Saturday, December 31, 2011

Down on the Farm: #3 Tommy Joseph

#3 Tommy Joseph, C. 6'1", 220 lbs. BD: 7/16/1991. B-R, T-R.

High A .270/.317/.471, 32 2B, 22 HR.

I don't think any Giants prospect improved his stock as much as Tommy Joseph in 2011. Joseph is built like a boulder of granite and has been hitting tape measure HR's since high school. The problems were that he really didn't have a position to play and had a lot of trouble making contact when he wasn't hitting HR's. Joseph took a big step forward in 2011 at San Jose.

He started out struggling to make contact again and his BA collapsed to a .164 for the month of May. Then he seemed to find himself at the plate. First, he raised his BA to .297 for the month of June and kept it at .299 for July and August. Then, he started hitting HR's with 6 in July and 8 in August. He did have one HR binge in Lancaster, a well known launching pad, but beyond that, he hit 10 of his 22 total in San Jose which is much tougher on hitters than the average Cal League ballpark. He still struck out a lot, but dropped his K rate from 24.5% in 2010 to 18.2% in 2012.

What really propelled Joseph forward as a prospect, though, was defense. He was drafted as a catcher and has a strong arm with a pretty quick release. His size and granite-like build kept him from being agile behind the plate and he had clumsy footwork. Working with Andy Skeels at San Jose, Joseph was able to make major strides in improving his overall catching defense to the point where BA actually rated him as the top defensive catcher in the Cal League. Despite the "light tower power", Tommy Joseph's bat does not project all that well as a first base prospect or DH. As a catching prospect, though, the bat is legit.

The other big thing Joseph has going for him is his age. He was the second youngest prospect in the Cal League last year. He may well struggle mightily as he advances to AA, but he's young enough that he can spend 2 full seasons at AA and still be age appropriate for his level. Best case scenario for Joseph is he advances 1 level per year and is ready for the majors in 2014. More likely scenario is he takes 3 seasons to advance through AA/AAA and hits the majors in 2015 at age 23.

13 comments:

  1. And in the slightly irrational, with his stache he looks like a young Jeff Kent! Awesome.

    In not so awesome, the Pads just stole Carlos Quentin from Krazy Kenny, giving up 2 arms who aren't even in their top 20: Hernandez and Castro. That is pretty annoying to me.

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  2. According to the BA scouting report, Giants coaches say his acuman and game calling skills were 2nd only to Posey in the organization. Very impressive for someone his age..

    It strikes me as an odd trade for a team thats rebuilding, but Quentin is from San Diego.. He's arb eligible this year and a FA in 2013. Maybe Anthony Rizzo is about to be traded as rumored with Alonzo taking over at 1st base.

    LG

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  3. Gotta love the Giants' catching depth and the rise of Joseph. And I really like that there is plenty of time to let these guys develop.

    Shank, I've followed Quintin since 2006. (One of the small cable channels (Mojo?) did little series on AZ's then upcoming young talent: Quinten, Casey Daigle, Conor Jackson, Chris Young, etc.

    I see Quintin as Cody Ross with a worse attitude, more injuries, and much poorer defense. More power and better OBP, sure. But unless we're looking to sign him long-term, I don't think he's a good fit for the Giants.

    I know we're looking for corner OF sticks, and it does look like a steal for SD. But, Quintin isn't the guy for us.

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  4. Kelly - thanks for the alternate on Quentin, I've always liked his bat. What's your feeling on Conor Jackson as a dumpster dive per DrB's suggestion?

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  5. Quentin is going to have a lot harder time hitting dingers in while playing 99 game in Petco, Dodger Stadium and AT&T. Does he really have any value as a 15 HR/yr guy?

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  6. Definitely going to be a challenge for Quentin but he has some legit pop. AT&T as well as Petco seem to favor RH pull power, but they were way down as hitters parks last year. Also he has to face some pretty good pitching, so I'll see that point. Doyer stadium is hard on LF power I think. I bet he breaks 20 though.

    Know you're getting old? 2 kids getting babysat, drinks with friends and then the moon pictures for new years eve, AND you have a chance to check your favorite Giants blog before you go. Boo yah. No wearing the lampshade for Shank tonight.

    So do we hold out hope for money squeezed for Cody on a 1/4MM or is he gone?

