Top 55 NL West Prospects
All the love for Matzek is interesting.
about 2 years ago
shikantaza
43 comments
0 recs |
Email
PrintComments
He's pretty OK
Hector Sanchez: Underrated. Fighting body bias since the 2009 off season. I still love you, son, even if you're fat.
Also known to haunt as theghostoftravisdenker and theaccidentalghostofsergioromo.
by theghostofjasonellison on Feb 2, 2010 2:33 PM PST up reply actions
Parker > Bumgarner? Can any of the prospect hounds here tell me why everybody still has Parker high on their list when he’s scheduled to miss all of 2010? He’ll be a year (and a half, most likely) older when he is fully recovered.
The Giants Way™"If anybody deserves credit for this year’s turnaround it’s these two people, Brian and Bruce," Neukom said. "The encouraging thing is we think we’re back to playing baseball the way it ought to be played."
parker
likely would be a near top 10 prospect in all of baseball had he not suffered the injury. his surgery (tommy john) comes with a pretty high success rate these days.
Yep, a regular Jesse Foppert, he is.
/nods vigorously
Hector Sanchez: Underrated. Fighting body bias since the 2009 off season. I still love you, son, even if you're fat.
Cause this guy doesn’t like Giants prospects. I don’t get it at all. He says Bumgarner’s dropped velocity could be because of an injury, which would sensibly drop his prospect status. But then he says TJ surgery has a great success rate, so it’s not a problem. Therefor Parker>Bumgarner. Lulz.
The very bad man who traded my first son non-tendered my replacement son. F*ck you Brian Sabean. Leave my children alone.
So another opinion that our farm system isn’t very good. Despite not really graduating anyone, we’ve taken a pretty big step back. Not a good sign.
Noonan, Gillaspie had an unimpressive campaign, and Angel killed some dude.
The loss of Villalona is quite a stinger. The system would look much better if Gillaspie and Noonan can have a bounceback year and Joseph shine in his first pro season.
Obviously any links in the above post are probably NSFW
Allegedly killed some dude
"It appears that Sabean is playing a game of chicken with Neukom wherein he elucidates the most outrageous things he could do as ML GM without getting fired." - cornball
#2 in Fanshots
Correct
And allegedly paid the family off to drop the charges.
Juan Carlos Perez, please start hitting.
And allegedly was absolved of guilt (slightly redundant, but whatever).
I don't know about that, to the groin.
by howtheyscored on Feb 2, 2010 2:36 PM PST up reply actions
We lost Villalona, Alderson and Barnes. We were always going to take a hit for that.
Merkin Valdez? Manuel Mateo? A rose by any other name...-----RIP, MY SON
The people doing this are very clueless about the depth the system has. It used to be the top 4 and a ton of question marks. Now, it’s the top 2 and a whole bunch of interesting prospects. Our 11-30 is so much better now than it was a year ago, and I don’t think the top 10 took much of a hit.
Juan Carlos Perez, please start hitting.
The disparity of opinion is striking. BA has us as the #4 system. Keith Law ranked us #20. That’s quite a difference of opinion.
My Bucardo is better than yours.
A hot August weekday, before a small crowd, when the only thing at stake is the tissue-thin difference between a thing done well and a thing done ill. Insofar as the clutch hitter is not a sportswriter's myth, it is a vulgarity, like a writer who writes only for money.
Just comparing the community lists
I prefer this years. The top 10 is not as top heavy, but better top to bottom, and 11-30 is no contest better now.
2010 2009 1. Buster Posey 1. SP Madison Bumgarner 2. Madison Bumgarner 2. C Buster Posey 3. Thomas Neal 3. SP Tim Alderson 4. Zack Wheeler 4. 1B Angel Villalona 5. Roger Kieschnick 5. 2B Nick Noonan 6. Tommy Joseph 6. 3B Conor Gillaspie 7. Brandon Crawford 7. SP Henry Sosa 8. Rafael Rodriguez 8. OF Rafael Rodriguez 9. Dan Runzler 9. OF Roger Kieschnick 10. Nick Noonan 10. SP Kevin Pucetas 11. Conor Gillaspie 11. 1B Travis Ishikawa 12. Ehire Adrianza 12. OF Wendell Fairley 13. Francisco Peguero 13. SP Scott Barnes 14. Hector Sanchez 14. SS Brandon Crawford 14. Jason Stoffel 15. SS Ehire Adrianza 16. Waldis Joaquin 16. SP Clayton Tanner 17. Clayton Tanner 17. SP Jesse English 18. Darren Ford 18. SP Joseph Martinez 19. Brett Pill 19. OF/1B Thomas Neal 20. Jorge Bucardo 20. 3B Jesus Guzman 21. Henry Sosa 21. SP Aaron King 22. Eric Surkamp 22. UT Matt Downs 23. Matt Graham 23. SP Waldis Joaquin 24. Jose Casilla 24. OF Eddy Martinez-Esteve 25. Ryan Cavan 25. P Jose Casilla 26. Chris Dominguez 26. C Hector Sanchez 27. Edward Concepcion 27. RP Edwin Quirarte 28. Brock Bond 28. RP Luis Perdomo 29. Kevin Pucetas 29. SP Ben Snyder 30. Ryan Rohlinger 30. RP Osiris Matos
Juan Carlos Perez, please start hitting.
