Innehållsförteckning för February 2020 från Baseball America

@BaseballAmerica @BaseballAmerica BaseballAmericaMag ReadBA WE WROTE THE BOOK ON PROSPECTS—AGAIN The 2020 Prospect Handbook is a must-have for superfans and fantasy players. You will find yourself returning to the book—now in its 20th edition—all year to see what we wrote. Get the scoop on big league callups, trade acquisitions or even prospective additions to your dynasty team. The Prospect Handbook ranks the Top 30 Prospects for all 30 organizations—for a total of 900 scouting reports. The book also includes: • Position rankings • Farm system rankings • The best tools in the July 2 signing class Order your 2020 Prospect Handbook today for $34.95. For fastest delivery, order directly from Baseball America. Available in February. store.BaseballAmerica.com SOCIAL BUZZ NICK BITSKO IS FILTHY The Pennsylvania prep righthander will graduate early and…

BASEBALL FACTORY’S CHIEF BASEBALL OFFICER High school practices have started in some parts of the country, while others are still counting down the days until tryouts begin. Whether you’re already outside on the field or still working out indoors waiting for the snow to melt, it is never too early to establish yourself as a leader this season. Coaches love players who can help lead their team. Leadership shows itself in many ways, and you don’t have to be the team’s best player to do it. In fact, you don’t need to be in the starting lineup or even have a guaranteed roster spot when tryouts begin to have a positive influence on the rest of the team. While vocal leaders are valuable, you don’t have to be a “rah-rah”…

J.J. COOPER @JJCOOP36 For decades, there were college coaches and pro coaches and the two groups rarely crossed over. Jobs as pro coaches were reserved for ex-pro players. College coaches were a mix of ex-pros and everyone else. And there was a hierarchy. There were travel team coaches and high school coaches, then junior college coaches, small college coaches, Division I coaches, minor league coaches and finally, major league coaches. Sometimes a coach could skip a step or two on their climb up the ladder, but there were clear delineations. A junior college coach could realistically hope to jump to a four-year college, but the gap between college ball and pro ball was a nearly unbridgeable canyon. And then the Astros decided to change everything. When Jeff Luhnow took over…

New Mexico State head coach Mike Kirby has barely been in Las Cruces for six months and he already has a Nick Gonzales story. The reigning Cape Cod League MVP and 2019 Division I batting champion, Gonzales was already a household name to Kirby when he took the job in June. But the former Cal State Fullerton and Nebraska assistant has coached plenty of future big leaguers and isn’t easily impressed, no matter how many accolades the player has piled up. But in September, Kirby was walking by the batting cages and caught a glimpse of a lefthanded swing he didn’t recognize. Intrigued by the loud contact, Kirby decided to walk over and investigate. That is when he got his first taste of just how good his second baseman really…

TEAM TO BEAT: TEXAS TECH With Josh Jung, Gabe Holt and Cameron Warren gone from the lineup, and Caleb Kilian gone from the rotation, Texas Tech loses quite a bit going into 2020, but at this point few programs deserve more of the benefit of the doubt that they will reload year after year. The Red Raiders lose talented players every year, but they’ve been to Omaha four times in the last six seasons, so it’s easy to think that 2020 will be more of the same. Including senior second baseman Brian Klein and junior center fielder Dylan Neuse, nine players who saw significant playing time last year are either penciled into starting spots or are battling for time. On the mound, Tech will once again run out a staff…

Everybody who follows prospects knows about the tools scouts look for when scouting. The sixth tool is health. Without it, none of a player’s tools can shine. While we wish every player a healthy new year, here are 10 of the prospects whose stock we believe would benefit the most from a 2020 season free of injuries. 1. Forrest Whitley, RHP, Astros After an incredible 2018 season, Whitley entered 2019 as the game’s top pitching prospect. He had five pitches that projected as plus or better and seemed poised to make his big league debut at some point during the regular season. However, Whitley was hit hard and often in 2019, and was eventually sent back to the Astros’ minor league complex to rehab what was diagnosed as right shoulder…

