With the 1-4, SF selects VALENTIN KARSHEV
Karshev has regularly been rated as one of the top prospects in the WBL for the past few seasons. He had a really rough start in A ball his first year, but I think that can be attributed to his young age (drafted at 16 and started in A ball at 17). His second season in A was much better and he also had a nice season in AA in 2053. He's been developing well all across the board, and it is nice to see his eye come along so early (one of the later developing hitting areas it seems). To me that might signify OSA is a little low on his potential in that area, since it is already so good. I'd say he's still 1-2 seasons from being WBL ready at this point, I wonder if
@ZackMills plans to give him a 2nd season in AA or move him up to AAA? I try not to move players up to AAA unless they are 21, as I want all the squirrel kings to be able to drink together, but maybe liquor laws have changed by 2053? His defensive rating at catcher is still quite a ways off his potential and I'd like to see that increase because that's where a lot of his value is going to come from.
I notice his ABs are very consistent year over year as well, care to weigh in on your development philosophy here,
@ZackMills?
[xtable=skin1|border:0|cellpadding:0|cellspacing:0|673x@]
{tbody}
{tr}
{th=colspan:8}BATTING RATINGS (OSA){/th}
{/tr}
{tr}
{th} {/th}
{th}Overall{/th}
{th}Pot.{/th}
{th}Overall{/th}
{th}Vs Left{/th}
{th}Vs Right{/th}
{th}Pot.{/th}
{th} {/th}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Contact{/td}
{td}
{/td}
{td}
{/td}
{td}40{/td}
{td}40{/td}
{td}40{/td}
{td}55{/td}
{td} {/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Gap{/td}
{td}
{/td}
{td}
{/td}
{td}40{/td}
{td}40{/td}
{td}40{/td}
{td}40{/td}
{td} {/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Power{/td}
{td}
{/td}
{td}
{/td}
{td}45{/td}
{td}45{/td}
{td}45{/td}
{td}65{/td}
{td} {/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Eye{/td}
{td}
{/td}
{td}
{/td}
{td}55{/td}
{td}55{/td}
{td}55{/td}
{td}60{/td}
{td} {/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Avoid K's{/td}
{td}
{/td}
{td}
{/td}
{td}40{/td}
{td}40{/td}
{td}40{/td}
{td}55{/td}
{/tr}
{/tbody}
[/xtable]
OSA's predictions on his potential were pretty accurate, though they are predicting his power/eye to be a little lower than they originally predicted. Based on the early development of his eye, I'd tend to disagree and think we might see OSA revise their estimates, especially given the fact that he walked 90 times last season in .400 ABs. I'll be interested to keep an eye on his eye!
[xtable=skin1|766x@]
{tbody}
{tr}
{td=84x@} {/td}
{td=64x@}POS{/td}
{td=170x@}Name{/td}
{td=64x@}Age{/td}
{td=64x@}Level{/td}
{td=64x@}CON P{/td}
{td=64x@}GAP P{/td}
{td=64x@}POW P{/td}
{td=64x@}EYE P{/td}
{td=64x@}K P{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}2050{/td}
{td}C{/td}
{td}Valentin Karshev{/td}
{td}16{/td}
{td} {/td}
{td}55{/td}
{td}40{/td}
{td}70{/td}
{td}65{/td}
{td}55{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}2053{/td}
{td}C{/td}
{td}Valentin Karshev{/td}
{td}19{/td}
{td}AA{/td}
{td}55{/td}
{td}40{/td}
{td}65{/td}
{td}60{/td}
{td}55{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Difference{/td}
{td} {/td}
{td} {/td}
{td} {/td}
{td} {/td}
{td} {/td}
{td} {/td}
{td}-5{/td}
{td}-5{/td}
{td} {/td}
{/tr}
{/tbody}
[/xtable]
Looking at his fielding ratings, his catcher ability and arm, which show his potential, have stayed the same and he should be a phenomenal WBL level catcher once he develops. His positional rating has increased by 10, so I'd predict another 1-2 seasons (depending on his dev this offseason) before he's at the WBL positional threshold level of 55-60 I like to see. Lost a little speed, which seems to be the trend at this point.
[xtable=skin1|625x150]
{tbody}
{tr}
{td=84x@} {/td}
{td=64x@}POS{/td}
{td=170x@}Name{/td}
{td=64x@}Age{/td}
{td=64x@}Level{/td}
{td=64x@}C ARM{/td}
{td=64x@}C ABI{/td}
{td=64x@}C{/td}
{td=67x@}SPE{/td}
{td=64x@}STE{/td}
{td=64x@}RUN{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}2050{/td}
{td}C{/td}
{td}Valentin Karshev{/td}
{td}16{/td}
{td} {/td}
{td}70{/td}
{td}70{/td}
{td}35{/td}
{td}25{/td}
{td}25{/td}
{td}40{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}2053{/td}
{td}C{/td}
{td}Valentin Karshev{/td}
{td}19{/td}
{td}AA{/td}
{td}70{/td}
{td}70{/td}
{td}45{/td}
{td}20{/td}
{td}25{/td}
{td}40{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Difference{/td}
{td} {/td}
{td} {/td}
{td} {/td}
{td} {/td}
{td} {/td}
{td} {/td}
{td}10{/td}
{td}-5{/td}
{td} {/td}
{td} {/td}
{/tr}
{/tbody}
[/xtable]
My scout is higher on his potential eye and power than OSA is. It is too early in the development process to project where he might end up, but I'm inclined to believe my scout's estimate of his eye, given it is already at 55 and he's only 19. My scout initially had his power at 80 potential but has since backed off to 70 potential, which is still higher than OSA's projection. Based on his development and hitting to date, I'd tend to believe the OSA projection of 65 power potential at this point. To early to call it, but I favor my scout's projection of his eye and favor OSA's projection of his Power. The next couple of seasons will probably be pretty key for seeing what's going to happen to the power portion of his bat!