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Jean Segura: Angels Top Prospect #10

by rghan on Feb 8, 2010 2:38 PM PST in Minor Leagues Comment 14 comments

10) Jean Segura, 3/17/90 - 2B, Advanced Rookie Ball, AAA

.346/.392/.512, 3 HR, 11 SB. +9 bat, +0 glove

Ranking in a Nutshell: Segura has flashed four potentially plus tools in his young pro career: tremendous contact ability, plenty of speed, some power, and a promising arm. He's still working on the glove, but the rest of the package is impressive enough for Tom Kotchman to claim last summer, "he may be the best position player prospect in the [Pioneer] League." That said, Segura has succumbed to season ending injuries for two consecutive years now, and remains a long, long way away from the major leagues.

Track Record: Segura's pro career began on the talented 2007 DSL Angels team that also featured Fabio Mesa Martin, Luis Jimenez, Alexia Amarista, Manuarys Correa, and Ariel Pena. He shared keystone duties with Amarista, and put up a .324/.392/.393 line with 22 stolen bases. The 139 OPS+ in that league and park was outstanding for a 17 year old, and encouraged the Halos to send him stateside the following year. He broke his leg shortly after the 2008 season began, had surgery to insert a pin into his foot, so took the prospect scene by surprise in 2009. The Halos sent him to AAA just one month after he turned 19 and he hit .421 in 19 at bats; he then put up a .346/.392/.512 line with 3 HR's and 11 SB's in the Pioneer League while fanning in just 6% off his plate appearances. I hear he and Mike Trout have scheduled a spring training cage fight to decide who leads off for the Kernels next year.

Win-the-Lottery-Ceiling: Howie Kendrick with more speed and arm. Of course, if he arrives at Kendrick's present level he will have won the lottery, but he has the tools to project to a bit higher ceiling right now. Did I mention that he's a long, long ways away from the majors?

Scouting Report: (beneath the jump)

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Confusion Over Out of Options Players

by WiHaloFan on Feb 8, 2010 12:59 PM PST Comment 64 comments

I don't know about you, but I've been completely confused about which Angel players are out of options and which can still be sent to the minors. I contacted the Angels front office and received the definite list from Jennifer Hoyer in the Angels Communications department:

Jason Bulger
Brian Stokes
Brandon Wood
Bobby Wilson
Terry Evans

I was under the impression that Rich Thompson and Ryan Budde were also on that list, but I was wrong.

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Angels Spring Training Advent Countdown

by WiHaloFan on Feb 8, 2010 8:11 AM PST Comment 140 comments

9_medium

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Trevor Bell: Angels Top Prospect #11

by rghan on Feb 8, 2010 1:23 AM PST in Minor Leagues Comment 7 comments

More photos » Tony Dejak - AP

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11) Trevor Bell, 10/12/86 - RHSP, AA, AAA, Majors

7 wins, 7 losses. 140 IP, 2.70 ERA, 89 SO/35 BB. +23 runs saved

Ranking in a Nutshell: Regardless of his big league struggles, Bell had a phenomenal year in the minors due to exceptional control and an uptick in velocity - he currently touches 95 mph on the radar gun, and sits at 92. While some of his minor league success was undoubtedly due to luck on balls in play, his ground ball and pop-up rates suggest that much of his improvement in '09 was real. With potentially plus command and a deep repertoire, he is a legitimate candidate for the back of the Angels' rotation in 2010.

Track Record: Bell's prospect status goes all the way back to 2001, when Baseball America named him the best 14-year-old pitcher in America. The Angels selected him out of high school in the supplemental round of the 2005 draft with their first pick, 37th overall. His pro debut was uninspiring, and the next two years were little better: he didn't pitch poorly exactly, but was overshadowed by fellow 2005 draftees Sean O'Sullivan and Jeremy Haynes, and 2006 draftee David Herndon. 2008 was the nadir, seeing Bell bounce between A-ball and High-A and ultimately lose his starting role. Off the field, however, Bell showed real character when the floods hit Cedar Rapids, initiating his own fundraising efforts before the rest of Angels organization (publicly) did anything. The additional karma might have pushed him over the edge, because he finally broke out in AA last year. He kept on rolling after his promotion to AAA by inducing solid 50% and 16% ground ball and pop-up rates respectively, though his K rate dropped from 6.7 K/9 to 4.8 K/9 against the better competition. The efficiency allowed him to throw two complete game shutouts for the Bees, though at other times all of that contact caught up with him - in his final two full starts for Salt Lake, he yielded 9 hits and 13 hits respectively.

In the majors... well, we all saw what happened in the majors. His slider was inconsistent and therefore got mashed, his change-up fooled no one, and he didn't command his fastball/cutter well enough to help his other pitches play up.

Win-the-Lottery-Ceiling: This is a reach, but bear with me: Bartolo Colon, circa 2005. Like Colon, Bell's on the shorter end of the pitching spectrum, but has the clean, repeatable mechanics to rack up a ton of innings. Like Colon, he can cut and move his fastball effectively. At this point their velocities are similar (Bell in ‘09 to Colon in '05). Colon generates more arm side run on his fastball than we've seen thus far in Bell's career, but maybe it will come for the 22-year old. Lastly, pitch f/x shows that the velocity and break of their offspeed stuff is similar, suggesting that with better command Bell could use those pitches more effectively. That's the win-the-lottery scenario; odds are, Bell winds up a middle reliever and swingman.

Scouting Report: (beneath the jump)

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ANGELS ALL TIME JERSEY ROSTER - #15

by Rev Halofan on Feb 7, 2010 7:43 PM PST in News Comment 9 comments

Angels Uniform #15

1961: Ted Kluszewski
1962: Tom Burgess
1963: Bob Sadowski
1964, 65: Lou Clinton
1966: Frank Malzone
1967: Woodie Held
1968: Woodie Held and Wayne Causey and Winston Llenas
1970: Chico Ruiz
1971: Chico Ruiz and Rudy Meoli
1972: Tom Dukes
1973: Art Kusnyer
1974: Denny Doyle
1975: Denny Doyle and Ron Jackson and Ike Hampton
1976: Carlos Lopez and Ike Hampton
1977, 78: Ike Hampton
1979: Ike Hampton and Dan Ford
1980, 81: Dan Ford
1982, 83: Ron Jackson
1984: Ron Jackson and Derrel Thomas
1985 - 91: Kirk McCaskill
1992 - 2004, 2006: Tim Salmon