PhuturePhillies Reader Top 30 Poll for #16

2015 Reader Top 30

In the closest race yet, Odubel Herrera edged Aaron Altherr by 5 votes for the 15th rated prospect in the organization.  Herrera received 66 votes (23%) to Altherr’s 61 votes (21%).    I expect another close race for #16. The selections so far are listed below.

  1. J.P. Crawford
  2. Aaron Nola
  3. Maikel Franco
  4. Roman Quinn
  5. Zach Eflin
  6. Ben Lively
  7. Jesse Biddle
  8. Kelly Dugan
  9. Tom Windle
  10. Yoel Mecias
  11. Deivi Grullon
  12. Matt Imhof
  13. Dylan Cozens
  14. Carlos Tocci
  15. Odubel Herrera

Here’s the poll for #16, no additional players.

28 thoughts on “PhuturePhillies Reader Top 30 Poll for #16”

  1. 26 different players received votes in the last poll–that’s pretty cool.

    And two of the seven that didn’t receive a single vote are Walding and Gueller, who both placed in the top 21 last year. And, statistically anyway, they both had better years in ’14 than in ’13.

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    1. interesting to compare Arano with Kilome. same age, but Arano at a higher level and better numbers all aound.

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    2. I voted for Kilome bc BP and FG both had him higher than this on their lists, but in retrospect I think I should have voted for Arano.

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    3. Is the Dodgers system still deeper than ours? The strength of their system is in the top 3 guys, and I haven’t seen any system rankings since our recent trades, which have added 3 guys to our community rankings so far, plus the rule 5 guy.

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  3. What is Australian Winter League comparable to? Is it a notch below Venezuelan or Dominican League? I’m trying to get a gauge on Cozens & I’m going crazy trying to measure AWL. Please help!!

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    1. I’m not an expert on this — or most anything else — but I think the Australian league is more than a notch below the Latin American leagues. The only caveat I’d put on that is in the VWL and DWL the pitchers are not top notch. A lot of guys working on things or wanting to play in their home country for a little while or trying to be seen so they can catch on with a club.

      Guys like Cozens, Walding and Pointer probably felt they could eat up the more fledgling league but you might notice they each started pretty slowly and then got hot for a while and now at the end are tapering off. They started slow because traveling to Australia is like going to the moon. It takes a long time and you need to acclimate to the down under. When they acclimated, they got hot. At the end, it’s become a very long season and they’d like to get back home and get ready for 2015.

      I’ll bet that the guys who played in Australia will have a bit of a hangover when the minor league season starts. I hope everyone recognizes it. They need some rest.

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  4. Kilome here. But I think Fritzerland may be right–we may be underrating Arano. I forgot about him a bit but he is a very decent prospect. This is a point at which I feel like I’m starting to throw darts at the board.

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  7. Also can some explain why we are now voting for a career utility player over a Cather who hit 290 at A last year

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    1. I think a lot of it has to do with Altherr having a higher floor. The combo of good defense, pop, speed, and proximity make him a good bet to make it to the majors. If he can cut down the K’s and hit a bit more he could be a regular, granted that most likely will never happen but you never know.

      Knapp just had a decent season in Low A and no one is sure if he can stay behind the plate or not at this point. For me this year will determine a lot on his future and what kind of prospect he is. I like his potential but right now there are so many unknowns.

      Comparing the two Altherr had the same OPS, at the same age, a full level higher than Knapp and has good defense in a premium position.

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    2. Because he did it in a league that he was 2 years old for after he did HORRIBLE at Clearwater. He needs to show at lot more at 23 in A ball

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    3. Just playing devil’s advocate.
      To some extent, you are trying to compare apples and oranges based on one stat. They play different positions and have had different development paths.

      Altherr is considered to be an above average centerfielder while Knapp appears to need time to develop defensively as a catcher.

      Although Altherr turns 24 tomorrow, their is only a 10 month difference in their ages. Altherr was signed out of high school, Knapp after his Junior year at college.

      Although I would consider that they have both played at age appropriate levels through the minors, except for a very short 7-game rehab in Clearwater last season, Altherr has played at a younger than league average age at every stop through the organization.

      Altherr has started in 511 of the 519 games in which he has played – 322 in CF and 186 in LF; and has already been called up twice to the major leage team. Without defensive improvement, there is no guarantee that Knapp will ever catch a game at the major league level. If he doesn’t stick at catcher, his bat doesn’t profile well at first base, yet.

      I like both players and hope they can overcome their deficiencies to the point that they can contribute to the Phillies. But your “career utility player” remark is inaccurate, unfair, and might lead readers to believe that you have more than just a voting interest in Knapp. (BTW, I am not responsible for the thumbs down above.)

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      2. With regard to the “more than just a voting interest” line, I don’t know if that has anything to do with your ability to see commenters’ email addresses, but anyhow … I think we should all keep in mind that players themselves and their families are among the audience for this site. I’m not saying we should pull punches, but we should maybe try to keep our analysis and projections respectful of the fact that these are 1)kids; 2)mainly hardworking kids who are paid very little; 3)kids who are better at baseball than 99.9 percent of the population, and (not to assume too much) also probably better at baseball than most of the regular posters are at whatever our chosen profession is (myself included). By definition, any player who has made the major leagues, even for one game (as Altherr has) is an elite athlete. He may not have much chance of ever returning to the majors. He may end up being a career utility player, Sam suggested. But being a career utility player is by no means a shameful outcome! Ask Nick Punto, who according to Baseball Reference has made more than $23 million over the course of his career.

        So anyway, I guess this is just a plea to keep things nice and respectful, not just to each other but to the guys we are writing about. And before anyone else says it: yes, I could stand to follow my own advice on this too.

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          1. I was really responding equally to Eric D calling Knapp HORRIBLE at Clearwater. Yes, he was bad, but he was rehabbing. I’m not big on Knapp myself but, you know, let’s not go all-caps on these guys.

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  9. Herrera reminds me of Cesar Hernandez and while those types of players can be useful, I don’t think it warrants being a Top 15 prospect.

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  10. Not a lot of love for Sandberg, but I have him in my mid-teens here. He’s got the two-sport background to climb, but he was the most impressive player on the field I saw in Williamsport this summer (albeit one game and Grullon had the night off). The large park certainly took away one shot that night to right center that would have cleared most fences.

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    1. Love the ceiling but he needs to not trail off after hot starts. Done it two years in a row now. Hopefully he can correct that this year because the sky’s the limit with his skill set.

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      1. Correct. Once the opposing pitchers figured out his weaknesses he was exposed and did not seem to be able to make the necessary adjustments. I sense that much of his rankings in other polls is strictly based on a skill set and ceiling, without a ton of production.

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        1. Is Sandberg’s skill set all that good? My understanding is that for someone with his football background, he really doesn’t run or throw that well and doesn’t drive the ball.

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  11. Green again. I still like him better than the 4 he is trailing behind right now. He’s a guy who has actually done well at every level he has played and for his young age.

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