Jesus Flores - 22-year old RH catcher from the New York Mets.
| Year | Team | Age | Org | Level | Pos | G | AB | BB | SO | AVG | OBP | SLG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | GC Mets | 19 | Nym | Rk | c | 45 | 141 | 8 | 26 | 0.319 | 0.368 | 0.532 |
| Brooklyn | 19 | Nym | A- | c | 3 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0.333 | 0.333 | 0.833 | |
| 2005 | Hagerstown | 20 | Nym | A | c-dh | 82 | 319 | 12 | 90 | 0.216 | 0.250 | 0.339 |
| 2006 | St. Lucie | 21 | Nym | A+ | c | 120 | 429 | 28 | 127 | 0.266 | 0.335 | 0.487 |
The Florida State League is (update) not known as a hitter’s paradise.
Scouting report from a New York Mets fan site:
Hitting: Flores has the potential to be one of the best catching prospects that the Mets have had in recent years. He has good power and has learned to take the ball to all fields. Like most young players, his plate discipline still needs some improvement.
Running: Perhaps the only flaw in Flores’ game is his speed, although he runs fairly well for a catcher.
Defense: Defense is clearly Flores’ best attribute. Some scouts regard him as the best defensive catcher in the Mets system. He has a very strong arm with an excellent release
Flores immediately becomes the top catching prospect in the Nationals organization. He is precisely the type of guy the Nationals should look for as part of their rebuilding effort.
His presence makes a couple of things most likely: (1) Brian Schneider is not going to see many offdays in 2007; and (2) Brandon Harper’s chances for making the team just got a bit more difficult. At present, the bats on the Nationals 25-man roster is a bit crowded. Assuming the following nine players are locks: Schneider, Nick Johnson, Felipe Lopez, Ryan Zimmerman, Cristian Guzman, Jose Vidro, Austin Kearns, Nook Logan, and at present, Ryan Church (assuming he’s not traded). That leaves 5 spots open for bats (assuming they carry 14). You would assume they’d carry five OFs, so add two out of Kory Casto, Alex Escobar, and Mike Restovich. With the remaining three spots, the Nationals would need a backup MI (Bernie Castro or Josh Wilson), a backup CI (no one right now), and a backup catcher, which has to be Flores as per the Rule 5 requirements. There have been rumors of the Nationals signing Jose Macias as a backup IF/OF, the 34-year old Macias has played 2B, 3B, and all three OF positions in his major league career (he’s an older version of Melvin Dorta). He’s one way the Nationals to carry three catchers.
Levale Speigner - 26-year old RHP from the Minnesota Twins
| Year | Team | Age | Org | Level | G/GS | IP | ERA | WHIP | HR9 | BB9 | K9 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Elizabethton | 22 | Min | Rk | 22/0 | 29.67 | 3.94 | 1.18 | 0.3 | 1.2 | 10.6 |
| 2004 | Quad City | 23 | Min | A | 22/0 | 31.67 | 2.84 | 1.33 | 0.3 | 4.3 | 8.2 |
| Fort Myers | 23 | Min | A+ | 22/1 | 73.33 | 1.10 | 0.82 | 0.4 | 1.7 | 6.0 | |
| 2005 | New Britain | 24 | Min | AA | 23/23 | 143.67 | 4.13 | 1.23 | 0.9 | 1.8 | 5.9 |
| Rochester | 24 | Min | AAA | 2/1 | 7.33 | 7.36 | 2.05 | 0.0 | 1.2 | 6.1 | |
| 2006 | New Britain | 25 | Min | AA | 40/0 | 58.00 | 3.26 | 1.29 | 0.8 | 2.2 | 5.7 |
| Rochester | 25 | Min | AAA | 9/0 | 12.67 | 4.97 | 1.66 | 0.7 | 3.6 | 5.7 |
Speigner is a relieif pitcher who has a low 90s fastball and a curve. Baseball America sees some promise in him. He seems to join the ranks of Chris Booker, Saul Rivera, Ryan Wagner, Jason Bregmann, Jermaine Van Buren, etc as righthanded options out of the bullpen. It will be interesting to see if (a) he performs well enough in spring training to earn a spot or (b) if the Nationals work out a deal with Minnesota to allow him to stick with Washington. Of interest is the fact that Minnesota selected MI Alejandro Machado from the Nationals in the major league portion of the draft. Perhaps a trade for each other can be worked out.
UPDATE: According to Mark Zuckerman at the Washington Times, Dana Brown views Speigner as a candidate for the 2007 rotation.
Justin Jones - His NFA review from a couple of days ago is here
Basil | 07-Dec-06 at 12:38 pm | Permalink
Sorry fo the nitpick, probably a typo, but isn’t the FSL known as a tough league for hitters?
Scot | 07-Dec-06 at 12:48 pm | Permalink
Yep, the FSL is known as a pitcher’s league, and St. Lucie appears to be a relatively neutral park overall, but tough on HRs (http://www.baseballthinkfactory.org/files/oracle/discussion/minor_league_park_factors_2006/ )
Scot.
Will | 07-Dec-06 at 1:06 pm | Permalink
If Flores is good defensively why wouldn’t he be able to spell Schneider regularly? Honestly, how would the drop in offense matter a bit? Last year, Schneider couldn’t get days of because our backup “catchers” couldn’t field, this year because they can’t hit. What’s it gonna take?
Brian J Oliver | 07-Dec-06 at 1:15 pm | Permalink
He could but for some reason I envision the Nationals protecting him to a point as he has never played above Low A. He could get 20-25 starts maximum, but that still means Schneider catches ~ 140 games
Chris | 07-Dec-06 at 1:29 pm | Permalink
I doubt that Flores is really a good defensive catcher based on some of the other less-than glowing adjectives used to describe him in some other places. He might be passable, but who really knows. He had a pretty severe wrist injury in ‘05. Maybe that’s affecting his throwing? Goldstein at BPro said his d “needs refining”
If he can stay at catcher, he’s a decent prospect. If he has to move, then he’s not much.
Just for the hell of it, his ‘06 MLE: 0.228 0.278 0.392
Scot | 07-Dec-06 at 2:11 pm | Permalink
Brian:
The FSL is actually high A - arguably the most advanced of the A leagues. It’s still a big step from high-A to the majors, but what do the Nats have to lose? It’s not like Harper is going to be all that much better, and Flores has tons of upside. You could argue that Flores is currently the best prospect in the Nats system - what do they have to lose by keeping him? It might set his development back a couple of years, but the Nats don’t need him to be good now, they need him to be good in a couple of years. For $50,000 plus a spot on the 25 man roster, I think it’s a gamble worth taking.
Scot.
Nate | 07-Dec-06 at 4:19 pm | Permalink
Catching involves a little more than blocking the plate and firing to 2B. The hardest adjustment for Flores will likely be handling a (quasi) big league pitching staff. And it’s not even as though Schneider can tutor him, b/c most of these guys will be brand new to Brian as well.
I think it’s much more likely Flores hangs around as a 3rd C/PH and gets his work in catching bullpen and side sessions. Anything north of 10 starts would shock me. Then they could send him to AA/AAA at age 23 next season for some final polishing.
Ryan Heimberger | 08-Dec-06 at 11:17 am | Permalink
I watched Jesus Flores quite a bit in 2005 at Hagerstown.
At that point he was barely adequate defensively for the Class A South Atlantic League. Flores seems to have some long-term potential, but I doubt he’ll stick on the major league roster.