Favorites Earn Coveted #Cheeseball Status

If you follow me on Twitter at @johnmanuelba, you may have seen me use a hashtag, #personalcheeseball.

Approximately 100 percent of the time that I have used said hashtag, I’ve had to explain it. That’s a good sign that it’s not going to take off anytime soon.

Nevertheless, #personalcheeseball has come to be used in the BA offices as shorthand for a personal favorite that does not reflect the popular consensus, much in the way that the nut-encrusted cheeseballs on sale in your grocery store’s dairy section are looked down upon as a lesser cheese snack. I’ve never been able to find out which wine goes best with cheeseballs.

I do know which prospect was my first #personalcheeseball. The honor, such as it is, goes to former Florida State second baseman Marshall McDougall, famous for hitting six home runs in a 1999 game at Maryland, setting Division I single-game records for homers and total bases. Despite a .419 season that included 28 homers, 104 RBIs and Most Outstanding Player honors at the College World Series, McDougall wasn’t drafted until the 26th round.

Of course he didn’t sign, came back to school with a chip on his shoulder and gave me fantastic quotes to that effect in the fall. I always had a soft spot for McDougall, who wound up a ninth-round pick as a senior in 2000, played 18 games in the major leagues and spent part of 13 seasons as a professional.

Other past #personalcheeseballs have hit (Carlos Quentin, Huston Street, Ryan Garko) and some (Nick Blackburn, Jason Pridie) not quite as well. I always thought Pridie would be a big league regular, based in part off his amateur scouting reports but also on seeing him in a dominant stretch in 2007 with Triple-A Durham. Instead, Pridie has been a classic Triple-A player who can’t quite get over the hump, and he signed to play in Japan this year.

We spoke last year in Omaha at the Triple-A All-Star Game, and he evinced no sense of bitterness over his career, which includes 133 big league games over parts of seven seasons. But he smiled and apologized for not living up to my expectations, which I took to be totally tongue-in-cheek.

The pressure’s on for the rest of you personal cheeseballs. Here’s the list from this year’s prospect discussion, both players in the Top 100 and those who just missed.

Cody Bellinger, 1b/of, Dodgers: He was a fairly consensus BA pick, but Bellinger earns a #personalcheeseball designation for several factors. I got to see him play at the 2013 NHSI in Cary, N.C., and he was the best defensive first baseman I’d ever seen in high school. He played aggressively like a young Keith Hernandez, with his arm a weapon and his glove a real plus. He’s athletic enough to play center field, he has shown hitting ability (2014) and power (2015), and I don’t mind the big league bloodlines, as his dad Clay played in the majors. His dad also played for the 2004 Greek Olympic team, so Cody has a spot on my fantasy Greek WBC team. He’s both a true prospect on the cusp of being an elite prospect whose personal angle vaults him into #cheeseball status.

Hunter Renfroe, of, Padres: I’ve followed Renfroe’s career since he was a high school senior at Copiah Academy in Mississippi, when he was one of the great pop-up players of the last 10 drafts. My favorite Renfroe story involves the doubleheader when a gaggle of national top-level scouts showed up to see him, only to see the opposing coach intentionally walk Renfroe every time he came to bat. One scout, who’ll remain nameless here, came down the bleachers to the fence and offered to buy the opposing coach a steak dinner if he’d pitch to Renfroe. (The offer wasn’t claimed.)

Of course, Renfroe also played his way at Mississippi State into a first-round pick who helped lead the Bulldogs to the 2013 College World Series finals, and he’s reached Triple-A. As a prospect, I don’t see a huge gap between him and the Yankees’ Aaron Judge, and personally I prefer Renfroe. Give me the guy who, rumor has it, has brought down deer on hunting trips with his bare hands.

James Kaprielian, rhp, Yankees: He’s a bit too obvious for this, but I had Kaprielian in my personal Top 100. Actually, he’s my favorite college pitcher from the 2015 draft class, from his four-pitch mix and ability to use any pitch to get a swing and miss, to his increased velocity from his pro debut, to his toughness and mound presence, to pitching through the death of his mother in 2014 due to breast cancer. I look for Kaprielian to have an Ian Kennedy-type of career if not better.

For a few deeper cuts from this year’s Prospect Handbook, I’ll throw in:

Tyler White, 3b/1b, Astros: White has so little prospect pedigree and scouts knock his defense, with merit. He’s a 5-foot-11, 225-pound corner infielder who probably doesn’t defend enough to be a big league third baseman, but White can flat-out hit—including .325/.442/.496 between Double-A and Triple-A in 2015—and was MVP of the Dominican League this winter. Meeting him last year in the Triple-A National Championship in El Paso sealed the deal; he’s a down-home kid and grinder who has willed himself to this point of pro ball, and has a chance to keep overachieving because of his strike-zone judgement and desire to get better.

Jacob Wilson, 3b/2b, Cardinals: Wilson strikes me as a potential Ryan Roberts or Ryan Raburn, a versatile righthanded hitter with some thump who can play a role on a big league bench.

Oscar de la Cruz, rhp, Cubs: Sooner or later, the Cubs are going to develop a homegrown arm. De la Cruz is a couple of years away, but he’s my favorite among their pitching prospects. He combines body control of a growing 6-foot-4, 200-pound frame with a starter’s delivery and a plus fastball. He throws strikes with it with plus velocity and life. That’s my kind of pitcher.

Brandon Sanger, of, Angels: The Angels have very few prospects, but one I like is not even in their Top 10. Sanger controls the strike zone and hits for average. I liked him at Florida Atlantic and liked him in his pro debut in Rookie-level Orem. If he hits in his first full-season assignment in 2016, he may graduate to full-fledged #personalcheeseball status.