Complete Universe Facegen Pack

[LansdowneSt]

The Twins went in two different routes for their first two picks in the 2019 MLB Draft. With the 13th overall pick, the club selected Keoni Cavaco, a high school shortstop that saw his stock rise significantly leading into the draft. Later in the first round, Minnesota selected Matt Wallner, a strong bat with plenty of college experience.

Minnesota had originally drafted Wallner in 2016 as a pitcher, but he stayed true to his college commitment at the University of North Dakota. Unfortunately, he learned the UND was eliminating its baseball program. Fortunately, he found his way to Hattiesburg, Mississippi. This decision helped his development as he was a three-year starter at the University of Southern Mississippi. In each college season, he posted an OPS of 1.093 or higher, and he set the school’s career home run mark when he hit 23 homers as a junior. His arm was so good in college that the team used him as a reliever with a fastball in the mid-90s. The Twins followed his progress in college and took him in the Competitive Balance Round in 2019.

Twins fans will quickly become acquainted with this fact of life: When Matt Wallner hits home runs, they’re hardly ever cheap shots. So, when the Twins’ No. 5 prospect showcased his prodigious power in his 2022 Major League debut with a big swing against former Cy Young Award winner Shane Bieber on Saturday, of course he immediately knew it was gone.

"Yeah, I was pretty sure,” Wallner said. - twinsdaily.com and mlb.com

[LansdowneSt]

MLB scouting departments have followed Brooks Lee since he was a high schooler in California. As the son of Cal Poly's head coach Larry Lee, he has grown up around baseball. In the 2019 MLB Draft, he fell to the 35th round because teams knew he wanted to play in college for his dad. Unfortunately, the pandemic limited his first college season, and he suffered an injury that required knee and hamstring surgery.

In 2021, Lee returned and showed why he had been a highly ranked high school prospect. He hit .342/.384/.626 (1.010) with 27 doubles, three triples, and ten home runs in 55 games. Lee also showed tremendous control of the strike zone with a 34-to-18 strikeout to walk ratio. He was named the co-Big West Player of the Year at the season's end. After the season, he headed to the Cape Cod League and continued to hit with a 1.099 OPS. This performance helped improve his draft stock because this league utilizes wood bats, and it didn't stop Lee from putting up strong numbers.

It's hard to imagine, but Lee performed better during his junior year, establishing himself as the best college bat in the 2022 draft class. In 58 games, he hit .357/.462/.664 (1.125) with 25 doubles and 15 home runs. Some felt he should be a top-3 pick in the draft, so it was surprising that he fell to the Twins with the eighth overall selection. Another team's loss is Minnesota's gain, as he is already showing his potential in his first professional season. - twinsdaily.com

Had to get on social media to find a decent picture. Not perfect but certainly, a better result than what was there.

[LansdowneSt]

Minnesota’s current front office took Cavaco with the 13th overall pick in the 2019 MLB Draft. As that draft approached, he was a late riser, but the Twins projected he had the tools to succeed. Last season, he hit .231/.275/.397 (.672) with 34 extra-base hits in 99 games. It was his second straight season at Fort Myers, and he was slightly younger than the competition. With Miller in the same line-up, Cavaco played all of his defensive innings at third base. He likely heads to Cedar Rapids in 2023 to see if he can live up to his first-round pedigree. - twinsdaily.com

Had to freeze a hi-res youtube interview to get an image to work with...

[CBLCardinals]

FG gurus - can you help with Cleveland prospect SS Brayan Rocchio?


thanks!

[LansdowneSt]

Scouting Report

After earning Twins Minor League Pitcher of the Year honors by dominating Single-A in 2021, the former 15th-round pick is following up with a strong campaign at Double-A to verify his legitimacy as a prospect. Through his first 105 innings at Wichita, he posted a 3.34 ERA while averaging 10.2 K/9 and 3.3 BB/9. He's managed to quiet down some early control issues and looks ready for a shot at the next level. It's probably time to push him a bit since he'll turn 25 in December. - twinsdaily.com

His older brother pitches in the Dodgers minor league system by it's the younger Varland that made it to the bigs first. Another where I needed to scour the internet to find a good photo to work with. He's a smiler in 99% of his photos. Best I could do for now until the Spring Training Media Photos get done for the '23 season.

[LansdowneSt]

Shortstop Brayan Rocchio, who was promoted to Triple-A Columbus on Saturday, patterns his game after a few of the greatest shortstops to ever suit up for Cleveland. If all goes according to his plan, the organization’s No. 4-ranked prospect hopes to have a similar career one day.

“Growing up I watched a lot of Asdrúbal Cabrera, he was my favorite player,” Rocchio said after taking batting practice recently in Akron. “I love [Francisco] Lindor. I try to do every single thing on the field like him.”

A switch-hitting shortstop who was born and raised in Venezuela -- like his baseball heroes Omar Vizquel and Cabrera -- Rocchio was one of the standout prospects from Cleveland’s highly touted international class of 2017 that included No. 2 prospect George Valera, No. 17 prospect Jhonkensy Noel and No. 18 prospect Jose Tena. Rocchio signed for $100,000 out of Caracas and immediately made an impact. He was added to Cleveland’s 40-man roster after a breakout 2021 season in which he hit .277/.346/.460 with 15 homers and 21 steals in 108 games between High A Lake County and Double-A Akron. Assigned to the Double-A Rubberducks to start the 2022 season, the 21-year-old posted a 1.086 OPS in July after averaging a .702 OPS from April to June. He made his Triple-A debut over the weekend -- putting him just one step away from his big-league dreams. - mlb.com

Good picture available for him but the one in the pack seemed particularly heavy-set. Redid it per request.

