|
|
Monday, December 11, 2006 Baseball Digest Daily 2007 Prospect List
Hello Prospect Lovers!
If you’re like me, about this time of the year you find yourself secretly wishing that Baseball America and John Sickels would find some “performance enhancing drugs” that would allow them all to work with no sleep so they could get their prospect writeups done sooner (I wonder… would the folks at 1-800-FLOWERS deliver Mountain Dew?) Okay, not really, waiting for each new team to be completed is fun, although a bit agonizing at times. But we have something for you, loyal readers, with almost no waiting! Coming this week, on the "Articles" section, will be the 51-100 prospects from our Top 100 prospect list! Included in that article will be a link to this blog entry, where you - the reader - can ask questions which we will then answer (as many as possible). If there's enough response, we'll even publish the questions and answers as part of another article. Five of us are working on the prospect list, and we felt this would be more convenient than trying to get everyone together to field questions. Feel free to post comments before the prospect list is published, but be aware that first priority will be given to questions about prospects included in the 51-100 range, or who just missed the list. Rob Labels: prospects posted by Rob McQuown at 5:58 PM |
Previous Posts
|
 |
18 Comments:
What is the criteria to make the prospect list. Justin Huber is still considered a prospect?
In theory the criteria was the same as for rookie status in the Major Leagues. 50 IP or 150 AB, I believe. Huber only has 88 AB.
Great list guys! I enjoyed reading through it. One small issue, the link on the player's names are coming up "player not found".
Have a great day and keep up the great work!
Toby
Thanks Toby. I'm going to check with Jeff on the links. He may be updating his pages. They appeared to work last night.
Links should all be corrected now! Sorry for the inconvenience.
Huber is still a prospect...just not with the Royals. Buddy and Dayton don't seem to even know he exists.
The questions three ...
#1) Does Casto have the bat and/or defense to make it as a corner outfielder in the bigs? Zim's not moving any time soon.
#2) What are the chances of Slowey making the MIN staff out of spring training?
#3) Should we expect Danks in the Ranger's rotation by the All-Star break? He did strike out over 9.5/9 IP in AA/AAA last year. What's going on with the rest of the "DVD" trio?
Thanks in advance -- Jamie
Micah Owings with Houston? When did that happen? Last time I checked, he was a Diamondback.
DBA Commish said (roughly):
"What are the chances of Slowey making the MIN staff out of spring training?
Should we expect Danks in the Ranger's rotation by the All-Star break?"
I doubt Slowey will start the year in the Twins rotation. He's never pitched above AA ball, and it seems like the Twins don't need to rush him. If someone struggles maybe we'll see him by midseason, but I wouldn't put money on it.
As for Danks, we are dealing with the Texas Rangers pitching staff, anything could happen. Any team that starts John Wasdin five times could use some pitching help. Danks probably won't become a big star in the Lone Star state (at least not for a couple years) but I could see him getting some significant innings in the second half of the season.
And as far as I know Owings is still with Arizona, but maybe Rob or Joe could shed some more light there...
What about Tyler Colvin? will he be in the top 50..or do you guys dont see him as top 100 material
Micah Owings is on Arizona. There was a cell screwup on the file. His rank and position are correct. I just fixed the team so he's now listed with the right team. My apologies.
Tyler Colvin: 2 of the writers voted for Tyler Colvin in their top 100, but he ended up missing the top 100 combined list. As someone who didn't include him in my top 100, here's my thinking: While he was a high draft pick, he was considered a bit of a reach on draft day. In my estimation, the results are mixed... he handled short-season ball as would be hoped for a college hitter - slugging almost .500. But his OBP was much lower than I'd like to see. He's justified the Cubs' faith in him, but has a lot of growing left to do.
Cory Kasto: My colleagues have rated him higher than I did. I am pessimistic, and see him as nothing more than a .250/.320/.410 type guy, although these "late bloomers" can sometimes surprise, and the walks are encouraging. As a lefty bat who's defense is almost adequate at 3b and in the of, he should have some value as a utilityman.
does Jason Hirsh getting dealt change around the top 100? Minute maid is a hitters park..maybe more so then Coors ..but the reputation is certain types of guys are fine in coors..
Another great question. Thanks to you all for contributing.
Hirsh:
As I'm sure most people have guessed, Hirsh made the top 50. His large frame, and downward plane and sink of his pitches led to a 1.05 WHIP, and .267 slugging allowed against him. These are all good indicators of probable success in Colorado, no matter at what humidity they store the balls.
But Hirsh didn't show the same homer suppression in the majors. Giving up 11 shots in 44 innings is pretty extreme. I would expect for him to have a rocky (sorry, I couldn't resist the obvious pun) first season in Colorado, as he tries to get a handle on what will and won't work. If his 2nd-half stats are better than his 1st, that will be a great sign for him, and I'd judge him for 2008 based more on the 2nd half. I think that's a likely scenario (assuming he wins a rotation spot out of ST).
Here are a few questions that were emailed to us directly...
What injury did Rogers (MIL) have?
Why is Danks rated so low when BB America ranks him TX #1 prospect?
First Rogers…
Mark Rogers is facing the likelihood of surgery after a continuation of the shoulder pain that forced him to be shut down in the second half of the 2006 season. He was examined by team physician, who recommended arthroscopic surgery to pinpoint the cause of the shoulder discomfort. Rogers’ shoulder bothered him toward the end of the season and he's still experiencing some pain. If he just has arthroscopic surgery, he’ll likely miss the start of the season. If the damage is found to be more extensive (read = labrum or rotator cuff), then we’re talking months to years for a full recovery.
As for Danks, his status is more a tell tale sign of the Texas minor league system. Danks is the top prospect for the Rangers, and a potentially good pitcher. Put him on another team, say Cleveland or the Dodgers however, and he’s not even the 2nd or 3rd best pitching prospect in the organization…and probably not among their respective top 5 prospects. If you check out some of the other lists around the Internet, you’ll tend to see varying degrees of uncertainty when it comes to Danks but none place him too high.
We have him ranked #51…Top Prospect Alert has him at #74, Minor League Baseball has him at #34 of their top 50, RotoAmerica (at the end of August) had him at #43, Sickels Community Picks had him at #46. About.com and Project Prospect, who both only do the top 25, did not include Danks on either of their lists.
I’m fairly confident we have Danks pegged correctly given the information available and the company around him.
Hi...
Why did the Mets after Bannister poured his heart out for them....go and trade him to Kansas City.And the same for Hirch with Houston who traded him to Colorado? WHY?
Is there any interest for Mark Loretta?
DAVEBOB
New to your blog. Looking at minor league pitching, how would you assess Arizona Diamondback prospects?
I don't think any of us are real high on Arizona's pitching prospects. I happen to like Dallas Buck quite a bit, if he gets his arm back to normal (he had some issues last season for Oregon State, velocity was down) I see good things in his future. He has a slider that is pretty close to Major League ready and if he can get his velocity back up in the 90's he has a chance to be effective. Probably never an Ace and it could be his arm limits him to the bullpen, but I think he'll make an impact in the next three-four years.
After him though, I don't see a whole lotta depth in Arizona. And I seem to be the only one on this list who has Buck on their list...probably not a good sign for the D-backs
Post a Comment
<< Blog Home