Low Minors Look — Is Crick A Double Helix Or The Next Cain?
How about a look at one of the low minors “stars” of the future. I use that term advisedly, of course, knowing the recent history of success of Giants’ minor leaguers up with the Big Club.
Kyle Crick is a name bandied about a lot. (WTF kind of word is “bandied”, anyway?) SF drafted Crick as their 2nd (supplemental) pick in 2011 out of Sherman (TX) High School (about 40 miles north of Dallas) costing them $900K to keep him out of putting his toe into college ball at TCU. 49th pick overall. Kid is a big, strappin’ Texas boy, listed as 6’4”, 225, so he’s going to get more strappin’ as he makes his way along the minors slog. (I like “strappin’ “, except when it goes too far ala Brad Penny). The hope is he’ll turn into more of a strapper along the lines of another Texan, that dude out of Katy who used to pitch for the RSox and doesn’t mind other guys injecting his wife’s ass with B12 or something. If his last name were Krick, then the KK strikeout thing would be a promo natural for Larry Baer, so long as his middle name weren’t Kristian.
While with low A Augusta so far, his success is more based on getting Ks as you might expect at that level. But, he is starting to work on his other pitches, including the changeup. http://tinyurl.com/8qvb4m3 This kid’s a power guy, can bring the heater in the high 90s, so no surprise right now that as a young kid he’s wild and has thrown a lot of walks in between blowing guys away. http://tinyurl.com/9ve69w4 As of August 2, the Prospect Report noted: “Coupled with his latest performance that makes four times in his last nine starts that he’s been one of the best starters in the SAL on the days he’s taken the ball. That’s pretty heady stuff in itself and he had two other 5.0 inning shutout starts that were also outstanding in that stretch. It’s no wonder that Crick’s name came up as a “prospect of interest” in various trade discussions over the last couple weeks and it’s makes a statement that he Giants elected to hang on to their 2011 supplemental round pick. The 19-year old now has a 2.47 ERA with 97 SO in 87.1 IP and while he has walked 6.1 batters per nine, he’s offset that with an outstanding 5.5 H/9. Crick was already considered by some to be a Top-10 prospect in the Giants organization prior to this season and given what he’s done this year, it seems almost a given he will be a unanimous Top-10 guy for San Francisco – maybe even Top-5 – heading into 2013.”
For what it’s worth at this early stage, here’s a link to his numbers. http://tinyurl.com/9oubf88 And, here’s a link to a recent vid supposedly of him in game action. http://tinyurl.com/8lyjldm We should be seeing him next year at San Jose. Is he a RH Wheeler? Or, a Todd van Poppel? Or somewhere in between? Or another Matt Cain? You guys probably have some more dope on him…
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
looks like a player to me. When I start seeing prospects born in ’92 I start to feel quite old…….
Nice topic, snarkk. Always nice to get some new dirt (pun intended) on a young Giant prospect.
Here is a scouting report on Crick:
http://www.bbprospectreport.com/2010/11/30/kyle-crick-report
Report has him graded a mid-level prospect (typical number 3 starter)…hope they are wrong…and hope that brief stint in the AZ Fall League was an anomaly.
Good stuff, Snarkk. I remebered the G’s drafting him, but hadn’t thought of him at all lately. In a couple years he could replace Timmy . . . No pressure there.
BTW I love the POTDs that stretch for like 2 miles . . .
Schulman reports that Bochy says he will “consider” bringing up Gary Brown in September…
I was out early and busy as hell last night, so had not seen the POTD. That was fantastic…sorry it didn’t work out SanDog…but great story nontheless.
There’s not much differenece between a van Poppel and a Cain. Take a look at Michael Main. A first round pick of the Rangers in 2007, he was dealt to us with Chris Ray in the Molina deal. The guy never escaped “A” ball and was released this spring- as far as I know, he’s out of baseball. A 98 MPH heater, “smooth, repeatable mechanics”, considered an absolute steal in the Molina trade- I guess someone has a fine mail sorter. The point- you truly never know. And an 18 YO pitching prospect- you *really* never know. Crick could be Main or Cain- and on draft day, no can say they really knew which.
Lots of failure at every level.Sabean reports to Sabean.
