OK, in Part 1 we talked about our 2022 draftees and what their assignments mean and don't mean. In Part 2 we will have a little more on that subject but do a much deeper dive into each minor league team and which players were assigned to which team. I will preface all of this by first saying that what goes into where guys are assigned is as much about organizational preference as it is about where guys DESERVE to be assigned or where I would LIKE them to be assigned. So, where guys are assigned might not make sense to us but it makes sense to the Guardians, based on what is best for the organization. For example, putting experienced catchers with inexperienced pitchers makes sense as those pitchers need guidance and who better to give it than former college catchers who have pro experience (see Crash Davis).
COLUMBUS
There is not a lot that can be said about this roster. The hitters are, for the most part (Jose Tena?), exactly who I would want on this roster, I have to admit I don't understand Eric Rodriguez as the 4th catcher nor do I understand the need for Daniel Schneeman when Jose Tena has proved that he is done with AA and ALL the middle infielders we have on the Columbus roster have been trained to play 2nd, SS and 3rd so there should be enough ABs to go around. But, as I said, overall most of these guys were what I would have done.
As far as the pitchers, I am a lttle miffed that Gavin Williams isn't in Columbus, especially when the 2nd and 3rd games we did, respectively, a bullpen game and a game where Adam Scott started and hit 5 guys in less than 2 innings. It's almost irrelevant who the bullpen guys are with Mikolajchak and Misaszek hurt. They are just AAAA guys but I am sure guys like Toussaint and Norris may get cameos during the year.
AKRON
Pitching starts with the rotation and the rotation here is solid: Williams, Cantillo, Burns, Nickhazy and Carver. The bullpen has some interesting guys like Benton, Sharpe, Smith and Stanley and some career minor league types, as well. With the rotation being this stacked there is little room, currently, for anyone else to come up from Lake County although I anticipate 2 starting pitchers from Akron spending a good chunk of time in Columbus and maybe even a cup of coffee in Cleveland, if everything works out, thus opening spots in Akron for Lake County starters to move up.
Having Lavastida playing regularly at AA is the best possible outcome for him in what I imagine is his last year in the organization if he doesn't really turn things around. Having him backed up by career minor leaguers Amditis and Berglund is perfect. The infielders, except for Tena, look about right but it is interesting that Pena wasn't even listed on the Akron roster that I saw. The outfielders appear about right, too. Like Lavastida, many of the hitters on this roster are in make or break years. If Bracho, Delgado, Naranjo, Escobedo, Rodriguez and Kokx don't show something this year they may be released this winter, allowed to walk as 6-year free agents or become organizational players (I think Escobedo and Bracho are already almost at that point).
LAKE COUNTY
The starting rotation looks solid here and, while it is surprising that Aaron Davenport is in Lake County again, all you have to do is look at how stacked Akron's rotation is and see that until that logjam clears, he will remain at Lake County. Ditto his rotation mates who, added together, give the Captains a strong rotation of Mace, Davenport, Denholm, Dion and Webb. The bullpen will include a bunch of prospects including Josh Wolf, Lenny Torres and a bunch of the 2021 college pitching draft class.
The catching has more offense here but I still don't see, besides Lavastida being at Akron, how the split of catchers between Akron, Lake County and Lynchburg make sense. As far as the other positional players, I will start with a riddle: what do you get when you add Juan Brito and Isaiah Greene together? A lot of walks. It is tough to see how we are going to have enough ABs for Brito, Frias, Tolentno, Cairo and Valdes, the latter two in danger of drifting into organizational player territory. I think this mix also relegates Fox to the OF full-time. That being said, this infield contains a lot of prospects, including Sanquintin and Bartlett, who can still make a move this year but, if they don't, they could be in another organization next year. One other point: if Fox is in the outfield AND they drafted Lampe with the idea that his biggest worth is if he can play centerfield, what does that say about the Guardians' opinion of Lampe in centerfield less than a year after they drafted Lampe if Fox is the primary centerfielder? If Lampe can't beat out a kid who would, essentially, just be a college junior this year and is relagated to left field, that is not good? Aside from that battle, I don't see how there are enough ABs for Fox, Lampe, Burgos, Idrogo and Greene. It makes Idrogo look more like an organizational guy which would be disappointing for him at his young age. Idrogo may end up back at Lynchburg.
BTW, I am pissed that the Captains game was not available on MLB.com today. Let's hope that gets fixed soon as it was tough to not see the Captains last year and how their prospects were developing.
LYNCHBURG
As far as the pitching goes, we haven't seen many international signees in the Columbus, Akron and Lake County rosters. In fact, you could make a case that none of those rosters have ANY significant international signees on their teams giving a reason why there may be a big backup of these players, especially pitchers, at Lynchburg. Again, as far as the rotation, Messick and Peterson will likely overmatch the younger players like Will Dion did last year and guys like Richardson, Zapata, Gomez, etc. will be battling for the other rotation spots with the losers ending up out in the bullpen along with the other guys up from the ACL or returning to Lynchburg.
For the catchers, the agressive placement of Manuel Mejias here is exciting but you have to ask what is he doing on a roster if you are keeping veteran minor league catches like Fascia and Filia there, too. Maybe they are there to tutor Mejias but it seems odd that he would need TWO tutors. Having Furman on the infield with Tyresse Turner there makes me wonder where Juan Benjamin, Pestrano and Devers are going to play. In the outfield you have 3 college outfielders from the 2022 draft (Cavanaugh, Lipscomb and Zarate) with international prospects like Antunez and Saduy fighting for playing time against older, more experienced players.
In fact, the whole roster has set up some David and Goliath battles for playing time across the pitching staff and position players. It will be interesting to see how this works out.
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