Tuesday, February 5, 2013

DrB's 2013 Giants Top 50 Prospects #47: Chris Marlowe

Chris Marlowe, RHP.  DOB:  10/26/1989.  6'0", 175 lbs.  B-R, T-R.

Low A:  1-9, 4.20, 83.2 IP, 59 BB, 86 K, GO/AO= 1.24, BAA= .216, 2 Saves.

Marlowe was the Giants 5'th round draft pick in 2011.  He only got into 3 games late in the year, so 2012 was really his first significant pro experience.  BA's pre-draft scouting report had both his fastball and curve as plus-plus pitches with the FB topping out at 97 MPH.  The Giants put him in Augusta's rotation to start the season but he suffered through command problems to the point of wildness.  He did better after moving to the bullpen with a line of 0-3, 3.78, 16.2 IP, 10 BB, 16 K's over his last 10 appearances. At this point, Marlowe remains a high ceiling prospect with a high risk of failure due to his control issues.  It will be interesting to see where he is assigned for 2013.

10 comments:

  1. Tough call. Should he repeat low A at his age? The flip side is that the Cal league has some hitter friendly parks, which might hurt his confidence even more. Start him at Augusta and if his control is good move him to SJ mid season?

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  2. Improving his control is the type of value-adding activity that is essential to any producing/manufacturing field.

    It's good to see the Giants engage in manufacturing, rather than relying primarily on importing or trading.

    I trust our coaches can help Marlowe in that area.

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  3. OT: Giants have re-signed Ramon Ramirez, giving us all the players involved in that trade with NY last off-season.

    http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2013/02/giants-to-sign-ramon-ramirez.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MlbTradeRumors+%28MLB+Trade+Rumors%29&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher

    That should complete the roster for competition for the last bullpen spot, plus keep the heat on Kontos and Mijares to work hard to keep their spots. I assume that means Brandon Lyons isn't coming to the Giants.

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    1. Well well, welcome back Ramon! Not a bad risk at all for the Gints. The Mets pen was a disaster last year. Hope working with our coaches helps out. Oh, and one more time - Sabean killed the Pagan trade, killed it!

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  4. Marlowe, Okert and Johnson. All predicted by the consensus to be relievers. Well, the monks of MLB are fishing for an undervalued commodity with their 4-6 rounders, similar to the power bat with tarnish gambit. The wildness and the uncertainty about the secondary pitches is the key here.

    Pretty funny how opinions (including my own) change when it's revealed how good a curve Marlowe has. Hope his folks are proud (they have commented here and other places) and have developed a little thick skin on interwebz commenters. Very excited to see what comes next with Marlowe. The impatience I see in certain areas is over the top. Prospects take time, lotsa time in most cases.

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  5. Shankbone,

    Nice commentary there at the end.

    Even World Series teams need contributions from their 25th guy. They need the last arm in the bullpen to come in and eat some innings, need the 5th outfielder to go 1st to third, need a utility guy to bunt a guy over.

    That being said, I prefer the high ceiling/high-bust potential guys. It seems to me that every team in the majors can sign good utility players and 4th outfielders for close to the league minimum... What you do when you have high ceiling prospects, even if only 1 in 20 pan out, is you can potentially get very productive players on the cheap. As they develop, they also turn into better trade chips than a guy who profiles as a career .240/.290, Manny Burris type.

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    1. The issue is as commented below, except that if you are counting all 40-50 picks in the draft, you are talking more 1 out of 300-500 players to find an impact player, when you are competitive for the playoffs, which covers roughly 7-10 years of drafting. The odds are that low of finding someone of impact in the draft when you are winning every season.

      That is why I like the Giants preference for high floor/highly likely to contribute with their late first round picks in the past few seasons - Brown, Panik, Stratton - while picking up high ceiling/high bust players like Joseph, Crick, Osich, for examples, with the following picks. You pick up some pretty sure value, while rolling the dice on the subsequent, such that if you hit, you hit big.

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    2. At this point we have Crawford and Belt as success stories. There are obvious trends since, the college hitter, the emphasis on pitching, the formerly hyped guy who fell, the BP power that might not show at the higher levels. This newer trend on taking power armed relievers and looking to fix mechanics and stretch them out is an interesting value based gambit. Marlowe hits that other branch on the Giants tree: converted shortstop. Of course most the superior ballplayers are pitching or playing short in HS, so it's not exactly rare. The Giants value positional flexibility. In this case, you try the pitcher as a starter, but you can always revert to the pen and get value.

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  6. I would say it is closer to 1 out of 200 for impact players.

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  7. We are still keeping up with the "opinions" LOL --still very proud and supportive -- the thick skin will get easier, right?

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