29 thoughts on “PhuturePhillies Reader Top 30 Poll for #20”

1. Sev at #10, Zach Green and #13. I think Severino has a very good chance at a #5 starter, with some chance at #4. Zach Green I think has the best chance of all our high ceiling-high risk guys. Big HR potential with a big drop in K rate.

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2. I’m a little surprised Brandon Leibrandt hasn’t been getting more traction. Good pedigree, college pitcher, looked good last year.

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   1. I don’t mean this in a mean way, honest, but you really weren’t kidding when you said you were all about the college pitchers, were you?

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      1. Ha, no worries–no offense taken. You always write insightful comments.

         I know a lot of people on this board dislike college pitchers. Or, if not outright “dislike” them, at least not value them very highly. And I understand why–their upside is usually limited.

         Someone like David Buchanan isn’t sexy. Back-of-the-rotation guy, maybe he peaks for a season or two and becomes a serviceable #3.

         But he’ll pitch in the Majors and will get the job done. And that’s something I value in a prospect. College pitchers taken in the first 10 rounds or so have a good chance of contributing in the majors.

         There’s just so much projection with 18 year old pitchers; at least with a college pitcher you’re more sure of what you’ll be getting.

         And, generally, I do prefer pitching prospects to positional players. I follow pitchers more closely. Always have. That’s just a personal bias I have, to be honest.

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         1. There’s some so okay college pitchers like Justin Verlander.Matt Garza, Jordan Zimmerman, David Price, Steven Strasberg Scherzer . Just a couple, the phillies improve there pitching in there minor leagues by drafting college and trading for some college pitchers also. High school pitchers have always the sexier pics because of there upsides. The phillies tried for 12 yrs after Hamels to get another high school pitcher to produce but haven’t found one. I think the phillies are trying to go the safer way by going for college players.

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            1. We really should separate mid round college guys from college guys who went 1st round or even 1st overall. Mid round college pitchers, for the most part, don’t have a high upside although some of them do reach the majors as a 4th or 5th starter. Liebrandt is a guy who knows how to pitch and those guys always do well at the lower levels. Obviously, he’ll be challenged more in the next 2 years as he goes up levels.

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               1. Yeah, this about sums up my opinion

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   2. Leibrandt might be a college pitcher but that alone doesn’t make him a safe bet to get to the majors. He has something in common with a lot of the younger HS and LA pitchers that we see: we’re hoping he can add some velocity on his fastball to make it play at higher levels. To some extent we’re banking on his 6’5″ frame.

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3. Jim, I’m not exactly sure but I think the last time MLB ranked these players was mid-season last year?

   I think they rank them at the beginning and mid-season? So if I remember correctly the most current rankings, taking into account the end of last year, will not come out until Feb sometime (maybe early March). I have a feeling 8 – 20 will look quite a bit different than they do now on MLB’s top 20.

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   1. The Top 20 Prospect list on the Phillies web site is put out by MLB. I don’t know how often they issue their Top 20, but it was updated in December when Eflin #5 and Windle #6 joined the organization after the Rollins trade and then again in January when Lively #8 joined the organization after the Byrd trade.

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      1. I believe they last ranked everyone last summer in groups (RHP, LHP, etc.). They have a top 20 of each position. When the trades happened they just slide the prospects from other teams in between where they “fit” according to their rating of the whole minor league prospects that they did last July.

         In the past I believe Matt or someone would do an updated top 30 mid season. That’s kind of what MLB.com has for all the teams. If we would loose a prospect it would just slide the next guy on the list into the 20th position and everyone up 1 slot behind the lost prospect.

         The point is that comparing this list with that list is like comparing this list with one someone put together last July.

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4. Ranger Suarez! My pick for # 30

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5. Sandberg here, looks like I’ll be voting for him for a little while.

   I see the argument for Green. When it comes to Knapp, I just don’t get it. He’s 2 years out of college and has had a decent–by no means monstrous–half season at Low A after not performing very well at Clearwater. What is the pro-Knapp argument? I’m really curious. He seems to be defensively limited by the injury and offensively limited by, well, not hitting very well when he’s not facing guys 3-4 years younger than him. I could see sticking him at the back of the Top 30 as a sleeper type. But it seems hard to think of him as a prospect until he shows some success against players his own age.

