2011 Reader Top 30, #25

2011 Reader Top 30

Colby Shreve edged out a crowded field to take the 24th spot, so we move on to #25, with just 6 spots left. Maikel Franco will replace him in the poll going forward. Which you’ll find below.

1. Domonic Brown, OF
2. Jon Singleton, OF
3. Jarred Cosart, RHP
4. Brody Colvin, RHP
5. Trevor May, RHP
6. Sebastian Valle, C
7. Vance Worley, RHP
8. Jesse Biddle, LHP
9. Tyson Gillies, OF
10. Justin De Fratus, RHP
11. Jiwan James, OF
12. Julio Rodriguez, RHP
13. Domingo Santana, OF
14. Aaron Altherr, OF
15. Phillippe Aumont, RHP
16. JC Ramirez, RHP
17. Matt Rizzotti, 1B
18. Jon Pettibone, RHP
19. Austin Hyatt, RHP
20. Cesar Hernandez, 2B
21. Harold Garcia, 2B
22. Kelly Dugan, OF
23. Michael Schwimer, RHP
24. Colby Shreve, RHP
25.

54 thoughts on “2011 Reader Top 30, #25”

    1. Maikel Franco was GCL Phillies third baseman who had signed for $100,000 out of the Dominican Republic in February. He began the season as a 17-year old and batted third at least through the end of June.

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  2. Hear hear, PhillyCuban (also, you handle sounds like an awesome sandwich).

    Having wasted my vote on Mathieson for a couple of rounds, out of stubbornness as much as anything (he’s eligible, dammit!) I decided to give up and go with Perci Garner. He’s the Anthony Hewitt of pitchers right now, but who knows, maybe he’ll turn into the Domonic Brown. Although age is working against him.

    Speaking of which, I wouldn’t mind seeing Galvis here, as I suspect we will, given his defensive talents and relative youth. But his advocates lost my vote when they started comparing him to Ozzie Smith and Omar Vizquel. Hyperbole only hurts your case, people.

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    1. Anthony Hewitt has played 210 minor league games. Perci Garner has played two. As a wise man once said, “Hyperbole only hurts your case.”

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  3. I voted Perci Garner on projection and pure athleticism.

    The Galvis mania makes me wonder if people are longing for the days of Ivan DeJesus. It actually irritates me to hear loose talk about Galvis replacing Jimmy Rollins in 2012. Get a grip, people. Rollins deserves far more respect than that. The Galvis touters can keep crossing their fingers and toes that he will improve dramatically from pathetic to awful by 2012 but he will never be able to replace Jimmy Rollins. Period. Take off the beer goggles! Otherwise you may wake up horrified to find a fat ugly old babushka in your bed. Just because she spoke Russian doesn’t mean she kind of looks like Anna Kournikova. And just because Galvis plays shortstop doesn’t mean he can replace Rollins.

    Be careful what you wish for.

    Meanwhile I am rooting hard for Galvis to transmogrify into an adequate hitter but he has a long way to go. I wish him the very best.

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    1. My guess is that in 2012 Galvis replaces Bocock.

      I’m surprised the Phillies haven’t moved him around the field to make him a solid utility infielder. His ceiling at this point is probably John McDonald, so may as well prepare him for his MLB role and get him some experience at the hot corner and maybe 2nd base.

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  4. Im going Perci here, based on his pre-draft profile. In all reality, its hard to really argue one player or another at this point. They all have something to offer, but each of them has some serious drawbacks to consider. I feel like a can’t really argue with anyone’s opinion at this point.

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  5. I’ll go with Castro and I’ll follow him up with Galvis. I’ll take 81 RBIs in 124 games for a 21 year old at Lakewood. He’s a free swinger who struck out 91 times but also had 22 SBs (caught 13 times). Leandro had 14 OF assists and can play all 3 OF positions although he’s used mostly in LF. In 7 games playing RF, he had 2 assists. I like that a lot.