FROM OUR ARCHIVE ISSUE Jan. 15, 1985 RUNDOWN “His transition to the professional ranks was seemingly effortless. He’s probably the finest all-around athlete we’ve signed in my 12 years with the club,” Indians official Bob Quinn said. For the first time since his youth, 57-year-old Cory Snyder will not have a role in baseball this season. In mid-December, he accepted a job in car sales for Murdock Hyundai of Lindon, Utah. Snyder leaves quite a legacy in baseball. He was a three-time All-American at Brigham Young, a member of the first U.S. Olympic baseball team in 1984, the fourth overall pick the same year and hit 149 home runs over nine seasons in the big leagues. Then he coached, managed and worked in the front office for 13 seasons at…

TRACY RINGOLSBY @TRACYRINGOLSBY For all the moaning and groaning about how Coors Field benefited Rockies hitters such as Larry Walker and Todd Helton, it is interesting that pitchers are not dinged for having the luxury of a forgiving home ballpark like Dodger Stadium. Now, I would have voted for all of these pitchers for the Hall of Fame, but it is worth noting the home-road splits for these Dodgers starting pitchers. Even the great Sandy Koufax allowed dramatically more runs on the road than at Dodger Stadium. All of which gets the conversation back to Walker, who was elected to the Hall of Fame on his 10th and final appearance on the writers’ ballot this year, and Helton, a second-year Hall of Fame candidate. In full disclosure, I have been…

American Athletic East Carolina is again the favorite, but the always competitive AAC looks to be wide open TEAM TO BEAT: EAST CAROLINA Fresh off its first super regional appearance since 2016, East Carolina brings back the talent to host a third straight NCAA regional in 2020. Two-way star Alec Burleson and pitchers Jake Kuchmaner and Gavin Williams will be the focal points of the Pirates’ success, and they give the team the star power and experience to lead it to its second consecutive AAC regular season title. Burleson, a junior, anchors a lineup that includes sophomores Lane Hoover and Thomas Francisco, who combined for 47 walks compared to just 37 strikeouts in 2019, and juniors Bryson Worrell and Seth Caddell. Yet the most dangerous component of head coach Chris…

TEAM TO BEAT: ARIZONA STATE Last season, Arizona State was clearly a good team. They started the season 21-0 and their offense was good enough to keep the team in most games, but they were a bit short on the mound, which led to their elimination as the No. 2 seed in the Baton Rouge Regional. This year could be a different story. With Spencer Torkelson, Alika Williams, Gage Workman and Trevor Hauver back in the lineup, the offense will be potent again. And Williams, Drew Swift and Sam Ferri give ASU excellent defensive potential as well. The pitching talent and depth is on another level in 2020. Righthander Boyd Vander Kooi returns after throwing 95 innings as a member of the rotation last year, but he’s surrounded by highly…

BALTIMORE ORIOLES The Orioles have set the number of desired candidates for the rotation: eight. They used the Rule 5 draft to reduce the starter shortage. Righthander Brandon Bailey was selected from the Astros organization with the second overall pick in the major league phase and will be given an opportunity to compete for a job. The 25-year-old’s lack of experience beyond Double-A won’t discourage the Orioles from auditioning him. “Bailey has a strong track record of performance everywhere he’s been, including at the Double-A level in a starting capacity,” pro scouting director Mike Snyder said. “He has a full assortment of weapons to lefthanded hitters and to righthanded hitters, and we’re excited to see what he can do in the spring.” Bailey was…

is BA’s For the Love of the Game Selection Partner ● JORDAN SPENCER, 12, CITY NAME, MI Helping others, being a great athlete and an even better student are some of things Jordan strives for. At the age of 11, he received numerous awards and accomplishments on the field. Jordan is also a leader off the field. A principal’s list recipient, he earned a 4.06 GPA. He volunteers at local food banks and actively participates with his church, feeding and assisting the less fortunate. He is youth member of our local NAACP chapter and is welcomed as a leader on his baseball teams. ● TRENT NASAKAITIS, 15, BILOXI, MS Trent has spent the last two seasons in and out of the hospital dealing with digestive problems. Last season, he battled…

