Another year, another list of 30 prospect names in an order. Due to the length of the exercise circumstances change between 1 and 30, so it is far from a perfect list, but here is your chance to give your opinion on it as a whole.
Additionally feel free to submit a personal Top 30 in the comments.
- Maikel Franco
- Jesse Biddle
- J.P. Crawford
- Miguel Alfredo Gonzalez
- Carlos Tocci
- Roman Quinn
- Ethan Martin
- Aaron Altherr
- Kelly Dugan
- Cesar Hernandez
- Dylan Cozens
- Zach Green
- Tommy Joseph
- Severino Gonzalez
- Ken Giles
- Cameron Rupp
- Deivi Grullon
- Cord Sandberg
- Andrew Knapp
- Adam Morgan
- Luis Encarnacion
- Shane Watson
- Jose Pujols
- Cameron Perkins
- Yoel Mecias
- Jake Sweaney
- Andrew Pullin
- Jan Hernandez
- Mitch Walding
- Mitch Gueller
Phuture Phillies 
Nothing shocks me from the list. I think it’s pretty much what most thought in terms of the depth of the system. top 3 are pretty strong. The next 6-8 prob. aren’t as good as most clubs but I think from about 11-20 the Phils system has a lot of upside. Especially, w/ the bats.
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I think, based on the professional prospect lists, that we probably underrated Grullon, Sandberg and Knapp. Actually, I think you could flip those three (who are right in a row from 17-19) with Green, Joseph and Gonzalez (12-14) and have a better list. One player who seems to have suffered quite a bit in the opinions of those who have actually seen him is Zach Green. The recent scouting reports of slow bat speed, if true, make those Williamsport numbers look a lot shakier.
Nothing I’ve heard since Spring Training started makes me think I was wrong to argue that MAG was a serious overreach at #4. I could easily see Dugan or Altherr taking up that “best of the rest” position within a few months.
But overall, I think this list is a pretty good collaborative product. It’s fun to do this every year, I always end of learning stuff about guys that I didn’t know. I’m cautiously excited. Now, let’s just hope half these guys don’t sustain career threatening injuries, like last year.
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I don’t see where Green has suffered as bad as you have stated. In fact, BA has Green ranked at 15, only three spots lower than our own Top 30. There is a common consensus about a long swing and trouble with breaking balls, however there are differing reports on the actual bat speed. I have read reports from people who have seen Green that say he has incredible bat speed and reports from others who say it is average. Josh Norris from BA just did an interview where he stated Green performed above average in the Penn League. The real test for Green will be the season for those who have questions about his bat.
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Right, but people were talking about it being a tough call between Green and Cozens, and it seems like there’s not much doubt that the professionals consider Cozens the better prospect.
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Actually BA has Green at 15 and Cozens at 22.
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They are both considered risky prospects at this point, and in fact are very close when compared to each other. Green is sometimes given the a small edge because of the defensive profile. And sometimes Cozens is given the edge because of the bat. I disagree with the “there’s not much doubt” about who the “professional” consider the better prospect.
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Right, and Fangraphs had Cozens ranked and didn’t rank Green. Reviews are mixed, but I guess I’m just saying that I changed my impression of Zach Green based on what I read from these various professional prospect evaluators. You may like him, that’s great. I guess we’ll see once he starts running into more seasoned pitching.
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I would like see estimated time until they each reach majors.
Thanks
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That is going to be on my personal Top 30 along with write ups, projections, and risk
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I’m really excited to see how the Top shakes out this coming season. I’m even more excited how the Top 10 gets shaken up by this upcoming draft.
