http://www.scoutingbook.com/ We Keep Up on Baseball Prospects, Rookies and Closers so you don't have to. For Fans and Fantasy Players. Sat, 25 May 2013 05:04:00 GMT Sat, 25 May 2013 05:04:00 GMT Top/Sports/Baseball en-us http://www.scoutingbook.com/gifs/scout-rss-title.gif http://www.scoutingbook.com/ 144 36 30 Apr 2013 13:30:00 PDT http://www.scoutingbook.com/blog/expanded-mlb-closerwatch-details http://www.scoutingbook.com/blog/expanded-mlb-closerwatch-details (TOP STORY) No matter whether you're a fantasy player or just a hardcore baseball fan, relief pitching is probably one of your biggest frustrations. Relievers are notoriously flaky, and their grip on the job is usually a weak one: some teams will replace their setup men and closers not just once, but many times per season. Meanwhile, fans and fantasy players lose hair over each blown save or meltdown, and hope that some new pitcher in the minor leagues will be their team's late-inning salvation... someday. [more...] http://www.scoutingbook.com/closers/?CIN454 http://www.scoutingbook.com/closers/CIN#454 Update: CIN -- The Reds have placed LHP Sean Marshall back on the DL for the second time this year. The official report lists Marshall as having a sprained shoulder. The Cincinnati bullpen has performed pretty well without the lefty setup artist in the past, thanks to Jon Broxton and rookie JJ Hoover stepping up their games, so the team should be all right for the next few weeks. (5/24/2013) http://www.scoutingbook.com/?rss-up5/24/2013 http://www.scoutingbook.com/?up5/24/2013 These prospects have moved up in our composite rankings recently: Jurickson Profar (#1)... Carlos Correa (#13)... Yasiel Puig (#16)... Anthony Rendon (#25)... Jake Odorizzi (#40)... Oswaldo Arcia (#45)... Michael Wacha (#53)... Trevor Rosenthal (#55)... Adam Eaton (#66)... Jonathan Gray (#71)... Didi Gregorius (#72)... Mark Appel (#90)... Evan Gattis (#94)... Braden Shipley (#150)... DJ Peterson (#152)... Sean Manaea (#162)... Sean Nolin (#202)... Kris Bryant (#203)... Colin Moran (#217)... Michael Kickham (#221)... Ryne Stanek (#245)... Jonathan Denney (#261)... Marco Gonzales (#307)... Austin Wilson (#312)... Austin Meadows (#325)... Jonathon Crawford (#326)... Clint Frazier (#344)... JP Crawford (#351)... Oscar Mercado (#365)... Phillip Ervin (#379)... Reese McGuire (#393)... Trey Ball (#401)... Hunter Harvey (#402)... Chris Anderson (#430)... Karsten Whitson (#438)... Cavan Biggio (#471)... Ryan Eades (#519)... Dominic Smith (#539)... Bobby Wahl (#541)... Kohl Stewart (#558)... Kevin Ziomek (#567)... Ian Clarkin (#589)... Tom Windle (#621)... Trevor Williams (#629)... Aaron Judge (#638)... See our detailed prospect rankings for more info. (5/24/2013) http://www.scoutingbook.com/?down5/24/2013 http://www.scoutingbook.com/?down5/24/2013 These prospects have moved down in our composite rankings recently: None. See our detailed prospect rankings for more info. (5/24/2013) 30 Mar 2013 18:37:58 PDT http://www.scoutingbook.com/ http://www.scoutingbook.com/blog/new-farm-strength-rankings-2013 If there's anything we love more than baseball here at Scouting Book, it's building new tools we can use to study and follow baseball from new angles. Today, we're taking the wraps off our newest favorite toy, a tool to measure and track the overall strength of all 30 MLB minor league systems. [more...] 28 Mar 2013 00:00:41 PDT http://www.scoutingbook.com/ http://www.scoutingbook.com/blog/was-washington-nationals-top-prospects-2013 No team has done a better job building a home-made contender than the Washington Nationals. Unlike many franchises that throw all-in for a win-now season or two, cashing in and cashing out prospects and veterans as the winds dictate, the Nats have used prudence and caution to build a solid foundation of core players that should keep the club in contention for most of the next decade. [more...] 27 Mar 2013 00:01:22 PDT http://www.scoutingbook.com/ http://www.scoutingbook.com/blog/mia-miami-marlins-top-prospects-2013 They say some victims stay with abusive partners because they adjust to the mistreatment as if it's some new kind of normal. If that's the case, Marlin season-ticket holders must be studies in the Stockholm Syndrome. No matter how poorly the team treats its supporters with big promises followed by big selloffs, fans keep coming back anyway. Even in the worst-attended ballpark in the country, hundreds (even thousands) of fans still, somehow, believe. The Marlins are proof of one of the oldest maxims in the game: Baseball always survives, no matter how hard ownership tries to kill it. [more...] 26 Mar 2013 00:02:03 PDT http://www.scoutingbook.com/ http://www.scoutingbook.com/blog/phi-philadelphia-phillies-top-prospects-2013 Some MLB ballclubs veer from plan-A to plan-B and back again as each season passes. The Phillies, contrarily, have been resolute with their corporate philosophy. The team drafts the best overall athletes possible, without regard to their MLB-readiness or their own positional needs. The team also drafts pitching that is predominantly left-handed, presumably to increase their odds of catching the next Cole Hamels in a bottle. [more...] 25 Mar 2013 00:16:44 PDT http://www.scoutingbook.com/ http://www.scoutingbook.com/blog/atl-atlanta-braves-top-prospects-2013 One way a team can leverage a powerful farm is by populating their big league roster with the best young ballplayers possible. Home-drafted and grown players represent an enormous cost savings when compared with similarly-skilled veterans, leaving much more of the budget available to deal with shortcomings as they arise. The Braves have excelled at this kind of management, never shy about bringing in one or two expensive free agents if it's needed to get them to the playoffs. [more...] 23 Mar 2013 16:44:38 PDT http://www.scoutingbook.com/ http://www.scoutingbook.com/blog/nym-new-york-mets-top-prospects-2013 It's tough to be a Mets fan. The team has either traded away most of its top players, or allowed them to walk away in free agency. (Either way, they usually seem to end up in Toronto.) Meanwhile, the team has finished fourth in the NL East for four consecutive seasons, with ever-worsening records each year, and ownership keeps cutting payroll. [more...] 22 Mar 2013 00:14:04 PDT http://www.scoutingbook.com/ http://www.scoutingbook.com/blog/mlw-milwaukee-brewers-top-prospects-2013 The Milwaukee Brewers are an interesting case study, at least from a postmortem perspective. A team that made all the classic 'win now' moves to compete in recent seasons fell short, creating two problems: a legion of heartbroken fans, and a farm system depleted by trade. [more...] 21 Mar 2013 00:03:04 PDT http://www.scoutingbook.com/ http://www.scoutingbook.com/blog/pit-pittsburgh-pirates-top-prospects-2013 In 2012, the Pirates were one of the strangest rides in baseball, and the strangeness went far deeper than their unexpected run at contention. The team that looked like a playoff candidate in July before collapsing was even more surprising in the minor league department, where the organization suffered a series of embarrassing turns. [more...] 18 Mar 2013 23:04:01 PDT http://www.scoutingbook.com/ http://www.scoutingbook.com/blog/stl-st-louis-cardinals-top-prospects-2013 By some reckoning, today's St. Louis Cardinals are the original farming baseball team, so it's not a surprise the team has the league's longest tradition of finding and developing its own young talent. This tradition is visible in the MLB ballclub of today. [more...]