I don't know how the wizards in this FanPost got their list so early, but I just got my copy of Baseball America in the mail, and they're revealing the online version of the Giants' top-10 list on Friday. The headline reads "Shallow system lets Giants down," and there were people on Twitter yesterday poking a little fun at the Giants' system.
I dunno. I kind of like the gaggle of pitchers they have.
The list:
1. Kyle Crick - RHP
2. Edwin Escobar - LHP
3. Chris Stratton - RHP
4. Adalberto Mejia - LHP
5. Mac Williamson - OF
6. Christian Arroyo - SS
7. Heath Hembree - RHP
8. Ty Blach - LHP
9. Joe Panik - 2B
10. Clayton Blackburn - RHP
Surprises: Stratton being as high as he is, and Panik still hanging around the top 10. It takes a completely miserable season to shake the draft dust off, and neither of them have had it yet.
Omissions: Andrew Susac, Gary Brown, Kendry Flores, Martin Agosta
Other than the Susac/Panik flip and the aggressive Stratton ranking, though, there really aren't a lot of surprises on the list. Here's the same list, but with likely minor-league assignments instead of position:
1. Kyle Crick - Richmond (Double-A)
2. Edwin Escobar - Fresno (Triple-A)
3. Chris Stratton - San Jose (High-A)
4. Adalberto Mejia - Richmond (Double-A)
5. Mac Williamson - Richmond (Double-A)
6. Christian Arroyo - Augusta (Low-A)
7. Heath Hembree - San Francisco (AAAA)
8. Ty Blach - Richmond (Double-A)
9. Joe Panik - Fresno (Triple-A)
10. Clayton Blackburn - Richmond (Double-A)
Considering it's not exactly rare to see players jump up from Double-A, the Giants are starting to stuff the upper minors with players we might see soon. My guess at a top-10 list of players we might see in 2014, ranked by how likely it is they'll get called up at some point:
1. Heath Hembree
2. Gary Brown
3. Edwin Escobar
4. Derek Law
5. Adam Duvall
6. Mike Kickham
7. Joe Panik
8. Ty Blach
9. Ehire Adrianza
10. Eric Surkamp
That's a ... less exciting list, if only because we've seen a few of those guys before. But at least a couple of those guys will be on your TV screen this year, and you will have big, important opinions about their futures.
My list, even though you should ignore it because I famously don't know what I'm talking about:
1. Crick
2. Escobar
3. Blach
4. Mejia
5. Arroyo
6. Williamson
7. Stratton
8. Blackburn
9. Susac
10. Panik
I'm a Panik fanboy. No shame in it. Also, I have problems putting relievers in the top 10, otherwise Hembree and sweet, sweet Derek Law would both be up there.
Andrew Baggarly, who wrote the list up for BA, will be chatting over there tomorrow afternoon.