Carlson off to a good start in Springfield.

Gorman hit his second dinger last night. That makes 19 in his first 68 professional games. Only 11 players in history have accomplished that in the past.

Refreshing to have some legit position players down on the farm to follow for a change.

And such a good mix of them. You have higher ceiling guys with low floors (Gorman's hit tool remains a concern of mine and could sabotage everything else he does; his D is a question mark as well) and you have guys with lower ceilings but really high floors like Carlson. And folks like Montero that are in the middle both ways; higher ceiling than Carson, higher floor than Gorman.

This isn't the system of 3 years ago when every offensive prospect we had was someone with plus power and iffy hit tools. When we had a dozen guys that sure looked a lot like Randal Grichuk. There are a LOT of paths forward with the 5 top hitting prospects in the system and a nice little stagger where we shouldn't have an immediate problem with roster stacking or a massive hole in the system at some point.

It's a system right on the edge of taking a Padres-like leap forward. And mixed in with those guys is the same thing we saw in previous years - a slew of depth players who don't get prospect guys excited but who will almost certainly contribute at the big league level in some fashion. The Helsley, Cabrera, Knizner, Roberts, Woodford, Urias, Elledge, Gallegos, Thomas types. Even guys like Arozarena and JAG aren't completely beyond hope; either of those guys could make themselves into viable 4th/5th OFers given their physical tools and periods of production in the high minors.

It's a nice system to be sitting on for sure; better than a fair number of them that are given higher 'rankings' right now, IMO.

The sad part is I'd run any of those AAAA outfielders down there above Carlson in right field over Fowler right now. We need to give ONeill the at bats to see if he can truly make the adjustments they want him to at the MLB level. He has nothing more to prove at AAA. At the very least we are upgraded defensively.

I'm hard-pressed to conclude that Dexter Fowler is one of the 10 best OFers in this organization right now. Harder still if I include guys like Munoz or even Robinson who are capable of playing the OF in a pinch.

Yes, I'm not sure he is any better defensively than JM and he is a butcher out there. He approaches a ball in the gap or down the line the way Greedy Williams approaches the idea of tackling someone.

this is the perfect time to see if O‘neill can be an everyday player and maintain the pop in the bat. Fowler looks awful in 90% of his AB’s. How can O’neill not hit >.150? We know he will be better defensively. How long before they give up on Fowler?

They won't

I know you don’t give any credit to Mo for drafting the increased quality in our minor league talent. Hamas says the credit goes to Randy Flores. You concur, correct?

Mostly, yes. But there's a lot of luck involved.

But Moe will flat out tell you he has next to no involvement in the amateur draft at this point.

Additionally - Carlson took Kershaw deep tonight. Hes gonna be gooooooooood

:shake:

Jesus Christ Ozuna.

Not only does Ozuna need a new shoulder but he could also use a pair of glasses

Schilt has been taking out Ozuna and putting O’neill in to double switch out the pitcher and better defense. But, today he doesn’t. That play was proof why he needs to do thst every game.

Just saw the gif and took a bit to figure out what happened.