Who's making noise in your team's camp?

[Goober]

Time to spark up some spring training discussion. Which bubble players, are having the best springs on your favorite team? It could be an old veteran looking for one last year in the bigs, or a hot shot prospect looking to jump start his career. So who is it?

For the Brewers it's Erick Almonte. Almonte hasn't played in the majors since 2003, and he's still a long shot to make the team; but he's had one hell of a spring so far. In the offensive dominant Cactus League, Almonte has batted to the tune of .444/.459/.806! His main competition for the final bench spot is Mark Kotsay, who has a major league contract already (???).

And in the category of ever optimistic spring time, Carlos Gomez has impressed scouts with improved plate discipline. One can only hope he gets his OBP over .300, because the starting center field job is being handed to him.

 

[SuperKevin]

Bryce Harper but her got sent to Class A yesterday.

I've been very impressed with Jordan Zimmermann as well

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

OF Dave Sappelt is killing the ball as a non roster minor league invitee, while J.Gomes is hitting under .100. Sappelt fits the bill as a leadoff hitter, which is really the only thing missing from the offense.
He won't make the team, though.

Dontrelle Willis has shocked everyone with his command and strikeouts. He is trying to win one of the two lefty bullpen spots. He has to beat out Bill Bray, who is very good. He could be the longman, but the Reds already have tweeners like Sam LeCure and Matt Maloney for that, and maybe even Mike Leake if they choose to keep him in the bigs.

 

[BazookaJoe5]

Jake Fox and Nolan Reimold have been tearing it up for the O's. Both were viewed as fringe players coming into camp but as of now I'd guess both have made the team. Fox for sure will make it, Reimold is probably going to push Felix Pie out the door, but I know the team loves Pie still, so that's more of a wait and see.

 

[Obst]

John Mayberry has been having a great spring for the Phillies, he's always been a fringe player, comes up for a few games a year, but can never really stick. With the spring he is having and with Dom Brown hurt, he actually might get a chance to platoon with Ben Francisco this year. He is batting .343 and leads the team in HR's (4) and RBI's (9) so far.

 

[Rudi]

As W2B said, Sappelt has been hitting incredible. But Dusty already said he isn't ready for the big leagues [which is true].

 

[mcstl25]

Matt Carpenter (3B) has been playing really well in Cardinals camp and is currently hitting .429. He likely won't make the club, but could get called up if Freese gets hurt again.

 

[EmpireWF]

In Mets minor league camp, first round pick RHP Matt Harvey has shown why he was taken that high. A plus fastball, a big slider and curve and an above average change up.

I believe Chris Young and Chris Capuano have had a good spring and should be considered for spots in the rotation (alongside Pelfrey, Niese, Dickey with Misch in the argument).

Isranghausen has also been a pleasant surprise doing some solid bullpen work.

 

[Mogriffjr]

In Mets minor league camp, first round pick RHP Matt Harvey has shown why he was taken that high. A plus fastball, a big slider and curve and an above average change up.

I believe Chris Young and Chris Capuano have had a good spring and should be considered for spots in the rotation (alongside Pelfrey, Niese, Dickey with Misch in the argument).

Isranghausen has also been a pleasant surprise doing some solid bullpen work.

I haven't heard much about Harvey TBH...

I think so far, Lucas Duda is looking like a big time player...with Beltran's knee being slow to recover and get him on the field into the action, the Mets have begun putting Duda in RF in the likeliness he could start the season there.

Fernando Martinez was doing well before the demotion. Pitching wise, Niese looks SHARP....meanwhile no one is separating themselves in the 2B competition smh.

 

[Mogriffjr]

Time to spark up some spring training discussion. Which bubble players, are having the best springs on your favorite team? It could be an old veteran looking for one last year in the bigs, or a hot shot prospect looking to jump start his career. So who is it?

For the Brewers it's Erick Almonte. Almonte hasn't played in the majors since 2003, and he's still a long shot to make the team; but he's had one hell of a spring so far. In the offensive dominant Cactus League, Almonte has batted to the tune of .444/.459/.806! His main competition for the final bench spot is Mark Kotsay, who has a major league contract already (???).

And in the category of ever optimistic spring time, Carlos Gomez has impressed scouts with improved plate discipline. One can only hope he gets his OBP over .300, because the starting center field job is being handed to him.

Gomez has always had the tools...was someone with "5 tools" but if he can improve his OBP, he could be a good player...just that he won't develop that power...he's really fast and plays a good CF.

 

[Lanteri]

Gomez has always had the tools...was someone with "5 tools" but if he can improve his OBP, he could be a good player...just that he won't develop that power...he's really fast and plays a good CF.

Gomez's only useful quality really is his defensive ability at this point in his career.

Even his speed leaves a lot to be desired. His baserunning instincts are incredibly bad for a guy with his explosiveness.

Anyway, for the Sox in camp, it's been pretty much ho hum. No one's really particularly standing out above any kind of expectation. Ellsbury and Cameron both look to be healthy which is good. I guess Rich Hill has been decent with the tweaks he made to his delivery in the offseason. Other than that, business as usual.