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   1. I think there is more of a pro-Knapp argument one can make over a pro-Sandberg argument at this point.

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      1. Sandberg’s upside is what has fans like myself salivating.

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      2. Ok, then make it! I was seriously wondering. If Knapp gets a mulligan for two years when he was recovering from injury (I count last year because he was limited to DH a lot of the time), ok, but then you’re still looking at a college guy who doesn’t have much of a track record and wasn’t considered a first-round type talent. It’s not a travesty by any means if he wins here, we’re in the back third of the list, but some people have been voting for Knapp since the Top 10. I just don’t get it. What is the positive case? Decent hitting but defensively limited catcher? That sounds like Eric Kratz to me.

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         1. I’m more of an upside guy myself, so I’m also perplexed by the Knapp support. Knapp hasn’t shown me anything that would make him a top 20 prospect. Especially since he’s a college draftee.

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         2. I like Knapp slightly more than Sandberg, although to me neither is a top 20 guy in the system. I think you’re being a bit unfair with Knapp. He was probably two years older than the typical SALLY prospect (maybe three, but definitely not four). He stunk in Clearwater, but that was 90 plate appearances. He hit in college. An example of a “decent hitting but defensively limited catcher” isn’t Kratz, it’s Derek Norris or John Jaso. I’m not saying there’s a great chance he gets to that point, but those guys have real value.

            Sandberg is going to be a corner OF. There seems to be debate about which corner spot, but he doesn’t look like a CF according to the scouting reports I’ve read from this past season. The one truly plus tool he has, raw power, hasn’t really translated yet because he was making poor contact. He had a 4% BB rate last year, so he doesn’t appear to have great command of the strike zone. I just don’t see a lot of positives at this point. Actually, I’m curious what you feel the case for Sandberg is (honest question, I’m not being condescending).

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            1. It seems to me that the pro-Sandberg argument is that he’s raw, especially having been a two-sport athlete, but all the ingredients are there. He needs work with his approach and pitch recognition, but the swing itself is good and there’s a bunch of power in it. Defensively he’ll be a corner OF, but he could be an above average one because he has decent speed and a great arm. Matt said in his top 50 writeup that Sandberg already runs good routes.

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               1. Yeah, that would basically be my response. He seems to have the most all-around upside of anyone left on the board, which is why I am voting for him.

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            2. He was 22 last year (and an old 22, turned 23 in November). The real prospects in the Sally league seem to tend to be around 19-20. So yes, I exagerated, he’s about 2-3 years older than the pitchers he was facing. But that seems like a major difference. Especially since he was overmatched in a more age appropriate league.

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6. Knapp coming of off Tommy john last yr so my be this yr he’ll move up quicker.any time u have a hitting catcher he’s worth more.

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7. I went with Knapp here.

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8. Choice was Knapp…..for sam soap’s well-being.

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9. I agree with Rei that Sevy makes the majors, so I went with him. Sandberg and Knapp have to have good years. Then they move up on my list. The good news is that there are still prospects that we are debating, and legit guys to dream on. A good thing.

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10. Green v Knapp at this point. Green is actually higher on my own list. I like Knapp too. Any thoughts on who I should give the nod to here?

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    1. I had Dugan at 20, so my list is a bit skewed at this point. For what ever its worth I have the next 11 after Arano as;

       21 Sandberg
       22 Knapp
       23 Gonzalez
       24 Green
       25 Valentin
       26 Rodriguez
       27 Pullin
       28 Oliver
       29 Leibrandt
       30 Whitehead
       31 Leiter

       Next up – Joseph, Pujols, Encanacion, Anderson, Hiciano, Hoskins

       Really all of the above fall into, hopeful, or to young to tell, or both.

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11. Ranger Suarez. Because of the K/BB.

    Oh, and because “Ranger” “Suarez”.

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12. I accidentally made the case for him last round, but I stuck with Ricardo Pinto here. He presently has two pretty good pitches with some development potential left. His upside is as high or higher than most of the guys remaining and his floor is in line with a lot of them.

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