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Geoff

Author: Geoff

Prospects, Pitchers, Win Ships, Make Babies. @ProspectJesus

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Geoff

Minor League Update: Sofa Scouting On A Rainy Saturday

August 12, 2018 | Fantasy Baseball Prospects | 4 Comments

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Another rainy weekend limited my looks on Saturday, as my intention to hit Lowell was washed out with a solid bout of the olde waterworks. Unfortunately, this forced on a Saturday of couch-sitting and MiLB.TV viewing. While nothing ever quite captures a player’s ability like a first person look, this at least allows me to be at several games at once from the comforts of my home. I’m starting to sound like copy for a commercial. Maybe it’s just regret eating me alive, and I’m apologizing in a round about way for not having anything first hand this Sunday. Doesn’t matter, the minors are in full swing and we got lots of players to cover. Because I’m just going to cover Vladimir Guerrero Jr. exclusively going forward we lead with him. Vlad kept his homer streak going Saturday, rising the number to four consecutive games. In fact it all started with the homer used in the lede on Thursday. He then hit another that night, followed by a homer Friday night, before sneaking (it was off the fielder’s glove) this one over the fence in right for a little Oppo-taco action.

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Geoff

Prospect Podcast: Matt Manning, Nolan Gorman, and Scouting Looks

August 11, 2018 | Prospect Podcast, Razzball Podcast | 10 Comments

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I hope you like the long shows, because we got a marathon episode this week. With tons of callups, promotions, and noteworthy performances, there’s a lot to cover. We talk both sides of the Nolan Gorman helium tank, breakdown Matt Manning, discuss my looks at Alex Faedo, Isaac Paredes, Daz Cameron, and Hector Perez. Before jumping into our weekly 5 by 5 where we dive into ten players a piece. It’s Ralph! It’s Lance! It’s the Razzball Prospect Podcast! As always support our sponsor Rotowear and head over to Rotowear.com to get your hands on the highest quality fantasy t-shirts on the market. When you do, remember to use our promo-code SAGNOF to save 20% off all of your fresh new purchases.

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Geoff

Minor League Update: Living In The Moment With Vladito

August 9, 2018 | Fantasy Baseball Prospects | 29 Comments

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I’m just going to milk his Vlad Jr. thing as long as I can. After all, it’s only a matter of time before he’s out of my hands and off to the world of Grey A.M. writeups, and ESPN highlights. Make no mistake the heir to the Canadian baseball throne is the genuine article, and on the cusp of the majors. After destroying AA for two months, he missed the next five plus weeks with a knee injury. Only to return to the Fishercats lineup for a few weeks in July, before heading off to AAA. In his 8 games in Buffalo Vlad is slashing .455/.581/.682, smacking his first International League homer off highly touted Braves righthander Kyle Wright. In fact he abused Wright yesterday evening, going 3-for-3 with the aforementioned homer, a double, and a single. One of our loyal Crab Army members was in attendance and was nice enough to share the below video. At this point it’s just a waiting game, and unfortunately for those of us wishing on an impending callup it might not be in the cards. That’s not to say it won’t happen later in September. The problem is, after saying all this he could be called up tomorrow. Stash away if you have the room to spare, but I’d be prepared to burn that spot for most, if not all of August.

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Geoff

Fantasy Baseball Podcast: Milwaukee’s Caveman Infield

August 7, 2018 | All Podcasts, Razzball Podcast | 9 Comments

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The trade deadline has come and gone, and Grey and your boy Ralph are back for another week. We’re rocking and ready to break down the deals that went down last week. Early in the show we talk about tip jars at take-out places, Eloy Jimenez’s ETA, Jonathan Villar’s coming renaissance, and Brian Dozier’s impact on Max Muncy. We then hammer the rest of the moving parts, touch on closer changes, and close with hot schmotato hitters and pitchers to target. As always, go and checkout our sponsor Rotowear.com and use our promo-code SAGNOF to get 20% off all of your purchases. It’s the latest episode of the Razzball Fantasy Baseball Podcast:

