Previous Prospect Posts: Cedar Rapids Kernals, Orem Owlz, AZL Angels, DSL Angels

Fifth in the series. The Quakes were the only team in our minor league system to miss the playoffs this year, due partly to injuries.

Rancho Cucamonga Quakes-

High-A California League is a player's first opportunity to really get their name on the radar of the general fanbase. It's fairly close to the Angels' Major League stadium, so guys tend to rehab here a lot as well, which in turn brings those fans who feel it's easier to get autographs and such from players while they are rehabbing. Because of all these factors Rancho is where people really start to gauge whether you're "for real" or not. Things to remember:

• Launch Pad. This place will jack up offensive numbers and eat pitchers alive if they aren't up to snuff. A hitting prospect needs to hit .850 OPS or higher here to really look solid, though occasionally guys will surprise you. For pitchers, 4.5 or better ERA is considered solid.
  
• Age Range. 21-22 is okay, 20 is young, 23 is creaky and 24 or higher isn't generally a good sign.
• High-A. Guys here are typically 2-3 years away.
• I am not a professional scout, though I have seen some of these guys play a few times.

Top Prospects

Hank Conger- C/DH Born 1/29/1988 (20) - .303/.333/.517/.850, 73 G, 294 AB, 20 2B, 2 3B, 13 HR, 14 BB, 55 K, 2 SB, 1 CS

As good as those numbers are from a switch-hitting catcher, this season can't really be considered anything more than a disappointment for Conger. To begin with, he missed significant time with injury for a third straight season. He's starting to approach JD Drew or Milton Bradley levels in the injury-prone department, which is bad, though not necessarily panic-inducing just yet (Casey Kotchman was exactly the same way). Perhaps because of those issues, Conger stopped catching for the last half of the season or so, relegated to a role as DH.

The other reason to be disappointed is the numbers themselves. They're pretty good, especially for a twenty year-old at the high-A level, but people were expecting something closer to Brandon Wood or Howie Kendrick than what we got (again, Kotchman is probably the right area). As it stands, Conger can't really hold a candle to either guy. These numbers are closer to what Erick Aybar put up at the same age, in the same place. If you want the ultra-pessimistic interpretation, Jeff Mathis put up better hitting numbers in Rancho than Conger.

However, there IS a bright spot, specifically that Conger picked it up big time in the last three weeks at Rancho, raising his average from .283 to .303, while hitting 8 doubles and 5 homers. He has gone on to make a significant difference in the AA Arkansas Travelers playoffs, becoming the Travs main RBI producer with 12 in 7 games. The deciding game of the championship series will be played tonight at 8pm ET.

Hopefully Conger will pick it up even further next season at Arkansas, though whether he has any future at Catcher remains to be seen.

Jordan Walden- RHSP Born 11/16/1987 - (20) 4.04 ERA, 49 IP, 1.35 WHIP, 24 BB, 50 K

Walden spent two-thirds of the season at Cedar Rapids and thoroughly dominated before being called up to Rancho for his last 9 starts. These stats, while not what he was putting up with the Kernals, are still quite good for a 20-year old. Walden actually improved on his K-Rate while moving up, though his walk rate also increased. His groundball rate predictably dropped a bit, but still remained an encouragingly high 1.76.

Walden possesses our organization's best fastball, regularly hurling 98, and combines that with some good offspeed. With Adenhart's problems at Salt Lake, Walden may have become our best pitching prospect. Despite the brevity of his time here in Rancho this season, I wouldn't be incredibly surprised if he moves up a level to Arkansas next season.

Alexander Torres- LHSP Born 12/08/1987 (20) - 3.91 ERA, 53 IP, 1.53 WHIP, 29 BB, 62 K

Torres is the latest proof that anything can happen during a season, and that sometimes guys just need time to figure things out. Two years ago, Torres put up  unremarkable numbers with the AZL Angels, and then in 2007 posted even less remarkable numbers with the same club. He began this season still mired in the AZL... but he didn't stay there. After posting a 1.54 ERA through his first 4 starts, Torres got a break with a call-up to Rancho Cucamonga to fill in a few starts, and impressed enough to stick for the rest of the season. While he was fairly erratic, dominating in one start and getting lit up the next, he still put up impressive numbers for a 20 year old at this level, especially the strike-outs.

Torres managed to post a ground ball rate even higher than Walden's at 2.26, and his K-Rate was better, while being a month younger. Torres was not as good as Walden at keeping men off base though, allowing more hits, and surrendering more walks.

Where Torres goes from here is less certain than Walden, due partially to the erratic nature of his starts, and also to his lack of history in the system. He might find himself with the Travs, but could also conceivably end up staying in Rancho. I have some suspicion that with his small frame (he's only 5-10), Torres might end up becoming a reliever, but only time will tell on that score. It will be interesting to see if he cracks any top-prospect lists.

Sean O'Sullivan- RHSP 9/01/1987 (21) - 4.73 ERA, 158 IP, 1.37 WHIP, 50 BB, 111 K

O'Sullivan almost didn't make it on here, which would have been a shame, seeing as how he's been one of our better pitching prospects that last few seasons. He had a truly ugly first half, posting an ERA over 6 and failing to average even 5 innings per start. However, Sean picked it up big-time post All-Star Break, bringing his ERA down to 3.31, lowering his BB-Rate and BAA, and putting up just over 6 innings per start. The only thing that didn't dramatically improve was his K-rate.

O'Sullivan is also quite young for the league (he turned 21 here in September, but he's only 2 months older than Walden), and his WHIP suggests that he may have simply been unlucky during his dismal first half. Another odd aspect to O'Sullivan's numbers (which I also noted in July) is the large disparity between his home and away numbers, which as we know from our struggles with Santana, indicates a certain level of immaturity in a pitcher that is fortunately correctable.

Also worth a mention...

Peter Bourjos- CF Born 03/31/1987 (21)

Ryan Mount- 2B/SS Born 8/17/1986 (22)

Anthony Norman- LF Born 10/22/1985 (23)

Trevor Bell- RHRP Born 10/12/86 (21)

Two months ago, I'd have sworn up and down that Bourjos would make the prospect list, but he dropped off a cliff post ASB. His batting average dipped to .284 at one point in August, which doesn't sound that bad until you realize that he was hitting .326 in mid-July. He did manage to avert total collapse by going crazy the last two weeks or so, bringing himself back to .295 for the season, but it's still disappointing when you consider where he was. Hopefully he picks it up next year in Arkansas, and he could always get a job as a pinch runner.

Mount is just the opposite. He had an injured April followed by a horrible May, and then was great for the rest of the season and nearly made the prospect list. Norman's problem is that he's old and had a really low batting average for some reason. Other than that he's great. He has good speed, ripping off 36 bases to only 6 CS, great BB-Rate, decent K-Rate, and decent power. Trevor Bell, our first pick in the 2005 Draft, wasn't very good as a starter, but put up solid numbers as a reliever, with a 2.43 ERA in 37 innings.

Wrapup

This 2008 Rancho team was kind of disappointing over-all. There was way more talent on this team than, say Arkansas or Cedar Rapids, but injuries to Conger, Mount, and Matt Sweeney, plus pitching that didn't show up until late in the season, ended up costing the team a playoff spot by one game. Hopefully this group will do better in Arkansas next season, especially if Walden and Torres stick around. Speaking of the Travs, they're up next.