Steven Okert, LHP. DOB: 7/9/1991. 6'3", 210 lbs.
2014 High A: 1-2, 1.53, 35.1 IP, 2.80 BB/9, 13.75 K/9, 19 Saves
2014 AA: 1-0, 2.73, 33.0 IP, 3.00 BB/9, 10.36 K/9, 5 Saves
2014 AFL: 0-0, 0.75, 12 IP, 0.75 BB/9, 12.75 K/9, 1 Save
Okert is a big, hard throwing LHP who had a tremendous 2014 season across two minor league levels, capped off by a triumphant AFL during which he impressed the baseball scouting community. Not only did he work as a LH closer at all of the stops, he pitched 80.1 innings in 67 appearances, so went multiple innings a significant percentage of the time.
Okert has tremendous stuff which starts with a mid-90's FB with excellent command backed by a wipeout slider. He also has a changeup that is at least average. He blows up LH batters with a .167 BAA in Richmond, but also holds his own against righty batters with a .225 BAA.
Okert will most likely start 2015 in AAA Sacramento, but don't sleep on him making the 25 man Opening Day Roster. You can be sure that Bruce Bochy would be very happy to have another lefty in the pen, especially one who can also face RH batters. I see Okert as being the heir apparent to Jeremy Affeldt's bullpen role, but he has the stuff to be a rare lefty closer or move to the rotation, although that is probably an unlikely outcome.
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Great information Doc!
ReplyDeleteRelievers of this ilk don't grow on trees.
Another testament to tremendous scouting.
Richard in Winnipeg
No kiddin' Richard. And it's high time the Giants install another farm hand into their bullpen configuration.I'd have this Okert kid in my Top 10. A number of guys on this list above him won't sniff the Big Leagues. Okert is just a step away from being a nasty lefty in the Giants pen.
Delete-Baseball Guy
When you look at the 40 man roster with Cody Hall, and Derek Law on the roster, and Okert coming along. One has to think the Giants are in a very strong position of pitching bench strength to the point of having trade bullets If necessary during the season.
DeleteI am so excited! My wife booked our Mexican Caribbean holiday for us to leave on February 18th. Spring training starts. Wow me,happy to be able to escape minus 30/40 below and enjoy the heat etc and read all my spring training mags. Nice
Richard in Winnipeg
I don't know that Okert is a much of a slam dunk as we're making it sound like here. Richmond and the AFL are still a long ways from the major leagues. He's still a bit iffy against RH batters which has to make you wonder what MLB RH batters might do to him.
DeleteWho isn't iffy on the farm? Ain't no slam dunks to be found. Maybe a lay-up or two.
DeleteWell, Okert didn't impress out the door, he had to grind. But the stats he's putting up now are pretty impressive. Pitcher whisperers doing their job?
DeleteIts interesting to me the 2012 draft (Stratton/Agosta) which was all college pitching all the time has yielded 3 big prospects, all drafted in a row: Williamson, Okert, Blach.
talk about back to back bustos with Stratton & Agosta. Nice rebound by the "grey beards" in those consecutive rounds.
DeleteI would not write off Stratton yet, but it's not looking good for Agosta.
DeleteI have liked Okert since I saw him with the sooners in 2012 in a double header against a tough Baylor team. He pitched in both games of a double header that day helping to sweep the 2 games.
ReplyDeleteHas anyone seen what Cody Hall is doing in the VWL? 17 games, 17.1 inn, 12 saves, 6 hits allowed, 1 run allowed, 16k/3bb. Keep up the domination kid.
Has anyone noticed that, despite all the talent brought to MLB by the Giants in the past few years, as well as having some players that could be legitimate Top-100 prospects (Crick, Susac, Beede, Mejia, Mella), they never get Farm System love? In fact, I can't remember, at any point in my life, that they've ever gotten any farm system love.
ReplyDeleteToday's updated Bleacher Report has the Giants #27.
The year Posey was #4 prospect overall and Bum was #10, I believe the system was ranked #5
DeleteLegit top 100 prospects now would be Susac and Crick - somewhere in the back half. Beede and Blackburn hanging around the fringes. In general, a "B" prospect fits somewhere around 100, give or take 20-40 slots.
DeletePerhaps it's not love or praise that the system deserves, just a modicum of respect.
I don't remember that and probably (as in obviously) missed it. I'm certainly not doubting your word, though. At that point in time I was in Nashville and didn't have anyone to talk baseball and, therefore, wasn't following the farm system very closely (though I did enjoy going to the Nashville Sounds games). I'd also given up on the Giants forum I'd participated in because it was just a constant flame war at that point in time.
DeleteIt's only when I left for St. Louis four years ago and made friends with some Cardinal fans did I start following the farm closely, again, because they were very 'in-depth' fans and being shallow and superficial in team discussions wasn't getting me anywhere. Plus it was embarrassing that they knew more about the Giants farm system than I did...
Moses and everybody. Thanks for reading and discussing. Hopefully we can keep the flame wars to a minimum here.
DeleteThe Giants farm system has had its ups and downs over the years. It was highly ranked during the Ainsworth/Foppert/Williams days and that busted big time. Since then, individual prospects have been highly ranked but the system as a whole has generally been underrated, at least IMO. Timmy, Bummy, Posey and Belt all came fairly highly touted by most prospect watchers. Cain, Sandoval, Crawford, Panik, Romo and Wilson were complete surprises to most. Ironically, despite getting panned by many sites, the Giants have had one of the most productive farm systems in baseball over the last decade or so. Bleacher Report always follows their own drummer, so I would not pay much attention to them. #27 is ridiculously low. The other thing to remember is farm system rankings usually rely heavily on top end talent and depth gets disrespected. Right now, the Giants system is a bit short on top end talent, but is very deep. As Sickels pointed out, there is a lot of high ceiling/breakout potential in the lower minors too.
