It’s been a while since we had our latest 3 Up, 3 Down. Let’s get right into it.
THREE UP
Jonathan Edwards, OF, Batavia. As our friend Danup noted, Edwards has three things going for him. He’s big (6-5, 230) , he’s still relatively young at age 20, and his name Jonathan Edwards, which makes for all sorts of great “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” puns. Edwards has been putting the fear of God into the hearts of NYP League hitting as of late, hitting .372/.481/.721, and is leading the league in OPS. 50% of the balls he is putting in play are landing for hits, so the batting average probably won’t last, especially considering his propensity to strikeout a lot is still intact. But he’s drawing walks and hitting for tons of power. It’s his third pro season, so he really needed to hit the ground running.
Daryl Jones, OF, Palm Beach. AZ did an excellent job summing up the emergence of Daryl Jones, who has come into his own this year. What caught my eye was his June-He hit .368/.440/.529 but most impressively had the same strikeout ratio as his walk ratio- 10.9% per PA. In his previous two months, Jones had fanned in nearly a quarter of his plate appearances, so that’s quite an improvement. I’ve not allowed myself to get overly excited about Jones for the first month or so of the season because he’s disappointed me in the past, but this is month # 4 we’re going on and he hasn’t slowed. His Peak Translated line for the season is .317/.401/.504, projecting future All Star status for Jones. At long last, tools have become game and Jones is back to being one of the premier talents in the system. One of you the other day made Curtis Granderson comparisons; I certainly could see that. There’s definitely some 20-20 potential there.
Jess Todd, RHP, Springfield. Let’s see, what has Jess Todd been up to lately?….Named to the USA Futures Team roster. Struck out 5 in 2 IP as the starter for the Texas League All Star game. In his last start goes 8 innings, allows 2 hits and strikes out 10. As the redbaaron once said, Jess Todd will destroy us all.
THREE DOWN
Xavier Scruggs, 1B, Batavia. After winning the MWC triple crown for UNLV and being named one of BA’s Top 200 draft prospects, the X-Factor has been X-tremely disappointing so far. (That was terrible, I know). He’s hitting .109/.226/.196 in 54 plate apprearances, with 18 K’s.
Daniel Descalso, 2B, Palm Beach. I can’t believe I called this guy the sleeper of the 2008 season. Going into the year, I thought big things could be in store for Descalso based on his college numbers and the fact the Cardinals thought enough of him to make him a 3rd rounder, but I obviously was way off base; he’s got a .612 OPS for Palm Beach, and we are well into the 2nd half of the season. I have to think a demotion is not far away.
Allen Craig, 3B/LF, Springfield. He’s off a month, then on a month, then off a month and now apparently on this month. After a .967 OPS in the month of May, Craig had a .654 OPS for the month of June, with just a .290 slugging %. He did crack 2 homers July 1, so maybe he’s back again.
Filed under: three up, three down | Tagged: Allen Craig, Daniel Descalso, Daryl Jones, Jess Todd, Jon Edwards, Xavier Scruggs
erik
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theredbaaron
as many, i’ve recently become enamored with all things jess todd. i’ve googled and read everything out there on him, and goold recently had a great post on him at birdland, but a couple things seem unclear. merely a suggestion, but i was wondering if any of you guys would be interested in doing an updated feature on todd. questions i have that i have and would love to read any of your thoughts on: does his success this season void the previous projections as a reliever? what is the pitch he recently developed, the cutter or sinker? how different is his cutter/sinker in break, velocity, arm action? should there be much concern for his elbow being that he throws so many sliders, as i read from one scout? how is his changeup? what pitches induce the most swinging strikes?
i know those are a lot of questions. but, i just thought i’d mention it would be really interesting what you guys think and/or have heard after the numbers he’s putting up this season.
thanks, and also, i’d just like to mention i love what you guys do here. it’s one of my daily must-reads, right after VEB. keep up the fantastic work.
on my previous post, i meant different between cutter and slider, not sinker.
Ok, just because, Richard Castillo needs to be mentioned. This kid is nice. I can’t wait until the end of the season to get a bigger sample size, but so far, so nice.
He pitches again tonight against Jordan Walden.
Note-Now that I singled him out I fully expect him to bomb to make me look bad.
I was told that Todd’s success is simple, he throws a cut fastball that he hides extremely well.
Not overpowering, very deceiving. keeps them off balance and guessing.
Jonathan Edwards professional career thus far in 418 AB’s: .360 15 73.
Ummm. . .those are Larry Walker-type numbers (in the Colorado years).
Not sure where you got those numbers but Edwards’ career AVG is .278, his OBP is a lot closer to Walker’s AVG.
Edwards has put up a .156 better OPS than his league average in his career. But he isn’t even in low A ball yet. And he likely won’t get his crack at QC until next year when he will be 21.
I think your nomination of scruggs is a little harsh. These first year draft picks don’t know their head from their tails at this point. His start has been a bit of diappointment, but I tend to give first year guys the benefit of doubt in their first pro season.
Descalso, however has been a complete dog since the 1st of May.
Oh, so now you think you have the right to complain about Descalso?! I chose him to win Org. Player of the Year!!! Now that’s embarassing.
I still like the Granderson comp for Jones, especially when you look at their swings. I do, however, think that Jones may actually run a bit more than what Granderson does. Ultimately, I think he may fall somewhere between Granderson and Carl Crawford, if he continues on his current path. I admit; I’m a huge fan of the guy.
I like Scruggs and think it’s too early to dismiss him. Three up, three down is all about who is up now and who is down now. emphasis on now. I still think he has a good shot at being one of the better prospects in the system over the next year or two.
theredbaaron — Those are some pretty high end comps, though I wouldn’t argue with them. The danger is, and always has been, that Jones’s floor is never making it out of the minors. He’s made some real progress but he’s far from a sure thing.
Xavier was my buddy back in the day, there is no doubt in my mind that he will catch fire soon, it’s only a matter of time.
In his last 10 games he is batting .314