Villalona the difference
Missing Villalona really tips the list in the 2009 favor. I was reading on BA about some Ranger prospects that can’t get American Visas and have been playing in the DSL. I wonder if Villalona could do that as he is out on bail?
I agree the loss of Villalona really does hurt. On the other hand I am attracted to the 2010 model (I think it’s because of Neal and Joseph’s high appearances). We did suffer some hits (Noonan and Gillaspie), btu it seems like there was more dead weight and less upside in the second half of last year’s list.
Looking back at it now, I wish we’d moved Sosa up some, but on the whole I think this is a pretty good list we’ve come up with.
BA came up with an interesting solution to the Villalona dilemma — they listed him at #30, but just as a sort of solution to an editorial problem. Baggs write up says he’d still be a top 5 talent if he were going to play because his power tool trumps the other concerns. Which makes sense if you look at our #5 — Kieshnick who also has K problems and BB problems, without the same level of power, and is years older (albeit Kiesch comes with much greater D and athleticism).
My Bucardo is better than yours.
A hot August weekday, before a small crowd, when the only thing at stake is the tissue-thin difference between a thing done well and a thing done ill. Insofar as the clutch hitter is not a sportswriter's myth, it is a vulgarity, like a writer who writes only for money.
Meh
Villalona was massively overrated. Even if he reached his peak, which was incredibly unlikely, he was still going to be a poor fielding 1B with plate discipline issues. That actually isn’t that valuable of a player.
The loss of Villalona and Alderson is more than made up, in my mind, by the additions of Wheeler and Joseph and the breakout of Neal.
Juan Carlos Perez, please start hitting.
Is it so much that the prospects of 2010 are better? Or that our top prospects of 2009 went down? Angel, Noonan, Gillapsie, Sosa, and Pucetas all drupped out of the top 10. We essentially replaced half our top ten.
The Basil Fawlty Moderating Strategy:
"We could run a nice blog here if we didn't have all these members getting in the way."
Kevin Frandsen, come back!
Some of it’s no doubt the persistence of hope — at least for me. Those old guys I had great hope for all sucked! I sure am glad we have these new guys that I have great hopes for to take their place! That’s MUCH better.
My Bucardo is better than yours.
A hot August weekday, before a small crowd, when the only thing at stake is the tissue-thin difference between a thing done well and a thing done ill. Insofar as the clutch hitter is not a sportswriter's myth, it is a vulgarity, like a writer who writes only for money.
Our 2009 prospects went down, but I think it’s mostly because they, and the system, wasn’t as good.
Juan Carlos Perez, please start hitting.
More often than not, the top 10 (or even top 5) end up providing a lot more value than the rest combined.
I was promised lasagna.
It’s an interesting aspect of recent Giants history that the reverse has often been true. Perhaps that’s because a lot of the value that the system has provided has come from bullpen arms, and also from guys whose development curves took tremendous sudden leaps into the majors from sort of nowhere (Sandoval, Sanchez, Wilson). It’s equally true that the Giants have gotten a ton value from the depths of drafts this decade while having a kind of spotty record in the first round. The infamous Michael Tucker draft is even starting to look like a net positive for the Giants because of their ability to find Sergio Romo and Thomas Neal in the later rounds and even Hinshaw and Joey (though given that that was almost certainly the most talent stacked draft in recent years it sure would have been nice to have a 1st or 2nd round pick).
My Bucardo is better than yours.
A hot August weekday, before a small crowd, when the only thing at stake is the tissue-thin difference between a thing done well and a thing done ill. Insofar as the clutch hitter is not a sportswriter's myth, it is a vulgarity, like a writer who writes only for money.
I like the Baby Vlad love
It’s only a matter time before he is making priests scream fuck out loud, cutting the heads off snakes, crumbling mountains with his bare hands and making Russel Martin cry….
Anyway, I am excited to see what that kid can do…It’s nice when a Giant’s prospect with tools likes to take walks….
by Sgt. Dingleberry on Feb 2, 2010 11:13 AM PST reply actions
I don't get this
I mean, I’m sure my opinions on our system are a little optimistic, because every fan does that about their own system. But here’s how he describes the Dodgers:
The Dodgers have an underrated system. While they lack an elite prospect, Gordon and Withrow give them two top 65 guys. There is a lot of depth in this system, and most of it is comprised of high upside guys.
