Pro Baseball Blue Devils, 2016 Edition

[awhom111]

It's close enough to March, so we might as well start the thread.

Marcus Stroman of course will be expected to be a key player for the Blue Jays again.

For non-roster invitees to spring training, I have Chris Capuano with the Brewers, Greg Burke with the Phillies, Nate Freiman with the Braves, and Alex Hassan with the Dodgers.

Please let me know if I am missing anyone.

[awhom111]

Marcus Stroman starting Opening Day for the Blue Jays.

Chris Capuano pitched well all Spring for the Brewers so they made room for him on their 25 man roster.

It looks like everyone else will be minor league bound and we should get assignments soon.

[sagegrouse]

Marcus Stroman starting Opening Day for the Blue Jays.

Chris Capuano pitched well all Spring for the Brewers so they made room for him on their 25 man roster.

It looks like everyone else will be minor league bound and we should get assignments soon.

Freiman got traded to the Nationals' organization.

SI featured Stroman in its Baseball Preview of the Blue Jays:


[The Blue Jays have] a great lineup with a pretty good starting staff and Marcus Stroman as their No. 1 guy. He's a legitimate No. 1, too. He's only 5' 8", but he has intelligence, competitiveness, the ability to make adjustments, and he's got stuff. He's got a cutter, a changeup, and a really good slider.

[awhom111]

Some players have made their minor league debuts so I figured it was time for an update:

The Nationals have Nate Freiman at AAA Syracuse.
The Dodgers have Alex Hassan at AAA Oklahoma City.
Jordan Betts is back at the Red Sox High A affiliate in Salem.
The A's have Robert Huber at High A Stockton.
The Reds have Sarkis Ohanian at Low A Dayton.
The Phillies have Kenny Koplove at Low A Lakewood.

[awhom111]

Jordan Betts was promoted to AA Portland.

[awhom111]

Not a lot of good news in the minors even though things seem to be going well in the bigs.

Jordan Betts was demoted back to Salem.

Sarkis Ohanian and Kenny Koplove have headed back to extended spring training presumably to wait until short season leagues start.

Nate Freiman is now out of the system period and has been playing with Long Island in the independent Atlantic League.

[Reilly]

...

Nate Freiman is now out of the system period and has been playing with Long Island in the independent Atlantic League.

Per Wikipedia, the Red Sox picked him up yesterday and assigned him to the minors.

[awhom111]

Per Wikipedia, the Red Sox picked him up yesterday and assigned him to the minors.

After the couple of days needed to sort everything out, he made his debut at AA Portland.

[awhom111]

Kenny Koplove is playing again at Lakewood.

[awhom111]

Chris Capuano was put on the DL last week.

The A's have demoted Robert Huber to Low A Beloit.

[awhom111]

The draft starts on Thursday with MLB Network coverage starting at 7:00pm ET.

Alex Hassan was played on the DL.

Sarkis Ohanian was moved back to Dayton.

[jimsumner]

The draft starts on Thursday with MLB Network coverage starting at 7:00pm ET.

Alex Hassan was played on the DL.

Sarkis Ohanian was moved back to Dayton.

Bailey Clark and Will Benson are the names for Duke fans to watch for in the draft.

Clark is a big right-handed pitcher who just finished his junior year at Duke. He was considered a top-50 pick coming into the season but struggled with command. But he's 6-5, 225 and hits the mid-90s on the radar gun.

Benson is a 6-6, 220-pound high school player from the Westminster Schools in Atlanta. He signed with Duke in the fall but is projected to be a first-round pick, perhaps a mid-first-round pick.
Going to be tough to turn down first-round money. I mentioned elsewhere that he has talked about playing hoops at Duke. No sure how likely that would be or how much of an inducement that would be.

Grad-student pitchers Brian McAfee and (maybe) Kellen Urbon are late-round possibilities.

[jimsumner]

Cleveland picked Benson as the 14th pick in the first round.

[chrishoke]

Well damn.

[awhom111]

Rounds 3-10 will be covered on mlb.com on Friday starting at 12:30pm ET.

[jimsumner]

The Cubs selected Bailey Clark in the fifth round.

[awhom111]

Day 3 is always my favorite. Rounds 11 through 50 on mlb.com starting at 12:00pm ET on Saturday.

[jv001]

The Cubs selected Bailey Clark in the fifth round.

It can't get much worse. My Cardinals draft a pitcher from UNcheat and then the cublets draft a Blue Devil. Well, I do like the Cubs a lot more than I like the cheats. Hey, I don't even like the cheats.:cool: GoRedbirds and GoDuke!

[DangerDevil]

Cleveland picked Benson as the 14th pick in the first round.

http://m.mlb.com/news/article/183122082/indians-draft-will-benson-14th-in-first-round

"I'm definitely going to sign," Benson said at the Draft. "I'm definitely going to Cleveland. That's without a doubt."

