Reader Top 30 #11

2015 Reader Top 30

With Yoel Mecias’ victory, the top 10 is completed. Mecias accrued 79 of 306 votes and won with 26% of the vote. He fell just short of doubling runner-up Dylan Cozens’ total of 40 votes.

Here’s how our top ten compares to some others –

  • Reader      Reader     MLB            Baseball   Baseball    Fan           That Ball’s  SBNation
  • Top 30       Email        Top 20       America    Prosp.        Graphs    Outta here                     
  1. Crawford  Crawford  Crawford   Crawford  Crawford   Crawford  Crawford    Crawford
  2. Nola            Nola            Nola             Nola           Nola             Franco       Franco        Franco
  3. Franco       Franco       Franco         Franco      Franco        Nola            Eflin             Nola
  4. Quinn         Quinn         Quinn          Quinn        Mecias         Imhof         Nola            Quinn
  5. Eflin            Eflin            Eflin              Tocci          Biddle         Biddle        Windle        Eflin
  6. Lively         Biddle        Windle         A.Brown    Grullon       Mecias       Tocci           Levely
  7. Biddle        Mecias       Biddle           Imhof         Dugan        Grullon     Cozens       Biddle
  8. Dugan        Dugan        Lively            Valentin    Tocci           Quinn         Imhof         Windle
  9. Windle       Imhof         Altherr          Mecias       E.Garcia     Cozens       Quinn         Grullon
  10. Mecias      Windle       S.Gonzalez   Kilome      Cozens       Dugan         Biddle        Mecias

Some came out before recent moves and haven’t been updated,

It was nice to see Venn Biter and Joel Fisher in the Other vote. They won’t be added to a later poll. No additions to poll #11.

 

82 thoughts on “Reader Top 30 #11”

    1. How do you justify Tocci over Deivi? They have similar defensive capabilities and produced a similar OPS, but Deivi is a year younger and at a much more valuable position. He also doesn’t have the questions about his body, which seems perfect for the catcher position. You are buying the hype on Tocci too much IMO

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        1. All I did was ask him to justify his ranking. Nothing I said above was a knock on him besides noting his body question which is not really news.

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          1. Well considering this isn’t the first time you’ve posted something negative about Tocci, there’s no need for righteous indignation.

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      3. -There’s only a 6 month age gap between Grullon and Tocci.
        -Catcher isn’t “much” more valuable than CF and Tocci is far more advanced defensively than Grullon at this point.
        -As bad as Tocci was at the plate, he had a better year than Grullon (.622 OPS vs .564 OPS) despite Grullon spending most of the year at a lower level.

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        1. Catcher is without a doubt the most important defensive position. Centerfield isn’t even close.

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        1. I honestly don’t hate Tocci. I truly hope he is successful. Really! I have no reason to “hate” him. I just don’t think he is as good of a prospect as others. But I would love to be proven wrong.

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      5. I’ve seen Tocci play 50+ games, have talked with numerous scouts, and feel that he is an exceptional talent. I understand the concerns over his frame, but he remains very young. I don’t consider the hands on exposure I’ve had to watching him play “hype “.

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  2. Imhof since 7. I match up pretty well so far with the top ten except I’m low on Biddle and Windle. It’s crazy – I have 8 pitchers in my top 11:

    2 Nola
    5 Lively
    6 Eflin
    7 Imhof
    8 Mecias
    9 Arano
    10 Severino
    11 Biddle

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    1. I have Imhof also and your list is close to mine, other than Severino who has no business being that high.

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  3. Grullon. He has a high floor with his arm/defense, and unless the offensive bar rises for catchers over the next decade, he won’t have too far to go to be at least become a second-division regular. He’s got time to work on the bat (which needs to improve) and the finer points of catching.

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    1. Good take on Grullon. If he even develops a little bit of pop as some scouts have suggested is possible, he could be a very serious player. That ceiling is exciting.

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  5. Grullon. The defense can carry him a long way and I think there’s some offense tucked in there as well. He doesn’t turn 19 until next month.

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    2. I like Quinn a lot also but recognize that he won’t play in the majors if he continues to only hit 250 in the minors. I can understand some folks not loving his low average.

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  8. I’m of the mind that it should be Imhof, Altherr and Tocci in that order. I also think I’m under-rating Grullon. I think he’s similar to Tocci being defense first but at catcher he’s a far better prospect than the CF’er Tocci. I may have to replace Tocci with Grullon.

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  9. Grullon. Then Imhof, Windle, Arano and Altherr in some order. There really is no justification for Tocci over Grullon.

