Ford and Young

[Donn Beach]

Moving catcher prospects off their position really isn't that big a deal, and with catching prospects out of highschool it's basically the norm. Sticking at catcher doesn't nesssarily make them more valuable

Catching prospects move down the defensive spectrum, too. The active leader in career WAR among catchers drafted in the first-round is Josh Donaldson, who has spent all of 71 1/3 career innings wearing the tools of ignorance. Right behind him is Bryce Harper, who doesn’t appear on my list of 68 because the Nationals never even bothered with the pretense that they were going to let him catch. Joey Votto was a catcher; so were Jayson Werth, Raúl Ibañez, and Justin Morneau.

[D-train]

I have been hyping up Clase and SS seems to agree:

https://sports.mynorthwest.com/1773059/ ... ng-opener/

[D-train]

Most would be happy if France just got back to his 2021-22 self but he thinks he can be even better. Massive changes were made.

Drayer: Seattle Mariners’ Ty France back after drastic offseason of adjustments

It is not always a seamless transition. J.P. Crawford struggled last spring and had to make further adjustments. France saw immediate payoff in his first at-bat when he got out in front of a changeup but was able to keep it fair down the left field line for a double.

“There’s more room for error,” he said of the changes he made at Driveline. “My barrel stays to the zone a little bit longer, I mean, it showed today. It showed today. I was still able to stay on it long enough to keep it fair, so that was a good sign. I was very, very happy with that.”

France largely attributes work on his posture at the plate to the increased bat speed and his ability to keep the bat in the zone longer. Things do indeed look different at the plate for him and that causes him to wonder if perhaps the work at Driveline will go beyond getting him back to where he used to be.


“Almost my whole career I was mechanically hitting wrong, so to be able to clean all that stuff up this offseason and kind of just add to my swing, I feel like I honestly can’t tell you what I’m capable of. You know, if we get back to what I was, great, but I think there’s more in the tank,” he said.

France has noticed he’s been able to stay on the pitches in longer and get to them better, something that has been a challenge for him. It is early, but certainly something to keep an eye on.

[D-train]

More on Clase:

btw Clase had hit .333 with a 1.154 OPS at Everett. He is 274 days older than Ford. Both are now 21 years old but Ford just turned 21 and Clase will turn 22 in late May.

https://www.mlb.com/mariners/news/jonat ... g-training