In the first two breakdowns, Jake Boes, James Chipman and Rogelio Castillo offered their thoughts on some of West Michigan’s position players and pitchers.
Now Jake and James share their thoughts on some of the Great Lakes Loons’ position players in this latest installment of Live Looks.
3B/1B MIGUEL VARGAS
A late sign, the Dodgers inked Miguel Vargas in September of 2017 during the J2 international signing period for a reported $300k. The 21-year-old Cuban native checked in as the seventh best prospect on our Dodgers board this off-season.
At 6’ 3” 205 pounds, Vargas has the prototypical corner-infielder body that scouts like to see. Vargas performed well over our recent live looks, going 6-for-16 with a double, a home-run, three walks and a stolen base. He operates from a closed stance that opens during his load with a modest toe tap trigger. His quick, strong hands generate above-average bat speed. Vargas is quick to and through the ball with impressive barrel control. The in-game power was more advanced than I anticipated. There was also more loft in his swing than I expected. While most of the power was to the pull-side, he did have some rather loud contact to the opposite field. What impressed me most was Vargas’ ability to make adjustments and handle plus velocity and above-average secondaries with ease. As patient as Vargas was to not expand the zone, more importantly he wasn’t passive in hitter’s counts, allowing mistakes to go unpunished. Overall there’s enough ability and feel to project potential above-average hit and power from Vargas.
Unfortunately Vargas didn’t see much action beyond routine plays at third-base. His range appeared adequate and his arm showed above-average strength with solid accuracy. He ran the bases well and was quick out of the box, but seemed to lack a second gear, clocking a fringe-average 4.34 down the line on a close play.
While everything in the profile points towards a decent second-division regular, I’m bullish and I think there’s enough production at the plate to yield a solid average everyday regular. —James Chipman
SS LEONEL VALERA
The Dodgers signed Leonel Valera during the international period in 2015 and he was able to make his way stateside for his first full season in 2019. He repeated this year with the Great Lakes Loons but rose a level after the re-alignment of the minor leagues.
In my live looks against the West Michigan Whitecaps, Valera showed much of what we expected to see from him in the field and at the dish. Physically, he’s athletically gifted with a frame that’ll likely allow him to stick at shortstop considering the new wave of physical shortstops throughout the league.
At the plate, it’s a paradoxical approach; quiet and patient, but when the swings do happen, they are all out with little regard for the count or situation. Naturally his approach produces power, a fair share of walks, and lots of swing and miss.
Valera seemed perplexed by fringe or better offspeed the entire weekend; striking out on breaking balls and changeups beneath the zone. On the bases, he’s an easy plus runner with long and galloping strides — although some of his stolen base success came thanks to Whitecaps’ catchers.
At shortstop he made the expected plays. There wasn’t anything that jumped out about the defensive profile and he lacked the necessary chances to parade his prowess in my live looks. His arm shows plus strength but he did throw away an easy double-play turn on Sunday; air mailing the first-baseman Deacon Liput.
Credit to Geoff who wrote this one up perfectly during the off-season. He’s tooled up and the talent is there, but in today’s game everyone has to hit, including shortstops. The swing-and-miss will continue at the expense of some of his power numbers, which prevents an everyday profile from becoming most likely for him long-term. —Jake Boes
OF ANDY PAGES
The Dodgers acquired Cuban native, Andy Pages in October during the 2017 international signing period. Listed at 6’ 212 pounds, the 20-year-old has significantly bulked up over the last year, adding 30+ pounds without sacrificing any athleticism. Pages doesn’t just look the part, he acts the part. It’s not cocky by any means, but there’s an obvious confident swagger in his demeanor and game.
At the plate, Pages went 4-for-17 with a pair of doubles and two walks. He also had a couple loud outs that made you walk away encouraged with what could be. Pages operates from a slightly open stance, standing completely upright with an extremely narrow base. There’s very little pre-swing noise and a quiet load in his rather compact stroke. His belt high leg kick acts as a timing mechanism. Pages has an aggressive, damage oriented approach with a lofty uppercut swing that yields a copious amount of fly balls. His plus bat speed and plus raw power play significantly down in games because of the swing and miss both in and out of the zone. The Achilles heel in Pages profile has always been his contact issues and this year is no exception as he’s striking out in nearly ⅓ of his at-bats. His track record for posting above-average or better walk rates helps mitigate some of those concerns though to an extent.
Oddly enough Pages lacked the advanced approach and ability to grind out at-bats that previous reports suggested (probably just an unlucky stretch of games on my end). He gave away a few at-bats swinging early at questionable pitches he probably should have let go. The swing and miss on above-average or better velo located on the inner-third and elevated for chase also concerned me. On a positive note, there was evident bat-to-ball skills and glimpses of the plus raw beginning to show in-game, on the pair of doubles and some of the loud outs when he found the barrel.