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  10. That ‘Ball’s Outta Here’s’ list seems odd after Franco. They must have had some stuff ballot box voting.

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    1. I don’t think their list is especially odd. It likely was compiled before we had Lively, so Imhof’s on the list and lively isn’t. The top 10 isn’t in the order I would put it, but nobody on their top 10 whom I’d say you can’t make a strong case for and nobody missing who absolutely has to be there.

      Stranger lists to me are Baseball Prospectus who leaves Quinn out of the top 10 and Baseball America, which seems strangely hot on Valentin, Kilome, and especially Aaron Brown. Neither of those lists updated for the 3 trade guys, so some of the questionables drop off the bottom of the list, but that also means BP doesn’t rank Quinn in our current top 13 nor does BA have Biddle in top 13.

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      2. I’ll grant you that much, BP’s is odd leaving Quinn off the top ten. Then again, I am wondering if all the national pubs go by the same basic criteria for selection.

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          1. That’s right – BA grades up for ceiling and athleticism. It’s no surprise they’ve got Brown so high. Personally, while I don’t doubt the scouts’ view of his tools, I’m very concerned about the plate discipline.

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      3. Melotte’s list on SB Nation has Mark Leiter 13th. That, to me, is odd. But it goes to show how some people can have such different opinions on lists like these.

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        1. I can see that. He has a really strong KWHIP index however age and level probably tempers the boards enthusiasm for him. He has to be a lock for Reading this year.

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          1. I was thinking he would be one of the guys who gets pushed to the bullpen, considering all the arms that figure to start in Reading this year.

            It wouldn’t surprise me if he makes it to the majors in some capacity; as you said he has posted pretty strong numbers up to this point. But it looks like a 5th starter/middle relief profile. His fastball sits high 80s and only scrapes 90, so I think that’s why he’s gotten very little love.

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  11. Just curious why do we not have Gamboa on the list yet? It’s really bugging me that Gueller, Walding and Oliver are on the list.

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    2. I would like to put everybody on the poll, but it has become cumbersome creating them from scratch each round. So, when I decided to begin adding names, I made a decision NOT to add some players like the 16-17 year old LA kids who signed and did not play other than a little FIL ball – Jonathan Arauz, Daniel Brito, Arquimedes Gamboa, and Lenin Rodriguez. Some other teenagers are unlikely to make the list, too, although I like some of them. A groundswell in Other could change that, but I’m close to removing that feature, some of those votes are comical. I do regret some of the additions I’ve made so far. They were made based on the Other vote, email requests, and the email prospect lists I received.

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      1. No doubt Jimmy and I appreciate that its a lot of work. I think the point of the top 30 exercise has always been to challenge conventional wisdom, debate, persuade and so on.

        Its such a manic exercise none the less!

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    3. Oliver has really good stuff and the Phillies were trying to overhaul his delivery last year. He belongs on the list.

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  12. When talking about Grullon please stop talking about his defense as if it is a tool he has. It is something we hope he can develop like Tocci’s power. But right now his defense is atrocious: 12 errors and 17 passed balls last year.

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    2. Judging Grullon by errors and passed balls is rudimentary. You should read up on scouting reports and what people who have seen him play say instead of scouting a box score.

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      1. Yes and the scouts have generally said he has a strong arm but his defense is a work in progress meaning its atrocious but we hope it will improve because he is young.

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    3. That’s true. At the present time his arm is a big tool, but the rest of his D is not. In fact, arm is his only tool at the moment, but he has plenty of time to improve the rest.

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  13. Imhof here. I think he is going to be a Major League SP. I still have to see Grullon actually start to hit at all, and I also have Knapp over him. The hardest thing to project, I think, is making contact with the ball, and I love his Defensive ability, but need to see him start to hit this year. He, Aaron Brown, Cozens, need good years for me, but I would love to see them do exactly that.

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  14. I saw Grullon catch in Williamsport last season. He had total command behind the plate. What stood out to me was his poise and tremendous arm. The pitching staff there was wild. Especially when they tried to throw anything besides a fastball. They bounced balls all over the place. The kid had a lot of practice blocking balls in the dirt.

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  15. So right catching young pitchers some have good stuff with control problems.saying that I’m a Imhof fan too big lefty with room to grow. Possible 3 plus pitchers.

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  16. I voted for Grullon, but I probably could’ve gone with Imhof or even Kilome there. I will definitely be voting for Sandberg and Hoskins in the near future.

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    1. Hoskins is an intriguing prospect. I can’t be sure what the future holds for him, but I could very easily see him turning into the Matt Rizzotti of 2016.