No, that’s OUR system. Except we have TWO elite prospects (three if Villalona gets back). There’s a lot of guys in AA and below that have tons of potential, but they aren’t ready yet. And I don’t know where the Dodgers’ depth is coming from; I don’t think they’ve got a lot of great options, especially after the Blake/Ramirez trades of 2008 (gave up Carlos Santana, Jon Meloan, Bryan Morris, and Andy LaRoche) or the Garland/Sherrill/Belliard trades of 2009 (gave up Steve Johnson, Josh Bell, Tony Abreu, Luis Garcia, and Victor Garate). Either the Dodgers had the best system in baseball before 2008, so they are buoyed by a lot of talent they didn’t trade, or people are ranking them too highly.
Colorado and San Diego puzzle me as well; Matzek is definitely not as good as apparently everyone thinks he is. If he was such a great prospect even with the signability concerns, he would not have been passed over by so many teams. And I like San Diego’s system, but they haven’t gotten much even with the rebuild and trade of Peavy, and they didn’t draft well for a long time. So either they completely rebuilt their system through the draft (and their recent draft history isn’t super spectacular) in the last couple years or they’re overrated too.
The Giants may not have the B talent of a lot of other systems, but we’re very strong in the low minors, and there’s talent up right now that has potential, some of it already realized (Bowker, Schierholtz, Lewis, Posey, Sandoval), which will tide us over until the youngest guys show up. We may not be the best system in the NL West (though I think we are), but we’ve got enough talent to at least be #2.
Matzek is definitely not as good as apparently everyone thinks he is. If he was such a great prospect even with the signability concerns, he would not have been passed over by so many teams.
Umm… he was passed over by exactly one more team than passed on Tim Lincecum, so I’m not so sure of your logic there. And that was after essentially promising that he was going to college without a game changing contract. Aside from which, in a realm of such out of our asses opinions as this, I don’t see where you can legitimately append “definitely” to any of them.
that said, I agree with you 100% on the Dodgers system. It’s weaker now than it’s been in maybe a decade, and I don’t really see the depth there either.
My Bucardo is better than yours.
A hot August weekday, before a small crowd, when the only thing at stake is the tissue-thin difference between a thing done well and a thing done ill. Insofar as the clutch hitter is not a sportswriter's myth, it is a vulgarity, like a writer who writes only for money.
Lincecum is the exception, not the rule. And there were serious questions about his motion, which is a much bigger issue than money. Maybe Matzek is the exception too, but I certainly didn’t hear anything coming out of the scouts prior to the draft that indicated he was this great prospect who was clearly the top HS arm. I understand the Strasburg hype; he may one of the best prospects ever straight out of the draft, but Matzek fell pretty far over a relatively small issue if he’s so incredibly amazing.
I don’t think Lincecum or Matzek are exceptions. Really talented people fall. Neither fell nearly as far as Porcello, or Jacob Turner who was also very highly rated in the ‘09 draft, or even the ill-fated Andrew Brackman (who will almost certainly end up as a flameout but still would have been selected at least 25 places higher had it not been for his bonus concerns). Buster Posey is our great prospects rather than Tampa Bay’s because of money. We had to give Travis Ishikawa what I’m pretty sure is the largest bonus in the history of the 21st round to get him out of his college commitment. Jon Lester fell past the supplemental round into the middle of the 2nd round because of money.
There’s no rule to be excepted here — the big problem with the draft, the reason everybody keeps saying it needs to be fixed, is that players are not being drafted in the order of their perceived talent. That’s the rule presently.
My Bucardo is better than yours.
A hot August weekday, before a small crowd, when the only thing at stake is the tissue-thin difference between a thing done well and a thing done ill. Insofar as the clutch hitter is not a sportswriter's myth, it is a vulgarity, like a writer who writes only for money.
We see with our desire.
My Bucardo is better than yours.
A hot August weekday, before a small crowd, when the only thing at stake is the tissue-thin difference between a thing done well and a thing done ill. Insofar as the clutch hitter is not a sportswriter's myth, it is a vulgarity, like a writer who writes only for money.
Ding Ding Ding
the scouting reports on Crawford are nowhere near what McCoven thinks of the kid. Many at McCoven believe he is a gold glove defender while many reports I have read have him a very good defender. His defensive forte is charging slow grounders.
His bat remains a huge question mark, Prove ’em wrong, Professor!
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Certain photos copyright © 2012 by Associated Press or Getty Images. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of Associated Press and Getty Images is strictly prohibited.
