I like Barnes more than any of the other guys, but I like Crawford’s potential a lot (Fairley’s too, but I’m less optimistic about him).

I’m a fan of eHIRE.com, barnes as a close 2nd

for the third straight poll, i’m going with wendell “hits it” fairley

i like the steady improvement in OBP, the raw power the scouts apparently see, and the athleticism that’s there for all to see. i’ve got a really good feeling about him.

Fairley, for the same reasons as Smoke on the Water.

Adrianza next.

Going with Fairley again here, due to his upside & tools. Barnes/Crawford would probably be the next 2 after that.

Wouldn’t have gotten a poll up until later tonight too.

As for my vote, someone make a case for me. I’m leaning towards Fairley just because he’s a bigger name, and at this point in a prospect list that can be what you’re looking for even.

Voted Wendell.

I’d like to see how the guy rates in the community in comparison with the finesse brigade.

135K 51BB 3.19 ERA in 135.1IP at San Jose A+ 2008. I think that is some big numbers for a guy pitching more than 50 innings for the first time as a pro.

Is he a lefty with a Plus Fastball? Or Too old™? I like him for the same reason I like Ishikawa this year. It seems like he is fulfilling the promise/excitement from a few years ago. Would we be more excited if the Giants had him under control for the next few year? His time is running out.

I’m fairley confident in my vote.

he can fairley be called an OBP machine!

Or did Tanner really give up one home run in 117 IP at San Jose last year? That is remarkable.

I have no idea who to vote for. It would be just guessing at this point.

voted Tanner cz he had consistent success in a league that usually favors hitters.
I looked for more Augusta pitchers to add to the ballot, but they’re like 24 and 25.
For San Jose, Brad Boyer is same age as Downs, and OPS was almost 100 higher, let’s get him on the ballot soon.

I’m still down with eHire and his upside.

I thought everyone here was pretty down on Fairly. If he
tips in at or around 12, I’ll be pleasantly surprised.

He’s got some powerhouse posters throwing their
support his way, so minds are being changed—or
opinions being reinforced.

I’m really surprised at the lack of support for Tanner right now but I’m even more surprised at the support for guys like Adrianza, who’s a player who intrigues me as much as anybody but at this point is frankly an unknown (which does make him exciting) other than that he plays good defense and he doesn’t really strike out. Rookie ball is a long way away and he didn’t blow away the competition (the same can be said about Fairley who was old for a high school senior when he was drafted and continued to be old for rookie ball once he made his debut this year.)

I’m not down on these guys because they both seem to have nice upside but right now I feel that some other players’ polish outweighs their potential.

Also, what’s with the support for Crawford, scouts don’t think he’ll ever hit unless he completely reworks his swing not to mention that his skills reportedly regressed in college and he broke himself in his debut. He would rank just after the twenties or so for me.

I’ll probably vote for Crawford next time.

and then Mr. Wendell

And for future considerations, how about Edwin Quirarte?

His college numbers don’t particularly jump out at me, though his pro numbers look good (especially that K rate), and he’s going to be a career reliever (though I think that Aaron King will likely be one too), but, according to Keith Law, Quirarte’s got “big-time sink on his fastball and an improving splitter” and I think the guy could move relatively quickly through the system. I’d probably consider him for the 17-18 slot.

another issue i was wondering about is this: who would be more valuable: an average high-leverage reliever who only pitches 70-80 innings per season or an average 5th starter who pitches ~160 innings per season?

there’s probably a statistical way to measure it. if only there was some random computer that spammed this site….

Add Thomas Neal, Jesse English, Charlie Culberson, Wilber Bucardo, Kelvim Pichardo, Waldis Juaquin…

and, of course, Hector Sanchez.

So I guess Ryan Rohlinger doesn’t post here.

Maybe?

…I voted for Martinez, because I’m results-oriented. Like you just said.

I’m not saying vote for Fairley, but even before I saw someone denigrate Fairley, I thought I would add this FYI on Fairley.

Unfortunately, his stats are totally dominated by small samples due to him starting the season late due to an injury.

Still, there was some interesting bits of info. For one, while he started out slow, he ended well:

June: .214/.273/.286/.559, 28 AB, 0 W, 7 K, .286 BABIP
July: .256/.368/.322/.690, 90 AB, 10 W, 18 K, .310 BABIP
Aug: .297/.475/.392/.867, 74 AB, 18 W, 10 K, .333 BABIP

No power (his FB% fell from month to month), but he clearly has a clue at the plate, got his strikeout rate to about 15% by August, which is what good hitters can do, then almost doubled his K’s, which only the best hitters can do.

He’s also not a good hitter against LHP (he bats L, throws R), so that hurts his batting line as well. However, his strikeout and walks there also suggest that he should be able to have a much better batting line against LHP given better luck.

So there are a lot of good evidence that Fairley is a good hitter, but hopefully it was that injury he recovered from early in the season that sapped his power (that is, he rushed back too soon). Shades of Marcus Sanders? Perhaps someone can illuminate on his injury. But right now he’s an extreme groundball hitter, nothing like the power hitter he said he was when he was drafted.

Still, if he’s that good a hitter, as August suggests (very few can draw walks nearly double their strikeouts, while not striking that much), he can get on base a ton, steal 2B a lot with his speed, and score from other’s hits.