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Minors | General | 12/10/2021

PG Down on the Farm: NL West

David Rawnsley

Photo: Zac Veen (Perfect Game)

It’s been especially difficult to follow the minors over the past two years, with the pandemic-canceled 2020 season and the complete restructuring of the minor leagues by Major League Baseball in 2021. So, over a two-week period, Perfect Game will be taking a look at former PG standouts who are continuing to build their baseball skills and resumes in the minor leagues in an attempt to bring things into a bit more focus. One player from each organization will be highlighted, with the schedule as follows:

American League East: November 29
American League Central: December 1
American League West: December 6
National League East: December 7
National League Central: December 8
National League West: December 10

National League West

Arizona Diamondbacks: OF Alek Thomas

High School: Mt. Carmel HS (Ill.)
Final PG Class Ranking: No. 28 (2018)
Drafted/Signing Bonus: 63rd overall, Arizona Diamondbacks (2018), $1.2M
Highest 2021 Level: AAA
2022 Age: 22

Thomas was a three-sport standout at Chicago’s Mt. Carmel High School and is one of the few athletes who can legitimately claim that he could have played at the Division-I level in all three major sports. Thomas’ athleticism stood out on the baseball field and he wasn’t as raw in his baseball reps as many multiple sport athletes are, probably due to the fact that his father, Allen, was a minor league outfielder and also the long-time strength coach with the Chicago White Sox.

A 2017 PG All-American, the two knocks on Thomas going into the 2018 draft were that he was strongly a hit over power hitter from the left side and that he had a below average throwing arm. Those two elements dropped him into the second round to the Diamondbacks.

All Thomas has done since his first day in rookie ball is hit. His three-year combined slash line is .312/.388/.495, highlighted by the last five weeks of the 2021 season where he hit .369/.434/.658 in AAA. He’s clearly established himself as one of the top hitting prospects in baseball and could be considered a future batting champion down the road. Arizona has been playing him at all three outfield positions but about 70% of his starts in 2021 came in center field.

Los Angeles Dodgers: RHP Bobby Miller

High School: McHenry West HS (Ill.)
College: Louisville
Travel Team: Elite Baseball Training
Final PG Class Ranking: No. 205 (2017)
Drafted/Signing Bonus: 29th overall, Los Angeles Dodgers (2020), $2.2M
Highest 2021 Level: AA
2022 Age: 23

Miller was a two-way prospect for much of his high school career, excelling as a left-handed hitting first baseman with lots of power and the athleticism to play the outfield as well. But his velocity continued to move forward and by the time he finished high school, he was touching 94 mph at the 2017 WWBA World Championships to go with a slider and a pretty solid changeup, although his mechanics and command were still developing.

Miller spent his first two years at Louisville in a swing role, going a combined 13-2, with a 4.05 ERA while continuing to develop more consistency. He finally moved full time into a starter’s role midway through his sophomore season and was dominant in his four starts in the abbreviated 2020 season, going 2-0, with a 2.70 ERA with 34 strikeouts in 23 innings.

There was still speculation going into the draft that Miller might be better suited to the bullpen in the long term but the Dodgers thought otherwise and selected him with the 29th overall pick and sent him straight to their alternate site. His pro debut in 2021 was outstanding as Miller reached AA while going 2-2, with a 2.40 ERA in 56 innings, striking out 70 hitters in 56 innings and only issuing 13 walks. Miller now works consistently in the 93-95 mph range with a mid-80s slider. The Dodgers, of course, rank among baseball’s elite minor league systems but Miller is right near the top of their prospect list.

Colorado Rockies: OF Zac Veen

High School: Spruce Creek HS (Fla.)
Travel Team: Scorpions Founders Club
Final PG Class Ranking: No. 1 (2020)
Drafted/Signing Bonus: 9th overall, Colorado Rockies (2020), $5M
Highest 2021 Level: A
2022 Age: 20

San Diego Padres: OF Robert Hassell III

High School: Independence HS (Tenn.)
Travel Team: DRB Elite
Final PG Class Ranking: No. 8 (2020)
Drafted/Signing Bonus: 8th overall, San Diego Padres (2020), $4.3M
Highest 2021 Level: A+
2022 Age: 20

Robert Hassell III and Zac Veen deserve to be grouped together, as the two outfielders and 2019 PG All-Americans not only took very similar paths through their high school development but were also the top two high school position players selected in the 2020 draft, going back-to-back with the eighth and ninth picks, respectively. In addition, both enjoyed hugely successful 2021 seasons that highlighted their top prospect status.