[chrishoke]

http://m.mlb.com/news/article/183122082/indians-draft-will-benson-14th-in-first-round

"I'm definitely going to sign," Benson said at the Draft. "I'm definitely going to Cleveland. That's without a doubt."

Qualifies as a no-brainer.

[jimsumner]

That's what happens when you fish in the big pond. Some of the monsters get away.

[jimsumner]

The Phillies selected James Ziemba in the 37th round. He's a 6-10, left-handed pitcher. He's a redshirt sophomore and thus can return.

Tampa Bay selected Brian McAfee in the 38th round. He's a pitcher and a grad student. So, he's gone.

[-jk]

The Phillies selected James Ziemba in the 37th round. He's a 6-10, left-handed pitcher. He's a redshirt sophomore and thus can return.

Tampa Bay selected Brian McAfee in the 38th round. He's a pitcher and a grad student. So, he's gone.

Any idea likelihood he'll return? 37th round seems really out there...

-jk

[awhom111]

Two more incoming players got drafted. The Giants picked Adam Laskey in the 31st Round, but he has already affirmed his commitment.

Matt Mervis was picked by the Nationals in the 39th Round.

[jimsumner]

I would expect Ziemba, Laskey and Mervis to be on the team next year. But that's not based on inside info, just the fact that they weren't picked all that high. They should be able to do better down the road.

[-jk]

Thanks! (That's a ridiculous number of rounds...)

-jk

[DU82]

Thanks! (That's a ridiculous number of rounds...)

-jk

Newly elected Hall of Famer Mike Piazza was picked in the 62nd round.

Baseball fills more positions than any other sport. While NFL football has a larger roster (45) than baseball (25), baseball is filling at least five teams per franchise. With the washout rate pretty high (players after 2-4 years realizing they won't make the majors) they need a lot of new players each year.

[jimsumner]

Newly elected Hall of Famer Mike Piazza was picked in the 62nd round.

Baseball fills more positions than any other sport. While NFL football has a larger roster (45) than baseball (25), baseball is filling at least five teams per franchise. With the washout rate pretty high (players after 2-4 years realizing they won't make the majors) they need a lot of new players each year.

Most of those wash-outs don't figure it out on their own.

It's figured out for them.

Minor league baseball at the lower levels is fiercely Darwinian. Move up or move out.

[awhom111]

There has been a lot of good news over the past week.

Two players made their professional debuts after a long time out of action. The Rangers had Mike Matuella pitch at Spokane in the Short Season A Ball Northwest League. James Marvel pitched for West Virginia, the Short Season A Ball affiliate of the Pirates in the New York-Penn League.

The start of that short season league also meant the first game of the season for Andy Perez with the Red Sox affiliate in Lowell after his first season was spent in the Rookie League. Kenny Koplove was moved to Williamsport for the start of their season.

Alex Hassan is off the disabled list now.

[awhom111]

I will go with the good news first.

Brian McAfee made his professional debut with Princeton, Tampa Bay's rookie level affiliate in the Appalachian League.

Mike Matuella was shut down for the rest of the season after his debut.

Chris Capuano was moved from the 15 day to the 60 day disabled list.

Alex Hassan is also back on the 7 day disabled list.

[awhom111]

Since the last update Alex Hassan got put on and taken off the DL.

Bailey Clark made his professional debut with the Cubs' affiliate in the Rookie Arizona League after signing a deal with an above-lot bonus.

[awhom111]

The Cubs promoted Bailey Clark to their Short Season A ball team in Eugene.

Alex Hassan was put back on the DL shortly after the last update.

[awhom111]

Marcus Stroman has really made it now. A player at the Little League World Series has picked him as a favorite player.

Alex Hassan has been back off the DL.

[awhom111]

Nate Freiman is playing for Israel's national team again as they try to qualify for the World Baseball Classic. He went 1 for 4 and had a walk in their 5-2 win over Great Britain. Games are on ESPN3, although exact timing can be tricky because of the format of the mini-tournament.

Also, Sarkis Ohanian ended his season on the DL.

[awhom111]

Nate Freiman has a double in four at bats and came around to score the only run for Israel as they beat Brazil 1-0.

[awhom111]

I was going to post this yesterday, but I was rudely interrupted by a power outage. Nate Freiman and Israel qualify for next year's World Baseball Classic with a 9-1 win over Great Britain. Nate went 0 for 3 with 2 walks in the championship game.

[75Crazie]

In the category of "Things I Never Expected to See": two former Duke baseball players pitching against each other in an MLB Championship Series (Stroman for Blue Jays, Otero for Indians). Duke has gotten several callouts by the announcers.