If you have not seen the BA rankings by now, then I'm not to sure we can be friends anymore. Check it.
1. Kyle Drabek
2. Deck McGuire
3. Anthony Gose
4. Travis d'Arnaud
5. Zach Stewart
6. Asher Wojciechowski
7. J.P. Arecibia
8. Carlos Perez
9. Aaron Sanchez
10. Jake Marisnick
So yeah. That's it. There is a bunch of other goodies such as best athlete and best curveball on there, so take a minute and click that link.
Some Notes:
4 of the top 5 guys were acquired via trade.
3 players in the top 10 were drafted this year. All of them are pitchers.
There are 3 catchers on the list including the reining Pacific Coast League MVP.
Nice balance of pitchers and position players. 5 each.
Head over to The Southpaw for some content that is (sorta) behind the pay wall.
Missed the cut:
Much will be made of the seemingly glaring omission, Cuban SS Adeiny Hechavarria. I'm kinda happy he doesn't have the extra pressure on him to preform.
What happened to last years 1st rounder Chad Jenkins? He was the teams 3rd best prospect on last years list.
What about Eric Thames? He had a monster year at the plate in AA after missing most of 2009 with injuries.
Henderson Alvarez was our 5th best prospect according to BA last year. His stats are down a tad but he is still a 20 year old in High A ball.
And finally:
For the 2011 season Deck McGuire will be known as our 2nd best prospect in the entire organization. And to me, that is the real story here.
for the record - some guy on a Leafs board posted pretty much the whole Jays related chat in a thread so I picked out some bits and pieces there - I'm not a subscriber myself.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't rank Gose above Stewart & D'Arnaud.
ReplyDeleteLooking at guys on their way up, though...NH is going to be a really good club again next year.
I love that 2014 lineup!
ReplyDeleteBut no Yunel Escobar or Brett Cecil in 2014?
ReplyDeleteI always thought that Adeiny would play short, Yunel second, and Hill at third for the future.
Heck, I could see that combo by the All-Star break next year if Adeiny continues to play as good as he did last year after he was moved up to AA. A good Summer league, and spring training, and a hot start to next season and you can see Adeiny sooner rather than later. I think he probably starts next season in Vegas, and excels in a hitter friendly league.
I found it quit interesting how AA talked about good young pitching and talent up the middle being keys to succeeding in this division.
ReplyDeleteThe our prospect list comes out and it has 5 pitchers, 3 catchers and 2 centrefielders(and Hech at SS is probably #1). Good to see.
Hech is #11 I mean.
ReplyDeleteAfter seeing that list I'm curious if JPA is getting traded sooner than later and TD'A is our future catcher, being hand picked by AA himself. Hmmmmm...
ReplyDeleteEverybody loves prospect porn!
ReplyDeleteLove to see the comments guys. Thanks for taking the time to do so.
The Southpaw,
Nobody in their right mind would pay to read ANYTHING on the internet. Message boards are a great spot to find "behind the paywall" type stuff. Case in point:
http://1bluejaysway.blogspot.com/2010/01/organizational-rankings-according-to.html
Jay,
Your opinion carries great weight here considering you have actually watched them play live and have followed d'Arnaud and Gose closely since they were drafted by the Phillies. It's hard for me to say this guy or that guy deserves to be on the list or higher due to the fact I have never seen them play!
To me, Baseball America seems to covet the high upside type player regardless of which level they are currently at. How else do you explain that the MVP at AAA is ranked behind a kid who just had back surgery and has never played in AA.....and they both play the same position on the field.
Argos!
Yeah we all wanna Hech rocket through the system as fast as possible. But since we picked up Esco, we can afford to take it a little slow and make sure he is ready. Try to remember, this kid has not even been in North America for a calender year. He is still learning how to speak english.
I read somewhere that he is done for this year with a hammy injury. That will no doubt slow his progress only because I`m sure the braintrust was expecting him to get him another 200 at bats or so this winter. Although I hope see him make the big leagues in 2011, I think the 2012 season is a more realistic time frame for his MLB debut. Perhaps a September call up. As for which level he starts at, I think it depends on where his mentor Luis Rivera ends up managing. We still have a vacant coaching staff in Vegas.
Ryan,
Yep he certainly believes in strong up the middle and it shows. Gose should stick in CF but Marisnick may have to eventually move over to a corner.
Kinda a nice problem to have.....
Mattt,
JP will fetch a nice return on the trade market. I have long wondered if he is truly our catcher of the future. Hard to say.
But what I will say is this: breaking in a young guy behind the plate takes minimum half a season. I`m not sure we are going to do that, since as you mentioned, we have other studs coming up the pipeline. I would totally support a trade of JP, if it brings back a nice young solid infielder in return.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts everyone. Interesting points of view.
@Matt
ReplyDeleteI've been saying for a while, I think JPA will be the DH or 1B, or even 3B of the future. His bat is very strong, so he has a spot in the bigs, but his bat maybe too good for the catcher position. Generally great bats behind the plate get moved away from the catcher position because of the damage it does to the knees and because they will only play in around 120 games max. Look at guys like Delgado, or even Bryce Harper.
Travis doesn't have nearly as good as a bat, but is very strong defensively so I see him as the catcher of the future.