Absolutely. Really excited to see Aplin rake in the Cali league and develop his power swing. Looks to have some Springer-esque tools.
Whoa that's a crazy move. Power is not Aplin's game at all. He has below average power. This is a pretty reckless promotion in my eyes. Tri-City is a known hitter-friendly environment. He's a classic CF. Good glove, good speed, light/no power. I'd hate to see him ruin his peripherals chasing home runs. He has a <1 K:BB ratio in the NYPL; that's going to blow up in the Cali league. This lines up the CF depth for next season spring nicely though. AAA: Grossman AA: Springer A+: Aplin
Maybe they know something we don't know. Who knows, maybe he's developing some pop. Players develop and evolve sometime. Heck, even Michael Bourn @ 29yrs old is having a power surge season haha. Thinking about it now though, I'd have been ok with Aplin to Lex, Meredith to Lancaster and let Muren finish the season as Lan full time CF.
You're right that it's short of being an absolutely ridiculous promotion, e.g. Corpus. I guess I'm more perturbed by sending 1/2 hitters like DDJ and Aplin to Lancaster. I'm worried they'll go power/pull happy and ruin their nice on-base numbers.
I worry about it with DDJ. Aplin being older, I feel better about. Though I must admit, reading Aplin's scouting report from TCB, he has an uppercut to his swing that could result in a good number of HRs in Lancaster. What sucks is even though our contract with Lancaster expiring, it doesn't look like there will be a good alternative. I think we will end up re-upping for another 2 seasons.
BA did a overview of PDC's the other day. You're right. The situation doesn't look good for getting a new affiliate, especially one outside the California league. I don't know exactly how Lancaster/the Cali league affects left-handed hitters (Aplin's a lefty). Obviously for the righties, there's a huge inflation but I'm not sure what the effect is on lefties.
Look no further than: Sucks to be in the Cali league and the PCL, which are both more hitter friendly leagues.
PCL's a whatever, there's not too many options at that level. Cali seems to be the worst of the three HiA leagues. Carolina - neutral Cali - hitter friendly FSL - pitcher friendly
We will stay PCL for geographic reasons. I hope we stay in OKC, since RR is gone forever now. Only acceptable move would be back to New Orleans. Our best shot out of Lancaster is to buy our own franchise like our predecessor, the Red Sox. Moving to the AL West though makes me think the Astros now have incentive to stay in the Cali league, though player development has to come before attracting a few thousand extra fans. Macon, GA sitting here with an empty stadium (and discussing building a new stadium) and is in close enough to the Carolina League or FSL... I'm dreaming, but it is fun to dream.
Agreed. Our best move into the Carolina/Florida State leagues are buying in. Having a HiA affiliate in a neutral league close to our other affiliates is the ideal situation.
Weird how A+ despite 3 leagues is only on the coasts. Of course, the FSL would be close to Kissimmee, while the Carolina League would be closer to Lexington/Greeneville.
Taken out for Bushue (human victory cigar). A game score of 85; gotta be the best in the organization this year right?