Pages showed average straight line speed that played up a tick on the basepaths and in the outfield. I do believe that speed will regress a tick and play closer to fringe-average long term, as he continues to physically mature. Defensively we saw Pages move around quite a bit logging time at CF, DH and in RF twice. During his three games in the outfield, Pages got good jumps and showed good reads with efficient route running. There’s certainly enough defensive prowess to play CF. I do believe his size and future speed likely forces him to a corner eventually though. That being said, his 60-grade arm-strength would play nicely in RF, if he can shore up some of the accuracy issues and sporadic youthful mistakes that we’ve heard about.
Overall it’s a raw but attractive power over hit profile with a multitude of potential outcomes. The attributes are loud and the deficiencies are perhaps even louder in their current state. Pages is only 20-years-old though and in a fairly aggressive assignment — he’s far from a finished product. It might be a slow burn developmentally but a big league future appears imminent. That being said, Pages potential big league role will without question ultimately hinge upon the development of his bat and the aforementioned swing and miss in his game. There’s legitimate everyday regular to second-division regular upside with improved contact rates but I’m bearish and see a high risk profile and platoon or power bench bat as the more realistic outcome here. —James Chipman
C CARSON TAYLOR
Carson Taylor was a fourth round selection by the Dodgers in 2020–a season which prevented him from making his professional debut. The organization got aggressive with him as he opened the season in High-A for the Great Lakes Loons.
Taylor was well-regarded for his patient approach at the plate coming out of the ACC, but the Whitecaps staff filled the zone, particularly the outside part of the plate, against Taylor and forced him to take his hacks.
The results were a bit uninspiring; with an 0-for-7 weekend and mostly weakly hit balls in play. His struggles to barrel the ball against some less-than-stellar pitching on West Michigan’s staff makes his true offensive ceiling questionable, at best.
Taylor takes the more modern catching set up on one knee which helps him to better present and frame pitches for the home plate umpire, but comes at the expense of some blocking ability. He allowed at least one pitch in the dirt get away which allowed a runner to advance. Nevertheless, he was encouraging his pitchers with his body language behind the plate and pitchers enjoyed his receiving and game-calling ability.
For me it’s a below average hit, fringe-average defense, and above-average arm. Without a true carrying tool behind the dish, it’ll be tough to leverage any certain calling card to help propel his way to a lengthy big league stay. Overall, it’s an emergency up/down depth role with an organizational soldier floor long-term. —Jake Boes
OF JAMES OUTMAN
James Outman was a seventh round selection by the Dodgers in 2018. The Cal State product ranked 39th on our Dodgers board this offseason.
Physically, Outman looks the part — his 6’ 3” 215 pound frame and plus athleticism sparkle. Outman is an above-average straight line runner whose instincts move the needle to a plus grade overall. The speed helps pad Outman’s already impressive range in the outfield. Outman patrolled both CF and RF over our live looks, making several difficult plays appear effortlessly routine. He runs like a deer, covering impressive ground. His reads and route running were also efficient. Outman showed the willingness to sacrifice his body, crashing into the wall at one point, stealing extra-bases from Andre Lipcius. It’s without question impact level production in the field, as Outman’s defense showed plus with an above-average arm.
At the plate, Outman went 3-for-16 with a home-run, a pair of walks, six strikeouts and three stolen bases over the four games that we sat on. Outman operates from an open stance that closes during load, with a sizable but quick leg kick timing mechanism. His long levers yield a naturally long uppercut swing. It’s a patient but damage oriented approach. Outman handled the inner half of the zone exceptionally well; driving a FB to the opposite field and taking a 96 mph FB up the middle. He was exposed a bit on the outer third of the zone though, swinging through a fair amount of below-average to fringy secondary pitches and taking a few called third strikes on pedestrian low-90s FBs. To his credit, Outman showed solid bat speed and above-average raw power. He also showed the ability to drive the ball to all fields.
While Outman has posted a walk rate north of 10% every season, his track record of swing and miss (23+ K%) is concerning. His struggles on the outer third, specifically with chase secondaries has me bearish that his in-game power reaches even fringe-average as he continues to climb the developmental ladder and starts to see more advanced pitching.
Outman recently turned 24-years-old, and he’s currently hitting just .190 with a .688 OPS in A-ball. The secondary skills are loud enough to keep him in the conversation, but Outman’s lack of production and projection at the plate complicate an otherwise impressive profile. There’s a tremendous amount of pressure on the development of the hit tool to push the profile. Overall there’s legitimate role-30 emergency depth potential as a fourth outfielder, with a solid upper-minors role-20 org soldier the more likely future outcome. —James Chipman