[diesel230]

Would it be possible for you to work your magic on Moises Lugo Lands?

Arizona claimed the right hander from the Padres in my league and he's cracked the Diamondbacks rotation as the #5 starter in 2023. If he can lower the BB/9, he has a chance to be an important piece to the .500 'backs

[diesel230]

And maybe Troy Cruz too please? After a dominant 2022 as the Tri-City Valleycats closer, the 29 year old was signed by the Braves but cut in May. The Red Sox signed him and in mid June called him up. He got the loss in his debut.

[LansdowneSt]

TROY - Former Tri-City ValleyCats pitcher Troy Cruz had every reason to be speechless while he was in a hotel room in Jupiter, Fla. on Tuesday afternoon, about to embark on an affiliated baseball career. From undersized college pitcher to major-league "clubhouse cop" to Australian ballplayer, Cruz took a strange journey since graduating from UC San Diego in 2017. Now he’s with the Miami Marlins organization after the MLB team bought his contract from Tri-City of the independent Frontier League over the weekend.

“Yeah, I’m at a loss for words a lot over the last couple of days,” Cruz said. “It is super exciting. It is a dream come true. The last three years, any ball after college has kind of been a bonus for me, you know. … That’s a bonus for me, if I’m playing. This is just a crazy, crazy bonus.”

Cruz, who is 5-foot-8 and 158 pounds, pitched in just four games for the ValleyCats after spending the preseason in the Mexican League. He had a 5.40 earned-run average and nine strikeouts in five innings with Tri-City. - July 13, 2021, Times Union

I let the face be a little less thin in the jaw as he's not a young college kid anymore. I also closed his mouth.

[LansdowneSt]

Scouting grades: Fastball: 60 | Slider: 50 | Control: 45 | Overall: 40

Signed out of the Dominican Republic as an 18-year-old in March 2017, Lugo has bounced around multiple pitching roles in the Padres system over the past five years. He was a solid starter at High-A Fort Wayne and Double-A San Antonio last season, notching a 3.19 ERA with 115 strikeouts in 90 1/3 innings, but to hasten his route to the Majors, San Diego has made him a multi-inning reliever this year back in the Texas League. Entering mid-August, he had fanned roughly one-third of his batters faced in 2022, putting himself in line for a potential Major League debut next season.

The 6-foot-1 right-hander’s velo has ticked up as the season has gone on, and he’s now in the 93- to 97-mph range, touching a hair higher on occasion. No longer concerned with conserving his energy for longer stints, Lugo can explode the fastball up in the zone with more authority, leading to his strikeouts. He’ll turn to a low-80s slider with two-plane break to keep hitters honest. It isn’t much better than an average pitch on its own, but it can be effective against anyone sitting on the riding heater.

As one might expect, Lugo’s walk rate has risen since the move to the bullpen, and he’ll likely average at least one free pass every other inning as he lets it fly. Without a promising third pitch, lefties also fare much better against him than their right-handed counterparts. The good news is it’s easy to see how his fastball-slider mix could fit a Major League middle-relief role, and it might not take much Triple-A polish to get him there next summer. - mlb.com

Closed his mouth and did my best on him...

[AESP_pres]

Just in case some would be curious. I always do FG but my extra computer doesn't work anymore so I can't use the old version of FaceGen Modeller to clean them which means that my work isn't that great... must use templates often something I don't find worthy of sharing and in most case I just adjust the color of what is already in the main FG set.

When I'll reach an era with color photos to work with I think my works should be share worthy again... in the meantime I think my new version of Josh Billings (1927) is a fine enough upgrade to be posted.

[percolaten]

Tom Hall, a historical player, could use a redo.

[LansdowneSt]

In spring training 1968, 20-year-old Tom Hall was shagging flies next to Bob Allison, the 6-4 former University of Kansas football player. "Allison looked at me and said, 'Man, you're thin; I'm going to start calling you 'Blade,' " Hall said Friday from his home in Riverside, Calif. "And 'Blade' I was for the rest of my baseball career, and for life, really.''

Tom Hall’s physique, usually listed as 6-feet and 150 pounds but occasionally lighter, earned him the enduring nickname “The Blade.” Teammate Ted Uhlaender once quipped, “He wouldn’t sink two inches if he walked on quicksand.” But Hall was also an excellent pitcher for several years, rocketing through the minor leagues to become one of the game’s most dependable relief pitchers. His peak was brief, due to injuries, but not before he helped four teams to the postseason. - Star Tribune & SABR

The old one was definately in need of an upgrade. Fancy had redone one last year (middle one), but it seemed too wide to be "The Blade" so I gave it a try as well. As always, mine is on the right (or bottom if on a small screen)

[percolaten]

Looks amazing as always, thanx!

[AESP_pres]

Originally Posted by percolaten

Tom Hall, a historical player, could use a redo.

FWIW this is what I have in my folder for him...

Edit: Just realized that it looks a lot like the old LansdowneSt FG... guess I took it from his thread when he posted it originally.

[percolaten]

Hey Lansdowne, if you have any extra time, I have several historical requests I think are worth mentioning, for they could use more than minor touch ups worthy of your expertise. In order of the posted facegens, they are:

Glenn Borgmann, Steve Brye, Eric Soderholm, Vic Albury, Bill Campbell,

[percolaten]

Dave Goltz, Doug Decinces, Gary Roenicke.

[AESP_pres]

You didn't ask me but I put what I have for some of them...

Glenn Borgmann

[AESP_pres]

Steve Brye

[AESP_pres]

Vic Albury