6/10 Games

[witesoxfan]

Hawkins home run from yesterday

 

http://www.milb.com/multimedia/vpp.jsp?con...47&sid=milb

 

He just can't hit a cheapie, can he?

[NorthSideSox72]

Great to see Hawkins improving, but let's cool the jets on promotions. That guy should stay at High A for the balance of the season, as far as I'm concerned. Have him keep lowering the K rate, focus more on contact. There's a crowd of OF's from AA up anyway, and again, Courtney is 19 years old. Slow it down.

 

[southsider2k5]

Great to see Hawkins improving, but let's cool the jets on promotions. That guy should stay at High A for the balance of the season, as far as I'm concerned. Have him keep lowering the K rate, focus more on contact. There's a crowd of OF's from AA up anyway, and again, Courtney is 19 years old. Slow it down.

 

The only way he should get a promotion is for playoff experience at a higher level if his High A team doesn't make it, and either Birmingham or Charlotte does make it (Barons have already clinched a playoff spot..)

[caulfield12]

The only way he should get a promotion is for playoff experience at a higher level if his High A team doesn't make it, and either Birmingham or Charlotte does make it (Barons have already clinched a playoff spot..)

 

 

Yep, with Hawkins, it's all about getting experience and building upon success.

 

One step forward, a step back...but seems to have recovered nicely. Maybe it took some real struggles for him to appreciate how easily the game came to him last year.

 

Whether he "deserves" to be promoted from a statistical standpoint, that's arguably not one of the top 3-5 considerations for the Sox like it is fans who follow prospects from a distance and try to analyze their strengths and weaknesses.

 

They will definitely try to get him some at-bats for Birmingham (if he continues hitting like this from here on out) and then hopefully carrying that momentum into the AFL season, if he's still 100% healthy and not too banged up.

Edited June 11, 2013 by caulfield12

[southsider2k5]

Yep, with Hawkins, it's all about getting experience and building upon success.

 

One step forward, a step back...but seems to have recovered nicely. Maybe it took some real struggles for him to appreciate how easily the game came to him last year.

 

Whether he "deserves" to be promoted from a statistical standpoint, that's arguably not one of the top 3-5 considerations for the Sox like it is fans who follow prospects from a distance and try to analyze their strengths and weaknesses.

 

They will definitely try to get him some at-bats for Birmingham (if he continues hitting like this from here on out) and then hopefully carrying that momentum into the AFL season, if he's still 100% healthy and not too banged up.

 

According to Buddy Bell they want their players challenged and don't really care as much about statistics because of it.

[ChiSox_Sonix]

Yep, with Hawkins, it's all about getting experience and building upon success.

 

One step forward, a step back...but seems to have recovered nicely. Maybe it took some real struggles for him to appreciate how easily the game came to him last year.

 

Whether he "deserves" to be promoted from a statistical standpoint, that's arguably not one of the top 3-5 considerations for the Sox like it is fans who follow prospects from a distance and try to analyze their strengths and weaknesses.

 

They will definitely try to get him some at-bats for Birmingham (if he continues hitting like this from here on out) and then hopefully carrying that momentum into the AFL season, if he's still 100% healthy and not too banged up.

 

It baffles me where people are getting this absurd notion that Courtney Hawkins is or should be getting a promotion this year. Yeah, he's been better since his return from injury but he's still struck out in 40% of his at bats. I'm also pretty sure players under AA don't get sent to the AFL. He's 19 years old. He shouldn't even be in AA next year until that K rate comes way down. If it takes him until 2015 to make AA so be it. I mean, it sucks that he'll already be 21 at that point (OMG!) but it's dumb to rush him. Just because Trout and Harper spent no time in the minor leagues, doesn't mean it should apply to others.

[caulfield12]

According to Buddy Bell they want their players challenged and don't really care as much about statistics because of it.

 

 

And by and large, that has worked with the pitchers.

 

The problem is when the players have mechanical flaws in their approaches but are still succeeding at the minor league level (Borchard, Brian Anderson, Josh Fields, maybe even Beckham, although we know how good he was in 2009) and those flaws aren't addressed until they've seemingly become ingrained or it's too late.