Last sentence is absurd. Lots of failure everywhere.
It can make you plain insane…
This is why the baseball draft will never be the circus freak show that the NFL draft is. The NFL draft success rate is about 75% higher in the NFL than MLB. Baseball is what, about 10% success rate? I have no idea, but you look at a list of baseball draftees in any given year, and it’s like, who?
Mike Piazza was taken as a token gesture by the Dogs, and boom HOFer. A thousand #1 picks didn’t dent AA ball. Even with all the new scouting techniques (pecker size notwithstanding), they still miss a lot more thatn they hit. Kinda like a batting average, you hit .300 in the draft, yer doing an excellent job.
Anyhow, off to the mountains. . . .
Be careful. You’re not a kid anymore.
He thinks he is.
Bears go get him!
One big reason I’ve always loved baseball over other major pro sports is that any dude of any size and speed can play it, and well. You can be short, tall, fast, slow — if you’ve got the proper skills, it doesn’t matter. JR Richard to Freddy Patek to Jimmy Wynn to Frank Howard. Willie Davis to Boog Powell. This Kyle Crick kid is a big kid, and who knows how he’ll pan out. But, we do know there’s no guarantee his size will get him to even a roster spot in the majors. Timmeh is tiny, he’s already made history in MLB. And Greg Maddux was a relatively average to small dude that used smarts and physical skills and guile to pitch his way to a HOF career…
Very good thread snarkk (also, a tip of my hat to Chuck yesterday, as well as the rest of the stable for their outstanding threads too).
Yeah, I like the fact that “You can be short, tall, fast, slow” as snarkk pointed out . . . or, even a fat slob. For example, obscure Walter “Jumbo” Brown was just about the only guy in pro baseball that Babe Ruth could have teased for being fat. Overall his numbers were mediocre (33-31, 4.07 ERA), but his size was astronomical. At 295 lbs, Brown was the largest man to play pro baseball, until some dude named Walter Young had a cup of coffee in the bigs in 2005.
Standing at just 5’8″, pudgy Kirby Puckett doesn’t really fall into the “fat” category, but fits “weird” body type better than anyone else who has donned an MLB jock strap.
Shit, Tony Gywnn looked like a fat kid waiting for the ice cream truck. Til you put a bat in his hands.
Yeah the Giants are really impressed with Kyle Crick’s potential.Teams were asking about him as well as Brown and others at the deadline.
Always subject to change/trades/flameouts etc,and yes im getting ahead of myself but WTF…it’s fun to dream and try and predict the future…
My 2015 Opening Day Starting Pitchers:
1) Cain
2)Bumgarner
3) Crick
4) Blackburn
5) Kickham
Just looking at the schedules (yeah, I can’t lie, I am starting to scoreboard watch)…Giants come home against the Rox…hoping we can pick-up where we left off in Denver, and then the Nats come to town. We owe them from that sweltering sweep they laid on us in D.C.
Bums starting a 10 game east coast roadie – Miami, Pittsburgh, and then Hotlanta.
And while the Snakes are four back, I think you cannot discount them yet. They start a 3 game set with the Nats and get Strasburg tonight.
And here they come…down the stretch (well, maybe just a bit premature for all those shenanigans…but it is certainly getting to crunch time in the ol’ schedule).
Bandy:
late 16th cent. (in the sense ‘pass a ball to and fro’): perhaps from French bander ‘take sides at tennis’
It also means: Discuss casually. Much like the business term “spitballing” ideas.
you asked 🙂
Thanks.
BTW, I’ve never heard “spitballing” used in that way. “Brainstorming” comes to my mind on that one…
I chose spitballing because brainstorming comes later and should have more focus. as in several minds working on one idea versus several ideas and see which one ‘sticks’
Spitballing as a binezz term? Spitballing is what we did in grade school…shooting small wads of paper soaked in spit at others in the class.
yeah, with straws if possible, in the neck of that guy two rows in front of you. You bastard, I was that guy.
“doesn’t date guys with young kids”
Your golf partner is a C – – T….
