I wrote off Maguire largely due to his poor results in Winter ball too. He should’ve been dominating or at least had above average results but he performed badly both times he played in the Australian Winter league.
Now he might not have been fully healthy but that that league isn’t very good. The pitching is probably equivalent to the Complex or Low A ball now with the MiLB roster cutdowns.
"Yes, Delgado is short, but he’s strongly built. It’s extremely early, but I wouldn’t take the prospect reports on Delgado as gospel yet. So far, they just look . . . wrong."
The problem is obvious: he's being rated on the eye test way too much even in 2024.
Just pulling up his Fangraphs page, there's nothing there that sells the 'no power' argument. What he's shaping up as is one of those dudes who's posting HRs and a positive wRC+ every level he goes up. Those often become dependable MLB ballplayers. Will be interesting to see if the trend holds as he gets to AA. If so, that's a guy to be excited about.
Regardless of how you slice, this is already a great return for Brubaker.
WTM: I asked a question on one of the earlier topics - being in BRD you would probably be the one to ask - Mike Burrows was projected to start throwing off the mound in March - is he throwing at Pirate City? Regular Bullpens? If so, can he be ready by July?
Now the saddest team in all of minors (as noted by the Akron broadcast multiple times) is the Curve. Who sadly blew another lead in the 9th and lost. Poor, Braxton.
The Curve are really bad -- next to last in both runs and ERA -- but the bullpen has blown a bunch of late leads. Their principal relievers, with ERAs:
Linarez -- 7.13
Yean -- 4.08
Meis -- 7.50
Junker -- 9.53
Ford -- 5.65
That's like the bullpen version of the Pirates' lineup.
I messaged Murphy after the seventh saying, "So, who in the bullpen is gonna blow this one?". Meis comes in, walks the second batter and I said, "here we go". By the grace of baseball he lucked out of blowing it in 8th, only to walk first batter of ninth for Junker to not even get an out lol
All this glossing over how horrible the offense is. And they have MLB/AAA experienced hitters!
Great write-up all around. The official BoD Bradenton correspondent! ;)
"He’s also been putting up good exit velocities. Yes, Delgado is short, but he’s strongly built. It’s extremely early, but I wouldn’t take the prospect reports on Delgado as gospel yet. So far, they just look . . . wrong."
Can we all finally please apply the same exact logic to Termarr Johnson?
He was tabbed as a hit-tool kid coming out of the draft in spite of having some of the best exit velos in the class because he's 5'8" and scouts are lazy.
It's really that simple.
Put the same kid in Lonnie White's body and I guarantee you he would've been touted as a power prospect.
Oh, I think we've all come to grips already that Termarr's hit tool was vastly overhyped. Any holdouts at this point are, well, slower than Ben and friends ability to assess that maybe Rowdy is really bad. That said, I do still wonder how he'd have faired in a better hitting dev organization.
The funniest part of that overhyping, IMO, is us fans who lack the attention span to read or remember that infamous wade boggs comp was specifically to his plate discipline, not overall hitter or even specifically hit tool.
"“The comp I got from a scout on Termarr Johnson is [a] combination of Wade Boggs’ plate discipline with Vladimir Guerrero Sr.’s plate coverage … and from a style of play he resembles Robinson Cano, that would be a pretty good pick to get at one,” Callis added."
My reading comprehension tells me that he’s worth 2.75 Hall of Fame hitters! Jest aside, that’s a reason I hate comps because it’s all fans take away. And scouts/writers use them for clicks, because no one’s gonna read or listen to you if you say player A has an ok chance to be an average player.
Can't help pointing out -- Ben and his band of boobs shouldn't need the first quarter of this year to come to any conclusions about Rowdy. They've got his whole career to look at. Nothing in his career suggests that he's the guy the Pirates "need," the way the dimwit manager keeps putting it. He's been comfortably below replacement in four of his six seasons, and he's at -0.3 fWAR for his career. Even in his 35-HR season -- which mostly resulted from the Mil ballpark -- he was worth just one win. The idiots running the team keep pushing the idea that Tellez just needs to get to where he's usually at and everything will be great, but that version of him never existed. The Tellez we're seeing is the "real" Tellez.
