Rangers Minor League Relievers......

[Drbio]

Another great read by MJ Hindman from the Newberg Report........

Top 10 Relievers in the Rangers Minor League System:



#1) Erick Burke:

Notes: The Tigers made lefty Erick Burke their 11th round choice in 1999 and he was quite frankly horrible at three levels of the Detroit system over two years. He was sent to short season Oneota after the ‘99 draft and came back with an 8.82 ERA in 16 innings and then in 2000, he split time between low A West Michigan (7.03 in 32 innings) and high A Lakeland (5.09 in 17 innings) where he was little better before the Tigers gave up on him. The Rangers scooped him up in January of 2001 and he turned it all around. Sent back to low A Savannah in 2001, Burke was very good, with a 3.99 ERA in 76 innings, fanning 69 and walking 22. Then he was sent on to Charlotte for an even better FSL season in 2002 when he had a 3.35 ERA in 83 innings and in 2003, he broke out, stamping himself as a quality lefthanded arm out of Tim Ireland's Frisco pen, giving the Riders 59 innings with a 2.59 ERA. By the end of the season, Burke was dominating and his success spilled over into the winter league season when he went to Puerto Rico and built a 1.13 ERA in eight innings of work. Burke continues to walk a few too many hitters and will have to cut down on free passes to make the next leap forward.
2004 Season Projection: Burke earned an invitation to the major league camp this spring but will probably start off in the OKC pen since the Rangers already have lefties Brian Shouse, Ron Mahay and Erasmo Ramirez in their big league pen. He will almost certainly see Arlington this summer nonetheless.

#1A) Steve Rowe:

Notes: Only the fact that Burke has already conquered what is generally regarded as the biggest jump in the climb to the majors (high A to double A) puts him slightly ahead of Rowe. The right hander was signed by Texas as a non-drafted free agent out of the Texas Tech in 2002 and then went on to pitch for three different teams in the system that summer. Through stops at Pulaski, Gulf Coast and Savannah, Rowe racked up a combined 62.2 innings with 57 strikeouts and only 8 walks. This year, assigned to Stockton, Rowe exploded, stamping himself as the best closer in the Cal League, refusing to allow an earned run after June 12. Read that again: He did not allow a single run to cross the plate after June 12! From there on out, Rowe tossed 37.1 innings, allowed 14 hits and ten walks and fanned 36. The Cal League hit a hopeless .183 against Rowe--who features a good fastball and a plus-plus slider--in a year when he went 5-0 with 15 saves. He simply could not have been any better. Rowe is also an extraordinary young man whose character and makeup will only improve his chances with this organization.
2004 Season Preview: If you faithfully read the recaps last year, you know that I quickly became the world's biggest Steve Rowe advocate and before you scoff at how high I am on this guy, just remember that it wasn't long ago that another right-handed undrafted free-agent reliever with a filthy slider came from out of nowhere to hold down prominent role in the Rangers bullpen. It is certainly mere guesswork on my part to project how Grady Fuson, John Lombardo, Tim Ireland and Steve Luebber view Rowe or the bullpen scene, but I'd be surprised if Rowe is not given the opportunity to close games for the RoughRiders this year. With Spike Lundberg gone to St. Louis, Rowe is poised to assume Spike's role as the top right-handed relief prospect in the system. Oddly enough, the Rangers seem to have far more promising options for left handed than right handed relief. If Jeff Zimmerman doesn't make it all the way back and stay healthy throughout the season, and if Rosman Garcia continues to be as inconsistent as he was last year, it is possible (a longshot, yes, but possible nonetheless) that Rowe could move all the way up at some point if he continues to deal like he did last year. He's simply too good to ignore.

