Archive for the “Niko Vasquez” Category

Small sample size ahoy! Just looking at who was started out of the gates quickly at each affiliate and who has well… not.

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Now that the short season squads have started up their seasons, I think it is important to note that these stats are not the be-all end all for a player – especially in the beginning of the year.  The rest of the warning is after the jump.

First and foremost, in the beginning of the short season year, a lot of the top draftees are not even signed yet and a lot of the advanced draftees are still playing in the College World Series or the Super Regionals.  The competition is very watered down early in the year.

Additionally, we have often fallen in the trap (I’m subject to this as well) of falling in love with a prospect from short season ball stats and projectability and then they have not lived up to the numbers they produced in short season ball.  Some quick examples from the last few seasons:

Nick Longmire: 2010 wRC+(Batavia) = 144 / 2011 wRC+ (so far) = 82

Longmire also hit only 1 of his 9 HRs after August 5th in 2010.

Niko Vasquez: 2008 wRC+ (Johnson City) = 149 / his best season since – 2010 wRC+ (between two levels) = ~120

Vasquez never had another year with above average wRC+.

Robert Stock: 2009 wRC+ (Johnson City) = 153 / 2010 wRC+ = 64 and 2011 wRC+ in Quad Cities (repeating the level) = 51.

I know I’m cherry-picking some stats, but the point is there.  Stats from rookie-level leagues mean very little in the grand scheme of things.  However, by all means get excited, but think about the history when getting excited about these players because what happens in rookie ball does not always translate to full season ball.

The Cardinals shuffled their minor league rosters today, moving 1st round pick, Zack Cox up to AA Springfield per PBCardinals Twitter. Cox has burst out in Palm Beach with a wRC+ of 123 (100 being average for both league and park).

In a corresponding move, Niko Vasquez was moved from Springfield down to Palm Beach per Kary Booher of the Springfield News-Leader. Vasquez has a wRC+ of 85 this season after two seasons in a row of over 100 in Quad Cities and Palm Beach.

What do you think? Discuss below.

Let’s take a ride in the way-back machine – back in the summer of 2008 when Niko Vasquez made his huge introduction to professional baseball with a .410 wOBA in short season Johnson City all while playing shortstop.  Needless to say, there was a shortage of paper bags around Cardinal Nation.  But with a 149 wRC+ (which is league and park adjusted) – there was reason for excitement.  Unfortunately, Vasquez has not come close to replicating those numbers any year since.

After a terrible 2009, he bounced back for a quality 2010 in Palm Beach and Quad Cities, but his 2011 season so far in Springfield is looking more like 2009 than 2010 after 93 plate appearances.  Vasquez is hitting a lot of ground balls – a 56.7% clip, which contributes to his very low BABIP of .259.  So far he is still striking out a lot as he usually does, but his walks are down slightly.  That all being said a slash line of 205/280/349 is not going to get him anywhere fast, especially since he is only playing 3rd base at this point.  wRC+ has him at 58 at this point.

In the late summer of 2008, Vasquez gave us something to be excited about and we are still looking for his name again and again, trying to recapture that magic.  It is still WAY early in 2011, but we haven’t seen the Vasquez we are looking for playing in the hitters friendly AA Texas League.

For those of you concerned, it was not him.
Link

Or at least says Baseball America, who decided to try and destroy our Niko Bandwagon before it leaves the gate.

It’s that time of year again, and BA has started their top twenties for each league. No Cardinals made the GCL’s list and only Niko Vasquez made the Appy, coming in at # 13. Despite Niko’s impressive stats (which are probably better than any other ranked position player), BA isn’t ga-ga for Vasquez. Unfortunately it’s subscriber content only, but the gist is the scouts they talked to aren’t impressed by his average bat speed, lack of plate discipline, power potential, speed. They note that he is more suited for 2nd or 3rd base and peg him as more of an offense first utility infielder. Ouch.

Whoever the scouts BA are talking to, their reports certainly don’t match those we’ve seen of Keith Law and Alex Eisenberg. Most I’ve seen expect 15-20 homers and for him to be a starter. I’m not sure what to believe at this point…

From the ensuing chat we find Matt Eddy is not too high on Deryk Hooker, either. Underwhelming secondary stuff, throws across his body, upside is middle relief. Double ouch.

Alex Eisenburg takes a close look at Nico Vasquez’s swing and finds the shortstop plumb in the middle of the Beckham spectrums. In other words, he doesn’t have Tim’s upside or Gordon’s polish, but he’s not that far from either in terms of overall talent.

Vasquez turns his hips on a firm front leg, which helps him generate power from his swing. One slight concern–and it may be from these particular swings the video provided–was how he would make contact a little too far out in front. This isn’t a case of a player looking to achieve extension because he’s not slapping/throwing his hands at the ball. It’s more a case of Vasquez starting his swing a little earlier than he needs to. He needs to wait on the pitch a little longer and give himself more time to recognize the pitch type and location.

Lastly, Vasquez has the swing plane to generate a sufficient number of fly balls. The more fly balls one hits, the more likely that hitter will hit for power. In the clips provided, Vasquez was able to get the ball on the sweet part of the bat, which gave the appearance of the ball “jumping” off his bat.