 

Maybe trying to tear down and deconstruct a swing when a hitter's been at least psychologically perceiving himself to be successful is too much for most guys to handle (it's not like every hitter can be so cerebral as Paul Konerko, or Quentin...or someone like Tiger Woods in golf, who completely alter their swing approaches from time to time to adjust to the competition).

 

You might even be able to put Viciedo in this category with his struggles against RHP at the major league level.

 

We've seen players like Alex Rios come out of bad mechanics at the big league level, but usually those players have already enjoyed success for 3-5 years, not just a half season or so.

 

 

 

[Jake]

If Courtney wants hit .350 for a couple months, I'm happy to promote. Otherwise, I don't see it happening. At his age and given his start to the season, you want him to thoroughly dominate that level before promoting again.

[ChiSox_Sonix]

Even if he hits .350 the rest of the year, if it goes along with a 40% strikeout rate it would be foolish to promote him

[caulfield12]

If Courtney wants hit .350 for a couple months, I'm happy to promote. Otherwise, I don't see it happening. At his age and given his start to the season, you want him to thoroughly dominate that level before promoting again.

 

It won't matter to the Sox if he hits .300 or .350.

 

Probably, they view him as a .270 or .280 hitter at the major league level anyway...unless he's in that elite group of 3-5 players in the game who can hit 30-45 homers and also hit .300.

 

It's 1) how comfortable he looks and 2) gaining more and more experience.

 

As he said in the blogger call, he's going from playing just 2 games a week and not even having played baseball throughout his entire lifetime growing up...to playing a 110 game schedule now (minus the month missed due to injury) + playoffs + AFL.

 

They're not going to send him to Arizona if he's still striking out 50% of the time, because he would be torn to pieces by other teams' elite pitchig prospects...but they also want to see him against the best competition, so they can identify the flaws and address them as quickly as possible.

 

 

 

[NorthSideSox72]

Hawkins may go to the developmental league in AZ in the fall - the AFL for lower level guys. But I doubt he goes to AFL proper.

 

[witesoxfan]

Hawkins may go to the developmental league in AZ in the fall - the AFL for lower level guys. But I doubt he goes to AFL proper.

 

Next year is a distinct possibility. This year would be way, way too soon.

[caulfield12]

 

 

They're going to have a difficult finding 3 position players that really deserve to play in Arizona.

 

Micah Johnson would be the obvious choice right now, and it would benefit Walker or Thompson as well.

 

Carlos Sanchez, maybe.

 

Perhaps DeMichele or Semien, whichever they feel has the highest upside.

 

You'd love to have one guy in the AFL every season that you felt had a shot at being an MLB All-Star someday.

 

[thxfrthmmrs]

According to Buddy Bell they want their players challenged and don't really care as much about statistics because of it.

 

Even though it's coming from Buddy Bell, I don't think that's the right approach. A guy like Keenyn Walker is the perfect example. His average dipped from .280 at Kanny to .240 in WS after the promotion last year, and he only played 37 games at WS to finish off the season. He should absolutely be starting the year at WS and continue to work on his swing, and prove he can handle Advance A hitting before promotion. As a result, he's barely hitting above .200 this year, and as it looks now, it's a long shot for him to make it to the majors.

Edited June 11, 2013 by thxfrthmmrs

[NorthSideSox72]

They're going to have a difficult finding 3 position players that really deserve to play in Arizona.

 

Micah Johnson would be the obvious choice right now, and it would benefit Walker or Thompson as well.

 

Carlos Sanchez, maybe.

 

Perhaps DeMichele or Semien, whichever they feel has the highest upside.

 

You'd love to have one guy in the AFL every season that you felt had a shot at being an MLB All-Star someday.

Johnson is still in A ball - he isn't going, unless he's promoted between now and then.

 

Semien is an obvious choice. Ravelo maybe, to see what they have there. Walker perhaps. It isn't about "deserving" anyway - it is about the reasons you send someone. Those reasons include: specific development needs, or being a marginal prospect and they want to challenge them, or lost development time during the season. And it is pretty early to even guess who falls into those categories by September.

