Yes, the Braves and the Rockies are apparently expressing the most interest. Both teams are rebuilding, which means they’re in a place where resources can be blown on things like a 29-year-old former NFL player who can’t throw attempting to transition to baseball. There might be a <1% chance he becomes a productive MLB player, but they’re not really costing themselves anything by giving it a shot. And in the case of the Rockies especially, they might actually stand to gain quite a bit if he makes it. Denver is surprisingly still enamored with Tebow, dating back to his time as Broncos quarterback. It’s actually fascinating how he remains a topic of discussion and debate, and it’s not a stretch to assume that Tebow #15 Rockies jerseys would be a hot-selling item, and provide a quick boost of revenue that might prove profitable on top of whatever Tebow is able to provide on the field. Tim Tebow is, and has been for quite some time now, a sideshow. This latest development is only proving that he’s capable of taking that show on the road to other sports.
He was hurt early in the year and was just ok as a result. I don't think he's as good as the hot streak he has been on but I do think he's a .300 hitter with speed who plays elite defense. He's a really valuable player we need to keep despite the lack of power.
Yeah, if he can be a 100 wRC+ guy, which is exactly what he was this year, he's an everyday player despite the lack of power and large platoon split. The worry was when he was an ~80 wRC+ guy, he becomes more of a 4th OF'er. ATL needs one of Ender and Mallex to be an everyday guy at the very least.
I think his downturn was definitely the exception after what he did last season and what he has done since the all star break. The defense will always be elite which is a nice floor.
Big fan of Adonis. He's obviously not a long term answer but I'd rather pay him $10M than $1 to fuck boy Chris Johnson
I was pretty skeptical of Kemp, and while his numbers haven't been great in ATL, I'm coming around on him being pretty useful if he can drop some LB's. Him and Aaron Blair need to hit the offseason hard and come back in better shape.
I want to know what in the hell they did in Gwinnett with Adonis. He went down a 3B that couldn't field at all and hit a little bit who was supposed to try out LF, and came back an above average defensive 3B who could hit enough.
The advanced stats really don't factor in Kemp's presence in a lineup. It's made FF so much more dangerous.
Still love the idea of a Ruiz/Garcia platoon next year. Add in a halfway decent catcher (McCann) and Albies, eventually, at 2B and the offense should be much improved...to the point where it's league average. Starting to think we need to trade some of the prospects for a controllable, young starter.
The Atlanta Braves have definite interest in Tim Tebow and are looking into signing him to a minor league deal, a baseball source told ESPN's Pedro Gomez. The Braves were one of five clubs that spoke one-on-one with Tebow after his Los Angeles workout Tuesday, the source said. The former NFL quarterback announced last month that he is interested in returning to baseball, a sport he hasn't played since he was a high school junior in 2005. He generated mixed reviews during his session that lasted more than two hours, showing off a powerful bat and a few areas of needed improvement. The Braves were among the 28 MLB teams that attended Tebow's workout at Dedeaux Field on the campus of USC. Only the Chicago Cubsand the Oakland Athletics didn't attend. Tebow, 29, has been working out since late May with former big league catcher Chad Moeller, who runs a baseball school in Scottsdale, Arizona.
