I was going to do a really long writeup, I started to, I started to really dig into it, and then for some reason, I kind of lost the drive to do it. That might be a bad sign going forward, but I still wanted to put out my top 30 list. I’m going to still write up brief blurbs, but I’m not going to put lots of bells and whistles with it. I basically just want to give my list and some brief reasoning, and if anyone has problems/issues/questions, I’ll try to follow the comments for a few days and respond. So….
Category Archives: ** My Top 30 Prospects
Top 30 Prospects Update
As I promised, I figured I’d do a Top 30 update after the trade deadline, even though no prospects were traded (yet) and kind of give a brief thought to how my Top 30 would change. All stats are as of August 2nd I believe, so close enough. Again, this is only my Top 30 as of now, and its mostly just gut instinct. I reserve the right to change my thoughts on guys at any moment, and the next update could reflect that. Update below…
Quick update on my Top 30
I figured now might be a good time to take a quick look at my Top 30 and see how poorly my rankings look. No indepth analysis here, just brief snapshots
30. Freddy Galvis, SS (A-; .233/.290/.267)
Actually hitting better than I expected, I ranked him here based on his defensive reputation and athletic ability. Everyone knew the bat was going to take a while. He’s only 18 in a league where the average prospect is 20. Hit .320 in May after an awful .143 in April. Stock up at this point.
29. Alex Concepcion, RHP (A+; .1 IP,)
Ouch. He’s made only one appearance and has battled injuries all season. Not much else to say here, I don’t know the exact nature of his injuries or what the prognosis is. At 23 now, this could derail his development to a degree if he needs major surgery. Stock down.
My Top 30 Prospects
You’ve had your say, both individually and as a collective group, now I’ll toss you my list. Before I get into it, I want to make a few general comments. The minors are generally like kindergarten; you’re there to learn to interact with others, to learn how to listen to a teacher, and to pick up basic skills which you’ll use as you progress. Similarly, the main job of a minor leaguer is to learn how to improve different aspects of his game, whether it be hitting for contact, base running, refining a changeup, or hitting the ball to the opposite field. If you look at a generic stat line, with no context, it tells you absolutely nothing. The work that I have been doing is aimed at trying to look at a player’s statistics, consider the league he was in, his age relative to the prospects in the league, and then figure out just what his numbers mean. Generally speaking, I’m not that concerned with the traditional statistics, because they mean very little. Instead, I targeted things like walk rate and strike out rate, as I think those metrics lead to some idea in terms of prediction. After compiling the numbers, I considered everything I know about the prospect in terms of scouting reports. This point here is really important. While I tend to bristle when people only consider a player’s raw tools, it’s equally foolish to just assume a guy with good numbers in Low A will be good just because he has a good K rate. The truth is, if he has an 85 mph fastball and a good curveball, he’s likely to get clobbered as he moves up the ladder. I place more emphasis on performance to date over projection, but it’s a close split. So let’s get on with it..
Phuture Phillies 