Giants farmhands don't get much hype, but they sure win a lot of rings... The Giants farm, 2005-on, should be the shining example for all of baseball. Instead, it is often mocked outside (and sometimes inside) this community's walls. I love when the rankings come out every year... just gives the guys more people to prove wrong.
DeleteEveryone sure does love a good Cubs prospect these days. I hope it plays out well for them, but I'll be very interested to look back in 5 years and see who actually rose to the top. We all know the burnout rate...
And I don't mean this blog as "this community." I mean the Giants blogosphere as a whole.
DeleteTwo things to watch with the Cubs prospects: 1. They are extremely weighted to hitting. Very little if any pitching prospects. 2. Several of their top prospects have very high K rates in the minors. Hard to believe that is suddenly going to get better in the majors.
DeleteOh man, I know. I had a hard time projecting Baez for anything better than .230 this season with all those K's, and I think that might even be generous! I'm just fine with the Giants targeting guys with a strong hit tool these days. It's playing out nicely already.
DeleteThe reason I made the comment about the Cubs is because of all the hype they're getting right now. One of the prospect gurus (can't remember exactly which one) commented on Twitter the other day that he could nearly the ENTIRE Cubs top 10 making the top 100 prospects list... I chuckled a bit.
Last time I checked the teams who have towards the top of that list (Pirates, Mets, Astros, Twins and Cubs) haven't done anything since the 1990's or even earlier. I would rather be at #30 every year and be winning championships. Do not pay attention to the rankings. In the end they mean absolutely nothing. When people think of the most homegrown MLB teams they will always say Cardinals, Giants and Royals. How many world series appearances do those 3 teams have in the last 5 years? The answer is 6. The amount of world series titles? The answer is 4. The reason why our ranking is low is because we graduate our top prospects so fast that is leaves our system a little low on top talent. Enough said.
ReplyDelete100% Amen!
DeleteI've noticed that. Which confuses me to how the authors are looking at the systems and coming up with their rankings. The Giants farm system has been doing a good job in keeping the team stocked with quality players (second highest home-grown talent of all the playoff teams last year with only the Cards higher) and has, I think, a quite a few quality players in it.
DeleteCertainly they're doing better than most other clubs. Yet they're close to the bottom. Even though there's a good chance they'll put one or two more MLBers on the field this year. Never mind Panik and Susac last year.
I'll go ahead and repeat what I said above just for emphasis. Most farm system rankings are based on top end talent while depth does not get much credit. Right now, the Giants system is a bit short on top end talent, but is quite deep. Also, Sickels pointed out that there is a lot of high ceiling/breakout potential in the Giants lower minors which would get a lot more love if it was closer to being MLB ready.
DeleteIt might be interesting and informative if the major websites looked at and ranked farm systems decade by decade rather than always year by year. Player development can be cyclical. When the major league team was doing poorly and the Giants got early first round draft picks they hit it big with Timmy, Buster and MadBum. When the big league team was doing well and they drafted later they were able to make good picks such as Cain and Panik, and it remains to be seen what becomes of Beede, Stratton, Brown, Arroyo, and others. Trades, graduations and injuries can drastically change the landscape of a farm system from year to year, so a longer time frame would actually tell us more about how productive a farm system has been to the big league team. I would venture to guess that over the longer term view the Giants rank at or near the top in production, whether one uses championships, wins, WAR, number of players graduated or whatever metric one chooses.
ReplyDeleteI like your idea.
DeleteI would add up all the players graduated in a decade, whether into our big league or others (either via trade or, gasp, release), add up their career WARs, each somehow adjusted for their draft position.
I don't know if people really care about the WAR of a player in another organization. That is just saying you were smart enough to draft the player but maybe not smart enough to keep them around. I would rather do WAR of players still in organization.
DeleteCuban prospect Yoan Lopez has been cleared to sign with any MLB team. He is 21 and supposedly his fastball sits at 93 to 95 MPH. I heard rumors that the Giants were interested in this Yoan as well as the other Yoan, Yoan Moncada. Signs point to both going to Yankees because they will probably muscle everyone out. But we will wait and see.
ReplyDeleteDr. B:Could you try to find out through your sources if Matt Cain has started throwing yet and, if so, when did he begin? There has been nothing in the media since the comment in early December that he would be throwing. This is becoming a contentious discussion on the Giants MLB site with some posters contending that the media's silence on the subject suggests that Cain has not started throwing and the Giants are trying to delay announcing that his recovery is going slower than originally thought.
ReplyDeleteThanks
I don't really have any sources other than is available to everybody. I just keep my eyes peeled on the internets for any tidbit of information. I have not read anything that would lead me to believe Matt Cain is not on track in his recovery.
DeleteJohn Shea reported that Cain was going to start throwing mid-December: http://www.chatsports.com/mlb/a/Giants-Injury-Update-Matt-Cain-to-start-throwing-next-week-2-10848216
DeleteThanks. .I've read everything that is available on the internet.
Delete2 good things
ReplyDelete1. Matt Cain has already said he is playing in the Pebble Beach Pro Am in February. I know it is golf but it would be hard to play golf with an elbow injury and the Giants would probably not let him if he was injured.
2. John Shea tweeted on Dec 9th "Coming off elbow surgery, Matt Cain will begin throwing from 45-60 feet next week. Will throw three times a week." So, I have no reason to assume that he is not throwing now because it has been a month since this tweet and there was no negative follow up saying otherwise.