#3) Jovanny Cedeno:

Notes: If Steve Rowe isn't the top right-handed bullpen prospect in the system, then the immensely talented but injury prone Cedeno probably is. The one-time Nolan Ryan Award winner (Rangers Minor League Pitcher of the Year) has seen his career sidelined by a torn labrum in his right shoulder that was discovered very early in the 2001 season. In 1999, Cedeno went 3-0 with a 0.33 ERA in 27.1 GCL innings, striking out 32 batters and the following season, he was overwhelming in Savannah, going 11-4 with a 2.42 ERA in 130.1 innings of work...fanning 153 and walking 53 while giving up just one homer the entire season. The Sally League hit just .204 against him. He pitched just 10.1 innings in the next two seasons combined and made a stealth comeback last season in Clinton where he made eight appearances, all out of the pen, and fanned 20 MWL batters in 18 frames. The right-handed kid with a 95 mph heater who won the Nolan Ryan award at 6'0", 160 lbs. back in 2000 has since added 30 lbs. to his frame and enters the season as a 24 year old.
2004 Season Projection: I'm just guessing on this, but I think that if Cedeno is going to make it, he will do so as a relief pitcher. There could be a lot of reasons why he didn't make a start last year, but since the organization has no qualms about giving guys who are coming off of injury starts right away (e.g. Nick Regilio), I suspect that the fact that Cedeno only appeared in relief last season means something. I project him starting the season in the Frisco bullpen, but would not be surprised if he gets some starts next year as well.


#4) Justin Thompson:

Notes: Yeah. I'm cheating. But he's still around, and while quietly parked out in Spokane all summer he stayed healthy the whole way and got guys out. Admittedly, he got guys out who were seven to ten years his junior, but he got them out nonetheless. From all accounts, JT is a "guy" and he made the most of his experience as a multi-millionaire riding around on a bus with the kids in the NWL all summer, assuming a sort of de-facto coach & mentor role. The kids out there called him "Big League," but Thompson was anything but big timing the youngsters. His proven ability (albeit years and years ago at this point), signs of health, tremendous attitude and left-handedness combine to make him a darkhorse candidate to emerge as a solid big league lefty specialist in the near future.
2004 Season Projection: Thompson has an invite to big legue camp, but will probably have to overwhelm Buck Showalter to earn an opening day gig on the 25 since Shouse and Mahay are already there. He signed a minor league deal in December and will probably go to Frisco to open the year, where he will be waiting in the wings.

#5) Travis Hughes:

Notes: Hughes is a reminder of a different era and developmental philosophy in the Rangers organization. He, like Colby Lewis, Joaquin Benoit, Nick Regilio, Justin Echols, Ryan Dittfurth, Jovanny Cedeno, etc. came into the system when the organization seemed to believe that only hard- throwing strikeout artists would succeed in TBiA and looked to assemble as many of them as possible on the farm. But the Doug Melvin-era assemblage of power arms seems to have given way to the Grady Fuson-era assemblage of guys with "pitchability." Hughes' rocket right arm made him a major prospect in the Doug Melvin era, but I suspect that he is not a guy that Grady Fuson would have even drafted. I feel fairly confident that Travis Hughes's days as a starter are over. His starts last year were, by and large, disasters while his moments of brilliance--and there were a few-- came out of the pen. He still possesses serious cheese and on a few occasions when I saw him, he looked comfortable coming out of the pen.
2004 Season Projection: Dropped from the 40 earlier this winter, Hughes is probably on his last chance. He will probably start off in the Oklahoma pen and could even be the RedHawks closer at some point.

#6) Frankie Francisco:

