Here is the next batch of Caesars minor league invites:
Steven Wright, RHP BOS: The Caesars traded Red Sox catcher Christian Vazquez earlier this offseason and that move helped them learn about Wright. Wright is a knuckle-baller and Vaquez is an elite defensive catcher. This will give Wright confidence to float balls all over the place. He said no catcher has ever been as excited to catch him as Vazquez and that article also reveals that Wright has been working with Tim Wakefield, the best modern-day knuckler. Wright pitched mainly in AAA last season, posting a 3.41 ERA and 1.137 WHIP in 95 innings, but also threw 21 innings allowing a 2.57 ERA with a 1.19 WHIP in the major leagues. Wright will look to be a swingman for the Sox in 2015 and the Caesars are hopeful that he'll continue to have the success he exhibited last year when Vazquez was catching for him.
Jason Motte, RHP CHC: The Caesars originally signed Motte in the 2013 FASP process before he was ruled out for the season with Tommy John surgery. They used that as an opportunity to get him on a cheap one year contract for 2014, but his subpar performance led to him being released on August 31st. There's no question the road back from TJS is a long one and Motte showed this last year. His average velocity in 2011 and 2012 eclipsed 97 MPH but he just barely cracked 95 MPH in 2014. He also showed threw 7.9 % changeups after never throwing more than 2% in previous seasons. The Cardinals did not resign him and he moved to their young, surging rival, the Cubs, on a one year contract. Motte was downright terrible last year. He couldn't get the ball past batters or locate and when he managed to throw strikes, he got hit hard, allowing a 20% HR/FB rate. If Motte's stuff is back, he could bounce back to being close to his former self. The days of a 2.00 ERA are probably over, but something in the low 3s is definitely feasible.
Jason Rogers, 1B MIL: Rogers looks like the classic AAAA player. He was drafted in the 23rd round from Columbus State University, will be 27 in early March, and is a career .286/.367/.453 minor league hitter. He was drafted as a first baseman but made the transition to third base in 2014, but he only posted a .938 fielding percentage. He hits right handed and had a very wide platoon split across AA and AAA last year and hit 15/18 home runs vs left handed pitching. Despite not making any outlet's Brewers top ten prospects (still waiting on my BA handbook), he has a good chance of making the team to serve as a platoon mate to Adam Lind and backup to Aramis Ramirez. If he makes the team and mostly plays against left-handed pitching, the Caesars will look for him to outperform his 249/.315/.404 PECOTA projection, primarily in the OBP. If he qualifies at 3B, he'd be a decent backup, but probably will not hit enough to ever get consideration at 1B.
Justin Bour, 1B MIA: Like Rogers, Bour looks like a classic AAAA hitter. He was drafted by the Cubs in the 25th round of the 2009 draft from George Mason University in Fairfax, VA (a DC suburb). The Marlins drafted him in the minor league phase of the 2013 draft and he thrived in the PCL hitting .306/.372/.517 in 430 PAs. The real breakout was the power as he had never slugged higher than .478 at any level of the minor leagues. Additionally he continued to improve his contact ability as he struck out in 13.3% of his PAs while his career rate coming into the season was 18.6%. He was called up three times and played 20 games over the summer before playing 18 games in September. His overall MLB line was a respectable .284/.361/.365 albeit it was slightly inflated by a .370 BABIP. He hits lefthanded and seems like a natural platoon partner with the recently signed Michael Morse.
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