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I for sure wasn't attacking anyone. The ridiculous ratio obviously speaks to his crazy low walk rate. Still, seems funny.

lukethedrifter wrote:I for sure wasn't attacking anyone. The ridiculous ratio obviously speaks to his crazy low walk rate. Still, seems funny.

Yeah, I was just wanting you to know I knew you weren't saying anything...I just used your post as a springboard for clarification.

I don't get the appeal for Cleto. I mean, yes I understand he sits around 98 all the time. But he doesn't have a consistent breaking ball and will walk the ballpark.

ilstu24 wrote:I don't get the appeal for Cleto. I mean, yes I understand he sits around 98 all the time. But he doesn't have a consistent breaking ball and will walk the ballpark.

BUT HE THROWS A HUNDRED!!!

I think the intrigue is that the base for him starts at such a higher plane because of his velocity. If he takes even a small step forward with his breaking ball he is already an average major league reliever. For cost controlled that's valuable.

If his control or slider takes a decent step forward he could be an 8th inning guy.

For me, you never give up on tools until you have to, and Cleto has made incremental improvements every year. He's a lower rated prospect for me, but he's a prospect nonetheless.

On another note, I'm extremely intrigued with how Anthony Garcia goes this year. Last year I might have been a little too high on him, and this year I might be a little too down on him.

He struggled with velocity and his trigger leaves him exposed to hard stuff in, but that can be said for several hitters (including Holliday at times), but the power is functional. I just saw him have to cheat a few times to get the power functional in-game, and his other tools are all pretty average to below. He's fairly age appropriate, but his progress has been very slow. Are there developmental elements I'm not aware of? It's certainly possible with a Latin player (culture, language, maturity being on own for first time etc). Any number of things could help explain why the Cards have been so methodical with his development that doesn't include the Cards being cautious with him (which is usually an indication how a club feels about a player's true talent level).

I'm constantly trying to improve and grow with my evaluation skills and learn from both successes and misses. Garcia will be a great test case for me...I've got him as a lower prospect, while the stats and a few prospect evaluators have him much higher.