      Which actually brings me to a question I pose every year: who is going to be the Rizz of 2015? I think Cameron Perkins was that guy last year. I could see Tommy Joseph moving to first because of the concussions/injuries and putting up big power numbers at AA. He would be a little bit of an unorthodox Rizz candidate because he was once a legit prospect, but I could see it.

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      1. I have picked Rhys Hoskins as my sleeper this season. I think he will jump two levels thru the year. His bat screams power. But as catch22 said a few months ago, the college guys can start out pretty fast but as they climb the ladder they get exposed.
        But keeping my fingers-crossed.

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        1. Well, they often get exposed, just as college pitchers without much velocity, but decent breaking pitches, often get exposed as they move up past A ball. Hoskins is definitely interesting, but he needs to move quickly and show decent plate discipline and, like many college hitters, we won’t know what we have for certain until he hits AAA (because Reading is such a favorable hitters’ environment – Rizzotti raked there). For pitchers, the testing ground is typically Reading for the same reason, if you can thrive in that hitters’ paradise, you’ve probably got a chance.

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    2. Hoskins and Sandberg have yet to play a full season. They need to have a full solid season before I get excited about either of them. Sandberg’s tools are there but he didnt have a breakout season like alot of people on here anticipated he would

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  17. Is there any chance we can find a future #1 starter at #10 this year? I’m not sure how deep the draft is and its probably too soon to know about some of the high school kids. All I know is that with Nola, Eflin, Lively, Windle, Biddle, Mecias, and Imhof (and Morgan if he somehow bounces back) we should have the future (2017) #3, 4, and 5 spots covered and hopefully one of these guys steps up and becomes a #2. We need the ace though. Obviously a free agent could be signed to fill the void but it would be so much easier and less expensive if an internal guy could fill it.
    Btw, Smoltz, the new hall of famer, was a 22nd rd pick. It happens sometimes…

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    1. And next year, Piazza will go in…as a 60th or something round pick….when the teams drafted to infinity without round limits or until they just quit drafting kids.

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      1. What round does it matter, when after you get drafted you use PEDs to become good. Same with Bagwell.

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    2. i think there are abundant reasons, especially for a big market team, to try to fill that “ace” spot through free agency. And I say that as someone who, in general, believes that the FA market is currently NOT the best way to build a contender.

      That said, of course it would be nice to get an ace through the system. It’s just not reasonable to count on that – so much variability on starting pitchers, so much risk of injury, so hard to project coming out of HS (and most college starters don’t have ace ceilings – with all of the exceptions being either (a) top one or two picks, and not available every year, or (b) unpredictable flukes).

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      1. Or if not via free agency itself, then perhaps a trade for an ace nearing free agency, a la Cliff Lee. Of course, there are fewer of those than there used to be.

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        1. If winning a WS is a measure of success, not sure the FA ‘ace’ route is what works the best. Maybe I am wrong but the last FA ‘ace’ to be on the winning side was CC Sabathia. cannot recall another in the last decade or so. Giants went with homegrown ‘aces’, same as Phillies, and Sox got Beckett in a trade with the Marlins, and the Cards with Carpenter, was an odd sort of FA since he was released by the Jays or designated for the minor leagues and refused, and Wainwright was traded to the Cards from the Braves.
          Perhaps it is pure coincidence, but Just seems the track record is not there.

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          1. I can think of a couple outside aces acquired by World Series teams: Shields was traded to the Royals and Cliff Lee was traded to the Rangers. But yeah generally speaking your point is well taken. There seems to be a little correlation between splashy free agent pitching acquisitions and postseason success, which seems to be pretty counterintuitive (since the main justification for acquiring an “ace” always seems to be, “he’ll be our Game 1 starter.”)

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      2. I think it is easier to get an ace in FA than to get a star offensive player. For that reason, I would sooner see us get an offensive guy with the first rounder this year, all things being pretty much equal.

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    4. Until a trade occurs, the Phillies already have their 2017 #1 starter in Cole Hamels. I stared at this sentence for 2 minutes before posting. I do not know how I should feel about it.

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      1. Jim, having Cole Hamels as your #1 starter in 2017 is a situation that most teams would like. Hopefully the turnaround will have started in 2016 for Cole to be a leader of the next good/great Phillies team.

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  18. JimmyP……btw MattWinks is also doing a prospect listing on his site. But it is unique in its own way.
    It will be a top 50 and will start in reversed order. Fifty thru forty-one kicked it off. The final top ten will be on the last day.

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