2041 musings-
Catcher: Obviously
Pottenger is the man here. Truth be told, though, he's been something of a disappointment during his tenure in Seoul. Given his eye/ contact ratings, I expect a much higher return in OBP. The power and defense are a given, though.
Diego Escobedo is a solid catcher- very good behind the plate, and a decent hitter. He could probably start for a lot of teams in WBL, and is a candidate to be traded later.
First Base: Frederic Carrier is the man now. Ryan Connor's sub-par 2040 season, coupled with his salary, made the decision easy for me. Carrier is an excellent fielder, and projects to be elite at the plate. My scout thinks even higher of him than the OSA, and I'm excited to see what he can do. A future MVP candidate.
Marv Bradshaw is backing him up and DHing; a good hitter, but he's as athletic as Hachiko.
Second Base: Gabriel Ramos is pretty good, but has a steep price tag. Good fielder, decent hitter with a good eye, but he just doesn't seem worth the salary; that said, there is a real dearth of talent at this position in the WBL, so resigning him or not is quite the conundrum.
Roy Benthall is backing him up and also backing up at third. He's an excellent fielder at both positions and doesn't strike out much. Good utility guy.
Shortstop: Maresuke Noda, another top prospect, gets the nod here. Possibly the best defensive shortstop in the game, he's another one my scout thinks more of than the OSA. He's projected to be an elite hitter, basically a clone of young Miguel Tejada at the plate. Former Glove Wizard
Ernesto Carreto is the backup here; he's the very definition of all glove, no hit.
Third Base: Juan Jose Moran, possibly the best fielder at his position in the WBL, a former Glove Wizard with a rocket arm. Sadly he's pretty meh at the plate. Benthall is the backup here.
Outfield: Alejandro Gomez is a great hitter who rarely strikes out, an excellent defender at both corner spots with a rocket arm. Can't draw a walk to save his life, but he'll feature primarily in left. Rookie
Jacky Dirks is an unknown, but gets the nod in right- hit well in the minors, and can put it into the gaps. Plus defender. He's an 8th-round pick out of UNC who has made the show. Enigma
Christian Merklein is in center. Not a great defender (in center, but he's excellent in right), but the career-ending injury to our previous centerfielder has kind of hamstrung us. Hoping that this can be the year he finally puts it together. Backups are the streaky
Felipe Brito, who has excellent power, a good glove, and little else, and jack of all trades
Won Chang.
Starting Pitching: My scout loves second-year man
Carlos Goodwin; he has great stuff and excellent movement on all four of his pitches. Can he put his stuff together and dominate? Only time will tell. Fellow youngster
Gab Mercier has excellent stuff and great movement, with an excellent fastball that nears 100 on the gun and a devastating change-up. He's coming off an arm injury, but still projects to be a high-end starter.
Caffyn,
Lindner, and
Barron are ok- not much else to say about them.
Bullpen: Yasar Yilmanz is the best of the bunch; he resigned for a discount a few years ago, but even now coming off a poor season he wants big money. Possible trade bait.
Caffar Stonestreet, my 2038 first rounder, is a good setup-man with an excellent changeup. No one else is really worth talking about aside from
Nicolau Nabo, a the former ace of the staff whose ratings took a major hit after a back injury. Sadly, he's making a metric fuckton of money.
Prospects: Despite the call ups of Carrier and Noda, there is still quite a bit of potential in the farm system.
Tin-jong Tsao is an amazing centerfielder, with good potential at the plate.
Abdel Sa'id is a
former 13th-round pick who is ready to make it big; he's going to spend one more year at AAA to work on his eye. 2040 first rounder
Obke van Zon projects to be a good hitter with an excellent eye. International complex product
Adrian Mejia is a good fielder who could turn into something good at the plate with some work. There aren't a lot of arms in the farm system, but pitching was the focus of the 2041 draft.