Kevin Goldstein takes a look at NL Players who took great leaps forward and was most impressed with Daryl Jones’ progress out of any player in the Cardinal system. Jess Todd was his runner up.

The latest in the As the Colby Turns drama, Joe Strauss recently chatted with fans Wednesday and said he sees value in promoting Rasmus if he is healthy. Mo says he’s not been cleared to play. After touting Rasmus, there was this exchange:

mike:… Just how big is Rasmus’ doghouse?
Joe Strauss: A double wide with a room addition planned upstairs.

Is this from his dad’s remarks? Did he act like he was entitled to a roster spot in the spring? I don’t know, but I cannot handle another young player/La Russa feud. There’s just too much talent to waste over ridiculous pettiness.

Batavia 4, Jamestown 3

• Jermaine Curtis hit a go-ahead two-run homer in the 9th. He went 2-5 with a strikeout overall.
• Edwin Gomez went 3-3 with a HR, a walk and 2 RBI.
• Charles Cutler went 2-4. He’s hitting .467 in postseason play.
• Scott Gorgen did his job, throwing six shutout innings. He allowed six hits, two walks and struck out four. He did a good job of keeping the ball on the ground, inducing ten ground-outs.
• Ramon Delgado fouled things up, allowing three earned run over 2.1 innings.
• George Brown and Jason Buursma recorded the last two outs.
• Big win on the road, the Muckdogs go up 1-0 in the NYPL championship.

Cardinal70 recently asked me to participate in the latest “United Cardinal Blogger” collaboration, a project that I could not say no to. The project: Name your Top 7 Prospects, as inspired by our esteemed beat writer Mr. Derrick Goold. The regular minor league season just finished and it seems like it wasn’t long ago we were talking draft, and here we are already ranking players. Time flies.

NOTE: This is NOT our official list that we will be rolling out later. This is more or less my off the cuff rankings as things stand at the moment, and it’s still pretty fluid right now.

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I’m sure most of you saw this recent remark by the skipper.

“You have your prospects. And it’s good to publicize how good they are. But you want to be realistic with what you have. We’ve seen a lot of players; we’ve seen some pitchers. But you have to ask yourself, is there an impact guy within your system, like an Albert (Pujols)? If (Adam) Wainwright was from our system, is there a guy like him?” La Russa said. “We’re going to need some impact. Is that there, or is there someone who fits the next category — legitimate help?”

I thought Tony wanted to manage a team that consisted of young, hungry players? Statements like these make me think if TLR were the GM, he would empty the farm system. While there are several players that look to be impact players- Jones, Wallace, Colby- none of them are going to make a huge impact when he wants it most: the final year of his contract. We know who will win the battle between player development and the “win now” group from what happened last year w/ Walt. We know who has ownership in their corner.

Draft Info recently rapped with Keith Law:

Which non first round pick do you think will have the most success?

Ryan Westmoreland (Boston), Tim Melville (KC), or Nico Vasquez (STL). The first two were first-rounders who fell because of monetary demands. Vasquez fell because he missed a month on academic suspension, and maybe because too many people still think a shortstop has to be a plus runner.

Derrick Goold recently had Nico/Niko? in his top five. That’s pretty high praise.

Law also had a blurb on the disappointing (and AWOL?) Mark Hamilton.

I could not have seen Mark Hamilton any better on the Cape – he might have been 12-for-10 when I saw him as a freshman at Falmouth. Good swing, big raw power that showed up in games, plenty of contact, solid at first base. What gets me is that he’s hit for no power in pro ball. Maybe it’s the result of the wrist injury he suffered his junior year … or maybe he just isn’t half as good as I thought.

Palm Beach 0, Daytona 6

• That will do it for Palm Beach, their season is over.
• Tyler Henley went 2-4.
• Ateo Folli and Oliver Marmol both doubled. Folli had some follies in the field with two errors. Ah, I kill me.
• Mark Diapoules allowed four earned runs on seven hits and two walks over five innings.
• Jose Mateo a couple of earned runs on three hits over two innings.
• The Casey Mulligan Experience struck out one in his perfect inning of work.
• Daytona’s logo has to be the dorkiest in all the minors.

Batavia 10, State College 2

• Unless I’m mistaken, Batavia and Jamestown are tied for first with one game left of the regular season.
• Chris Swauger went 2-3 with a homer and 4 RBI.
• Christian Rosa went 2-3 with a triple and a walk.
• Frederick Parejo went 2-4. I like him as a sleeper going into next year.
• Adam Veres induced ten ground outs and struck out five over six innings. He walked three and allowed five hits.
• Ramon Delgado struck out two in two innings with one hit allowed.
• Adam Reifer walked a batter, allowed a hit and an unearned run. He struck out two.

I normally save transactions and promotions for the DFR’s, but as a founding member of the Nico Bandwagon, I wanted to break in with a quick update: With Wallace now up to AA, it appears that the River Bandits made a corresponding move. On their roster it shows that Nico Vasquez will now be fighting crime in the mean streets of Davenport, IA. He and teammate 1B Curt Smith were called up to the Quad Cities, along with Osvaldo Morales.

Yunier Castillo and Ryde Rodriguez were moved up from the GCL team to Johnson City. Derrick Goold said Castillo is “one to watch”, as scouts and coaches were raving about him during our esteemed beat writer’s last trip to Jupiter.