Well, I can’t fault her…when I was out on the prowl…I wanted nothing to do with women who had youngs kids. My logic was that I had already “been there/done that” and really wanted nothing to do with raising some ankle-biters…especially someone else’s ankle-biters. LQTM…guess that made me a dick.
Nah, you weren’t a dick, you were just realistdick…
It was just a date – they weren’t getting married. Fuck her and her rules – and watch the standards drop as she gets fatter and older…
Ahh, good dig, snarkk, I would never pay attention to anything more distant than Fresno or SJ. Why is it so hard to become a major leaguer? Seems like a talented 19yo, nurtured by pro sports guidance should work out more than 10% of the time. I can understand NFL draft success because the game is so much more one dimensional. Maybe this explains why so many ball players with ML experience get traded and resurrected or have long careers despite the ups and downs of a career over time or the varying of stats for similar players month on month.
I really think baseball is not given credit for how much of a mental game it is. Confidence is huge. Football, sure, you need confidence, but you run, you block, you tackle. QB is the only position where I think confidence can be a deal breaker, even with the requisite skills. In baseball, you can think yourself into or out of a career whether you’re a pitcher or a hitter, even if you have the skills. Look at Belt, he’s got skills, but clearly he’s had some mental issues dealing with the pressure and the coaching, or whatever it is. Lately, looks like his dauber is on the upswing…
Meanwhile, in NBA news, it takes 4 teams and a mega deal to get Dwight Howard moved to the Lakers, where the league office wanted him to go. Reason # 9021 why the NBA is a joke. At least in MLB, you’ve got the big money teams — Yanks, RSox, Phills, etc., but the big stars don’t get “engineered” into moving to those clubs. The way the NBA is blatantly rigged to get players on certain teams is laughable. And, this one, I don’t get anyway. Howard is a cancer, plus stat-wise he’s really no better than Bynum, who’s being shipped to Philly. Why people pay hundreds of bucks for a seat at one NBA game is a head scratcher for me. Most teams have absolutely NO shot at winning the title. Only 4 teams, Celtics, Lakers, Bulls and Spurs have won more than 3 championships, totaling between them 67 percent of all titles.
Here are the 8 teams that have won NBA titles since 1990:
Mavs, Heat, Celts, Lakers, Bulls, Spurs, Pistons, Rockets. Since 2000, Lakers have 5 titles, Spurs 3, Heat 2.
Here’s the 13 WS winners since 1990: Cards, Giants, Yanks, Phills, RSox, WSox, Marlins, Angels, Dbacks, Braves, Jays, Twins, Reds. Yanks haven’t won it all since 2000, after taking 3 in a row. Cards have won 2 outta the last 6, but both times they weren’t at all favored going in….
THe NBA might have wanted Howard to go to LA, but after Brooklyn fell through the only other place Howard would ever considering going to was LA……
the NBA is fixed? say it isn’t so chicken little . . .
ESPN had one of those short shots they do, this time with Andres Torres; what a nice guy! He also said his father is a Mets fan and he is happy playing there: “I can show my dad he has something to be proud of.”
my Mets fans friends and relatives love him, as I told them they would
watching the cubbies on ESPN and on the steal of second the catchers throw misses the ss covering, bounces off the sbs glove and gets by the cf. E5 E8 runner scores.
whoops I think that was E4 E8
Chiming in late: SanDawg’s golf babe story POTD had me salivating (or similar moisturizing a la Ted’s college would-be championship — and everybody else’s). Hate that ending! I hope you at least have her email, something, anything, to prove it was not a MILFalistic chimera, psychotic fugue, dream, hallucinatory flashback.
At the Santa Cruz boardwalk with the boys. They just rode the big dipper for the first time. Got the front seats!! I forgot what a great ride it is. Did the merrygoround and jack got a ring into the clowns mouth. I forgot how fast that sucker moves
good times, family fun, a bit of a welcomed break I’ll bet
Plus a gorgeous day on the coast. A buddy of mine has a boat here and we’re off to there next
good news, The Daily Show is back on in the UK. Channel Four dropped it about 8 months ago (they kept the once-a-week global edition) saying there were only getting 35,000 viewers a night. Now it has re-surfaced on Comedy Central. Hope they can afford to keep it on. I love watching it with Brit friends as I am LMAO and they are, “What’s up G’vnor, what is that chap going on about?” Great way to keep up with what is going on in the states.
the wind at Wrigley is working. I just watched the 1b and catcher running on the first base line looking up after a popup. Where they met they both turned and ran towards the dugout after a ball that went in the stands.
