Engelb Vielma - 2015

[ashbury]

Engelb Vielma

 

Born: June 22, 1994 (age 21 this season)

Birthplace: Maracaibo, Zulia, Venezuela

Signed as an international free agent 2011

Height: 5' 11"

Weight: 150

Position: Shortstop

Bats: Both

Throws: Right

Twitter handle: @Engelb22

 

http://www.milb.com/images/622713/t509/180x270/622713.jpg

 

Engelb Vielma comes from the same home town as another pretty good-fielding shortstop, named Aparicio, many years ago, so baseball fans might pay attention to this young man for that reason alone. (Of course, it's a city of 2 million, so not everyone is somebody else's close cousin.)

 

His glove could already be good enough to play in the majors. Like so many good shortstops, he will go as far as his bat takes him, namely if he can reach some minimal level of competence to sustain him against top-level pitching.

 

His season at single-A Cedar Rapids in 2014 showed promise that he might be able to make the grade. He compiled a .266 batting average. He walked just enough to bring his on-base average above .300, and he hit just enough doubles to bring his slugging average up likewise. An OPS of .636 is nothing to write home about. But it must be remembered that he didn't turn 20 last season until June, making him the youngest batter on his team, and suggesting he still has quite a lot of room to grow yet - both physically by putting on just a bit more muscle, and in terms of the experience needed to become a good hitter.

 

Vielma begins 2015 in high-A Ft. Myers as the everyday shortstop for the Miracle.

 

http://kcweb.cdr.dc.publicus.com/storyimage/KC/20140514/SPORTS/140519893/AR/0/AR-140519893.jpg

[ashbury]

Engelb Vielma has gotten off to a somewhat slow start at bat this season. In 126 plate appearances, his batting average is .204, he has only 5 walks, and he adds 3 merely extra base hits (one of each variety), for an OPS of only .490. He has used his speed to nab 8 bases, getting caught only 3 times.

 

On the other side of the ball, he's been charged with 3 errors in 184 chances for a FA of .984, which is actually pretty good for the low minors, not that errors really tell you much anyway. I'm taking his defense for granted until some source tells me not to.

 

All in all, not a start that will turn heads, but not so disastrous that, if he ups his production a bit, his season numbers can't still look good.

[ashbury]

Since the last report, Vielma has continued his lackluster production at the plate. In 14 AB he batted .214 with no extra-base hits. He drove in a run with a sac-fly and it looks like he bunted someone over once.

 

He also had a throwing error and another fielding error during this span. No glove will support those hitting numbers in the long run, but not exhibiting spotless play further harms his cause. Still, he's young, and the learning curve is steep for almost everyone, so I remain hopeful he figures some things out soon.

[ashbury]

Vielma's bat has perked up a bit since last report, at least until tonight. An 0-3 brings his most recent 5-game BA back down to .278, with 1 double, 1 walk, and 1 HBP - for about a .683 OPS in this span.  There were only 2 strikeouts in those 20 plate appearances.

 

It's not enough yet to really move the needle on his season numbers, which hover around a .500 OPS. Baby steps, baby steps.

[ashbury]

I thought Vielma might be just in a slump at the plate earlier this season, and was showing signs of breaking out, but now it's getting ridiculous. 1 hit and 2 walks, 9 strikeouts, in his 25 plate appearances since my last status check. Do you really want to see what that comes to as an OPS? Hint, the first digit after the decimal point is not a '2'.

 

The only conceivable ray of hope I can think of is that his corresponding BABIP is .077 (for the season it's now .231), but it is possible to put up such a number by simply not putting good wood on the ball, rather than constantly be hitting the ball at fielders and thus be a victim of bad luck.

 

His season line in 187 PA shows a .192 batting average, only 8 walks, just 2 doubles, 1 triple and 1 HR. That computes to a .229 on-base percentage, .234 slugging average, and thus an OPS of .463. He's made a few errors in the field but nothing out of the ordinary for a young and talented shortstop.

 

I think he's been held out of only one game during this latest 9-day span. But at some point he's about to lose his starting job. I imagine they'll slide Goodrum over and see if he can do better than before at short (I'm not optimistic), and let Vielma try to regroup by sitting out some games or by getting sent down.

 

[ashbury]

The month of June has shown somewhat of a turnaround at the plate for young Mr Vielma. So far, he is batting .314, raising his season average to .220. Unfortunately his batting average remains a bit empty, with a few walks but only one double, giving a June OPS of .695 so far. Still, sometimes progress comes in bits and pieces, and the more robust BA is a nice component to start from. His fielding stats look acceptable for a young shortstop, as well.

[ashbury]

In 13 games since last report, a .413 batting average augmented by three doubles and six walks has raised his seasonal numbers to a less embarrassing level. He's now got a .254 batting average, one that is relatively empty but is still miles ahead of where it was a few weeks ago.

 

This was accomplished with an unsustainable BABIP of .432 during the above period, but this amounts to just balancing out the previous bad luck, I think, as his season BABIP is now a more reasonable .291.

[ashbury]

Bad adoptive parent, bad, bad! I completely forgot to report here that Engelb was given the TD Minor League Player of the Week honors on June 29, for his four-game 7-for-15 performance at the plate.

 

http://twinsdaily.com/topic/17772-twins-minor-league-awards-2015/?p=361418

[ashbury]

According to Seth's minor league leader board, Engelb is tied for second in stolen bases among all Twins prospects, with 21 so far this season.

 

http://twinsdaily.com/topic/19126-article-twins-minor-league-leader-board-through-july-10/

[ashbury]

Vielma's July resulted in a batting average of .338. He walked a little and hit five doubles, so his OPS of .772 shows it wasn't an "empty 300".

 

This brings his season numbers to .265 BA and .618 OPS. While these aren't stellar numbers, you like to see that trend being upward instead of down.

[ashbury]

For the months of August and September, Vielma's numbers cooled off somewhat, yet remained acceptable. His batting average for this period was .284, and he added enough walks to result in an on-base percentage of .352, making him a productive table-setter at high-A ball. He lacked any semblance of power at all, getting only one extra-base hit (a triple) in this time. I suppose his approach at the plate is to select a pitch he can handle and just stick the bat out there and try to let the ball drop in. That's not going to lead to Hall of Fame numbers, but guys who are good defensively can sometimes reach the majors with this approach.

 

So, for the season, Engelb Vielma batted .270, and added just enough other offense to result in an OPS of .627. He stole 35 bases and was caught only 12 times. His reputation as a slick fielding shortstop remains intact as far as I know. And overcoming a poor start to a season always sits better in people's minds than starting hot and then cooling way off.

 

He's young (21) and maybe the brain trust will decide he needs another year in Ft Myers, but my guess is that his offense was just sufficient to justify a promotion to AA at Chattanooga in 2016. It looks to me as if his offense "is what it is", at least for now, and the critical question is whether his batting approach will carry over to AA, AAA and the majors, So IMO it's best to just move forward and see. And who knows, maybe next year's batting coach will help him recognize pitches he can inside-out and shoot to right field to try and take advantage of his speed to get more doubles and triples.

[High heat]

If he gets to the majors he is going to be hitting 9. If he can slap singles, steal some bases and play good defense I like it. I'd take Ben revere like guy at SS.