SBN's John Sickels, of Minor League Baseball, has been driving around Arizonia to see various prospects in the desert. Fortunately for us, he includes some thoughts on Brian Bogusevic and Drew Sutton, both of who have been raking for Scottsdale.
Bogusevic:
Brian Bugosevic, OF, Houston Astros: Converted to the outfield after failing to sustain success as a pitcher. He was a good hitter at Tulane, and he looks like a good hitter now, with a very attractive short swing, good strike zone judgment, and fine overall tools. Not sure about his home run power and he may project best as a fourth outfielder, which is better than being a Double-A pitcher.
The notes on the swing and strike zone judgement are very encouraging. While John classes Bogusevic as a fourth outfielder, I think he's forgetting that we currently have a fifth outfielder as our starter -- so if get marginal third outfielder/fourth outfielder production, we hit the jack pot in relative terms.
Sutton:
Drew Sutton, INF-OF, Houston Astros: Had a terrific Double-A season though he is old for the level. Being groomed as a super-utility type, spending time in the outfield though second and third are his main positions. Not a great athlete, but a "baseball rat" type who is fundamentally sound, hustles, and controls the zone well. I can see him as a .260ish hitter with a bit of pop to go with his defensive versatility.
.260ish with pop + on base skill + defensive versatility + grittiness = sign me up.
While both of these guys have glaring flaws (age) and have had limited success that gets degraded by the context in which it's taking place, Sickels highlights the fact that both players have the right mechanics and natural instincts to succeed. Even if all our minor league system contributes next year is a utility guy and a Bourn platoon that would be a pretty huge success given the context of being the 30th ranked farm system in all of baseball according to Baseball America.