July 14, 2013: Fargo, ND – The PEBA regular season’s All-Star break has recently concluded and the second half of the 2013 season is underway.  The Fargo Dinosaurs are in the thick of a playoff race, and excitement is as high as it has been since the team’s only playoff season in 2010.  It might seem crazy to turn our attention away from what is going on right now to what might happen in the future, but there are some interesting prospect storylines developing down within the Fargo minor league system.  It isn’t that hard to look up and down the current roster and remember that more than a few of the current stars have been developed from within and promoted through the system.  Head scout Scotty Ross took some time from his busy schedule to sit down and talk about some the more promising and interesting players down on the farm.

The system has been overly mediocre when it comes to winning games this year.  Just about every team has been struggling around the .500 mark most of the season.  “It’s partly due to graduation of some of our top prospects to the big leagues, and to a few trades that have s bolster the major league roster,” stated Ross.  Still, this may be a sign of some concern for the organization as the system has tumbled in some of the national minor league systems rankings.  Heading into this season, Baseball America ranked Fargo’s system as only the 18^th best system of all of the PEBA organizations.

We asked Ross what players we should be keeping an eye on, which players have made a name for themselves this year.  “Our AAA Sioux Falls Lakota have one of the more exciting power hitters within the system in 1B/LF Brandon Small,” Ross explained.  “We decided to move him to LF to add flexibility and hopefully find him a role in Fargo by next season at the latest.  His bat is major league-ready right now, but he happens to be blocked at first base because of Ramon Flores and DH because of Mike Arnopp.”

Ross told us that perhaps the best prospect within the whole organization also resides in Sioux Falls.  “Catcher Harry Crawford has been high on many prospect lists and was hitting so well in 54 games at AA this season that we promoted him earlier than expected.”  Crawford was hitting .287/.413/.431 (.844 OPS) in 251 plate appearances at AA.  He hasn’t seen that same level of production since his move to AAA, hitting only.275/.347/.319 (665 OPS) in 103 plate appearances.  “He’s still making adjustments and his power stroke just hasn’t clicked right, but we want him to take his time.  Catchers tend to take a little longer to develop because of their defensive importance and needing the skill to handle a pitching staff,” said Ross.

Speaking of pitching staffs, the Lakota’s rotation features two of the organization’s top-10 pitching prospects per Baseball America.  Craig Hampton and Bill Lewis are being talked about within the organization as potential starting rotation material.  Ross had this to say this about the two prospects: “Hampton can achieve a tremendous amount of movement and yet manages to control and locate his pitches.”  About Lewis, Ross said, “His stuff is downright filthy at times.  I can say that I have never seen a pitcher throughout my career that has been this difficult to hit.”

Hampton has struggled a bit with the long ball, giving up 11 in 109 2/3 IP this season, but has limited his walks to 2.22 BB/9 and has been holding a decent strikeout rate at 7.22 K/9.  The 24-year-old right-handed starter has been compared to current #2 Fargo starter Chandler Davis because of his control and ability to keep good movement on his pitches.  Lewis was acquired from Yuma last season along with SP/RP Mark Wood.  Lewis is a former #1-overall draft selection that has actually already appeared in some big league games out of the bullpen for Yuma last season, though struggled terribly with his control, walking more batters than innings pitched.  Lewis has seemingly fixed things this year at AAA.  He has lowered his walk rate to a manageable 3.41 BB/9 and upped his strikeout rate to an amazing 13.13 K/9 over 108 1/3 IP.

In AA and A-ball, the offensive talent has yet to really separate itself for the most part.  A decent prospect like 2B Dean Leslie, though still young at age 21, has struggled to adjust to AA, hitting for a pedestrian .704 OPS thus far.  An exception has been the equally young LF Nick King, who has been hitting for an .807 OPS at AA.  “We’ve always like King’s approach to the plate; he’s got a nice, quick turnaround with his wrists and keeps his swing compact and consistent.  He may not develop into a power bat, but rather someone who you can count on to get on base consistently,” stated Ross.

When asked to identify an under-the-radar prospect within the organization, Ross pointed to an A-ball relief pitcher by the name of Axel Loiseau.  Now Ross happened to be the scout that oversaw the scouting and signing of Loiseau, who happens to be of Martiniquais descent.  Loiseau is sporting a 1.94 ERA and 44 strikeouts in 41 2/3 IP this season.  “Loiseau features a nasty fastball that sits in the mid 90s and a great curve,” said Ross.

– Steve Youngblood
Fargo Gazette