The Atlantic League vs. AAA

So the title might be a bit deceiving, but I am asking this question based on the fact that poor Mike Loree still hasn't been picked up by anyone. Before we get there though, let's see how three of the other recently featured players have been fairing since I covered them.

Brian Barden
Mere days after I wrote about him, he asked for his release from the Rangers organization so that he could sign with Hiroshima in the NPB. Since joining Hiroshima in Mid-July, Barden has appeared in 13 games for the big club and hit only .209/.292/.302 1 HR 1 2B and 7 1B... Not exactly pretty, but it is still early in his tenure there, and it does take some players awhile to get acclimated with the Japanese style of play.

Jose Constanza
A month after the article the Braves made a trade to acquire Michael Bourn and also decided that they would add Constanza to both the 40-Man Roster and the MLB Roster. Since joining the Braves, Constanza has been nothing but a big-time force. He and Bourn both have legitimate 80 Speed and make up, in my mind, the fastest OF in the MLB. Oh ya, he has continued to hit since joining the Braves as well. In his first 18 games he is hitting .385/.420/.523 with 2 HR and 5 SB. He has allowed the Braves to shuffle the lineups and allows the team to occasionally rest the slumping Jason Heyward. If Hayward can find his 2010 form, and Constanza can keep reaching base, the Braves will have a pretty prolific outfield for the next couple seasons.

Jimmy Swift
Not much to say here, the Rangers listened (haha), and moved Roof back to Hickory and promoted Swift to Myrtle Beach when Garcia went down with an injury. So far it hasn't gone well...but it's only been three games.

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Now the fun part, the Mike Loree conundrum.

Mike Loree turns 27 in a month (Oh and his age is confusing me PointStreak and Newsday both say 1984, MiLB and all other sources say 1986, but alas Villanova says 1984) , so yes that is a downside. He has no Major League experience, he has never pitched above Low-A in the minors, and he got rocked last year in his first season in the Atlantic League. Those are the negatives. But lets look at this from a future value perspective, with a month left in the season and the Angels AAA affiliate Salt Lake Bees pitching staff depleted, why not dip back into the Atlantic League and pick up Loree. Instead, the Bees tonight will send Matt Oye to the mound. Now, Matt Oye isn't bad, but he is 25 and spent the entire season in High-A. He just recently became a starter and his near 5 ERA in High-A isn't exactly inspiring. Now I realize the goal is to develop players, but why call-up Oye from High-A, where he has been average (5.32 ERA as a starter, 6 starts 23.2 IP) when Mike Loree is dominating in the Atlantic League. A league widely considered to have AAA-level hitting.

It is not like the Angels don't know the Atlantic League, in fact in June they signed both Jerome Williams and Matt Cusick. So now let's compare Matt Oye and for that matter another member of the Bees staff, Bear Bay, to one Mike Loree.

Loree this season for Long Island has gone 14-3 with a 1.79 ERA in 17 starts and 5 relief appearances. In 110.2 IP he has struck out 115 batters and walked only 27. For the that matter he has only allowed 92 hits, a 1.08 WHIP.

Matt Oye, pitching in the hitter-friendly California League, 4.87 ERA, 68.1 IP, 68 H, 25 BB, 54 K. Not exactly awe-inspiring. And as a starter, 5.32 ERA, 23.2 IP, 26 H, 7 BB, 19 K. Again not exactly pretty. And that was in High-A.

How about Bear Bay? Prior to getting a minor league deal with the Angels this offseason Bear Bay had spent the past three years in the Northern League (Low to High-A level Independent League) where he had an awful first season, but then two straight excellent seasons. Still his numbers, in a worse league, were never close to what Loree is putting up. Bear Bay in the indy's average 6.88 K/9 2.18 BB/9 and 1.27 WHIP. This season for the Bees, Bay has made 22 starts and 3 relief appearances, posting a 4.70 ERA in 143.2 IP. He has struck out only 86 and walked 32. Opponents are hitting .310 off of him. And he is starting every five days for the Bees.