Notes: Coming up with the Red Sox, who signed him out of the Dominican, Francisco missed all of 1997 and most of 2000 with injuries, and he required elbow surgery before the 2001 season. He strained his shoulder early in the 2001 season but was dominant once he returned as his 92-95 mph fastball and 78-80 mph curveball were to much for Sally Leaguers who hit only .124 against him while he fanned them at the rate of 12.5 per nine innings. The Red Sox projected him as a reliever until he was shipped to Chicago in the Bobby Howry deal late in the 2002 season. The White Sox sent Francisco back to the high A Carolina League to start the 2003 season where he started 16 games, going 7-3 with a 3.56 ERA, nearly a K per inning, and too many walks. He also gave up seven bombs in 78 frames. When the Rangers got him in the Carl Everett deal, the bumped him up to double A Frisco and let him start seven games...but probably wish that they hadn't. Not good. In 35 innings, he gave up five dingers and the league got to him at a .304 clip.
2004 Season Projection: It seems that all Francisco has is the ability to throw pretty hard. He lacks control, has a bad injury history, gives up the long ball in large numbers, and is at the end of the road. He'll be in a bullpen, probably in Oklahoma, and he will sink or swim. Only his prospect pedigree allows him to make this list.

#7) Keith Stamler:

Notes: Stamler is just a sturdy old reliable plow horse, quite frankly. Odd as this sounds, he's sort of the poor man's R.A. Dickey. I imagine that if someone just went to work him out, watch him throw thirty pitches in an empty stadium with no batters, they'd be just about as likely to offer him a contract to play professional baseball as they would me. But Keith Stamler will take the ball as often as you give it to him (I believe that he appeared in something like 15 straight games for the Riders at one point last year) and he somehow gets guys out. You want one inning today? Fine. You need three or four tomorrow? Fine. The next day too? Fine. Stamler's your guy. He doesn't have a plus pitch (like Dickey's change, for example) and he doesn't throw particularly hard (37 K's in 69 AA innings last year), but his durability and reliability will make him a the sort of guy that is hard to quit on.
2004 Season Projection: Stamler saw a little time in OKC last year and will probably spend the whole summer there this year.

#8) Joel Kirsten:

Notes: Kirsten was a 25th rounder in 2002 and had a very ordinary year at Pulaski where the only number that stood out was his one-strikeout-per-inning average. He started off last season in the Clinton rotation where the MWL just clubbed him (.344 batting average against), but then after a brief sabbatical in extended spring training, he reappeared in Spokane as a reliever and was unreal. A lefty, Kirsten gave the Indians 31.1 innings (and would have given them more had he not suffered a bizarre self-inflicted wound to his face when a tension cord snapped back at him). The NWL hit .220 against him and he fanned 25 while walking eight as he built a 1.44 ERA.
2004 Season Projection: I haven't worked out the rosters to the point where I can say that there are enough lefties to stock the Frisco pen and thus Kirsten won't jump that high, but he could. More likely would be an assignment to Stockton.


#9) Dave Mazurek:

Notes: Here is the Steve Rowe of his class. A very successful college closer at Illinois, Mazurek signed as an undrafted free agent two days before the 2003 draft (he was a 5th year senior...long story) and proceeded to put together a nearly flawless NWL season (1-3, 10 saves, 2.03 ERA, 20 K's, eight walks in 30 frames, .235 batting-average-against). He then took his plus splitter to fall instructionals and continued to mow down hitters, giving up just one run on five hits in eleven innings of work, but he only fanned two. He lacks the high strikeout numbers of Rowe, but he gets guys out just as effectively so far. In spite of my opening sentence, I don't project his ceiling anywhere near Rowe's, but he'll get the chance to prove me wrong.
2004 Season Projection: He'll probably go to Clinton, but could just as easily skip low-A altogether.


#10) Luis Marcano:

Notes: I don't have a lot of info on this guy, but he was tremendous in Clinton all year in what was more or less the closer's role. I'm not even completely sure how he does it, because in spite of the fact that the had a 1.88 ERA in the MWL and the league hit .231 against him, he fanned only 27 in 52.2 innings--not really overpowering. But, like so many of the young Rangers pitchers, he kept the ball in the park (only one homer allowed all season) and didn't give up many freebies. Last season was Marcano's second go-round with low A hitters. He put up similar, though slightly less impressive numbers in Savannah in 2003.
2004 Season Projection: Marcano will almost certainly move on to Stockton where he will try to fill the spikes of the departed Steve Rowe.