SCOUTING TOUKI TOUSSAINT, RHP, ROME BRAVES Standard Hey guys, I was in Greenville the other night to get a look at Braves CF Ronald Acuna. I was also lucky enough to see Touki Toussaint. take the mound for Rome. This was my 2nd look at Touki. I saw him last Summer in Asheville soon after the Braves acquired him from the Diamondbacks. He was all over the place that day but the potential was obvious. I know statistically at least he’s turned the corner this season and has been a lot more consistent. So getting this 2nd look a year later is a nice before and after. Touki recently turned 20, he’s listed 6’3″ 185 lbs, he bats and throws right. Touki was drafted by the Diamondbacks 16th overall in the 2014 draft out of high school in Corral Springs, Fl (Fort Lauderdale metro). I believe I heard at the time of the draft he was either the 1st ever player of Haitian decent to play professional baseball or the 1st ever drafted. I poked around the net a little bit this morning trying to find it but if anybody could clear that up for me that would be good, thanks. I thought on the field that Touki looked 6’3″ 195 lbs and he appeared to be in excellent shape. There is a good amount of projection left. The Delivery: Touki stands on the 3rd base side of the rubber, he utilizes a 3/4 release point. There is some effort in the delivery, but he repeats it well. He utilizes a high leg kick and it does create some deception. He’s a good athlete who works fast and has excellent arm speed. When I saw him last July he was missing a lot side to side and often by feet. He still has a ways to go but he’s much more consistently around the plate now. The most obvious adjustment from one to the other is he switched to the 3rd base side of the rubber. We only see him pitching from the stretch in the 1st video because there was a runner on 1st at the start of it. The fastball sat 91-95, touched 96 a few times, and 97 once in the 5th inning. Early on he was mostly 91-93, and touching the higher bands by the 3rd inning he was 93-95. With arm side run, the lower the velocity the higher the movement. Even in the lower bands, very few batters were able to square the pitch and drive it to their pull side. 60 current, potential double plus. The 11-5 curve was sometimes 11-4:30 or 11-5:30. It was thrown most often in the high 70’s. It has nice shape and very sharp bite. He still has a hard time throwing the pitch for strikes. But it is a swing and miss generator and a weapon with 2 strikes. 70 Touki throws the change at 83-86. He does a nice job mimicking the arm speed of the fastball. He wasn’t finishing the pitch in my viewing leaving many above the belt on the inner 3rd. The pitch did feature some fade and sink but it’s clearly his 3rd pitch. 45 Sequencing: 80% fastballs 1st time through but went down from there. 60% by the 5th inning. Curves 10%, early 20% by the middle innings. Same for the change ups. Command/Control: Early on he was pounding the zone with fastballs it was control over command but it was still nice to see. He wasn’t as consistent with location in innings 3-5. He mostly bounced the curve all night but he did land a few of them in the zone. He also took something off on a few of them and landed them in the zone. Conclusion: Touki Toussaint is a lot of fun to watch, he works fast and has electric stuff. He was struggling to put away hitters the other night because they were laying off of the curve and spoiling the fastball. I don’t know that I saw his best change up yet. He’s come a long way since last July but there is more development still to come. I really hope he maxes out his range of outcomes. That would be fun to see. He has top of the rotation starter upside. He could still be a dynamic 8th or 9th inning guy as a fall back option. He’s in good hands in the Braves system. They know a thing or two about pitching.
MY 1ST LOOK AT RONALD ACUNA, CF, ROME Standard Ronald Acuna courtesy of outfieldflyrule.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Ronald-Acuna.jpg Hey guys, I took a run down to Fluor Field in Greenville last night to see the Drive take on the Rome Braves. It was the Drive’s 2016 home finale (there final 4 games are on the road in West Virginia) and my last chance to see Rome CF, Ronald Acuna who was recently activated from a long DL stint. It was also an opportunity to get another look at Touki Toussaint. I’m glad I made it down. Ronald Acuna, age 18, he’s listed 6′ 180 lbs, he bats and throws right. Acuna was signed by the Braves out of Venezuela in July of 2014 for $100,000. I guessed on the field Acuna was 6’1″ 190″. He’s got some wiry strength to him and a projectable body. He could carry another 10-15 lbs of muscle but that could cost him a step. At the dish Acuna has an upright semi open stance. He keeps his hands high and he remains pretty quiet pre pitch. He utilizes a moderate leg kick for timing. He’s got quick hands and a short fast linear swing. The ball really jumps off of his bat. It was just one look but as quick as he is to the ball he should have a high contact %. And with his bat speed and contact rates the hit could play as high as plus or perhaps even better. Acuna has gap power right now but he’s strong and the ball really jumps off of his bat. I could see the game power approaching 45 or 10-14 HR’s in the next few years and 16-20 at peak. That’s with his current approach. If he starts putting more balls in the air those numbers could climb. Acuna has plus speed, but needs to continue to hone his craft in terms of reading pitchers to max out the stolen base threat. It was just one look and I didn’t get a very good read on the CF defense. Sorry, he had a quiet night out there. Here we get several great looks at Acuna’s swing courtesy of Chris Blessing (Baseball HQ)(on Twitter @C_Blessing) Overall: I love his offensive game. He’s going to hit and he’s got a nice power and speed combo. He reminded me in many ways of Victor Robles My 1st look at Victor Robles, CF, Hagerstown but not as fast and probably not as dynamic defensively. He’ll be a fun player to watch develop. Up next is a Touki Toussaint scouting report, that’ll land either tomorrow or Sunday. Cheers
Touki Toussaint faced 6 batters over 2 innings. He struck them all out. 20 pitches, 19 strikes. 2IP 0H 0R 0BB 6K
It's been going on for about 60 games hasn't it? I think that surpasses fluke territory. He has hit .370 since the ASB which is probably not sustainable but I do believe he's a solid .300+ hitter going forward and that his post-injury struggles were the aberration, not his current success.
