[Griever20]

Pre-Spring Situation:
We got into the spring with some position battles ongoing here as we had

Various Infield Spots: 2B Dave Quiros, 2B Robby Weltzer, 2B Franklin Reyes, 2B Fernando Perez, 3B Orlando Gonzalez, 3B Mitku Kazemd, SS Jose Robles, SS Julian Hernandez
Corner Outfield: Karl Ferguson, Ignacio Benavides, Ian Messer, Huai-yu Mah

And of course the whole bullpen as usual. We got some bad news earlier this season… as our scouts told us that Ryan Rasbach has dropped two miles on his fastball and is down to a 3* reliever… guess that is why nobody wanted him in the offseason.

As for Dan Hinton, he should join us during spring training and we really hope that he can be ready and healthy on opening day.

Injury Report:
3B Orlando Gonzalez hamstring strain 4 weeks

Spring Battles:

Spring Training Pitcher of the Month:
SP Sam Griffin 3-1 1.77 17K 4BB 20.1IP

Spring Training MvP:
3B Mitku Kazemd .346/.370/.588 2HR 8RBI’s 28G/22GS 54PA

Spring Training Dud:
SS Jose Robles .093/.184/.140 0HR 4RBIs 28G 2GS 49PA

There will be surprises, Aaron McCreery said, before spring training. He was right. The (thankfully without injury concerns) starting pitching battles were resolved quickly apart from the decision ’winless’ Hilscher versus Roland Morris, where we decided to go with the lefty in Morris and had to waive and DFA Adrian Hilscher. We have Cesar Alvarado and Chris Ball, who can also start, on the 40-man and two more options in Matt Bernstein and Mike Quiroz in AAA, so if Hilscher gets claimed… we’ll live.

We were greeted by a scouting report saying that Ryan Rasbach dropped 2 miles on his fastball and is now a solid bullpen contributor, but no closer material anymore. Now, I know why nobody wanted him in the winter… Instead, McCreery ran 22-year old rookie Kevin Cowden for closer in spring… with a 5.73ERA. He still holds firm to that plan… oh boy. In addition to that, lefty Joe Herzer made the cut and will join Cowden as our second rookie reliever with upside. That also means that the likes of Chris Ball, Tim Thrower and Rich Nelson were banished to AAA.

As for the position players, Rodriguez, Messer, Craddock, Ferguson, Weltzer and Robles saved their bacon (somehow) and will be on the lineup card for opening day.

Who won’t be an everyday starter… is Cody Kerzner. The 23-year old left handed Dave Grochowski has shot up to #68 prospect and hit .356-1-4 .844OPS in 24 games in spring, and McCreery thinks he is ready to rumble. Grochowski was a 9th rounder in 2017 which we did not want to lose in the Rule 5 Draft, and it seems the call was the right one as Dave G. rated his potential up to 3.5*.

McCreery also decided that a.) Ignacio Benavides is our best corner outfielder and should start every day, and that b.) Karl Ferguson will be our every day DH to keep his bat in the lineup, another decision that went against Cody Kerzner.

The final battle was third base, and a glowing white spring by Mitku Kazemd(the name will kill me eventually) and the Gonzalez injury resulted in the somewhat surprising decision that Kazemd will get the first look at 3B with Gonzalez being the backup infielder… that can switch quickly tho.

As for shortstop, Julian Hernandez got a good long look, batted .273-1-3 .710OPS in 28 games at shortstop as a starter, and was sent down to AAA with a heavy heart as he need a LITTLE bit more polishing in our opinion. He is still 22 and one of our most coverted assets, and he will get his role on the big club soon.

Baseball America announced their Top 100 prospect list:
#1 LF Jason Barlett, 22, San Francisco Red Devils(AA)(+-0)
#2 CF Tyler Dean, 19, Montreal Expos (R)(NEW)
#3 3B Tony Rodriguez, 18, Denver Seahawks (INT)(+22)
#4 CF Aaron Levine, 23, Memphis Bolts (S A)(+19)
#5 LF Paul Hodge, 22, Memphis Bolts (S A)(NEW)
#6 LF Benito Morfin, 22, Vancouver Canadians (A)(NEW)
#7 LHSP Brett Asselin, 22, Montreal Expos (AA)(+-0)
#8 RHSP B.J. Posada, 22, Cincinnati Eagles(AAA)(+7)
#9 RHSP Brian Gick, 22, Seattle Mariners (AAA)(+47)
#10 RHSP John Flannery, 21, Las Vegas Gamblers(S A)(+14)

Expos further on that list:
#17 SS Manny Ramirez, 17, DNP, (NEW) (IFA signing)
#20 SS Julian Hernandez, 22, .227-11-45 .608OPS 107G 0.4WAR in AAA, AAA (-16) (IFA signing)
#21 RHSP Alejandro Corral, 21, 8-8 1.48 153K 146.1IP 26GS 4.5WAR in R, A, (NEW) (4th rounder 2019)
#43 LF Santiago Rodriguez, 21, .221-14-32 .683OPS 91G 3.8WAR in R, A, (NEW), (Trade WSH)
#68 1B Dave Grochowski, 23, .262-14-57 .745OPS 125G 2.8WAR in AA, MLB (NEW) (9th rounder 2027)
#79 1B Joe Townsend, 21, .250-3-5 .790OPS 12G 0.6WAR in R, A (-11) (Trade SLC)

Unranked, yet promising:
A total of seven players with a 3* potential with 1B Matt Talbert(24, AAA) and 2B Fernando Perez(22, AAA) being the most likely ones to see some real action soon, followed by #101 prospect RHSP Ed Shaulis(23, AA).

Overall, we do have the top minor league system in front of Las Vegas and Memphis and I have to hand some praise for that to the former GM and leadership group, Hernandez, Asselin, Grochowski, Corral and Ed Shaulis were their draft picks and finds, even though I feel like our emphasis on player development and good minor league coaches helped tremendously here.