Baseball America came out with their top 20 prospects in the New York Penn League and three Phils prospects made the list. At #4 is Catcher Sebastian Valle, #11 is 3B Anthony Hewitt and at #16 is OF Leandro Castro. Baseball America does have scouting reports attached to each player, however, that is reserved for their pay site.
Feel free to discuss.
Phuture Phillies 
Suprised to see Hewitt there at #16, guess it is based on his potential, even though I do not even know what that is at this point. He has got to work on his fielding and pitch recognition if he wants to move up the system.
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thats y he may b repeating wmsprt in 2010
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Anyone with a BA account wanna summarize the scouting reports?
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Many don’t think Hewitt can ever play 3B.
Honestly, he could play CF, which is a MORE demanding defensive position than 3B in terms of athleticism (which Hewitt has in spades), and actually INCREASE his value. I would have moved him when he was first drafted. I’ve only seen him play 3B about 3 times, but even in such a limited sample it was pretty clear to me that his arm isn’t consistent enough and his hands aren’t quick enough to be an excellent defender (my unprofessional opinion, of course).
The Phils have a lot of toolsy CF’s in the system, which explains in part why they haven’t moved him, but even if he were to develop along with another prospect, one of them could be traded for IF help.
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I still say leave Hewitt at third base, when(if) he makes it to the upper minors and needs to switch positions let him move spots then.
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In the corresponding chat, Aaron Fitt from BA stressed that there’s virtually nobody that thinks Hewitt can stick at third base — “he just doesn’t have infield actions or infield instincts” was his exact phrase. It’s enough for Hewitt to learn how to hit; he doesn’t need to spend hours taking grounders everyday too.
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They ranked Hewitt based on potential plus the strides he made this year in Williamsport. They said he could be a great rightfielder.
A lot of Phillies comments were answered in the chat section and I thnk those are available to everyone.
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when they originally drafted him he was a ss and outfielder so he has exprience there
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Like the scouting reports, the chat is only available to members.
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Ah. Basically said that:
Hewitt made progress.
Also, even though Hyatt, Way and Hernandez tore up NYPL and all have great change ups they all have fringey fastballs and they need to develop a legitimate third pitch before they start getting excited about them.
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I was surprised as anyone to see Hewitt there. Obviously it’s all based on his athleticism. In the subscriber section I won’t reprint the whole thing so as to not get in trouble, but the one comment that (understandably) caught my eye was “In time, he could be a superstar, but it will take many minor league games”
Anytime that someone even says “could be” in the same sentence as “superstar” I’m cool with that, especially when we have a few of those “toolshed” players at the lower levels (Hewitt, Gose, Collier, etc.) so it only really takes one to come out of that group and we’re all good. Obviously no guarantee even ONE of them will – but I like how the Phils are playing the odds on that.
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I guess Hewitt made some improvement, but I really can’t say that I’m too excited about him. His iso was around .170, which isn’t too shabby, but his obp was basically the same as last year’s, despite an increase in his batting average. And his fielding is pretty poor.
I’m rooting for the guy, but I’d say the odds of him making it are really small.
– Jeff
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well look at michael taylor in 07 avg. .227 with 7hrs slg% 365 hewitts are .223 and slg%395 and his defense derrick mitchell played 3rd had the same amount of errors so they moved him and overbeck had more
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watch hewitt break out this season in wmsprt again
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Next up of relevance is the South Atlantic League on Friday October 2nd. Very difficult list to make based on number of teams and talent. Phillies possibilities include Gose, May and d’Arnaud I think. I suspect Knapp is on there.