Ender is a stud. I am really loving Kemp too. We have the makings of a good lineup next year. I don't think think it has been discussed here, but Ozzie won the batting title in his league. He's also one of if not the youngest guy there. Fucking stud.
I'm beginning to be of the opinion it may be smart to cash in on Ender this offseason. Ender's true value is as a CF. Can he play RF, and be elite defensively? Of course he will. But a defensive RF who is VERY light on power doesn't have as much value as he will in CF. Mallex is ready, but Mallex doesn't have the value of Ender, so if we move Mallex, the return is not going to be as substantial. And moving Mallex back to LF isn't an option now that Kemp is tied down there. If we're calling teams looking for a SP to pair with Teheran at the top of the rotation, Ender is going to be a nice starting point in any trade.
What if we keep the young, cheap, elite defender who hits .300+ and is a constant threat to steal or take extra bases? He's #60 on all of baseball in WAR, one spot behind Posey and ahead of Arietta.
ST for our starters is going to be really interesting. Will be great to see Newcomb and Weigel in the mix.
I would rather have Mallex as our fourth OF supersub for our over 30 LF and RF with a stud CF than trade him. Keep Julio as our Ace. We have enough prospects to make a deal for Catcher or whatever else we may need. Kemp/Inciarte/Markasis with Freddie/Oz/Swanson/Garcia isn't bad at all.
I'm just curious - before Ender went on this torrid stretch of hitting, how open would you have been to trading him? Now that he is hitting, I'm sure you are opposed. He looks like one of the best CF'ers in baseball. But do you really expect his .412 BABIP in the 2nd half of the season to be sustainable? That's rhetorical, BTW. Listen, I get it, Ender is playing out of his mind. But Ender is a contact hitter, who doesn't walk alot, and relies heavily on putting balls in play. And as Ender has shown over the course of the season, there are extremes with those types of hitters. But expecting him to match the amount of luck hitting wise he has had in the 2nd half is just a bit crazy.
I was never particularly open to trading him, especially when 2/3 of our outfield will be 32+ in 2017. He is a .300 hitter over his last 1,000 at bats. He's hot right now, but him hitting for a high average is nothing new and he's only 25 years old playing in his 3rd MLB season. He also plays elite defense and steals 15-20 bases.
I think of our OF as 486 starts to be filled vs. 3 set spots. When you consider that both Kemp and Markakis with be 32+ next year, having a solid 4 man rotation out there makes a lot of sense. While Mallex may not necessarily be an opening day starter, he could start 40 games for Kemp and Markakis to keep them fresh and give Ender another 10-20 as well, not to mention his value as a pinch runner (if he gets his head out of his ass) and elite defensive replacement. I could easily see it going something like: Kemp: 122 Markakis: 122 Ender: 147 Mallex: 95 Mallex could be the 4th outfielder and still start 90+ games and play in 100+ which allows him time to develop his game and learn from the veterans. If he starts killing it or one of the old guys struggles, those numbers could certainly be flipped as well.
Don't think we need to trade for a front of the rotation starter just yet. Add a veteran and see how the kids develop.
I think the issue with trading Ender is that we have no idea if Mallex can be a respectable starting CF'er, or if he is better suited as a 4th OF'er. If you trade Ender, better be damn sure that Mallex is the former and not the latter.
Plus we still have Peterson and Acuna in the minors for the future OF. Acuna is only 18 though so not so immediate for him.
With a little patience Folty becomes that guy right with Teheran. 1. Teheran 2. Folty 3. 4. Wisler 5. I feel good about filling the #5 spot with one of Newcomb, Whalen, Weigel, or Povse and sign a veteran for the #3 or #4 spot and move Wisler up or down as necessary. By the end of next year I would expect one of Soroka, Allard, Fried or (praying for a miracle) Touki to be ready to take a spot in 2018. I also think Minter in the pen is a given for next year