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Minor League Rankings and other Prospecty stuff

With the year's final Minor Lines slowly drifting off the page it seems like we need another place to discuss various prospect news. And so, here be the place.

Specifically, news will begin coming next week from Baseball America, as it begins rolling out its annual League Rankings, starting with the two rookie complex leagues and then moving up through the levels. So I thought I'd create a place where we can all take a whack at guessing what Giants prospects might pop up on the various lists. Last year I displayed something of a vulcan mind meld with BA on the lists, but that I'm sure a fluky high BABIP was behind most of that success. Without expecting any such luck this year, here are my guesses:

AZL: 13 team league

Giants AZL team was very successful again this year, returning to the Championship game but failing to defend their crown. Still, from a prospect perspective it was an odd team, notable mostly for the quick comings and goings of its players. The team's best stretch coincided with the week and a half in which most of their high round college picks came through, but none of Aramis Garcia, Dylan Davis, or high value later round picks Austin Slater and Hunter Cole accrued even 40 PA, and so didn't play long enough in the league to qualify for this list. And when they all left the folks they left behind were all in all a pretty fringy bunch. In a league full of raw, athletic projects who went in the top 2 rounds of the draft this year (Monte Harrison, Ti'Quan Forbes etc etc) the Giants kids probably weren't drawing too much of the scouting communities attention, even though they have some intriguing long range project types around. Consequently, I think there's a decent chance the Giants get shut out of this 13 team league. But that's no fun to guess.

Giants on the top 20: Michael Santos

Might have beens: In addition to the hitters listed above, Tyler Beede and Logan Webb made too brief appearances

Sleepers: Dylan Brooks, Byron Murray

Leagues #1 Prospect: Gleyber Torres, SS, Chicago Cubs (Alex Jackson a close 2nd)

NWL: 8 team league

Salem-Keizer finished just out of the post-season running this year. But the combination of a small league, and a lot of top draft choices means this league is one of the Giants best chances for filling up a ranking list (the fact that Kyle Schwarber and Gleyber Torres were only here for cameos doesn't hurt). Not only did all of the top 2014 picks mentioned above spend the majority of their summer in the NWL, but the top picks from 2013 ended up down here as well. The big question marks are likely to be on the 2nd and 3rd round picks Aramis Garcia and Dylan Davis. Neither had terrific NWL campaigns and Garcia's not the type of prospect to thrill scouts with his tools,

Giants on the top 20: Christian Arroyo, Austin Slater, Dylan Davis

Might have been: Keury Mella was here for 19 IP. A few more and he could have challenged for a top 3 prospect in this league. Tyler Beede also made a too brief appearance

Sleepers: Johneswy Fargas, Skyler Ewing

Leagues #1 Prospect: Franklin Barreto, SS, Toronto Blue Jays (Max Pentacost very close 2nd)

SALLY: 14 team league

The Sally list is annually one of the toughest ones to break onto as the league is one of the largest in all of Minor League Baseball, and it normally gets a great mix of high upside teenagers and mid round college guys. On top of which, the Augusta team was, after the loss of Arroyo (and later Jones) extremely old for the level and altogether prospect thin. This year is no exception as the league claimed a tremendous collection of high upside hitters of both types (Lewis Brinson, Ryan McMahon, David Dahl, Raimel Tapia,Nomar Mazara, Austin Meadows, JP Crawford, Manual Margot, Dominic Smith, Reese McGuire on the teenaged side, Aaron Judge, Jacoby Jones on the college) This is going to be a very very difficult list to crack this year (hey did I mention Lucas Giolito and Hunter Harvey were there too? No? They were). But that doesn't mean the Giants' prospects didn't open some eyes with their performances.

Giants on the top 20: Keury Mella (in a lesser league he'd be a top 5 guy, here I'll bet he comes in around 12-15)

Just missed the cut: Luis Ysla, Christian Arroyo, Ray Black (no way for a reliever to make a list this stacked, but Black probably got as many catcalls as anybody in the league this year)

Sleepers: Christian Jones, Tyler Horan

Leagues #1 Prospect: Lucas Giolito, P, Washington Nationals (Judge, Tapia, and Crawford close behind)

CAL: 10 team league

Cal is a fairly small league, but the Lancaster JetHawks collection of prospects might have needed their own league list (I count 7 of their players who could make this top 20) and SJ fielded one of its weaker collections of talent in a while this year, so this could be a tough one. I would say the best prospect on the team was Kendry Flores but the Cal League really did have some eye popping talent this year, particularly down in the southern division, so I just can't see Kendry pushing his way onto the list.

Giants on the top 20: none

Just missed: nobody really, but Flores, Stratton, and Steven Okert will get some mention

Sleepers: Brian Ragira, Tyler Horan

Leagues #1 Prospect: Julio Urias, P, LA Dodgers (Carlos Correa and Corey Seager could both easily be #1 as well)

EL: 12 team league

This team was the most successful in the Giants' system this year and also represents the core of its best prospects, almost entirely on the pitching staff. The EL had its usual strong group of talent this year (the champion Binghamton Mets had a particularly strong group) so again, making this list is a pretty strong accomplishment and just missing it isn't an insult:

Giants on the top 20: Kyle Crick, Adalberto Mejia, Clayton Blackburn, Matt Duffy

Just missed: Ty Blach, Hunter Strickland

Sleepers: Cody Hall, Steven Okert, Daniel Carbonell

Leagues #1 Prospect: Mookie Betts, 2b/CF, Boston Red Sox (Francisco Lindor or Michael Taylor a not particularly close #2)

PCL: 16 team league

The PCL is a ginormous league, but it's also normally a pretty mixed bag when it comes to prospects with lots of teams filling up on minor league vets for injury depth at the major league level and a sprinkling of uber prospects wreaking havoc on everything they see. It's normally woe be to Pitching prospects though a few acquitted themselves well this year (Folty, Andrew Heaney, Jimmy Nelson, Taijuan Walker, Rafael Montero). Still hitters are where it's at in the PCL and this year was no exception as monster masher Kris Bryant finished up his wreckage of the minors here, while Joc Peterson and Javy Baez more or less made year long assaults and Oscar Tavares was a frequent visitor. Still the Fresno team was not without its bright spots, as we all know.

Giants in the top 20: Andrew Susac, Joe Panik

Just missed: Edwin Escobar

Sleepers: um... nobody really, but lets say Chris Heston and Eric Cordier

Leagues #1 Prospect: Kris Bryant, 3b, Chicago Cubs (Oscar Tavarez and Javy Baez #2 and 3)

So there's my guesses, how about yours? While you're thinking about it, why don't you enjoy this monster blast from Mac Williamson a sight I'm sure we'll all see more of in 2015.


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