5/3 Gameday Thread: You Say You Want A Ravelo-tion

Luis Ravelo .303/.390/.439

I'd usually put the threshold for promotion at around ~250 ABs of good performance unless the player truly is unmatched at the level. Meidroth may get the bump before that, maybe in June? I don't think Yorke will get promoted any time soon given his tough season last year. Maybe August if all things go well?

Marcelo Mayer with a bomb. He's 4-4 today with 2 doubles and now a HR.

Akron's starter Joey Cantillo is absolutely tearing through the Portland lineup. Portland has struck out 13 times through 5 innings.

Ryan Zeferjahn with a rehab appearance tonight in Salem.

But he’s also still probably young for the level and if he gets a promotion based off of that level of skill advancement he’d also be way age advanced for AA

Ronald Rosario reached base 5 times today, going 1-1 with 4 walks

Yeesh. Portland lineup strikes out 19 times in 28 ABs. Sikes with the golden sombrero. Rafaela with 3 Ks.

Could be any number of things. He almost certainly was hurt from 6/22-7/7, then went through stretches when he didn't catch at all - only 1B and DH. Could be that he put a lot of work in during the offseason. Could be he was dinged up and getting load managed. Will need to look into that.

Woof. But kinda why I hope he's promoted to Portland soon so he can actually be challenged and the org can get a better idea of what his ceiling and floor is.

So I don't mean to pick on you, but this is part of why I get frustrated when players get reduced to types. It's similar to "Ozzie Smith was a defense-first shortstop so why isn't Omar Vizquel in the Hall of Fame?" Very simply, because while they're similar types, one is better than the other.

Yorke has significantly more power presently, and more potential to add power. His offensive upside is that nobody really cares if he's a mediocre-to-poor second baseman. Either he ends up just being bat-first at the spot, or he moves to a corner outfield spot or first base and rakes. There's a path where he's a right fielder who hits like .280/.380/.500. Or his defense takes a step forward and he's fine at second, putting less pressure on his bat.

Meidroth was one of the three players I was most excited about in camp (Drohan and Alcantara were the other two). I love, love, love his contact skill. He also has enough upside to be a bat-first second baseman, with high batting averages and OBP's. I also thought he was fine defensively out there - good hands, quick release, not super rangy but not a statue by any means. I like his chances to stick at second a little better than Yorke, but some of that is the fact he's more likely to need to stay at second.

So why is he ranked 20 spots lower? For one thing, the physical difference is unmistakable. While I've always been a proponent of taking guys who can hit no matter the athleticism, Meidroth has such a soft-looking body that gives me concern. Maybe it's a Nikola Jokic situation where he's just sort of a pasty-looking guy who also happens to be a freak, but I really, really need to see his body hold up over a season. He looked to be in better shape than he was from stuff I saw from him in college, so it's very possible that a pro conditioning program is going to solidify that body, but I also think he's also the type who just isn't a natural athlete. It's going to be a bigger challenge for him. He's also a highly-polished college hitter, exactly the sort of player who is having more success than ever in Class A. Think of Niko Kavadas last year, who absolutely CRUSHED Class A (both Salem and Greenville) but is struggling very badly now with pitchers who can throw a curveball for strikes. That doesn't mean Kavadas won't make an adjustment and figure it out, and it doesn't mean Meidroth will have the same trouble (his bat control is much better than Kavadas's), but it exemplifies the way that you don't want to overreact to this type of player doing well at the level. Also, as it compares to Yorke, I don't see him having major league power in the way that plays at a corner. The Youkilis comp will come up because of the physicality, but Youkilis was strong as an ox - I don't see Meidroth being a .200+ Iso guy like Youkilis was or Yorke could end up. That puts more pressure on the contact and on-base skills to continue to play up, it will allow pitchers to challenge him in more situations - it's just a narrower path to success than it is for Yorke.

I bring these negatives not as a way to bury Meidroth (again, he's one of the players I'm most excited about seeing develop), but to give an insight into the way we try to weigh these issues when we do the rankings. But if he holds up physically, and he continues to hit once he's promoted to Double-A? Then yeah, he'll move up quite a lot.