“Baseball is what, about 10% success rate?”
I read a thing a while back that said the rate of a guy getting beyond just a cup of coffee in the majors is 3%. I don’t know how reliable that number is. One of the keys to enjoying Single A games is to not dwell on the fact that a lot of the players won’t even get to the majors for a cup of coffee.
Well jeez, they’re drafting them 50 rounds deep. If the NFL had 50 rounds it would be the same thing.
Regarding brainstorming…..I read a thing recently that made a case that brainstorming is incredibly unproductive, and a misguided tactic to use in situations. I’m not sure I agree with that, but the author made his case pretty reasonably.
It is, as you say, misguided to think that having a brainstorming session will solve issues in and of itself. buzzwords and management fads are much more prevalent than true innovation. Because of that it was incorrectly labelled a method to conquer bigger problems. Brainstorming works when applied in the correct context. Otherwise it is mainly an exercise to improve users abilities and understanding of problem solving.
Quick Melky-contract thought as I enjoy a perfect afternoon by the pool: I love Melky and want him to sign a long term deal. But I don’t want to make it rain on him. The 3rd/27 mil deal we heard the giants had floated to him was a joke. He’ll get minimum double that. But listen, we’re talking about a guy who really doesn’t hit for power and who’s BABIP this year is close to .400. Last year it was .332. That stat suggests a big regression is coming. Do you really want him on a 5 yr deal for 15 mil a year? I don’t.
Yes – unless you have a better idea…
Well, the better idea (IMO) is to let him walk. We’ve got Pence for at least another year and Brown could be starting by next year.
There just isn’t that many FA stud OF’s out there. Hamilton will sign with the Rangers. Pagan and Ichiro don’t really interest me. Melky is going to have a lot of buyers out there. I’d go 4/48, something like that. If the Dodgers wanna go 5/1billion or whatever, let ‘Em
Fuck Melky and his 5 year mega million deal . . . I want to know about your pool? Specifically, are there any women around the pool?
Not really. A couple of hot nanny’s that’s about it.
Melky IS having a career year. Will he continue to provide at a cost the team can afford? Only if he wants to give a little to receive club support when he has less than stellar years. IMHO
Posey gets a night off.
1. Angel Pagan (S) CF
2. Marco Scutaro (R) 3B
3. Melky Cabrera (S) LF
4. Hunter Pence (R) RF
5. Hector Sanchez (S) C
6. Brandon Belt (L) 1B
7. Ryan Theriot (R) 2B
8. Brandon Crawford (L) SS
9. Tim Lincecum (L) P
Another 2010-less lineup (1-8)…..amazing.
At times it’s 2011-less, too…
We who do you want to see in there?
I think I was trying to suggest something about the duality of man, the Jungian thing, sir.
I’m off Carl Jung, Loo. Too erudite. I walk with the masses my man, don’t fergit it!
BTW, I also despise lifeguards…
just a bunch of power drunk–overreacting–water jockey–pussies……
Chatwood’s career: 83 K’s / 80 BB’s
Cain has to be getting a little tired of having to go through all these *perfect game* celebrations. Enough already.
66 percent of MLB first round picks ever play in the bigs, 49 percent of 2’s, less than a third of 3-5 picks. Not even close to success rate of NFL draft picks. NFL uses our universities as their farm system.
Smart move by NFL, if baseball would stop drafting Children out of high school maybe, just maybe we would see quality players
Is there a lamer, more overused, less quanatative word than “competed”?
“he competed”. “he finally started competing”. That’s just a word announcers use to “lazy” their way through a game or an analysis….
I heard a classic “lazy broadcasting” moment during the Olympic coverage the other night. As someone was winning a gold medal, the broadcaster said: “It’s a moment he’ll never forget.”
Really? Other than people who get Altzheimer’s, do people often forget the time THEY WON A GOLD MEDAL IN THE OLYMPICS?
haha, absolutely.