Neither player was considered an elite prospect early in their high school careers, although looking back there were plenty of signs that they could get there. Hassell was as much a pitcher as a player, hitting 90 from the left side in between his sophomore and junior years and showing a hard curveball to go with it. But he also had hit an absurd .492 with 14 extra-base hits and 19 walks in 25 games by the end of that summer, so it was obvious that he could hit.

Veen wasn’t ranked in the top-100 until the same point between his sophomore and junior years as well, until he exploded at two major events, hitting .455-2-11 with 6 steals at the 2018 WWBA 16U National Championships and coming back in the fall to win the MVP at the WWBA World Junior Championships.

It was obvious by the 2019 PG National Showcase that both players had taken huge steps forward, with Hassell showing five-tool potential with increased strength and Veen having added significant strength to his long and athletic 6-foot-4, 185-pound frame as well. The fact that both were left-handed hitters who could play center field didn’t hurt their professional projections, either. Veen, in fact, went into the draft as the No. 1 prospect in the PG class rankings.

Now, check out their respective debut seasons, with Veen playing exclusively in A ball and Hassell spending the last month in A+ after spending most of the season at the A level:

Veen: 301-15-75/.900 OPS, 36 stolen bases, 65 walks
Hassell: .300-11-76/.863 OPS, 34 stolen bases, 66 walks

You just can’t get more similarly successful than that.

San Francisco Giants: LHP Kyle Harrison

High School: De La Salle HS (Calif.)
Final PG Class Ranking: No. 21 (2020)
Drafted/Signing Bonus: 3rd round, San Francisco Giants (2020), $2.5M
Highest 2021 Level: A
2022 Age: 20

Harrison didn’t participate in the national travel circuit; his only two PG events were the 2019 National Showcase and the subsequent PG All-American Classic, but was such a dominant pitcher at those two events and during his sophomore and junior seasons at Northern California athletic powerhouse De La Salle High School that his draft stock was firmly established by the time his 2020 high school season was wiped out by the pandemic.

During those two high school seasons, Harrison went a combined 19-1, with a 1.21 ERA with 174 strikeouts in 115 innings.

Harrison’s stuff in high school was notable for two reasons. The raw stuff was very solid, with a fastball that sat in the 90-93 mph range to go with a mid- to upper-70s slurve type breaking ball and a solid low-80s changeup. But the second reason was that Harrison threw from a mid to low three-quarter arm slot that created lots of deception and life to his fastball and that really gave his breaking ball, his go-to pitch, huge angle across the plate. He had an advanced ability to sequence pitches and hitters rarely got a good swing against him.

Harrison’s debut season in 2021 far exceeded all expectations. Pitching in A ball, Harrison struck out 152 hitters in 98 innings while going 4-3, with a 3.19 ERA in 23 starts. His raw stuff ticked up significantly, with his fastball sitting in the 93-95 mph range and topping out at 98 mph to go with more power to his breaking ball. The Giants system is relatively rich in position prospects but not as much in pitchers and Harrison already stands out as possibly their top prospect on the mound.

PERFECTGAME.TV

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PG Down on the Farm: NL West
David Rawnsley has begun his yearly series of "Down on the Farm" where he looks back at PG alum from each team and checks in on how they're doing in their pro careers.

PG Down on the Farm: NL Central
David Rawnsley has begun his yearly series of "Down on the Farm" where he looks back at PG alum from each team and checks in on how they're doing in their pro careers.

PG Down on the Farm: NL East
David Rawnsley has begun his yearly series of "Down on the Farm" where he looks back at PG alum from each team and checks in on how they're doing in their pro careers.

PG Down on the Farm: AL West
David Rawnsley has begun his yearly series of "Down on the Farm" where he looks back at PG alum from each team and checks in on how they're doing in their pro careers.

PERFECTGAME.TV