Notes From the Field: Observations on Standouts in the Mariners and Angels Systems

I made it out to Everett a couple of times last week, drawn by the chance to watch three of our Top 100 prospects and a couple of other notable farmhands. My thoughts on seven of the standouts are below.

Tyler Bremner, RHP, Angels
Bremner was as advertised. He’s a loose athlete with, odd front leg swing as he starts his motion aside, a clean and easy delivery. He ticked every number on the gun from 93-98 mph, flashed an above-average slider, and most importantly, missed a half dozen bats with his 70-FV changeup. On the night, he struck out four, walked three, allowed one hit, and only one or two hard-hit balls. It’s what an early first-round pick should do against a decent High-A lineup.

If we’re going to pick nits, I wouldn’t focus on the walks too much, as Bremner was battling a muddy mound on a cold night. He nibbles a bit and likes to entice hitters off the plate. He does this on the changeup especially, and it’s fair to wonder if big leaguers will bite to the same degree college and low minors hitters have thus far. Despite the velo, he only missed two bats with the fastball and none with the slider, which raises questions about where he’ll turn on days when hitters aren’t chasing the cambio. Ultimately, I don’t have long-term concerns. He still projects as a no. 3 or 4 starter, but the night underscored the importance of continuing to develop his slider and fastball command. Whether that’s a job best done at this level or a rung up is above my pay grade.

Jonny Farmelo, CF, Mariners
Farmelo put together two solid at-bats against Bremner. He didn’t reach base, but managed to turn around an upper-90s fastball up and in and line it to right in his first trip up, and then hit a hard line drive to left in his second plate appearance. He got out in front of fastballs a couple times this week and showed enough barrel manipulation to stay competitive on pitches up, even with his fairly long bat path. Perhaps most encouragingly for a player who has battled a lot of injuries as a pro, he still looks like a 70 runner, and he also made a nice read and leaping catch at the wall in center.

Felnin Celesten, SS, Mariners
Celesten is a tough report to file, a case where enviable athleticism and tools run into underbaked skills and an at-times lethargic motor. He’s slow out of the box, to the point of nearly dawdling at times, and it cost him a hit at least once. He also ran into an out on the bases and clanked a couple of balls in the infield. In most cases, where all of the above is true, you’d expect that player to also be on his heels and a little checked out defensively. Celesten isn’t, though. At shortstop he’s locked and loaded for every pitch, and while that sounds like the minimum requirement, there are plenty of guys out there who aren’t. His reads off the bats are quick and generally accurate, his footwork around the bag looks good, and while his hands aren’t great, he’s getting himself in the right spot and has a sense for when he has to hurry and when he has a beat. It’s an odd blend. While I’d like to see him hustle out of the box more, I’m not out on his effort level overall.

His setup at the plate is a little more concerning. His hands are noisy and visibly shake throughout his load as the ball comes in. He’s also got happy feet, which gives the whole operation a caffeinated feel to it. His bat path remains steep and he was beaten a couple times on high fastballs; we’ll see how he adjusts to that pitch over the course of the year. Even when things aren’t going well, it’s important to remember that this is a twitchy and athletic kid with bat speed and pretty good pitch recognition. It’s worth staying patient here even if he takes his lumps early on. On both sides of the ball, I suspect he’s a player we’ll check in on a couple of times this summer.

Chase Shores, RHP, Angels
Shores is long with good body control and a short, quick arm stroke, all good things for a guy who stands 6-foot-8 and weighs 245 pounds. On a cold night, he overwhelmed Everett with his three-pitch mix. Working with a low slot, if not a particularly low release point, he sat 95-96 mph over the first couple of innings, touching 97. That velo fell to 93-95 in the third, which was still plenty to miss bats at the top rail. The slider is his best pitch, a hard sweeper at 83-84 with about 18 inches of break on average. It’s plus at its best, and he had his best touch when he executed the pitch to the glove side of the plate. Shores didn’t use his change much in college but busted it out several times Tuesday. It’s inconsistent and he slows his body down, but he threw a couple of good ones, including a dandy that Farmelo missed by three feet out on his front foot.

While he only walked one, Shores’ feel for location looked pretty crude. He missed badly with the fastball several times, generally to the arm side. Even when he was in the zone, often as not it was on the other side of the plate from where his catcher was setting up. In the Angels farm system overview, I wrote that it makes sense to develop Shores as a starter in the hopes that his command takes a big step forward and allows his stuff to play in a length role. As a good athlete with limited high-level pitching experience, he’s got late-bloomer traits, so it’s worth a shot. A lot has to go right, though, and I left thinking he’s still likely to wind up in relief, where he has late-inning upside.

Luke Stevenson, C, Mariners
The early returns on Stevenson’s bat as a pro are quite good. He’s a patient hitter looking for something to drive, and while he took a couple of hittable early-count pitches, he’s making a lot of hard contact when he pulls the trigger. He can cover up and down and is murdering pitches on the inner half. He missed a couple of changeups from Bremner, which, fair enough, him and everybody else. Even so, he looks like he’s recognizing offspeed out of the hand well. Defensively, his control of the running game remains a question mark. In this look and others on video from the previous week, his pop times were fine, but his throws to second were often scattered. Overall, though, he’s played very well so far and is tracking like a guy who could make our midseason Top 100 list.

Quick Hits

• Capri Ortiz appears to have dropped switch-hitting and is now a full-time righty. It’s a bit unexpected: Unlike most guys who do this, Ortiz didn’t have major platoon splits and actually hit better against righties two years ago. The adjustment to front-door spin will be interesting to monitor. It was a mixed bag in this look, with some flinches on front-door sweepers and chases on breakers off the plate, but also a couple of decent takes. Regardless, he’s a prospect for his glove, which is plus at shortstop. Ortiz, who ranked 24th on our Angels list back in January, also played center for the first time in his career this week.

• Brock Moore is off to a strong start, with 11 strikeouts in four scoreless innings and, critically, no walks. He walked 28 in 18 innings last year, so even though it’s early, this is a pretty significant departure from form. A 25-year-old righty in the Mariners system, he touches 99 mph and flashes a plus slider, so if he’s able to maintain that stuff and have even 40 control, he’s a real prospect.