Jared Mitchell to AAA

[mgaughan09]

Whatever happened to Greg Golson? I know he was on the DL...

Edited July 25, 2012 by northside sawx

[danman31]

Whatever happened to Greg Golson? I know he was on the DL...

Still on the DL. Justin Greene, who was Charlotte's CF, swapped places with Mitchell.

[Chicago White Sox]

Here's why I think our trio of OF prospects are underrated:

 

Mitchell - 62 BBs (3rd in Southern)

Thompson - 41 BBs (9th in Carolina)

Walker - 54 BBs (top 10 in SAL before promotion)

 

Also, Thompson is currently 2nd in the Carolina League in HRs & TBs. So while he has a low BA, he's getting a ton of XBHs. Plus his BA has actually been .283 since the all-star break, which is a great sign for someone young for the league. He's a very slept on prospect.

[winninguglyin83]

Would they take Little Kenny?

[maggsmaggs]

Here's why I think our trio of OF prospects are underrated:

 

Mitchell - 62 BBs (3rd in Southern)

Thompson - 41 BBs (9th in Carolina)

Walker - 54 BBs (top 10 in SAL before promotion)

 

Also, Thompson is currently 2nd in the Carolina League in HRs & TBs. So while he has a low BA, he's getting a ton of XBHs. Plus his BA has actually been .283 since the all-star break, which is a great sign for someone young for the league. He's a very slept on prospect.

While they all have solid walk rates, they equally have horrible contact rates. If you can't make consistent contact in the minors, you will have no shot in the majors. I think they are all graded accurately. All could be solid MLBers, but all have serious flaws that could easily make it that they never make the majors or have bench careers.

 

For comparison sake with Thompson, Chris Young was 21 years old in AA (a bad hitter's park, too) and hit: .277 AVG, .377 OBP for a .922 OPS. He added 26 HRs, 70 BBs and 129 Ks. Young had more power, a better contact rate, a better walk rate and more speed. He also was a GG-caliber defensive player. And he never really took off in the majors like people thought because of his contact (or lack thereof) skills. He had a couple good years initially, but then never could improve as pitcher's learned how to handle him. I fear Thompson is a poor man's Young. The tools wow you, but he just hit the ball consistently.

Edited July 25, 2012 by maggsmaggs

[Chicago White Sox]

While they all have solid walk rates, they equally have horrible contact rates. If you can't make consistent contact in the minors, you will have no shot in the majors. I think they are all graded accurately. All could be solid MLBers, but all have serious flaws that could easily make it that they never make the majors or have bench careers.

 

For comparison sake with Thompson, Chris Young was 21 years old in AA (a bad hitter's park, too) and hit: .277 AVG, .377 OBP for a .922 OPS. He added 26 HRs, 70 BBs and 129 Ks. Young had more power, a better contact rate, a better walk rate and more speed. He also was a GG-caliber defensive player. And he never really took off in the majors like people thought because of his contact (or lack thereof) skills. He had a couple good years initially, but then never could improve as pitcher's learned how to handle him. I fear Thompson is a poor man's Young. The tools wow you, but he just hit the ball consistently.

No doubt all three guys are high risk, high reward prospects. I just like that all three are demonstrating a strong ability to get on base and along with some signs of plus power and/or speed. These guys are still extremely raw, so rapid improvement could happen at any time as they continue making adjustments. They still have time to cut down their strikeout rates. All three could easily flop, but I've liked what I've seen from them this year.