Recency bias colors how we perceive prospect performance—except when it comes to giving players credit for late-season development. A player who struggled through the first half but shined in the second will tend to be viewed less positively than one who excelled early but faded late. That’s because in many cases there exists a lagging awareness of value for the second-half standout. We will help remedy that situation by examining five pitchers and five hitters who performed markedly better in the second half of 2019 than the first. Maybe these prospects figured something out. Maybe they adapted to a higher level of competition after the game sped up on them initially. Maybe it’s random variance. Regardless, the astute dynasty player is always looking for value, and these 10 prospects could…

The 2010s were a time of change in college baseball. The game said goodbye to Rosenblatt Stadium and hello to TD Ameritrade Park. The BBCOR bat standard and then the move to a baseball with lower seams changed the way the game was played. Mike Martin and Augie Garrido, the two winningest coaches in college sports retired, part of a passing of the torch in dugouts across the country. A decade is dawning in college baseball. It’s hard to imagine the 2020s will be as full of change as the 2010s proved to be, but there are still potentially seismic developments ahead. The NCAA is beginning to enable players to profit from their name, image and likeness. There is serious talk of increasing scholarships across the board for equivalency sports,…

PATRICK BAILEY, C NORTH CAROLINA STATE The top-ranked catcher in the 2020 class, Bailey entered college as an advanced defender with offensive concerns. He proved those concerns were unwarranted by leading all Atlantic Coast Conference freshmen in hitting (.321) before batting .325/.444/.598 as a sophomore. He brings power from both sides of the plate. Bailey also has strong plate discipline. AUSTIN MARTIN, 3B VANDERBILT Martin led the nation in runs (87) as a sophomore at the top of a potent Vanderbilt offense and has one of the best hit tools in the country. His excellent bat speed and athleticism allows him to confidently play third, shortstop and center field. Martin also began tapping into more power, going from one home run as a freshman to eight in his follow-up campaign.…

TEAM TO BEAT: LOUISVILLE The No. 2 preseason team in the country, Louisville should compete for a national title this season with a deep group of returning players that includes a strong core of hitters and impact pitching with a 1-2 punch of lefty Reid Detmers, righty Bobby Miller and lefty closer Michael Kirian. While the Cardinals lost a number of players to the 2019 draft—including first baseman Logan Wyatt, shortstop Tyler Fitzgerald, righty Michael McAvene and lefty Nick Bennett—they routinely bring more talent through the program. Third baseman Alex Binelas looks like one of the better hitters in the 2021 draft class and should help carry the offense, alongside returners like short-stop Justin Lavey, outfielder Zach Britton and second baseman Lucas Dunn. Catcher Henry Davis has one of the…

ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS For the first time in nearly a decade, the Diamondbacks will have a new farm director. Mike Bell, who ascended to the post in November 2010, left the organization in December to become the bench coach for the Twins. With his exit, 37-year-old Josh Barfield will replace Bell atop the player development ladder for the D-backs. Barfield spent the past two seasons as Bell’s top assistant. Bell, 45, said he had a desire to return to the dugout during the past couple of seasons. “In the role that I was doing, I was totally immersed in it and loved it,” Bell said. “But being in the clubhouse again, in the dugout, that closely linked to your teammates and the guys, there’s just…

JOE SHEEHAN @JOE_SHEEHAN This month, I give you my most interesting 2,020 players for the 2020s. … Wait, I have an editor on the line. Fine, since Baseball America won’t just give me 15 pages, I’ll lower my sights. Here are 20 players who will help set the course of the 2020 season. ANDREW BENINTENDI, RED SOX. One reason the Red Sox entertained the idea of trading Mookie Betts is the presence of Benintendi, like Betts a complete player. The sweet swinger lost ground in 2019, however, dropping to career-worsts in average (.266), on-base percentage (.343), homers (13) and stolen bases (10). With or without Betts, Benintendi’s return to stardom is essential to the Red Sox competing with the Yankees in the American League East. EDWIN DIAZ, METS. Diaz went…