Posts belonging to Category Players

H/T to Matt Sebek of JoeSportsFan.com for his breakdown of Colby’s backwoods-gangster lingo.  This video is an absolute gem for so many reasons.

I’ll give Colby some credit for mentioning that Michael Jordan is the one person he’d like to meet.  Me too, Colby. Me too.

#14 Jacob Turner

Detroit Tigers

DOB: 5/21/1991

Previous Rank: 19

ETA: 2012

Spending most of his 2011 season in the Eastern League, Turner became the first prep pitcher from the 2009 draft to debut in the Big Leagues.  He’s 6-foot-5 and 210-pounds and has solid mechanics that produce good downward plane on his pitches.

His fastball reaches the mid-90s, but he pitches a couple ticks below that in the 91-93 mph range typically.  His curveball and changeup have the potential to be 55-60s, but need to come up some in terms of consistency.  In Double-A, Turner posted a 3.48 ERA in 113.2 innings while striking out 90 guys and walking 32.  Turner also had three stellar Triple-A starts and three disastrous Big League starts that he was rushed into.  Nevertheless, Turner should begin the season back in Triple-A with a good chance of a recall after several quality starts in the International League.

The upside with Turner is lower than each of the next guys we will release on this list and is even lower than several of the guys we’ve already ranked, but he’s already debuted, is only 20, and has size and athleticism as well as polish far beyond his years.  He’s about as sure a bet as there is in the game to stick around a rotation for a decade.

On Thursday night The Baseball Show was back with its first episode of the New Year.  As usual, I was joined by Clint from DiamondHoggers.com and TomahawkTake.com, and MJ Lloyd from OffBasePercentage.com and HaloHangout.com. I know, it’s getting to be a lot of websites, right? Anyway, we had a blast talking baseball and touched on a slew of different topics.  We will now be recording the podcast every Thursday night, so if you’re free, please feel free to join us.  If not, don’t worry; we’ll have the entire show available on all of our sites the following day.

Here are some of the topics we discussed on Thursday’s show:

–       MJ is the new editor for HaloHangout.com, so he describes why he’s an Angels fan.

–       Why are the Braves so willing to ship Prado? How much are they expecting for Jair Jurrjens, and is he really healthy?

–       Where will Prince Fielder land? Nationals, Mariners or a mystery team?

–       Why does Ryan Zimmerman fly under the radar? Can the Nationals sign Prince Fielder and ultimately re-sign him?

–       What is Kenny Williams doing? Are the White Sox rebuilding or contending? Mike shares his frustrations…

–       The Marlins are officially a team full of nut jobs.  Will all of their personalities mesh or are we in store for utter mayhem?

–       What prospects are we looking to see in 2012? Obviously Matt Moore and Bryce Harper, but who else? Speaking of Harper, it’s always fun to speculate on whether he can break camp with the Nationals.

–       Most importantly, be sure to tune back in next week as we debut a new series, “Ask MJ” where we will spend 10-20 minutes asking MJ whatever question we want.  We welcome any questions from our readers and listeners as well. The more ridiculous, the better.  I personally can’t wait.

#15 Jarrod Parker

Oakland Athletics

DOB: 11/24/1988

Previous Rank: 8

ETA: 2011

Parker missed 2010 due to Tommy John, and it took him several months of 2011 to really begin to look like he did before the surgery.  Still, his second-half and track record prior to TJ were enough to sway Billy Beane to pull the trigger on the deal that recently sent All-Star Trevor Cahill to Phoenix.

On the year, Parker posted a 3.79 ERA with 112 strikeouts to 55 walks in 131 innings pitched.  Obviously we’d like to see him striking out more hitters than that, but he still received the call to the D-Backs in September and had a very impressive six-inning start and even earned a spot on the NLDS roster.

Parker has a classic mix of fastball, breaker, and changeup, all of which grade as at least solid-average offerings.  His fastball has neared triple-digits before, but he typically works in the 93-96 mph range with his 4-seamer.  He throws a heavy sinker about two mphs off of the 4-seamer, but it digs well and even gets some swings-and-misses.  Parker’s bender is a slider in the mid-80s with tight break and good shape as well as solid command.  His change is behind, but it’s going to be an above-average offering for him and is definitely a pitch that will play in Oakland to both sides of the plate.

Parker is an ace and immediately jumps to the top of the A’s prospect rankings list.  Brett Anderson, Parker, Sonny Gray, and Dallas Braden should make a very young and formidable rotation in 2013 and beyond.

I guess the best place to start is here- from my seat on this here train.  It’s five ‘til 8 and we are on the Amtrak from Gallup, New Mexico and won’t exit this beast until we hit Fullerton, California.  What do five coaches, a 12-hour overnight train ride, four and a half days in sunshiny Anaheim, and the nation’s largest baseball convention add up to?  That’s a hell of a good question.  Be sure to check back each night to find out.  I’m sure you won’t be disappointed.