Enjoy the game. GNight.
The Melky situation is of no concern to me. Most players come and go and this player may be one of them. What is it…..four teams in four years? If he wants to sign next year with someone else good for him.
Fangraphs had a melk contract column couple days ago, and bloggers were comparing him with Bourn as FA big contract guy. I think the time to have picked up Bourn was couple years ago—like Melk he doesn’t hit for power, and that speed will deteriorate and soon. Pure speed guys don’t hold up well after about 28 or so. Buying high on him, like now, I think is a big mistake.
Hopefully, SF has a good post season run and Melk and his latin buddies on the team (and there are a lot of them) stick together and the deal is only for 3 yrs at whatever. We can use Brown to play CF and take Pagan’s spot. But, Loo in his 3:35 does have a point—who takes Melk’s spot in the LU if you allow him to walk? I’m sick of replacement level mediocrity of guys like Nate.
And don’t forget that our current 4th and 5th best starters are going to cost us $40 mill next year.
I take back what I said. This is a fantastic ceremony.
They will Melky back.Too much bank to be added to the org revenue with Melk hats,maid attire not to mention Panda hats,Buster Bash video’s etc.4/50 is my offer cause he aint Rowand and that’s a good thing.
They need him to make the Michael Bourn sigining this winter easier.The perfect blend with a true Lead Off Hitter with speed,Melky who can handle the bat with speed,and Pence a full season with the club and rocket arm,and always “Hustling” driving in the runs including his old teammate with Houston,Bourn.Gary Brown is the wild card,4th OF or alittle more seasoning at AAA,with Blanco a cheap reserve option.
Pads came back after trailing 7-1 in the 5th and beat Pirates on the road 9-8 for their 50th W of the season. That’s one less than free spending Phils and Marlins. He won’t get any votes, but Black has done a fine job imo of taking a terrible team and getting the most possible out of them.
Which brings me to…coach K. I do hope US wins the gold, and I realize it’s impossible to keep all these big money/big ego superstars happy with limited minutes and only one basketball on the court at a time. But hello–any of us could win coaching that team.
This is exactly the kind of game where Pence needs to be making a difference, and it ain’t happening so far.
this game is a joke. Chatwood sucks. AT&T is officially in the heads of these guys…..
What the FUUUUUUUK was that base running by Crawford? He gave away a gimme run…
I wonder when’s the last time a Rockies starter was eligible to get a win?
I don’t understand why Lincecum after all this time continually ignores the runner on first, who gets a huge jump on him. And, sometimes off of second, too. Is it coaching, is it hubris? I don’t get it, because it sucks, and just cost them a cheap run that shouldn’t have scored. Meanwhile, Hector isn’t doing any great shakes behind the dish, either. This thing with Posey not catching Tim is weird, and I don’t care what Bochy says, this is a night game after a day game; there’s something going on there…
i started thinking a few days ago (and boy is my brain sore) about comeback wins. without looking at any data it doesn’t seem like this club has many and certainly not any recently. when they win, they almost always score early. to be a force in the PS, they’re going to need to start getting the feeling that they CAN come from 2, 3 even 4 runs down late in a game.
Giants are playing with about as much energy as what’s on the Flap right now…
BLEEP! BLEEP!
now that IS energetic!
Posey did play a lot in STL, including yesterday day game after the night game. but, watching Hector is also why I don’t think Posey moves to 1b anytime soon. The guy is a pure hacker at the plate and leaves a lot to be desired behind it. Belt is a superior player to Hector, and after dumping off the top prospect for Pence, Posey has to get lion’s share of the work as C. At least for now.
That’s 0 extra-base hits since the 15-run game.
That was a putrid game. Timmeh wasn’t great, but it’s not like he got hammered. The 3 runs he gave up were pretty much pick and pop, and he basically gave one away by not paying attention to the base runner at first. Well, you can’t expect to win 6 in a row against a team. But, Pence needs to start doing something. So far, he’s not doing too much…
BLEEP!
this blog will return tomorrow, sweet dreams
Wait. It is tomorrow
I’d just like to take this moment to give a shoutout to that fucking clown Bozo for the subliminal head’s up on the BBOTD