Texas Rangers Breakout - Neil Ramirez

It’s not often you hear about a prospect moving from Hi-A to AAA in a single day, but that’s what happened recently with Texas Rangers prospect Neil Ramirez.

Ramirez was drafted in the supplemental first round of the 2007 Rule four draft as a 6’ 3’’ high-school right handed with a 91-93 fastball and an above average curveball.  While Ramirez performed well in Low-A Spokane in 2008, he didn’t have the same level of success upon his promotion to Hi-A Hickory in the SALLY league.  Control was the problem for Ramirez as he walked 41 in 66.1 IP. In fact, 2009 was so bad, he was forced to repeat Hi-A in 2010, but by making some mechanical corrections, started to figure things out.

While his 2010 surface stats were not great, including a 4.43 ERA, he struck out 142 in 140.1 IP and walked only 37.  Plus, he improved his curveball and developed a nice changeup to complete the package.  Most impressive, the mechanical change he made pushed his velocity to 92-95 touching 96.

This spring, the Rangers brass openly spoke about how impressed they were with the improved velocity and mechanics of Ramirez.  However, he was assigned once again to Hi-A, but this time in 4.2 IP, he gave up one hit and struck out nine.  For his next start, Ramirez was asked to make an emergency start in AAA and has remained there ever since.  In 21.1 IP, Ramirez is sporting a 1.71 ERA, 25K’s and 8 BB and looks like he belongs.

At age 22, Neil Ramirez appears to be back on the fast track and if he continues to pitch well, could be brought up to the big leagues this summer for a team that will need pitching, unless you think Brandon Webb currently hitting 79-82 on the gun is the answer.  With a plus fastball touching 96, a plus curve, an above average changeup with improving command, it’s time to use the word “Breakout” next to Neil Ramirez.

Batting lead-off - Mike Trout, batting second…

…Jean Segura.

While most knowledgeable baseball fans have heard of Mike Trout, few have heard of Jean Segura, an unheralded Dominican that was signed by the Los Angeles Angels in 2007 at the ripe age of 16. However, after an excellent season last year in Lo-A Cedar Rapids where Segura batted .313, stole 50 bases while slugging 10 home runs, the Angels started to envision a major league batting order that went: 1. Mike Trout, and 2. Jean Segura.

Segura is a strong and athletic generating tremendous bat speed for a guy 5’ 10” and 185 pounds. Based on his swing mechanics, there appears to be power upside to the 10 home runs that Segura hit in 2010. In addition to the offensive upside, managers in the Midwest League ranked him as the best defensive second baseman in the league. With his plus arm, the Angels have moved Segura to shortstop in hopes that he will be an eventual upgrade in the big leagues.

Over the first 15 games of the 2011 season in Hi-A Inland Empire, Segura has raked - batting .344 with six stolen bases and 10 runs scored. While the sample size is small, his contact rate and walk rate have been excellent at 85% and 10% respectfully. Also, the transition to shortstop has been equally great with Segura only committing one error over the course of the first 15 games.

While slightly behind Trout, Segura should get a promotion to Double-A later this summer and assuming things go well, should get a peak at the big league in 2012 before competing for a job in 2013.

Kershaw, Billingsley…and now Zach Lee

Zach Lee was selected #28 overall in the 2010 Rule 4 draft by the Los Angeles Dodgers but was regarded as one of the top high school pitching prospects by many scouts; some scouts even ranking his raw talent above Jameson Taillon. So, why did he drop?

It turns out that Zach Lee was even a better high school quarterback and after being recruited by dozens of colleges, Lee signed with LSU. He had already started spring two-a-day practices when word hit that the Dodgers had picked Lee with pick #28 in the June amateur Rule 4 draft. After a lot of negotiating, Lee finally signed for a franchise record $5.25M draft bonus.

While the 6’ 3”, 190 pound Lee was demonstrating a mid 90’s fastball and a nasty breaking ball in the fall instructional league, he’s still got a long way to go. As a two-sport high school athlete, Lee really didn’t focus on his pitching and in fact has admitted that his mechanics are self -taught. You can look at this two-ways – 1) Uh oh, this guy is heading for arm trouble or 2) with some instruction, the sky could be the limit. Obviously the Dodgers believe it’s the latter and after the signing, many scouts are saying the same thing.

With the recent success of Clayton Kershaw and Chad Billingsley, the Dodgers have demonstrated they can groom prospects quickly into front of the rotation starters. Many Dodgers faithful are hoping that Lee will follow a similar accelerated path to the major leagues that Kershaw had. As a reminder, after a brief stint in Rookie Ball in the year he was drafted, Kershaw started 2007 in low-A Great Lakes before ending the season in AA. In 2008, after 61.1 innings in AA, he was promoted to the Majors.

Zach Lee is a player that baseball fans and fantasy baseball owners alike need to pay close attention during the 2011 season. Concentrate on the K/9 rate as well as the HR/9 rate and don’t worry as much with the walk rate. For raw talents, this is the last thing to mature. It’s only been in the last year that Clayton Kershaw has put that element together.

Zach Lee will make his major league debut this spring playing in Single A Great Lakes.