We”ll continue the “Best of” series of polls with the first of the final three polls, your selection as the best left-handed starters in the organization.
We only have 14 lefties who started games last season. You can select up to five pitchers on your ballot. This will allow us to establish what kind of depth we think we have in the organization.
(Don’t forget to submit your top prospect list by e-mailing it to prospectpoll@yahoo.com. To date, I have received about thirty. Please don’t be one of those guys who criticizes the outcome if you don’t participate.)
Each player listed below is in the poll and started at least 3 games at the position and/or made a substantial amount of his appearances as a starter. Each player is linked to his profile in Baseball Reference. And, I have included a link to Gregg’s Report Card for Starting Pitching at CLW, REA. and LHV, and his Report Card for Starting Pitching at GCL, WPT, LAK.
- Brandon Leibrandt
- Cole Irvin
- JoJo Romero
- Ranger Suarez
- Bailey Falter
- Nick Fanti
- Will Stewart
- Kyle Young
- Jhordany Mezquita
- Manuel Silva
- Ethan Lindow
- Elniery Garcia
- Jose Jimenez
- McKenzie Mills
Phuture Phillies 
Vastly improved in 15months!
Garcia, the best of last year, had a lost season. Irvin might be in majors by next year. Romero quickly moving up lists. Suarez, Fanti, Falter
Young are just a few mph from being ranked much higher.
Most recent Mills, Mezquita, and Lindow project well. What a turn around, though few of these guys look able to become stud relievers if they fizzle as starters.
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My five were (in no particular order): Irwin, Romero, Fanti, Young and Suarez. Elniery lost a year and I think he’ll come back fine but it moved him out of my top 5. Mills is still too new to me but I have him moving up in my lists. Mesquita could be a star in the making. Leibrandt could be in the Majors first, not on skill level but on the way he uses the skills he has. Plus pedigree doesn’t hurt either. Actually, the only guy on the list I didn’t think hard about was Jimenez.
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I echo the sentiment that this is one area of the system that has greatly improved over the last year or two. We may have some really, really good lefties in the lowest levels (Young, Mezquita, Silva, Stewart) and solid #4/#5 potential guys in the upper levels (Leibrandt, Irvin). I feel that the best prospects, ones with the best combo or potential and proximity, were in the middle (Romero, Suarez, Fanti, Mills, and Garcia). I really thought about including Mills but since I’ve never seen him and he’s fairly new to organization, I didn’t vote for him. Garcia, though talented, his issues also dropped him in my eyes. So, I went with Romero, Suarez, and Fanti.
But I want to stress, this position has gotten so much better over the past 12-24 months.
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Romero, Suarez, Irvin, Garcia and Mills. I debated Mills since he is so new. While it was a lost season for Garcia he is still young enough to overcome it. Suarez needs to be protected on the 40. I would bet a stack of money he will be taken if not protected.
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Don’t overlook Kyle Young. We jokingly nicknamed him “The Bigger Unit.” Really too soon for a good nickname but we couldn’t resist. Looks like he’s right on top of the batter. 7-2 in 13 starts. With more run support there would be a few more in the win column. The 2 losses were really his only poor starts all season.
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It’s literally impossible to overlook (or look over) Kyle Young.
I think we all see the potential. At this point, at least in my mind, I just want to see him do it against more advanced competition.
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Yes, I’m hoping for good results as he moves up. Don’t discount the NPL competition however. My post was more about why no buzz here about him, than about the poll votes. My top three were Romero, Suarez and Irvin.
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Jim,
Can’t we have eight or nine picks? This was tough. i kept putting guys in and taking them out for other guys. Maybe a top three would have been easier. The paradox of choice, ya know: the more choices you have, the more you second-guess yourself and have remorse over your selections. The guy I most regretted leaving out is Cole Irvin. I saw him pitch at Clearwater and was impressed. Finally, I left him out because of his more difficult outings once promoted and because I think his ceiling is lower than others.
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Brandon Leibrandt has the ability and the pitching knowledge to be on the major league roster sometime this year — this year’s Mark Leiter. There is much depth in the organization. Mills pitched against Lakewood this year I think. He has good movement. I think he will be fine in Clearwater. All the additions seem to be plus.
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