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  7. I'm guessing Cody is gone, but it seems like the Rockies are not as interested as they were made out to be. Cody might end up having to take less than 1 yr/$4 M before he's done. It seems like he and Ryan Madsen may be pricing themselves right out of a market.

    Cody is a pretty sweet fit as a RH OF bat with some pop off the bench for the Giants.

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  8. BTW, I don't have a membership for SBNation, but John Sickels is getting ready to write up the Giants top 20 and opened it up for discussion. Have to say, the Naysayers are out in full force over there. Shankbone was one of the few with positive comments and even he sounded a bit negative. Somebody please go set them straight over there!

    Oh yeah, somebody tell him to take a look at Alex Burg if he's looking for sleepers.

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  9. Shank,

    I really liked Conor Jackson. Thought he'd be a Mark Grace or James Loney type. But wow, whatever happened with the Valley Fever thing, he hasn't been the same. I watched him a bit with the A's last year, and the swagger is definitely gone. I would really like to have him on a minor league deal. But, not a major league one. Doc, you've said something about Valley Fever before with regard to Jackson, didn't you? Any hope that Jackson is still recovering and might improve his MLB game some more?

    I think Cody is gone too. Or at least he would like to be. I think he wants to get to a hitters park where he probably thinks he can hit 25-30 HRs. I would like to have him back at this point, as he'd be a solid 4th OFer and that elusive RH bat off the bench...but, he definitely does not want that role.

    Yep, I'm officially old too. Right here on New Years Eve, and going to be driving kids to and from parties tonight rather than going to them...

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  10. I just asked my wife if we had ever been to a New Year's Eve Party. She couldn't remember that we had, and I don't either. That's how pathetic we are.

    Valley Fever is caused by a fungus call Coccidiodes Immitis. The usual Valley Fever causes a localized pneumonia. In most cases, the infection does not cause enough symptoms that the patient is even aware that they have anything unusual. In parts of California and Arizona, most people have had the infection at one time or another in their life and they have the scars in their lungs or else react to a Coccidiodes skin test to prove it. In people who have a severe enough infection to be aware of it, sometimes antifungal medications are needed and they tend to have a lot of adverse side effects themselves. The most severe form of the infection if it becomes disseminated throughout the body including the central nervous system. This form is sometimes fatal and often causes severe long term disability and is probably never completely cured. Pt's with the disseminated form generally have to be treated for life to keep the infection suppressed.

    I'm guessing Conor Jackson did not have the disseminated form, but probably did have the pneumonia severe enough to cause symptoms. He could possibly have long term adverse effects from the medications or he could have scarring in his lungs severe enough to compromise lung function which could reduce his endurance and ability to achieve maximum exertion.

    Still, for a minor league deal, I'd take the chance on him. Maybe another year removed from the infection is enough for him to regain whatever he lost from it. If not, they really haven't lost anything.

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  11. got all you guys beat

    i worked nye....er situation for a restaurant/bar

    needed to print menus....printer wouldnt print

    got everything working, but there is some bug in the system that i couldnt figure out....but as i didnt want to be on the road past 11...i printed out all the menus for them one at a time...then booked it

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  12. Thanks for the info on Valley Fever, Doc.

    It seems like there has been some lasting effect on Jackson. At the very minimum, missing time cost him. But, yeah, I think his health is not what it was.

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  13. I have never really hit the NYE parties. Just pathetic nerd boys going out and standing off to the side while others celebrate. Luckily my wife is just as boring as I am in that way, though she has been talking about hitting HY Times Square one day...

    Here is my pathetic NYE party story. A friend at work invites me to join his wife and group to a NYE concert (Huey Lewis if I remember right). I find out pretty much last minute that he was unable to get tickets all together for the group, so he and his group sat up near the rim of the concert venue while I sat ALONE half a section closer to the action, which is still pretty much nose bleed but I get the added enjoyment of being alone among strangers when midnight hit. His wife gave it to him good for that, said that if anything, the two of them would be separate, though personally, I didn't know his friends either and it was not like he was trying to set me up either, the other friends were couples too, so it would have been better if he asked me if I would rather sit it out, which I would have. One of the kind young woman next to me wished me HNY when the time came, so it wasn't all bad, just mostly bad...

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