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  6. Zeid.
    People wake up!
    Very good arm and command, clean bill of health, production. Will be age appropriate to the league this year, will be on the varsity by 2012 (unless traded).
    Then Rupp, Franco, Mathieson (too many injuries to be rated higher), Stutes, Castro an my wild card #31, Daniel De La Cruz.

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    1. I had to make a little comment here. I think Overbeck tops out as a AAAA guy. To get to that level I think he needs to prove he can play 1st, 3rd and corner OF. He doesn’t play any of these very well. His bat showed up at A+ and AA but he’s pretty old for these levels. If he can improve with the bat a little and pick a few more positions, I think he could top out as Mike Cervanek. I like Mike C but the guys you say people have never heard of are capable guys with upside or at least a single tool that can carry them forward.

      Five years from now, we might all be joking about what happened to Josh Zeid or Freddy Galvis or Daniel DeLaCruz but I’ll bet a couple of these guys keep us entertained and rooting for them until we start talking about them as the next Mike Cervanek or Overbeck.

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    2. My bet is that it was simply accidental. Overbeck received 9 votes last round, while three other candidates received 4 or fewer votes. I think PhuturePhillies wants to make it as easy a possible for us to vote for whomever we want, whether they were in the GCL, drafted, signed as an international free agent, acquired via trade, have gotten a lot of publicity or a little. But I’m not sure why the “Other” option is no longer there. You can write a comment OTHER: Overbeck. (But I wouldn’t. I’m still voting for Galvis.)

      Everyone on this list has been talked about on this site before this poll began. Just use the Search box on the top right of the site to learn about the candidates before you vote.

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  8. Michael Stutes —he hit 96 on the gun at CBP in an exhibition against the Pirates. Needs more command but will be a major league pitcher. He is way underrated here but will be in major league camp this spring. Hitters are not comfortable with him on the mound. I like that 🙂

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  9. Galvis – a couple guys could easily pass him this year, Castro and Garner chief among the likelies in my mind, (plus some of the HS guys we haven’t seen play yet at all).

    I think it was yesterday that someone said he won’t play for the Phillies…I don’t know what that matters as a prospect. Prospects who don’t play for us either get traded or released. If Galvis hits 100 better OPS, (couple more hits a month, couple more singles turned into doubles, couple more walks), he may easily get traded in the next couple years and bring back something useful.

    I’d like to hear the opinions of those Galvis haters on whether they think he’s likely to be cut versus, say, the likelihood of a guy like our newly crowned #24 Shreve being left off the 40 man when his time is up, exposed to the Rule 5 draft, not getting picked, and then released a year later. I’d say Galvis is much more likely to bring up his bat a little bit, stick in the system, and be used as a trade chip for a short-term injury replacement kind of guy, or possibly a bench bat rental type. And is Shreve’s ceiling really that high at this point that it counters his floor? Which is something like “used car salesman”, if you ask me.

    Anyway, no real solid argument against guys like Castro and Garner. They’re fair cases at this point.

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    1. I prefer Shreve to Galvis, but at 25, is it really worth me debating vehemently? Shreve has this year to capitalize on the Second Year After TJS Phenomenon, but after that, he will be old for his league and will clearly be in a fringe category. Galvis has 1600 plate appearances that haven’t impressed, but if someone wants to tell me that Galvis will ultimately be more valuable than Shreve, I can’t argue against it.

      The question about Galvis getting cut versus Shreve’s future is interesting. As seen this year with the inclusion of Bocock on the 40-man, I have a hard time seeing the Phils ever cutting Galvis until they have a more apparent Rollins replacement/fill-in. With Shreve, he’s going to get caught in a glut of pitching needing to be protected around the same time, so the numbers may work against him.

      I’ve been going through older BA prospect books and it’s staggering how many guys the experts anoint as a Top 30 don’t make it. I’m pulling for every guy on this list to provide value (either as a Phillies or as a trade commodity), but also realize that we’re in the part of the list where every name being bandied about has some big items in the con column.