 

[FirstTimer]

Carlos Pena made contact for the Cubs a few times.

 

[killgod]

Jose has swung the bat well so far, looking like he's not lost anything from where he left off last year and the big deal looks better with every AB.

Eric Thames was supposed to be a 1st rounder in 08, but was injured and slid to the 7th round where we scooped him up. He got healthy, had a great AA year last year and is having a great spring for us. Guys like Snider now have pressure to perform because if he keeps this up he could get a call up to the bigs this year.

Anthony Gose is leading the Spring in steals, can't wait for him to be ready for the MLB but that's not this year.

 

[EmpireWF]

meanwhile no one is separating themselves in the 2B competition smh.

The Mets are probably hoping ANYBODY steps up besides Castillo. I guess the job is between the Emaus kid they took in the rule-V from Toronto, Castillo, Daniel Murphy, Justin Turner and Luis Hernandez.

Murphy has had a decent bad in spring but his fielding remains dreadful and a work in progress. The others have had little to show offensively and have not separated themselves defensively.

bama:

 

[FedEx227]

OF Dave Sappelt is killing the ball as a non roster minor league invitee, while J.Gomes is hitting under .100. Sappelt fits the bill as a leadoff hitter, which is really the only thing missing from the offense.
He won't make the team, though.

Dontrelle Willis has shocked everyone with his command and strikeouts. He is trying to win one of the two lefty bullpen spots. He has to beat out Bill Bray, who is very good. He could be the longman, but the Reds already have tweeners like Sam LeCure and Matt Maloney for that, and maybe even Mike Leake if they choose to keep him in the bigs.

Saw Willis cut out the high leg kick which is a great move on his part because his kick really threw his entire body off motion.

 

[FedEx227]

And in the category of ever optimistic spring time, Carlos Gomez has impressed scouts with improved plate discipline. One can only hope he gets his OBP over .300, because the starting center field job is being handed to him.

I'm not sure Gomez will ever be over that, the big deal with him is making contact and at least attempting to drive up pitch counts. I don't think he's recorded a walk yet in spring but just the mere fact that he's making consistent contact and at least debating swinging at every single ball within 5 feet of the plate is awesome progress for him.

 

[Goober]

I'm not sure Gomez will ever be over that, the big deal with him is making contact and at least attempting to drive up pitch counts. I don't think he's recorded a walk yet in spring but just the mere fact that he's making consistent contact and at least debating swinging at every single ball within 5 feet of the plate is awesome progress for him.

So far in his career, Carlos has always had a very good BABIP, but also a k rate close to 25%. Combine those two things and you get a terrible average and OBP. This spring he has cut back on the strikeouts a lot, due to his focus on hitting balls in play. He's struck out four times, 12%, that's half his career average. If the pattern continues he should become a lot more productive with his bat. Roenicke has said he wants to be more aggressive, so someone is probably working with Gomez on base running too.

 

[FedEx227]

Well to be fair, speed guys typically will have a higher BABIP because of beating out grounders. That's really the point I was trying to say though, if he can cut out his Ks, he can use that speed to get an even better BABIP and beat out even more grounders.

Pretty much the guy has 2 assets, above average defense and really good speed. If he goes up there and hacks like an idiot and strikes out, he's making himself a below replacement level player. If he can put the ball in play, get on the basepaths anyway (whether walks, beating out grounders, etc.) he'll keep himself in the lineup and keep his defense out there.

I'm just saying don't expect him to start walking a bunch, it's probably not going to be happen. Best thing he can do is just learn how to increase his contact rate.

 

[NAHSTE]

For the Braves, the only intrigue is who will fill the last remaining bench spots. So far a couple of career minor leaguers are tearing it up. Utility infielder Ed Lucas was hitting over .450 at one point and could definitely make the club, taking either Brooks Conrad's spot because he's better with the glove (read: less of a butcher) or Diory Hernande's because he can play multiple positions, though shortstop is probably his weakest defensive position so it's a toss up. The other guy is Wilkin Ramirez, who has great speed and could latch on as an extra outfielder though that is less likely given the current roster construction.

And obviously the three stud arms were making a lot of noise but they've all been reassigned to minor league camp by now. Randall Delgado showed good stuff and command, Arodys Vizcaino was touching triple digits on the gun, and Teheran returned from a back spasm setback to impress in his two appearances.

With our position players and staff locked in, it's basically down to the last few bullpen and bench spots for us. Not that exciting for spring training purposes, but obviously a great situation to have going into the year.

 

[ThomasTomasz]

With Justin Duchscherer battling a hip injury, it is very possible Zach Britton, the Orioles top prospect, could open the season (or shortly thereafter) with the club. The issue is that the Orioles could delay a year of service if he misses the first 20 games. He has nine scoreless innings in spring training.......I consider that to be making noise for sure.

For all of you fantasy owners, keep an eye on him.