Sorry, but I'm sick to death of people (not you) pointing to horrid results from this incompetent FO and insisting it's just been a few weeks and everything will work itself out. Over and over and over again, the reality is that we've got years of data showing it's not just a few rough weeks, it's who they are.
Would be hard to put that on him as pretty much everyone had the same opinion of Termarr and was universally looked at as a good pick. If it’s an indictment in anyway, it’s on their development team. I find it hard to believe that someone who EVERYONE thought had an elite hit too would suddenly become a sub .200, 3 outcomes hitter without the Pirates having something to do with it.
I'm not ready to give on Johnson, but his hit-tool was overhyped. It is the job of a professional amateur scout to see through hype and produce more realistic assessments. If the head scout is no better than the national press at producing player evaluations, there is no reason to have a head scout. Just draft off ESPN's rankings board.
Seem to be making a *massive* assumption that he was drafted based on hit tool hype and not the near best in class approach and power potential he's demonstrated.
FWIW, the hitters selected immediately after him were Elijah Green, who can barely avoid striking out half the time in a lower league, and three college bats who all stink.
It was the right pick then and another player has yet to show it hasn't been the right pick to date.
I'd be delighted if the scouting reports on Delgado are wrong. 19 and 20 year-olds change.. and yes... people have a tendency to look at size and make assumptions. Good teams use these as opportunities to find guys that others overlook... like Imanaga or Altuve, for example. Hopefully the Pirates found something here with this Delgado kid.
I wrote off Maguire largely due to his poor results in Winter ball too. He should’ve been dominating or at least had above average results but he performed badly both times he played in the Australian Winter league.
Now he might not have been fully healthy but that that league isn’t very good. The pitching is probably equivalent to the Complex or Low A ball now with the MiLB roster cutdowns.
"Yes, Delgado is short, but he’s strongly built. It’s extremely early, but I wouldn’t take the prospect reports on Delgado as gospel yet. So far, they just look . . . wrong."
The problem is obvious: he's being rated on the eye test way too much even in 2024.
Just pulling up his Fangraphs page, there's nothing there that sells the 'no power' argument. What he's shaping up as is one of those dudes who's posting HRs and a positive wRC+ every level he goes up. Those often become dependable MLB ballplayers. Will be interesting to see if the trend holds as he gets to AA. If so, that's a guy to be excited about.
Regardless of how you slice, this is already a great return for Brubaker.
WTM: I asked a question on one of the earlier topics - being in BRD you would probably be the one to ask - Mike Burrows was projected to start throwing off the mound in March - is he throwing at Pirate City? Regular Bullpens? If so, can he be ready by July?
Do not know. I haven't seen him at all so far this year.
Thanks for the reply. I sort of hoped he was rehabbing under the oversight of the Pirates as a sort of Spring Training-type thing.
Now the saddest team in all of minors (as noted by the Akron broadcast multiple times) is the Curve. Who sadly blew another lead in the 9th and lost. Poor, Braxton.
EESH.
The Curve are really bad -- next to last in both runs and ERA -- but the bullpen has blown a bunch of late leads. Their principal relievers, with ERAs:
Linarez -- 7.13
Yean -- 4.08
Meis -- 7.50
Junker -- 9.53
Ford -- 5.65
That's like the bullpen version of the Pirates' lineup.
I messaged Murphy after the seventh saying, "So, who in the bullpen is gonna blow this one?". Meis comes in, walks the second batter and I said, "here we go". By the grace of baseball he lucked out of blowing it in 8th, only to walk first batter of ninth for Junker to not even get an out lol
All this glossing over how horrible the offense is. And they have MLB/AAA experienced hitters!
Nunnally must be a terrible coach. Oh . . . wait . . . .
Great write-up all around. The official BoD Bradenton correspondent! ;)
"He’s also been putting up good exit velocities. Yes, Delgado is short, but he’s strongly built. It’s extremely early, but I wouldn’t take the prospect reports on Delgado as gospel yet. So far, they just look . . . wrong."
