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With no minor league season and no Arizona Fall League in 2020, information on prospects has been sparse at best this year. So with actual game play in instructional leagues in both Arizona and Florida, we at least have some semblance of minor league news.
Kyle Glaser at Baseball America wrote about the players who impressed the most during instructional leagues this year, including this on Michael Busch, the Dodgers’ supplemental first-round pick in 2019:
Busch earned universal reviews as the top hitter in Arizona. He took high quality at-bats, turned around upper-90s velocity and showed home run power to center field and both gaps. His balance, bat speed, hand-eye coordination and strike-zone discipline all drew high praise. Evaluators were split on Busch’s defense at second base, but he earned consistent grades as a plus hitter with plus power.
Busch was at the alternate training site at USC during the season, along with his fellow first-round pick from 2019, Kody Hoese, who was taken six picks before Busch. Back in early September, Gavin Lux singled out Hoese as a standout among hitters at USC.
“Kody Hoese can really, really, really hit. I felt like every day he was hitting the ball off the wall or shooting a double the other way,” Lux said.
Hoese is rated the Dodgers’ No. 3 prospect by MLB Pipeline, with Busch No. 4.
Links
- On free agent third baseman Justin Turner, Jorge Castillo at the Los Angeles Times wrote, “Seeing him in another uniform now is almost unfathomable. But nothing is guaranteed.”
- Cliff Corcoran at Baseball Prospectus reviewed the 1950 film The Jackie Robinson Story, calling it “a fascinating historical artifact and an above average B-movie.” Earlier this year, actors Ellen Adair and Eric Gilde reviewed the film using the 20-80 baseball scouting scale on the Take Me In to the Ballgame podcast.
- Yankees reliever Adam Ottavino shared behind-the-scenes photos he took during MLB’s COVID-19 season in 2020, and was interviewed about the experience by Joon Lee at ESPN.