Innholdsfortegnelse for April 20, 2018 i Baseball America

ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS MOST TALENTED TEAM: High Class A Visalia received an influx of 2017 draftees for their infield, including 1B Pavin Smith (2), C Daulton Varsho (4) and 3B Drew Ellis (8). The trio joins OFs Marcus Wilson (5) and Anfernee Grier, the D-backs’ 2016 top pick, in what should be an interesting lineup. MOST NOTABLE ASSIGNMENT: OF Eduardo Diaz (6) hit .312 with an .867 OPS at Rookie-level Missoula last year, but the D-backs chose to play it slow and start him in extended spring training rather than send him to low Class A Kane County. WHO IS MISSING: Diaz and RHP Matt Tabor (9) will start at extended spring training before heading out to full-season affiliates for the first time. OF Kristian Robinson (10) begins his first year…

@JCRASNICK Clayton Kershaw cracked open a window into the future on May 25, 2008. One minute, Vin Scully was introducing the television audience to the 2006 first-round pick from the Dallas suburbs with the smooth cheeks and slight hesitation in his delivery. Thirty-two pitches later, Kershaw walked off the mound having struck out the side against the Cardinals in the first inning of his major league debut. The crowd of 46,566 at Dodger Stadium exulted in the possibilities. Amid the cheers, the fans had no idea how deeply the blips between “good morning, good afternoon and goodnight” would resonate with Kershaw. A decade later, he recoils at the notion that he made things look easy by whiffing Skip Schumaker, Ryan Ludwick and Troy Glaus in that Sunday matinee in Los…

Throughout the season, Baseball America will present position rankings of the best college players in the 2018 draft class. Here we focus on catchers, a popular demographic in the draft because every organization needs depth behind the plate. 1. JOEY BART, GEORGIA TECH: He was a prominent prep player who was travel ball teammates with Tyler Stephenson, the Reds’ first-round pick in 2015, and has developed into the top catcher in this year’s draft class. Bart stands out for his powerful bat and has improved his approach at the plate this spring. He has also taken strides as a defender, giving him a chance to stick behind the plate. 2. CAL RALEIGH, FLORIDA STATE: A Freshman All-American in 2016, Raleigh last year suffered a sophomore slump, but was back in…

A generation ago, Fernando Tatis Jr. would have likely been moved to third base early in his pro career. He’s grown to a stout 6-foot-4. Just a few years ago that was seen as too tall to play shortstop. In the entire 20th Century, there was only one 6-foot-4 shortstop: Orioles Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr. But Tatis is nearing the big leagues at a time when teams have become more accepting of shortstops who have to shop at big-and-tall stores. The Astros’ Carlos Correa and the Dodgers’ Corey Seager, combatants in last year’s World Series, are both 6-foot-4 shortstops. Another trio of big league shortstops—the Orioles’ Manny Machado, the Pirates’ Jordy Mercer and the Yankees’ Didi Gregorius—are just an inch shorter. When Correa and Seager were coming through…

TRIPLE-A ▪ Astros OF Kyle Tucker: He jumps to Triple-A Fresno after just 287 at-bats at Double-A Corpus Christi last season. The 21-year-old had an excellent spring training, which helped make the case for an aggressive assignment. ▪ Padres 2B Luis Urias: He turns 21 early in the season, but he proved he’s ready for Triple-A El Paso by hitting .296/.398/.380 at Double-A San Antonio in 2017. ▪ Braves RHP Mike Soroka and LHP Kolby Allard: This pair of 2015 first-round picks starred as teenagers in the Double-A Southern League last year. Now the 20-year-olds face International League competition at Triple-A Gwinnett. DOUBLE-A ▪ Padres SS Fernando Tatis Jr.: He finished last year at Double-A San Antonio and didn’t miss a beat after bashing 21 homers and stealing 29 bases at…

