Starting with catcher, I am going to take a position by position look at the positional group, and highlight some players in it.  This is not a comprehensive organizational list of each position, but it is meant to give a good feel for position as a whole.  Each position will have its own feel for the categories and questions.

Players: Name-Age-Projected 2014 Level (Top 30 Rank)
Carlos Ruiz – 35 – MLB
Wil Nieves – 36 – MLB
Cameron Rupp – 25 – AAA (23)
Koyie Hill – 37 – AAA
Tommy Joseph – 22 – AA (22)
Sebastian Valle – 23 – AA Continue reading Positional Preview – Catcher →

We’re going to keep trucking along here and try to figure out who is likely to start in Clearwater when the season opens. So far we’ve covered Lehigh Valley and Reading, and if you see someone who was missed, please post it on their respective post. Again, we’re not worrying about organizational filler here, we’re just focusing on the legit prospects and the fringe guys. So, check below for more…

Continue reading Projecting the squads; Clearwater →

Same deal as the Lehigh Valley post. We’re going to focus mainly on legit prospects and fringe guys and not worry about the career minor leaguers or org guys. We included Marson, Donald, Slayden, Mayberry, Carrasco, Kendrick, Carpenter, Overholt, Zagurski, and Mathieson at AAA, so we won’t use those guys here, obviously. I’m not going to predict that Stutes or Worley will start in Reading, simply because you rarely see guys skip straight to AA in their first full season. It could happen, but I’m not banking on it.

Continue reading Projecting the squads; Reading →

So, I figured we’d take a shot at trying to assign players to the full season affiliates. The work groups are a general idea, but they aren’t complete and guys tend to move around a bit, so I’m not reading too much into it. We’ll start with Lehigh Valley and then move down the chain. I’ll post the template and then update it as we discuss it in the comments. Check below the fold for more…

Continue reading Projecting the squads; Lehigh Valley →

Today is the last day for the depth charts. We’ll focus on relievers today. Try to only discuss/nominate guys who are current relievers, not guys who are starting now but in 3 years might be bullpen guys. The one exception could be Pat Overholt, who was a reliever, then switched to starting last year, but is likely to be a reliever again, probably at some point this year. So let’s figure out the relievers, and over the weekend I’ll try and update the main depth chart tag at the top of the page to reflect my opinions as well as the sentiments expressed in all of these discussions over the last few days. I think this has been a worthwhile exercise, as it’s really highlighted exactly where our strengths and weaknesses are as a system. Thanks for the participation.

We’re winding down now, working on the lefties today, and then the relievers tomorrow. I’m going to go back through all of the depth chart posts, get a sense of the responses, and then I’ll update the main depth chart at the top of the page in the next few days, so if you want to weigh in on a different position before it’s tallied, make sure to do so soon. While we’re not as strong from the left side, we’ve still got some promising arms.

We’ll do right handed starting pitchers, then lefthanded starting pitchers, and then relief pitchers all together. Because the list of candidates is so long, I won’t list them, but it’s pretty easy to find. Let’s try and list a Top 8 or so for righties. Also don’t forget a guy like Julian Sampson who signed, but hasn’t made his debut yet.

We’re at the end of the line for our position prospects today, and then we’ll do pitchers over the next two days.  Guys to consider for RF

Jeremy Slayden (25) — Gus Milner (23) — Dominic Brown (20) — Matt Spencer (22) — TJ Warren (19)

I guess you can include Michael Taylor here if you want, he did play 13 games in RF last season.

A position with a few interesting guys, lets give it a go.

Javon Moran (25) — Greg Golson (22) — Quintin Berry (23) — D’Arby Myers (19) — Dominic Brown (20) — Arlon Quiroz (21)

I’ve included Berry here because he played 93 games in CF and 37 in LF. 37 games in LF is a significant amount, which is why I included him as an option in the LF depth chart. To me, Berry seems like a guy who could end up a 4th OF, and if he does, he’ll be able to play all three spots with his speed. Centerfield is probably our deepest position, prospectwise, outside of righthanded pitching and possibly catcher.