MB100 | 26 in the Mix | Witherspoon, Wood, Zokan

== And now we dive into the Spec66 ===

We decided to expand our prospect listing to 100 this year.  We’ll have a Top 40 (ranked), the 26 in the Mix (alphabetical 41-66) and we’ve already revealed 34 More (The Watch List) by position.  It’s all linked on the “MB100” page, which is always at the top.

And we just covered a few minor-league statistical basics in our last post.

We’ll do most of the list in small bunches, but the very top will each get their own post.

===

Travis Witherspoon | OF | 2014 age: 25 | RH

Traditional Hitting Stats

Year	Age	Lvl	G	PA	AB	H	2b	3b	HR	BB	K	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
2009	20	Rk	63	233	207	47	4	6	6	11	64	0.227	0.281	0.391	0.673
2010	21	Rk	71	323	288	89	11	3	10	24	73	0.309	0.365	0.472	0.837
2011	22	A-A+	118	524	472	118	20	4	13	41	117	0.250	0.316	0.392	0.708
2012	23	A+-AA	121	541	478	128	19	7	13	57	106	0.268	0.350	0.418	0.768
2013	24	AA	129	514	448	96	18	3	11	55	118	0.214	0.299	0.342	0.641

Spectometer Analysis

Year	Age	Lvl	HR%	BB%	XBH + BB%	ISO	K%	PSA+	Conv+	Comp
		Age Arc	Slugger > 4%	Goal > 8.5%	Goal > 19%	Goal > .200	Goal < 20%	Strong Prospect > 100
2009	20	“+1”	2.58%	4.72%	11.59%	0.164	27.47%	29	51	-20
2010	21	“+2”	3.10%	7.43%	14.86%	0.163	22.60%	66	72	38
2011	22	“+1”	2.48%	7.82%	14.89%	0.142	22.33%	66	68	34
2012	23	“+1”	2.40%	10.54%	17.74%	0.150	19.59%	93	81	74
2013	24	“+2”	2.14%	10.70%	16.93%	0.128	22.96%	81	64	45

The Mariners plucked Witherspoon out of the Angels organization when he was placed on waivers.  He later cleared waivers when taken off the Seattle roster, and was outrighted to the minors.

We can immediately see that Witherspoon has been rather old for his levels, and hasn’t put up the kind of numbers that would make one consider him a likely success in the majors.

That being said … the Spectometer does not take defense or baserunning into account, and that’s where Witherspoon earns his stripes.  He’s a true center fielder, and he’s swiped 140 bags in his minor-league career.

He does have enough patience and power to warrant some attention as a speedy center fielder, and that was enough to bump Leon Landry, who did not play center much at all.  Witherspoon’s 2012 season was his best, and demonstrated a decent amount of promise.

===

Grady Wood | Reliever | 2014 age: 24 | RH

Traditional Pitching Stats

Year	Age	Lvl	W	L	ERA	G	SV	IP	H	HR	BB	K	WHIP	H/9	HR/9	BB/9	K/9
2012	22	SS-A	4	0	2.17	17	2	37.1	29	0	15	35	1.18	7.00	0.00	3.60	8.40
2013	23	A A+	4	5	3.78	51	7	81	69	5	35	69	1.28	7.70	0.60	3.90	7.70

Spectometer Analysis

Year	Age	Lvl	HR%	BB%	XBH + BB%	ISO	K%	PSA+	Conv+	Comp
		Age Arc	Goal < 1%	Goal < 6%	Goal < 14%	Goal < .100	Goal > 20%	Strong prospect > 100
2012	22	“+3”	0.00%	9.43%	12.58%	0.036	22.01%	113	124	137
2013	23	“+2”	1.43%	10.03%	16.91%	0.114	19.77%	87	99	86

You can see that Wood was very strong in 2012, albeit against younger competition, but he was coming out of a junior college in Oregon, not a major conference college program.

He kept things going nicely at Low-A Clinton (still against younger guys) before getting roughed up somewhat at High-A High Desert.  Of course, the latter is to be expected, and was also his first time against more experienced hitters.

Outside of the desert, Wood has been very effective at keeping the ball in the yard and not yeilding much damage (despite a fairly high walk rate).  Those are good traits for a reliever, and he’ll have a shot moving forward.

===

Jacob Zokan | Starter | 2014 age: 23 | LH

Traditional Pitching Stats

Year	Age	Lvl	W	L	ERA	G	SV	IP	H	HR	BB	K	WHIP	H/9	HR/9	BB/9	K/9
2013	22	A–Rk	5	3	4.02	13	0	56.0	52	7	13	59	1.16	8.40	1.10	2.10	9.50

Spectometer Analysis

Year	Age	Lvl	HR%	BB%	XBH + BB%	ISO	K%	PSA+	Conv+	Comp
		Age Arc	Goal < 1%	Goal < 6%	Goal < 14%	Goal < .100	Goal > 20%	Strong prospect > 100
2013	22	“+3”	3.07%	5.70%	15.79%	0.180	25.88%	120	93	113

Fear the Zokan!  Low walks, high strikeouts, and a lefty — good combination.

Zokan came out of mid-major College of Charleston, and was solid across the board in Everett, except for coughing up seven home runs in 10 appearances.  It may have just been bad luck, but he’ll have to show improvement there.

Otherwise, he’s a guy who could fit as a starter or reliever if he continues his success against more experienced hitters.

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