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      1. Agree with you on the “con” column. Unfortunately for the HS guys, the con so far is just that they haven’t seen the field as a pro. Though I can’t imagine any of them are sweating being left off our list. If they are, their new biggest “con” should be that they are paying any attention to this stuff.

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  10. Wow! I can appreciate the Galvis love but wishing won’t make it so. If the kid was going to hit he would have demonstrated that tool by now. I just don’t see how a 1 tool player can make a top 30 list now matter how good the tool.

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  12. Castro; Garner next.

    Not going to continue piling on Galvis. I do wonder, though, why he is so overated on this board. The typical player who gets overated on this board is:

    Overage for his league
    Has splashy hitting numbers
    Is defensively challenged

    Galvis, of course, is the opposite of that.

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    1. I don’t even think he’s necessarily overrated as much as some of his boosters are making bad arguments on his behalf. The argument that he’d hit better in a lower level, that I can buy. I ranked him 25th myself though I have a few players left on the poll who I ranked higher. I wouldn’t really quibble with Galvis at #25, I think he’s interesting enough to be in the top 30.

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  13. Freddy Galvis is like Ozzie Smith, Omar Vizquel and Cal Ripken Jr all rolled into one.

    If he were to play in the Majors this year, I’d fully expect the following line: .337 AVG/.450 OBP/1.204 OPS, .998 fielding percentage, 34.3 UZR/150, Silver Slugger, Gold Glove, MVP and 7 backflips during between inning warmups.

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    1. As a mild supporter of his in the last two rounds, I would also like to add that his K/9 would be around 12 in 65 relief innings, and that he’d be teaching a yoga class during the seventh inning stretch. Not sure if you knew that.

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      1. No doubt…I heard that he was sitting 98 mph and touching 101 mph with his fastball during a pickup bullpen session in Reading last year. His arm was considered to be comparable to Aroldis Chapman before he picked SS over pitching back in his home country.

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  14. Galvis followed by the forgotten Zach Collier. Then a bunch of people clustered together: Zeid, Stutes, Walter, Franco, Nunez in no particular order.

    Tools matter more than actual performance at this level, though it is admittedly hard to rank guys like Walter and Franco that have not played much yet. Galvis probably should have been around 20th because his defense is already enough for him to profile as much as a utility guy as Harold Garcia. His age relative to level has always held back his offense. Hopefully repeating a level will help.

    Collier is sort of my forgotten prospect. He was fringe top 10 coming out of GCL then had a mediocre year after getting rushed. Then he missed a year getting hurt. But he will play all this season at age 20 (very age appropriate for Lakewood) and it would not be a shock for him to show his tools again if he is healthy.

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    2. Besides being young for his level, Galvis also began switch-hitting late, which gives a little bit more reason for optimism. I like Collier as an honorable mention and agree with you he could come back strong be a star in Lakewood, but his 2009 season was disappointing and he’s coming off an injury, so I don’t think he cracks the top 30 today.

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  15. I voted Leandro Castro again. I think he has a reasonable combination of production and upside to merit a top 30 spot. There’s value to the upside of current draftees but there’s also some value in having survived the rigors of a full pro season.

    Percy Garner is a fine choice. I ranked him just outside of my top 30 as I was scared off a bit by the arm trouble. He simply hasn’t pitched much.

    We’re probably looking at some combination of Galvis, Zeid, Castro, Garner 25-28. Mathieson at #29? If it indeed shakes out like that, I plan on boosting Miguel Nunez at #30.

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  16. I went back to Zeid, since Shreve made it last time. Going forward, I think Castro, Hernandez, Galvis, Alvarez, Stutes. Really feel I should work Rupp in here, somewhere.

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    1. Also, the phillies obviously see something in him or they wouldn’t have protected him on the 40 man roster. That means that the Phillies think that he had a shot at being selected and being on a major league roster all season.

