Get to know: The Peoria Chiefs

The one thing I would like to add to that is that Nelson Perez has the most raw power of anyone in this system. He’ll be 21 this season, so I don’t think age is much of a problem for him.

If Burke can’t hack it, reportedly the Cubs would try him at pitcher, as he has a pretty good arm.

somewhat more extended from what I posted over at Sickels when Outshined posted the Peoria rosters.

Vitters at Peoria is absolutely the right move, IMO. I wasn’t a huge fan of the Daytona talk. He hasn’t had to work on much with his bat yet because the pitchng wasn’t good enough. I was wary of a jump to Daytona due to the tougher pitching. It’s funny to me, but Fleita talked about Castillo to AAA and Vitters to Daytona this offseason, and neither happened. But Vitters glove was improving at third last year, enough for many to start believing he has a better than even chance of sticking there. I’d caution against expectations being too high for Vitters in the MWL – I hope he gets off to a big start, but it is cold weather and the MWL can be tough. Moustakas struggled for part of the year before taking off. I’ll be most curious about Vitters glove and power – as of now, the latter seems to be projected as above average. He’s got a good enough approach that I’m not too worried about him hitting for contact, as I think that will come.

Don’t be surprised if Lake grabs shortstop time from Flaherty. While neither is really being projected to stick at short, Lake, for the most part, seems to be perceived as the guy with the better chance, as for Flaherty, most assume it’s a question of when, and not if, that he moves. That said, if Starlin Castro has improved as much as the Cubs think, to justify a HUGE jump to Daytona, then it won’t matter. I think Lake ends up at 2nd/3rd sooner than later, and he has some power potential that will be intriguing to follow. Like Vitters, I’m not too worried about Flaherty hitting for average. I will be curious about his power – for the most part, it’s predicted as plus power for the position (MI), and his approach isn’t conducive to that much more power unless they rework the swing.

As Outshined informed me over at Sickels, Brenly is out. I was a tad surprised at the catching tandem, with Carlos Perez getting squeezed aside for Mercedes for now. What I do like, though, is that a strong game caller/defensive catcher like Flores is in place to work with the young arms. I thought there was a shot of seeing him at Daytona. There’s enough in the bat that, if it develops, he could be a guy to watch as a backup backstop in the bigs.

Rebel Ridling got off to a hot start in a small sample in Boise, leading to the bump up. He ran into some struggles at Peoria, but last I recall, there was some bad luck. He has the raw power to watch, which is something lacking in our system. The biggest thing for him will be striking out less. He can’t strike out at his 2008 rate and succeed. With some guys ahead of him, namely Rosa, they’ll probably give Ridling’s power every chance to develop. Josh Harrison is really stuck in a tough position. I hope he gets a shot, but I wonder if he gets enough AB’s with a better prospects there in Lake and Flaherty. Wouldn’t surprise me if Harrison is the utility player there – dabble at short, a little OF, a little 2nd, a little 3rd. Harrison has discipline and some pop, but he’s not a speed guy. Actually, he makes me think of Fontenot a bit, although I think Harrison could adjust to the OF.

Perez has huge power and a huge arm. If he develops, wow. I believe AzPhil had a great comment on him, saying he reminded him a bit of Sammy Sosa (albeit, lefty bat). He’s been on the radar for awhile – again, this is the MWL, so the numbers have to be taken with a grain of salt. Cliff Andersen was an intriguing overslot from, I think, 2005, but he hasn’t put it together. He’s got loads of athleticism, but his bat hasn’t come around, and this might be make or break time. He had a decent start last year, iirc, before slumping badly. Kyler Burke is likely in the same boat. Make or break time for him, particualrly with Nelson in Peoria. Macias may be a utility guy – he dabbled in the IF as well.

I am very, very curious about Tony Campana. Loads of speed and his bat looks decent. He’s a little jumpy though – if he can get back to taking pitches and working the count, coupled with that speed, he has a shot to be a top of the order type bat. Won’t ever get much pop going.