So Mike Loree, pitching at a level that many consider comparable to AAA, is holding opponents to a .222 average, is averaging 9.35 K/9, and has been overmatching all of his opposition, and yet he is still on Long Island, pitching every fifth day for the Ducks, while Bear Bay and now Mike Oye make starts for the Salt Lake Bees in the AAA Pacific Coast League.

This is just one team out of 30 at the Triple-A level, I guarantee that there are others who could use a starter like Loree. You could get four maybe five starts out of him if you signed him now and get an accurate idea of if you'd want him back for next season. Meanwhile Matt Oye, who is still under control for three more minor league seasons could continue to build his arm strength in High-A with the hopes of him potentially becoming a valuable contributor down the road.

I'm never out to push one player being signed at the expense of another's career but I believe that many of the Atlantic League's players deserve more of a look than that get.

Comments?

Independent Outlook

In this series I'll focus on players from the Independent Leagues who could use a shot with an affiliate. Some of these guys have played affiliated ball before, but none will have MLB experience. The reason behind this is that I want to highlight players who you may not know about. I'll have another feature on former MLBers now in Indy Ball another day. There are five main independent leagues, the North American League, the Can-Am League, the American Association, the Frontier League, and the top league, the Atlantic League. To start we will look at a player from two of the leagues starting with the Atlantic League.

Mike Loree
Position: RHP
Team: Long Island Ducks (Atlantic League)
Age: 24
Height/Weight: 6'6"-220
MLB Draft: 2007, 50th Round (SFG)

Loree is not the typical "prospect" but that's what this series is about. He was one of the final draft picks of the 2007 draft coming out of Villonova University where he won 20 games over four years, graduating as a 20 year-old (yep, you read that right, a September 1987 birthday graduated in 2007). As such he was young coming up, but was still pushed by the Giants after signing.  He posted great numbers for the Giants Rookie ball team in 2007, and great numbers as a 21 year old in the Northwest League (SS-A) (4-3, 2.44 ERA, 15 Starts). In fact in his first two seasons Loree walked a whopping 8 guys in 97 innings while striking out 95. Yeah 11.875 K's per 1 BB, and he was only 21. At one point during his 2008 campaign Loree started the year by recording outs on 62 of the first 63 batters he faced. His manager during that time was Tom Trebelhorn (a Major League vet) who was quoted as saying:

"It's the most phenomenal pitching I've ever seen in my life. I don't know if anybody's ever pitched this good. I don't care if you're talking about the Northwest League, the Gulf Coast League or the Major Leagues.  He has good command of his fastball, he pitches ahead in the count. If someone exposes a weakness, he exploits it. I don't know that anybody's ever pitched this good." --Tom Trebelhorn

So 2009 rolls around and Loree arrives in Augusta for Low-A ball. He goes 8-9 in 21 starts and posts a 4.67 ERA, but still strikes out 70 to 26 walks (so not quite as impressive) but he is only 22 years old, yet during spring 2010 he is released by the Giants and latches on with the Newark Bears of the Atlantic League (widely compared to between AA-AAA). While things were not pretty, the team was 53-86 and Loree went 6-9 (quite impressive actually) but overall was hit hard, in 130 IP he allowed 170 hits, 21 HR and walked a career high 43. But the positives were still there, despite allowing 108 runs, 20 were unearned meaning he was frequently hurt by his defense. Furthermore, he struck out 119 (also a career high), and keep in mind he was only 23 playing at a level much higher than he had in the past.

For 2011 he signed with the Long Island Ducks and has flourished. Thus far after starting primarily as a reliever, Loree has transitioned back to the rotation where he has dominated. He has won 7 starts in a row, and is 9-1 overall. He has posted an incredible 1.73 ERA, and has a 1.09 WHIP. He has struck out 68 over 62.1 innings and walked only 15. He is also only 24 years old, and seems to have perfectly adjusted to the Atlantic League. At only 24, Loree is in the perfect position to join a team at the AA level now, and test the waters. If he performs well I suspect he'd be able to adjust to the AAA-level and potentially be a Major League contributor by 2012.

Sign me up as a believer in Mike Loree, I can think of a ton of organizations that could use a Triple-A or Double-A starter that could mature into a MLB Back-end rotation guy.