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Geoff

Minor League Update: Collect Calls To Commissioner Gorman

August 5, 2018 | Fantasy Baseball Prospects | 17 Comments

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Is it too early to update my first year player draft rankings? Because we have a battle to replace Alec Bohm at the top of the list. In one corner we have Cardinals wunderkind Nolan Gorman. A power-hitting prodigy, with Herculean raw power, and a bat so quick and compact he could turn on a hollow-point on the inside. At 18 he already has a big league body, and the pretty swing to match. St. Louis was aggressive with him, skipping the Gulf Coast League for the more advanced Appy league. The results have certainly backed that decision, through 33 games the third basemen is slashing .341/.437/.682. In yesterday’s game he connected for his 11th homer of the season, as part of a 4-for-6 performance. He’s in the midst of a 7 game hitting streak and has homers in three straight. Actually he has homers in four of his last five games, slugging two doubles on Tuesday in his homer-less game. So this leads us back to our original question; Is Gorman the number 1 pick in FYPD? The question is yes and no, for me it’s a two man battle between Gorman, and Jonathan India, more on him later. But it’s tough to argue against Gorman’s bat at the moment. If you were to say he was the best hitter in the draft, you might be right. He’s been great so far, and a promotion to the full season Midwest League could come shortly. For now consider Gorman a major mover in my forthcoming Top 500 update.

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Geoff

Prospect Podcast: Promotions, Scouting Looks At Eloy Jimenez, And Others

August 4, 2018 | Prospect Podcast, Razzball Podcast | 12 Comments

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All the leagues are in full swing and the Razzball Prospect Podcast has updates on all the happenings in minor league baseball this week. With a ton of promotions by the Braves, Dodgers, and Red Sox, as well as an interesting trio of shortstops from June’s draft moving up, we touch on them all. Plus scouting looks on Eloy Jimenez, Gabriel Arias, Luis Patino, and more. We jump into our five by five highlighting ten players on our radar. Names like the Dodgers Miguel Vargas, the Reds Jonathan India, the Red Sox Bobby Dalbec, and slew of others. As always head over to Rotowear.com and use our promo-code SAGNOF to get 20% off Rotowear ‘s amazing shirts!

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Geoff

Minor League Update: Eloy Meets World

August 2, 2018 | Fantasy Baseball Prospects | 44 Comments

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Hey world! (Hand waving emoji) Meet Eloy Jimenez, you might know who Eloy is. You might think “Ralph, he’s a top 2-3 prospect dude, we know Eloy!”. It’s true, you know Eloy, you’ve seen the production, you’ve seen me tell you Eloy for Jose Quintana was a mistake (please, lets not rehash this Cubs fans. Cool?), but what you haven’t seen, more than likely, is this big boy bang out in the flesh. I had the distinct pleasure of taking in Eloy over the weekend in Pawtucket, and man, he didn’t disappoint. Easy power, from a simple, but refined swing, breathtaking plate coverage, bat speed, and strike zone awareness. I’ve been fortunate this year to see some of the top bats in the minors since the beginning of the season. I’ve seen Vlad, more than I’ve seen my children since April, same goes for Bo Bichette, and Brendan Rodgers. Ronald Acuna, I caught in April in AAA, and in early May at Fenway. So suffice it to say, I have a good measuring stick for offensive prowess at the moment. From a hitting perspective, absent of athleticism, and other tools, only Vlad is better than Eloy in that regard. Really an impressive talent, he went 3-for-4 on Sunday, connecting for an opposite field shot in his first at bat, before knocking two singles later in the game, one to right, and the other to left. It’s really a beautiful swing, here’s a look at an open face swing on his homer in the third. Look how clean the bat path is, how quick his hands are, and how he engages his lower half. It’s beautiful.

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Geoff

Fantasy Baseball Podcast: Pre-Trade Deadline Spectacular!!!

July 31, 2018 | All Podcasts, Razzball Podcast | 8 Comments

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We’re here just minutes before the trade deadline to recap all the happenings over the last week or so. We have closers changing hands, Travis Shaw moving to second base, and why Grey is excited for Cole Hamels in Chicago. Go back and read that last part is your best “confused” voice. Any time Grey is excited about a starter my (good) eyebrow raises. Not to worry loyal listeners, we quickly get the FML back on brand with a little Rougned Odor love! We round the show out talking promoted prospects like Kolby Allard of the Braves and what I expect from the lefty in his debut. It’s another week of the Razzball Fantasy Baseball Podcast! As always head over to Rotowear.com and use our Promo-Code SAGNOF to get 20% off the best T-Shirts in fantasy sports!

Please, blog, may I have some more?
Geoff

Minor League Update: Is Mankind Ready For The Madrigal Claw?

