ITYS on Hoskins, he's a perfect example of how good plate discipline can take a player to a higher tier, he's got a beautiful swing, but what's really impressive is how hard he is to fool, and how rarely he swings at pitches out of the K-zone. I think this is what Klentak wants to add, and player decisions may be made (given he's stuck with what he inherited) partially on the basis of their willingness to accept hard coaching on hitting (, i.e. Williams is definitely trying, Franco and Joseph seem lost, Alfaro is a big question mark).
One edge Hernandez has on Kingery is plate discipline, Kingery only has 9 BB in 203 AAA ABs, if he doesn't show improvement, they may be tempted to trade him him while he's a hot commodity, before ML pitchers chasten him by making him chase balls out of the K-zone. Though Kingery had the same issue at Reading last year, but was more disciplined this year, so it may just be overexcitement at a higher level before he calms down.
Alfaro is already showing what happens to an undisciplined hitter in the Show, he got a FB yesterday, but that may be the last FB he sees in the K-zone the rest of the year - it only takes a few weeks of film for ML teams to identify a hitter's weakness - and his is the inability to hit and lay off breaking stuff.
I don't think Klentak expects to have 8 guys with high OBP, but he wants a lineup that's smart, works counts and doesn't get themselves out chasing bad pitches. You can live with that from Odubel right now, but he's an exceptional talent despite his lack of discipline, if he ever puts it together he can win a batting title. But Joseph and Franco are more typical of what happens to hitters who can't recognize breaking balls, chase bad pitches, bury themselves in the count, and negate their talent. Joseph has great opposite field power and Franco has great bat speed, but both players are their own worst enemies.
Players can turn it around, it's a SSS, but since June, Rupp: 81 12 23 7 0 7 13 8 28 .284/.348/.630/.978
And the eyeball test confirms it, he's just a more confident hitter.
As far as the young pitchers, heck, they're just inexperienced and not quite ready for prime time, the advantage of a deeper ML team (which we'll have going into 2019) is that you can "marinate" players, especially pitchers, and not bring them up until they're ready. Ptichers especially need a low pressure environment to work on secondary pitches in games, not one where every mistake becomes a 400 ft HR and they become gunshy. The best reason to bring in a veteran stopgap is to keep some guys in the minors to work on their stuff.
However, I think they've all showed enough to project as ML starters -
Velasquez and Pivetta have ML FBs, but command and secondary pitches is an issue
Eflin needs an offseason to build up his lower body, and to work with Burris to use his legs better - I can see a jump in velocity, especially consistent velocity if he does this.
Lively has a solid FB, but needs to work on his secondary pitches.
Eickhoff needs a MRI and to find out where his velocity went.
Thompson? Leiter just needs to pitch, he has the stuff to be a back of the rotation guy. Eshelman needs a shot at some point.
Same in the bullpen, right now they don't have a reliable closer and setup man, find those two and the rest will fall into line. But those are finishing pieces once a solid team is build. They do have a lot of interesting arms, but no one who has stepped up, I've given up on Neris and Garcia, and Ramos et al need a couple years of seasoning.
