Five Players to Watch in Batavia
Posted on June 29th, 2012 by azruavatar in Batavia, tags: Breyvic Valera, Jose Pasen, Patrick Widom, Tim Cooney, Yunier Castillo(Note: Check back at 2pm for an extra Friday post from Andy Beard.)
In many ways, Batavia is an odd half step in the chain of minor league clubs for the Cardinals. When many Latin players are ready to make the job state-side, Johnson City is the first stop. Those that succeed and are ready to proceed skip to full season baseball in Quad Cities. Those that need more seasoning find themselves with another abbreviated season of minor league ball in Batavia.
The club is not bereft of talent though. Below are five players worth keeping an eye on in 2012.
Jose Pasen, SP
Pasen spent 2011 in Johnson City. More hittable than you’d like for someone with his stuff, Pasen was slated to refine his craft in Batavia. Unfortunately, Pasen was busted for a performance enhancing drug and currently resides on the restricted list serving out his suspension. Pasen had an excellent strikeout to walk ration in Johnson City and should return for a handful of starts at the end of the New York Penn League’s season. The suspension is a bad blow to what could have been a big year for the 22 year old Dominican.
Patrick Wisdom, 3B
Wisdom is the highest 2012 draft pick (the Cardinals 4th pick and 52nd overall) that is slated to play in Batavia. A third baseball with questions about his power, Wisdom is considered to be a solid defender and has shown power at times — notably in the Alaskan Summer League. Worth noting, especially in a system like the Cardinals, is that Wisdom has spent some time as a catcher. Wisdom will be 21 in August.
Yunier Castillo, RP
Yunier Castillo is adverse to walks. In 699 plate appearances, Castillo walked 23 times. That’s less than 5% of his PAs. Now, Castillo benefits from being adverse to walks. The former shortstop is trying his hand at pitching — something the Cardinals have done plenty of times in recent years — and it will be interesting to see how it turns out with Castillo.
Tim Cooney, SP
While Patrick Wisdom may be the top overall draft pick going to Batavia, Cooney is the one with a 90mph fastball that’s headed to Batavia. The Cardinals 3rd round pick, a left handed starting pitcher from Wake Forest, is a multipitch pitcher with enough fastball velocity as a lefty to succeed. The Cardinals will start Cooney at Batavia.
Breyvic Valera, 2B
The hype on Valera has been too high for the last several years. Valera’s name recognition is an odd creation of the internet despite the rather slim resume. In large part, it’s a scenario where someone, somewhere said that Valera was noteworthy and an internet cadre locked on in spite of sparse and questionable information. Nonetheless, Valera had a 3 game stint in Springfield this season as a stop gap just before the start of Batavia’s season. The second baseman has shown good power and contact ability in Batavia so far this year. He’s worth watching just to try and get a better grasp on the validity of the name recognition.
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I think your underrating Valera. He tore it up in the VSL, didn’t well in the DSL and was chosen for a promotion to JC despite I Vargas having better starts. He proceeded to tear up Johnson City last year. They felt comfortable enough to send him to Springfield to fill a roster spot where he played well at 2nd and 3rd base. I personally saw him in Spring and was very impressed with him as a player. Your commentary seems to assume that he’s just a name that someone said was good rather than looking at his stats in his career which have been outstanding.
Valera did very well in the VSL as an 18 year old. He was underwhelming in the GCL and rode some very lucky BABIP rates over a few weeks to a decent performance in Johnson City. From my vantage, 2010 Valera looked good (but the VSL competition level is questionable) and 2011 looked thoroughly mediocre.
My commentary has a better understanding of his statistical profile than your characterization. His reputation outstrips his resume right now.
Yeah…there is no quoting DSL or VSL stats around here. I have been to DSL games and they are about the level of talent you would see in a junior college game. Just like junior colleges you will find a transcendant talent but for the most part these are glorified high school teams.
When someone hits .397 in 75 AB’s as an 18 year on in JC it’s impressive. Anytime someone hits for that high of average people bring up BABIP. I remember people quoting BABIP for Taveras last year. If someone hits with that high an average then the BABIP will be higher by defination right?
Obviously the Cardinals enough of what he did in JC to move him on to Batavia this year.
I think alot of the hype around him was from me but i stand behind it. Kid can play. He was the most impressive player that I saw at Spring Training this year. Taveras wasn’t around much as he was up with the big boys. He surely outplayed Tilson, McElroy, Jefferies, Perez, Garcia and anyone else you can think of who played for Group 3 and 4.
To go along with that, a recent report from Scouts this year are that Valera has 80 speed and is drawing rave reviews for his defense.
Isn’t he a switch hitter too?
Yes.
Unrelated to the post, but Jesse Sanchez lists the Cardinals among the teams that “could be busy” during the international signing period:
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20120629&content_id=34145226&vkey=news_mlb&c_id=mlb&tcid=tw_article_34145226
MLB Top 20 Intl Rankings:
http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/prospects/watch/y2012/#list=int
BA Top 20 Intl Rankings:
http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/prospects/international-affairs/2012/2613623.html
Thanks for the links. If someone here knows Spanish they can verify or correct me but according to this page by Enrique Rojas it looks like the Cards are linked to Gustavo Cabrera (#1 on MLB list/#5 on BA)
Any translation help would be most welcome: http://espndeportes.espn.go.com/news/story?id=1555113&s=bei&type=story
Tom is right on in his translation. Looks like we have a good chance to land him.
Thanks guys for the Spanish help. According to this article, Mo saw Cabrera back in May: http://stlouis.cardinals.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20120509&content_id=30841002¬ebook_id=30846504&vkey=notebook_stl&c_id=stl
I guess that is good news. There is a good video of Cabrera here: http://pinetarpress.com/international-watch-gustavo-cabrera/
He would be a great get. Hopefully the ESPN Deportes article is accurate.
Haven’t heard much about Cooney but I like that his velocity is up to 90 consistent on his Fastball as a Lefty that’s pretty good especially if he has good movement and can locate it effectively. Interesting prospect.
From the ESPN deportes story, Cabrera is a five-tool centerfielder who has been evaluated by every club. For weeks, it’s been widely believed that he has already accepted an offer to be announced next week.
Below, they reiterate that he’s a five tool CF, who runs and throws well. He’s been more closely linked to St. Louis than other clubs.
My apologies for any mistranslations.
Looks correct to me.
Only the elite Latino prospects skip the GCL. Very few end up in Johnson City to start off.
I like Matthew Young as an underdog player. Hasn’t shown the power someone his size should yet, but i think it will develop. He’s just about to turn 22 but I think if he can muscle up a little more he may move up.
Cabrera was signed by the giants btw