 60-yard dash and 84 mph arm strength at that event were solid for his age but nothing special like his actions. Those numbers would improve to 6.89 and 91 mph by the 2013 PG National Showcase but still represented average tools on the big league grading scale.
Morgan's righthanded bat pretty much fit the same description as his fielding. He had some strength in his 5-foot-11, 180-pound build and had a short and compact swing that maximized square contact with enough bat speed to drive the gaps for some doubles and triples. He showed a very good feel for the strike zone at a young age and rarely swung and missed or chased pitches out of the zone.
Morgan was ranked 38th in the PG 2014 class rankings leading up to the draft and had a scholarship waiting for him at UCLA. The Rangers picked him in the third round, however, and signed him to an above slot $800,000 bonus.