Can we all finally please apply the same exact logic to Termarr Johnson?
He was tabbed as a hit-tool kid coming out of the draft in spite of having some of the best exit velos in the class because he's 5'8" and scouts are lazy.
It's really that simple.
Put the same kid in Lonnie White's body and I guarantee you he would've been touted as a power prospect.
Oh, I think we've all come to grips already that Termarr's hit tool was vastly overhyped. Any holdouts at this point are, well, slower than Ben and friends ability to assess that maybe Rowdy is really bad. That said, I do still wonder how he'd have faired in a better hitting dev organization.
The funniest part of that overhyping, IMO, is us fans who lack the attention span to read or remember that infamous wade boggs comp was specifically to his plate discipline, not overall hitter or even specifically hit tool.
"“The comp I got from a scout on Termarr Johnson is [a] combination of Wade Boggs’ plate discipline with Vladimir Guerrero Sr.’s plate coverage … and from a style of play he resembles Robinson Cano, that would be a pretty good pick to get at one,” Callis added."
My reading comprehension tells me that he’s worth 2.75 Hall of Fame hitters! Jest aside, that’s a reason I hate comps because it’s all fans take away. And scouts/writers use them for clicks, because no one’s gonna read or listen to you if you say player A has an ok chance to be an average player.
Can't help pointing out -- Ben and his band of boobs shouldn't need the first quarter of this year to come to any conclusions about Rowdy. They've got his whole career to look at. Nothing in his career suggests that he's the guy the Pirates "need," the way the dimwit manager keeps putting it. He's been comfortably below replacement in four of his six seasons, and he's at -0.3 fWAR for his career. Even in his 35-HR season -- which mostly resulted from the Mil ballpark -- he was worth just one win. The idiots running the team keep pushing the idea that Tellez just needs to get to where he's usually at and everything will be great, but that version of him never existed. The Tellez we're seeing is the "real" Tellez.
Sorry, but I'm sick to death of people (not you) pointing to horrid results from this incompetent FO and insisting it's just been a few weeks and everything will work itself out. Over and over and over again, the reality is that we've got years of data showing it's not just a few rough weeks, it's who they are.
It's reminiscent of their 2020 season when Marte was the sole not-rebuild rebuild trade cause they had to "assess" the roster.
SUPER agree.
Could Termarr's hit-tool evaluation been the final straw that broke the back on Dellicari's 12-year career of first round busts?
Would be hard to put that on him as pretty much everyone had the same opinion of Termarr and was universally looked at as a good pick. If it’s an indictment in anyway, it’s on their development team. I find it hard to believe that someone who EVERYONE thought had an elite hit too would suddenly become a sub .200, 3 outcomes hitter without the Pirates having something to do with it.
I'm not ready to give on Johnson, but his hit-tool was overhyped. It is the job of a professional amateur scout to see through hype and produce more realistic assessments. If the head scout is no better than the national press at producing player evaluations, there is no reason to have a head scout. Just draft off ESPN's rankings board.
Seem to be making a *massive* assumption that he was drafted based on hit tool hype and not the near best in class approach and power potential he's demonstrated.
FWIW, the hitters selected immediately after him were Elijah Green, who can barely avoid striking out half the time in a lower league, and three college bats who all stink.
It was the right pick then and another player has yet to show it hasn't been the right pick to date.
I'm not making any assumptions. It was a question. I don't know the answer.
I'd be delighted if the scouting reports on Delgado are wrong. 19 and 20 year-olds change.. and yes... people have a tendency to look at size and make assumptions. Good teams use these as opportunities to find guys that others overlook... like Imanaga or Altuve, for example. Hopefully the Pirates found something here with this Delgado kid.
Well, if that picture of Mateo is any indication, he's throwing to the plate but looking at first.....that seems like it could be an issue.....
The funny thing would be if that particular pitch was right on the paint for a strike lol
Bucs on Deck photographer is the cream of the crop
Excellent photography work, by WTM.
Gracias