Getting Familiar: Matthew Moore, Albert Suarez and Others

by Tommy Rancel on Jan 26, 2009 11:03 AM EST

Most of the offseason focus has been on the Major League club and rightfully so. With pitchers and catchers reporting in less than three weeks we are almost ready to turn our full attention toward the 2009 season. However before we do that, I wanted to take a look at some of the lower levels of the minor leagues and see what pitchers we could be talking about soon as the Price/Davis/Hellickson group continues to work through the upper levels of the organization. Here are a few guys who popped out to me, at least on the 2008 Rookie League-Princeton Devil Rays.

Name	K/9	BB/9	K/BB	HR/9	ERA	FIP
Matthew Moore	12.8	3.15	4.05	0	1.66	1.6
Kyle Ayers	7.03	0.84	8.33	0.56	4.5	2.9
Albert Suarez	7.63	1.44	5.29	0.62	3.92	3
Joseph Cruz	10.3	2.33	4.43	0.83	3.17	3
Chris Luck	8.75	2	4.38	0.75	2.25	3.2

Matt Moore is a stud in waiting. At age 19 he already throws 92-95 MPH and has a curveball that scouts love. He sported a 64% GB rate and did not give up a home run in 54.1 IP in 2008. Expect him to be in Bowling Green in 2009.
Albert Suarez is another 19 year old starter who is rising up some prospect lists. While his K/9 isn't as dominating, his 5.29 K/BB was the best of any Princeton starter. Like Moore, his GB rate was solid at 59%.
Joseph Cruz is not as good as the other two starters on this list, but a 10.3 K/9 and 4.43 K/BB is nothing to shy away from. A year older than Moore and Suarez, Cruz has a tendency to give up the long ball. He gave up five home runs in 54 innings and all of them to right handed batters.
Kyle Ayers was a 2007 draft pick and has pitched well in relief for Princeton over the past two seasons. He is a solid 6'4, 220 pounds and like most of the others on this list is 19 years old. His K/BB rate of 8.33 was second best in the entire organization behind Jeremy Hellickson's ridiculous 15.0 at Montgomery. He's walked just 11 batters is 64.1 career innings. The knock on him is he's hitable. In 2008 he's H/9 was a whopping 12.96.
Chris Luck, like Ayers, is a 2007 draft pick and pitched his second season of relief for Princeton in 2008. In 2007 his K/9 was 10.37, but dropped to 8.75 in 08. However, this BB/9 also dropped raising his K/BB from 3.58 to 4.38. He seems to be somewhat of a ROOGY at this point. In 2008 his FIP vs LHB was 3.63, but just 2.01 against RHB.

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Disclaimer

I’m not a prospect expert just going through the numbers. I’ll leave the expert stuff to Gengler and the boys at Raysprospects

by Tommy Rancel on Jan 26, 2009 11:05 AM EST reply actions

Not so fast on Moore being in Bowling Green.

The AFRO has been extremely conservative with their high school pitching prospects rarely, if ever skipping them a level. He may very well start there, but I’d say there is at least a 50/50 chance he stays in Short-season and pitches in Hudson Valley.

Tools Whore

Sign Bonds!

by Tyler on Jan 26, 2009 11:09 AM EST reply actions

Yea I thought of that, but given his ability, I figured it would be better competition for him.

by Tommy Rancel on Jan 26, 2009 11:13 AM EST up reply actions

I'd lean toward him starting him in Bowling Green

Just because of how ridiculous he was last year. Plus, the Rays have pitching coach R.C. Lichtenstein in Bowling Green, and I’m pretty sure the higher-ups think highly of him(he was the guy with Davis and McGee in Southwest Michigan and Vero Beach), so it makes sense to pair Lichstenstein with Barnese and Moore in Bowling Green. They’ve been conservative, but I’ll be disappointing if Moore goes to Hudson Valley.

www.raysprospects.com
Trade for Billy Butler!

by Imperialism32 on Jan 26, 2009 11:15 AM EST up reply actions

I agree. 50/50 may have been overstating it. But there is a chance he'll start in HV.

His placement will most likely be largely determined by his performance in instructs and minor league spring training. Or perhaps where they feel his arm strength is at. They may hold him back to limit his competitive innings.

Tools Whore

Sign Bonds!

by Tyler on Jan 26, 2009 11:21 AM EST up reply actions

Yeah, the innings thing is a bit of a concern

Moore didn’t miss any time with injury, but so many Princeton games got rained out(and eventually canceled) that Moore fell like an inning of short of actually qualifying for the ERA title, which he would’ve won. That said, the Rays would probably like to get Moore somewhere in the 85-100 innings range, which would be tough to do at HV.

www.raysprospects.com
Trade for Billy Butler!

by Imperialism32 on Jan 26, 2009 11:25 AM EST up reply actions

With the absolute glut of pitching prospects,

I have no issue with taking it slow in upping their innings and with promotions. No problem with them not coming up until a little later and getting more prime, cost-controlled years.

by rglass44 on Jan 26, 2009 11:26 AM EST up reply actions

That's true, but at the same time

You have to challenge prospects a little bit for their development. Moore was practically toying with hitters in the Appy League last year, and if he’s throwing 94-96 with a quality slider, I’m not sure the NY-P league is going to be much more of a challenge.

www.raysprospects.com
Trade for Billy Butler!

by Imperialism32 on Jan 26, 2009 11:31 AM EST up reply actions