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      1. That does not mean he is a good prospect.
        That means he is good enough with the glove for a MLB team to carry as their 25th man for the minimum salary.
        It means the Phillies think he has as at least as much current value to another team as Juan Castro or Brian Bocock.

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  18. Seems it is a lot of Reading Phillies voter support here. You would think that if 40% of the Phillies’ top 25 prospects played most of the year at Reading in 2010, that they would’ve won more games on talent alone.

    IMO, this notion that the farm is so deep (that we can’t get any draft picks in the top 30) is imaginary. Since the top 16 went off the board, Cesar Hernandez is the only significant prospect voted on.

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    1. Biddle is in the top 30. None of the other draftees played enough or well enough to get more than a rating of incomplete. This is really a matter of personal preference. Does one vote on guys who have yet to play? This is not to say they won’t be viewed as great prospects at this time next year. For now, all they are is guys known for the draft position, bonus, scouting report, and amateur stats. There are enough guys for whom we have significant pro stats to make a top 30 list.

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      1. I had Rupp #30, Garner #32, Eldemire #36. My deliberate thought process with the latter two was that I did not want to overrate them sight unseen. Bryan Morgado’s control was so bad that I couldn’t see rating him above the 40s. And then you’re in the seventh round and later, where guys are more or less lottery tickets. I did consider the 2010 draft class, just had most of them outside the top 30. Its a deep system.

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  19. I voted for Freddy, but Stutes (if he were a hockey player, the other players would call him “Stutesie”) and Zeid were intrguing, as is Garner and some others.

    I will make one promise, however. Assuming he is not chosen by the 29th slot, I am going to vote for Gauntlett Eldemire at 30 come hell or high water. First, I think he’s going to be the next surprise college star from our system. Second, it’s one of the greatest baseball names ever. How could I not vote for him?

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    1. I second each of your comments. I think he could be the break out star of 2011 and what a great name. I have him at #29.

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  20. I went with Castro who I’m surprised hasn’t had more attention. He’s a good player who just needs to gain more plate discipline to become a major league outfielder. He’s a good fielder with a strong arm and has lots of upside talent. FYI – I met Perci Garner last week. He seems like a really good guy and as expected he’s strong like a football player. He’s been told he’ll be in Lakewood. I wish him much success. I have him at #28 purely based on projection and draft status.

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  21. I can’t believe Castro continues to fall. I have him just outside the top 10. Seems like I’ve been voting for him forever.

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    1. FWIW, I have Castro #19 on my list.
      Castro, Dugan, Alvarez, Pettibone, Zeid, Hyatt, Schwimer, Franco, Galvis, Rizzotti, Garner and Walters.

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  23. The most difficult thing about Galvis is this is option year #1. He MUST be in the majors to stay beginning in 2014 (when he’s 24) or he gets exposed to waivers.

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  24. Reading comprehension does not seem to be a strong suit of most on this board…I never compared Galvis to Ozzie Smith, I simply pointed out that he (o.s.) was an outstanding defender who batted under .248 for his first 7 seasons in the league and did not bat above .260 until age 30. In today’s MLB, Ozzie Smith might have gone the way of rey ordonez after 3 consecutive seasons below .230. I merely suggested those who have been shoveling dirt onto a 20 year-old at the AA level may be doing so prematurely. Having watched 12 Reading Phillies games last year and almost 30 games at Lakewood I am at least confident in what my eyes tell me about him and some of the other prospects…which is more than can be said for the adults living in their parents basement perusing the internet and making decisions based entirely on conjecture.

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    2. conjecture: the formation of an opinion or theory without sufficient evidence for proof.

      Sufficient evidence has not been provided, that Galvis is a bad offensive player?

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  25. Regarding Galvis,, remember in the late 60’s the phils had a minor league shortshop who did not hit much until he reached about 23 then he started hitting, a little bit better, but he could field from the start, his name was Larry Bowa

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