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Summary from BA
4. Valle – Talked about how he started in against much older players in A ball and then got moved down. Was 6th in OPS, stands out for his bat though has improved with the glove
11. Hewitt – supreme athleticism; improved K rate from prior year; doesn’t have consistent approach; knows what he needs to do; has improved his stroke; has huge potential
16. Castro – led league in hits and x-tra base hits; has good all around game and is very intense; could have avg. power; plus arm and can play all OF positions
Questions
Zach Collier – asks about his first season; why did he have bad year and was he an overdraft –
too early for that type of talk; still thinks Phils got good value on him where he was drafted; Phils expected better results
Way and Hyatt – asked if they were too old for the list – basically said each just has fringe/avg stuff; older players with good changeups tend to dominate this league; need to develop better curveballs to go further
Nick Hernandez – nice numbers asked where he would rank
odd delivery from left side, throws 88-90; change up is best pitch; not much upside
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@Anonymous.
I like to look at strikeout/walk ratios for hitters at lower levels. D’Arby Myers hit .313 in the GCL a few years ago, but walked seven times compared to 32 strikeouts. He never developed. Michael Taylor hit .227 in Williamsport, but his 23 walks to 53 strikeouts was a more acceptable ratio.
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Hewitt should be moved to the OF honestly. I think his value will go up since he can use his athleticism and speed more naturally out there. Plus, he can focus mostly on hitting instead of equally on both. I don’t really care that our system is almost devoid of 3b. It’s all about making these prospects the best that they can be. He is just as likely to be traded as he is to make it to the big show.
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Over the course of the year, Hewitt’s numbers weren’t great, but I’m leaving him in my top 30 this year. He showed some flashes along the way that indicated that he can put it all together. He needs to make progress faster though, as I believe he’s only eligible to be in the system 4 years before he needs to be added to the 40 man…
I would agree that his value is much higher in CF. I think he would do really well there.
Great to see Castro get some publicity. He really snuck up on me at Williamsport. He’s in my top 30 as well. Lead the NYPL in Avg. for a day or so too.
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ESPN Chat today:
Phil (PA): Anthony Hewitt ranked in NYPL top 20? Does that speak to quality of players in the league? Is BA bullish on his upside?
Ben Badler: (2:08 PM) The quality of that league was way, way down this year, thanks in large part to the Aug. 17 signing deadline. No, I’m not bullish.
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I am in the Valle camp but lets give Hewitt an opt to grow into the position . Afterall even Judas got a chance.
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has anyone seen the vsl player rudney balentien play he hit .352 with 8hrs 24k 8bb he’s an outfielder of course any idea where he’ll play in 2010 he will be 20 in november
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Joe,
AndyB does a great job of keeping this site up to date on the South American leagues. he did a VSL write-up a while back and wrote this about Balentien.
“6. Rudney Balentien (CF/RF, age 19) – Balentien played 2 years in the DSL with mediocre results. When transferred to the VSL this season he dominated the league, hitting .352 with 8 HR in only 91 AB. He had an OPS of 1.103 and stole 5 SB in limited time. What does all this mean? Hard to tell. He really should have been in GCL this season. Then he got hurt with less than 100 at bats. But an 1100 OPS is still an 1100 OPS. That makes him someone to watch.”
I don’t think anyone on this site including Andyb gets to see these guys play. We try to interpret boxscores and an occasional tidbit that we can get from a write-up off the web.
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Balentien is probably not a real prospect based on his age, but the power maybe a new tool he developed. He may be similar to Vladimir De Los Santos who had 2 mediocre DSL seasons before hitting .337 in his 3rd season (2007 as a 20/21 year old). In 2008 he went to GCL and hit 10 HR but was already 21 years old. In 2009 he hit only .221 with less power at Lakewood and may have hit his limit.
If I were to guess Balentien is one of those slightly older players who figured out how to dominate younger players. He will probably have much more trouble in the US (not necessarily GCL but higher age appropriate levels) but has at least earned a shot. He also has decent speed, so that is at least another tool he has.
As Bellman said, all this is educated guesses based on stats and age. We get some reports on the more heralded prospects but virtually nothing on guys like Balentien who did not sign for enough to merit a press release.
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