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1. Maikel Franco
2. JP Crawford
3. Jesse Biddle
4. Miguel Alfredo Gonzalez
5. Carlos Tocci
6. Ethan Martin
7. Aaron Altherr
8. Kelly Dugan
9. Roman Quinn
10. Cesar Hernandez
11. Zach Green
12. Dylan Cozens
13. Tommy Joseph
14. Severino Gonzalez
15. Deivi Grullon
16. Cord Sandberg
17. Andrew Knapp
18. Luis Encarnacion
19. Cameron Rupp
20. Yoel Mecias
21. Jose Pujols
22. Ken Giles
23. Cameron Perkins
24. Shane Watson
25. Samuel Hiciano
26. Andrew Pullin
27. Jan Hernandez
28. Jake Sweaney
29. Malquin Canelo
30. Trey Williams
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Really glad of all your hard work on the site, but I would like to comment on the top 30 system this year.
In the past it started in December with much longer voting periods, you could only vote once, and you could instantly see the vote totals.
Understandably there were examples of people with no life, who made multiple handles and votes, cleared cookie, which changed players position on the list. The new system stopped that,
It also stopped the Hot Stove Enjoyment factor completely. For years I would click on PP maybe 8-10 times a day to see the latest comments – good and bad. This winter I just came by once every two days.
I think you are all doing great work I hope next year it starts Dec 1 and we can see the results in the Thread, as well as 2 or 3 weekly threads. Even if we are not posting we are reading the best Phillies comments on the Web.
Thanks!
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I’m really impressed with the system depth. It’s not top heavy past number 3 but every spot is filled with someone who could breakout.
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I’m actually surprised by the amount of specs left OFF the top 30. Milner, Pointer, Collier, Wright, Lino. We probably could have gone out to 40.
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Alright, here’s mine. Could have gone in a different order with some of these names, and I still have no idea what to do with MAG, the first reports are underwhelming, but I guess we can’t drop him too far based on a couple of bullpen sessions. I realize I’m very aggressive with Martin here, but as I explained when we were doing the rankings, I don’t feel very comfortable with any of the options–I feel like we have a bunch of guys I’d be ok with ranking as our #7 prospect and no one worthy of #4. So Martin gets it based on proximity/floor.
1. Maikel Franco
2. J.P. Crawford
3. Jesse Biddle
4. Ethan Martin
5. Aaron Altherr
6. Kelly Dugan
7. Carlos Tocci
8. Miguel Alfredo Gonzalez
9. Dylan Cozens
10. Roman Quinn
11. Andrew Knapp
12. Deivi Grullon
13. Cesar Hernandez
14. Ken Giles
15. Cord Sandberg
16. Yoel Mecias
17. Severino Gonzalez
18. Cameron Rupp
19. Zach Green
20. Jose Pujols
21. Luis Encarnacion
22. Tommy Joseph
23. Shane Watson
24. Jan Hernandez
25. Jake Sweaney
26. Zach Collier
27. Cameron Perkins
28. Andrew Pullin
29. Samuel Hiciano
30. Larry Greene Jr.*
*yes, I’m trolling
After some debate, I left Adam Morgan off the list. I just can’t see ranking a guy who faces a full-year recovery from a potentially career-ending injury. My attitude at this point is that we should just wish him the best for 2014 and if he manages to come back at some point, evaluate him based on what kind of pitcher he is then. I dropped Quinn and Watson down for similar reasons.
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Excellent exercise Matt. Really enjoy you doing this.
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1 Maikel Franco
2 Jesse Biddle*
3 J.P. Crawford*
4 Miguel Alfredo Gonzalez
5 Carlos Tocci
6 Kelly Dugan*
7 Cesar Hernandez+
8 Cameron Rupp
9 Aaron Altherr
10 Dylan Cozens
11 Zach Green
12 Andrew Knapp+
13 Roman Quinn+
14 Kenny Giles
15 Severino Gonzalez
16 Martin, Ethan
17 Kevin Munson
18 Hoby Milner
19 Cord Sandberg*
20 Deivi Grullon
21 Jan Hernandez
22 Joseph, Tommy
23 Tyson Gillies*
24 Yoel Mecias*
25 Cameron Perkins
26 Adam Morgan*
27 David Buchanan
28 Jose Pujols
29 Andrew Pullin
30 Andrew Anderson
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