 

[caulfield12]

Even though it's coming from Buddy Bell, I don't think that's the right approach. A guy like Keenyn Walker is the perfect example. His average dipped from .280 at Kanny to .240 in WS after the promotion last year, and he only played 37 games at WS to finish off the season. He should absolutely be starting the year at WS and continue to work on his swing, and prove he can handle Advance A hitting before promotion. As a result, he's barely hitting above .200 this year, and as it looks now, it's a long shot for him to make it to the majors.

 

 

Walker not being at Winston-Salem to start the year...you're right, especially with his history of playing football and not being 100% dedicated to baseball as his only sport.

 

Just because a player has certain physical tools or attributes doesn't mean they should ALL be pushed like they're coming from the same cookie cutter mold.

 

In fact, you could argue that some Sox minor leaguers would build up a lot more value to other organizations (as trade candidates) were they not pushed so hard in our system, oftentimes leading to either failure or struggles that diminish their luster.

Edited June 11, 2013 by caulfield12

[caulfield12]

Johnson is still in A ball - he isn't going, unless he's promoted between now and then.

 

Semien is an obvious choice. Ravelo maybe, to see what they have there. Walker perhaps. It isn't about "deserving" anyway - it is about the reasons you send someone. Those reasons include: specific development needs, or being a marginal prospect and they want to challenge them, or lost development time during the season. And it is pretty early to even guess who falls into those categories by September.

 

 

Has anyone seen something in Ravelo that would cause them to believe he could hit at least 10-15 homers as he progresses...?

 

I can see "specific" development needs, but it's pretty much a waste of time if those players don't project as anything more than bench players in the major leagues...unless there was someone they knew internally had fatal flaws but could be marketed because of their success in Arizona, sort of like when that league spring-boarded Tyler Flowers into consideration as a trade/acquisition target.

 

Coming into this year, I guess Kevan Smith would have been another name that would be in that mix...between the Winston-Salem and Birmingham teams. Saladino, although one would think that ship is close to sailing.

 

I only added Johnson because of his level university experience vs. high school player...making him more likely to be selected for the AFL than someone as raw as Hawkins.

 

We're to the halfway point of the respective minor league seasons, so it's not too early to at least speculate on.

 

 

 

[Chicago White Sox]

Even though it's coming from Buddy Bell, I don't think that's the right approach. A guy like Keenyn Walker is the perfect example. His average dipped from .280 at Kanny to .240 in WS after the promotion last year, and he only played 37 games at WS to finish off the season. He should absolutely be starting the year at WS and continue to work on his swing, and prove he can handle Advance A hitting before promotion. As a result, he's barely hitting above .200 this year, and as it looks now, it's a long shot for him to make it to the majors.

While I agree with your overall point, Walker is actually having an awesome June. Whether or not he keeps it up remains to be seen, but it's way too early to write to him off.

[ChiliIrishHammock24]

Yeah, the only way I give Hawkins a promotion in 2013 is if his K-rate from his return from the injury and on is at 25% or lower. Otherwise, he can afford to spend the entire year in High-A learning pitch recognition.

[ChiSox_Sonix]

They're going to have a difficult finding 3 position players that really deserve to play in Arizona.

 

Micah Johnson would be the obvious choice right now, and it would benefit Walker or Thompson as well.

 

Carlos Sanchez, maybe.

 

Perhaps DeMichele or Semien, whichever they feel has the highest upside.

 

You'd love to have one guy in the AFL every season that you felt had a shot at being an MLB All-Star someday.

 

 

Johnson is still in A ball - he isn't going, unless he's promoted between now and then.

 

Semien is an obvious choice. Ravelo maybe, to see what they have there. Walker perhaps. It isn't about "deserving" anyway - it is about the reasons you send someone. Those reasons include: specific development needs, or being a marginal prospect and they want to challenge them, or lost development time during the season. And it is pretty early to even guess who falls into those categories by September.

 

Agreed with NSS. Semien is an obvious send. I feel like Walker and Thompson are pretty solid choices as well. Sanchez too. Kid is still just 20 years old, so it's not as if he's worked his way beyond going. I'd also not mind seeing them send someone like Dan Black. DeMichele could go too, especially if he's promoted at all this season. We have some candidates.