CARROLL ANSTAETT, a minor leaguer who played in the Colonial League in 1949 and in the Pennsylvania-Ontario-New York League in 1950 and ’51, died Jan. 31 in Olean, N.Y. He was 92. EARL BASS, a righthander who pitched in the American Association and Texas League for the Cardinals organization from 1975-78, died Feb. 4 in Miami. He was 65. RUE “SHELLY” BERRYMAN, a minor league outfielder who played in the Reds and Dodgers organizations in 1964, died Jan. 26 in North Port, Fla. He was 72. LYNN BRIDWELL, a lefthander who pitched in the Southern Association and Appalachian League for the Twins organization in 1961, died Jan. 25 in Rogers, Ark. He was 78. FREDERICKE “FRED” CARPENTER, a minor league outfielder who played in the Yankees organization from 1956-61, died…

HAVE A QUESTION? @jjcoop36 askba@baseballamerica.com Q Who are the top NDFAs to emerge over the last three to four years? —MATT HICKMAN, @WHO_PHD A Right now, there are very few non-drafted free agents in the big leagues who haven’t been around for a long time. There were eight NDFAs on major league Opening Day rosters this season, and all eight are righthanded pitchers. To be an NDFA, players must have been eligible for the draft but gone unselected. They then sign with a team as a free agent after the draft. Righthanders Matt Shoemaker (Angels), Miguel Gonzalez (White Sox) and Darren O’Day (Orioles) are three of the most productive NDFAs in recent years. All three have provided plenty of value as overlooked pitchers who have more than proven their worth…

At the turn of this century, the Montreal Expos featured two of the best prospects in baseball—a pair of excellent hitters with plenty of power potential as well. But first, they had to master potty training. While Vladimir Guerrero and Fernando Tatis played for the Expos, their sons Vladimir Jr. and Fernando Jr. were running around the clubhouse. Tatis Jr. was born in January 1999 and Guerrero Jr. followed two months later in March 1999. Guerrero and Tatis played together with the Expos from 2001-03, so the two sons were around each other during their toddler and preschool years. Now they are two of the top prospects in baseball, and they faced off against each other in the low Class A Midwest League and the winter Dominican League. “We’re about…

Georgia Tech head coach Danny Hall has long had an eye for catchers—and not just good catchers. The transformative kind. The kind that win you championships. In 1994, a young man by the name of Jason Varitek would lead the Yellow Jackets to the College World Series and win BA’s College Player of the Year award. Ten years later, Varitek helped lead the Red Sox to their first World Series title in 86 years. He finished off his career by being named the historic franchise’s third-ever team captain and earning yet another ring in 2007. That same year, the Orioles drafted 6-foot-5 switch-hitting catcher Matt Wieters out of Georgia Tech with the fifth overall pick. Wieters appeared in four All-Star Games as an Oriole, won two Gold Gloves and signed…

Three of the Orioles’ four full-season minor league affiliates are located in the state of Maryland. The fourth is in Virginia, less than 200 miles from Baltimore. All told, if one were to All told, if one were to visit the Orioles’ circuit of farm clubs in ascending order, from low Class A Delmarva to high Class A Frederick to Double-A Bowie to Triple-A Norfolk and, finally, to Baltimore, the total straight-line distance between ballparks is roughly 487 miles. That’s the shortest cumulative distance in baseball by 181 miles. The Nationals rank No. 2 on the list with 668 total miles between full-season ballparks. Like the Orioles, Washington clusters its full-season affiliates in the mid-Atlantic region, with the exception of Triple-A Syracuse in central New York. Like Baltimore, the Nationals’…

@JOE_SHEEHAN Birds gotta fly, bees gotta sting and ball writers gotta make predictions. Owing to a clause in the new Collective Bargaining Agreement that squeezes in more off days, Opening Day is three days earlier than usual this season. So if any of these musings on the future are wrong, I blame the loss of those three critical days of preparation and research. I mean, we’ve blamed everything else on the players’ union this winter… The biggest thing we’ll see this year is something that hasn’t happened since 1978: Every division winner will repeat. It’s never happened in the six-division era, with the most repeat division champions being five (in 1999 and 2017). Five of the six divisions feature prohibitive favorites, all with at least a 78 percent chance to…