July 29, 2018 | Fantasy Baseball Prospects | 37 Comments

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Doesn’t it feel as though every year, a college hitter is taken near the top of the draft and immediately takes to the lower levels like a fish to water? In the grand tradition of recency bias, Nick Madrigal has emerged as our early favorite for the superlative “first to the majors”. Despite going 0-for-5 Saturday night, he’s hitting .389/.390/.472 with 2 steals through 10 games at Low-A Kannapolis. Here’s the remarkable thing, across 51 plate appearances between the AZL and Sally League he’s yet to strikeout. Zero. He hasn’t walked a ton, drawing a free pass just twice, and he hasn’t shown a ton of power either, he’s yet to homer in the 15 games he played. Instead knocking just two doubles. Hopefully due to the quality of contact he can fall into a dozen plus homers in his prime years. So I suppose that begs the question, is it a “better in real life” profile? There’s a good chance that’s the case, he could be a .285 hitter with 10-14 homers and a dozen steals. That’s a solid player, but it’s not what you’re looking for at the top of your first year player draft. That however is worst case scenario in my opinion. The ceiling looks like this; the power develops into a 17-20 homer number, with a .300+ batting average, and 15 or so steals. He scores a ton of runs, your team loves it, and everybody gets ice cream. That’s not a pipe dream to wish on either, this kid’s hit tool is a legit 70. That alone should give him a pretty good shot at being a top of the order, run producing type of player. I’m a big fan of Madrigal, and believe in the upside, but I’d be remiss to not mention the downside. Here’s some other players of note in MiLB.

Please, blog, may I have some more?
Geoff

Prospect Podcast: Trade Deadline Prospect Updates

July 28, 2018 | Prospect Podcast, Razzball Podcast | 26 Comments

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Lance and Ralph are at the games the last few weeks so you don’t have to be! Might as well lead the lede with a little tag line action, no? The thing is, it’s true! Over the last few weeks Lance and myself have taken in the best the Eastern League, Midwest League, and Cape Cod League have had to offer, while keeping an eye on all the talented minor leaguers changing squads. This week we start the show off with callups of note, before jumping right into our opinions on some of the prospects that are changing hands pre-trade deadline. We talk Dillon Tate, Forrest Wall, Chad Spanberger, and others, before jumping into our weekly 5 by 5, where we run through ten players of note. Lots of info, but jammed packed into an hour and 10 minutes. As always head over to Rotowear.com and use our promo-code SAGNOF to get 20% off the top t-shirts in the fantasy sports game. It’s the latest episode of the Razzball Prospect Podcast:

Please, blog, may I have some more?
Geoff

Minor League Update: Adonis Has Tiger’s Blood

July 26, 2018 | Fantasy Baseball Prospects | 19 Comments

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Every so often, actually, this is baseball, so, all the time, we are blessed with an 80 grade name. One birthed from flames, and ready to provide Rudy Gamble with endless puns. One such name is the Phillies right-hander Adonis Medina’s. The athletic right-hander ranked 107th overall in my recent Top 500, and was the 25th overall pitcher. Don’t forget I faded pitching in this year’s ranks. The subject of trade rumors over the All-Star break, while the Phillies were still in the Manny Machado hunt, Medina has been up and down this season. Though a quick glance at his 64% LOB%, and the fact that 26 of his 39 runs allowed have come in just 4 starts, and it’s easy to see his ERA is quite deceiving. In fact, in ten of those sixteen starts Medina has gone 5 or more and allowed 2 or less runs. But it’s not the numbers that should sell you on Medina, it’s the stuff. Blessed with three above-average to plus pitches, Medina has the ability to carve-up a lineup with very little use of his mid-90s fastball, and that’s exactly what Medina did on Saturday night. Prospector in arms Jason Woodell was in the building, and tweeted some seriously tantalizing updates on Medina’s game. He was working 93-95 on the fastball, before abandoning it the third time through the order to dice up the Fire Frogs (Braves A+) lineup with his low 80s slider, and mid-high 80s changeup. Jason has given Medina 60s on all three pitches. This combination of stuff, and feel for multiple above average to plus pitches gives Medina the ability to thrive one day at the big league level. If I was to re-rank my top 500 today, I’d likely bump Medina into the top 20 starters. Here’s some of Jason’s excellent video work, that really captures how talented Medina is.

Geoff

Fantasy Baseball Podcast: Tim Tebow’s Virginity & Other Baseball Stuff

July 24, 2018 | All Podcasts, Razzball Podcast | 15 Comments

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As we lift ourselves up from one of most boring week’s on the sports calendar, Grey and myself dive back into the happenings of the last weekend in fantasy baseball. We touch on Tim Tebow’s virginity, elevators in people’s homes, the Brad Hand trade, and Matt Carpenter’s grueling pace. Later in the show we talk schmotatos to add, those to avoid, and whether Ian Desmond is on the verge of a good half of baseball. And as always shoutout to our sponsor Rotowear for providing the finest shirts in fantasy sports, and beyond. Don’t forget to head over to Rotowear.com and punch in our promo-code SAGNOF to get 20% off all Rotowear brand shirts. It’s another episode of the Razzball Podcast:

Please, blog, may I have some more?
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