It’s a very exciting team there. I was a bit surprised that Ryan Keedy didn’t make it, but that said, his lack of power is always going to limit Keedy in some people’s eyes (and I dunno if some injury happened that I didn’t follow this spring). There’s a potentially excellent lineup that offers a nice array of options. Defensively, it’s actually a decent group, outside of whoever is manning short.

Pitching – Carpenter is an excellent arm, and if he gets consistency on the change, wathc out, as he could end up as the best arm from that class. That’s his biggest issue right now, but there were some positive reports, IIRC. Shafer … well, here’s hoping his velocity comes back. Reminds me of Bobby Brownlie in some respects (that is, a guy with good “pitchability”, but just not enough “juice”). Archer is a very intriguing arm with an excellent curve. Somewhat reminds me of a young Sean Gallagher – well, he had better stuff and less control than Sean at the same age. He’s easily the most intriguing arm we received in the DeRosa deal, with loads of upside if he develops. Beliveau makes me think Rich Hill 2.0 – complete with some mechanical kinks (different issues than Rich, though) that need to be worked on, but comes with a nasty curve to go with an average fastball and no third pitch … okay that last part is a joke. Outshined indicated that Hatley/HusebyCabrera would share the fifth job. I’d rather see Hatley in the pen – he’s somewhat similar to Maestri in terms of stuff (not consistency). Huseby was another overslot from 2005. He looked very promising 2 years ago before his control just disappeared last year in what, IIRC, was attributed to mental issues/focus (however you want to word it). I don’t know what to think, but I wish the kid the best. Cabrera, IIRC, is an electric young arm with low-mid 90’s velo, a plus slider, and a “developing” change (btw, “developing” is one of those words used to make things sound nice – really, it means the change ain’t good and it needs work).

We got Ryan Buchter for Matt Avery, and considering Avery was limited, nice deal. A lefty, Buchter throws high 80’s, touching low 90’s, with a curve and a change. I’ll be curious on how Kreier’s stuff looks – he had decent production, but the reports on stuff was very fringy (only remember that his fastball hit the high 80’s right now). Let’s see, who else – Erik Hamren was the 36 or 37th round pick from Saddleback last year who was headed to Irvine before the Cubs signed him, IIRC, late. Off the top, don’t remember much on him right now. Josh Whitlock runs it in the low 90’s on the fastball with good movement, but has to get better control. His off-speed stuff is decent, but I can’t recall if it’s a curve or a slider right now, although I think he used to throw both. I remember reading good things about his attitude/character, but I can’t recall where right now. Perconte was a UDFA that signed with us, from um, Murray State? Man … I don’t remember much on him right now. I want to say low 90’s fastball with a decent curveball. He should fill out his frame a bit more. Pina showed improvement last year, particularly with his command, but I think he’s 23 or 24, so I haven’t paid that much attention.

Will be curious where Dan McDaniel is, who I am high on. I haven’t seen the Daytona roster, so that might be where he’s at, unless I missed an injury. Starting the year, this is a very good minor league club. The pitching should be advanced enough to compete. A lot of raw ability that needs work, so it’s good to see Flores there in that respect.

is that, based off quick scans of teams that we’ll be facing at each level, I feel like we have the capability to field competitive clubs at each level. Sure, that doesn’t mean that much considering the talent level is still low, but it’s a start. We’re really pushing some guys, but that’s somewhat expected with college oriented drafts, and well, a thin system. Even XST should be a competitive “squad”.

Just wondering where Brenly is playing since I didn’t seem him on the Peoria roster or the Daytona roster.

Number one, I might get to see him play in Cedar Rapids. Number two I hope to see him in Wrigley in a few years. Getting him some exposure to inclement weather hitting should be useful.

What do you guys who follow the minors so closely make of Vitters playing an above-average 3B according to TotalZone? I know it’s not a huge sample size (140 chances), and the data might not be great in the minor league parks, but still, I found that both surprising and relieving.

Funny how a couple months ago Jim Hendry was talking Vitters up on maybe making the leap all the way to Double A ball. Personally, I’m disappointed to see Vitters start out at Peoria. And I don’t think political decisions should or did enter into the assignment of the best prospect in the system to Peoria.

Big year for Vitters. He needs to kick it in the ass and demonstrate the organization’s faith in him. And his defense needs to make big improvements.