2014 Top Prospects

[calsnowskier]

2014 Baseball America Top 100 Prospects: The 25th Edition - BaseballAmerica.com

BA's list.

33 - Crick
56 - Escobar

Not so bad.

 

[msgkings322]

2014 Baseball America Top 100 Prospects: The 25th Edition - BaseballAmerica.com

BA's list.

33 - Crick
56 - Escobar

Not so bad.

Not so good either...there are 30 teams so just to have an 'average' number of prospects on the list you'd need 3 or 4.

 

[MarcoPolo]

And all pitchers...

 

[tzill]

Not so good either...there are 30 teams so just to have an 'average' number of prospects on the list you'd need 3 or 4.

I wonder which teams have more than 4 players in the top 100. I'd bet it's a lot of second division teams and/or teams who've recently promoted several players to the bigs.

:cough: :cough: Bumgarner/Sanchez/Belt/Dunning/Hembree/Posey/Crawford/Kieshnick/Perez/Sandoval

 

[calsnowskier]

I wonder which teams have more than 4 players in the top 100. I'd bet it's a lot of second division teams and/or teams who've recently promoted several players to the bigs.

:cough: :cough: Bumgarner/Sanchez/Belt/Dunning/Hembree/Posey/Crawford/Kieshnick/Perez/Sandoval

This.

I would like to see a top 100 under 24 list. That would be a better gauge than just a pure farm list.

 

[navamind]

I wonder which teams have more than 4 players in the top 100. I'd bet it's a lot of second division teams and/or teams who've recently promoted several players to the bigs.

:cough: :cough: Bumgarner/Sanchez/Belt/Dunning/Hembree/Posey/Crawford/Kieshnick/Perez/Sandoval

Red Sox 8 (Bogarts, Owens, Bradley, Swihart, Cecchini, Betts, Webster, Ball)
Cubs 7 (Baez, Bryant, Edwards, Almora, Soler, Johnson, Alcantara)
Pirates 7 (Polanco, Taillon, Glasnow, Meadows, Kingham, Hanson, McGuire)
Astros 6 (Correa, Springer, Appel, Foltyniewicz, McCullers, Singleton)
Rangers 5 (Odor, Alfaro, Gallo, Williams, Choice)
Cardinals 4 (Taveras, Martinez, Wong, Piscotty)
Dodgers 4 (Pederson, Seager, Urias, Lee)
Mets 4 (Syndergaard, d'Arnaud, Montero, Smith)
Rockies 4 (Gray, Butler, Herrera, Dahl)
Royals 4 (Zimmer, Ventura, Mondesi, Bonifacio
Twins 4 (Buxton, Sano, Meyer, Stewart)
White Sox 4 (Abreu, Johnson, Davidson, Semien)
Indians 3 (Lindor, Frazier, Bauer)
Diamondbacks 3 (Bradley, Shipley, Owings)
Marlins 3 (Heaney, Moran, Marisnick)
Mariners 3 (Walker, Peterson, Paxton)
Orioles 3 (Bundy, Gausman, Rodriguez)
Padres 4 (Hedges, Wisler, Fried, Renfroe)
Phillies 3 (Franco, Biddle, Crawford)
Blue Jays 2 (Sanchez, Stroman)
Braves 2 (Sims, Bethancourt)
Giants 2 (Crick, Escobar)
Reds 2 (Stephenson, Hamilton)
Tigers 2 (Castellanos, Travis)
Yankees 2 (Tanaka, Sanchez)
A's 1 (Russell)
Angels 1 (Lindsey)
Brewers 1 (Nelson)
Nats 1 (Giolito)
Rays 1 (Odorizzi)

 

[calsnowskier]

Red Sox 8 (Bogarts, Owens, Bradley, Swihart, Cecchini, Betts, Webster, Ball)
Cubs 7 (Baez, Bryant, Edwards, Almora, Soler, Johnson, Alcantara)
Pirates 7 (Polanco, Taillon, Glasnow, Meadows, Kingham, Hanson, McGuire)
Astros 6 (Correa, Springer, Appel, Foltyniewicz, McCullers, Singleton)
Rangers 5 (Odor, Alfaro, Gallo, Williams, Choice)
Cardinals 4 (Taveras, Martinez, Wong, Piscotty)
Dodgers 4 (Pederson, Seager, Urias, Lee)
Mets 4 (Syndergaard, d'Arnaud, Montero, Smith)
Rockies 4 (Gray, Butler, Herrera, Dahl)
Royals 4 (Zimmer, Ventura, Mondesi, Bonifacio
Twins 4 (Buxton, Sano, Meyer, Stewart)
White Sox 4 (Abreu, Johnson, Davidson, Semien)
Indians 3 (Lindor, Frazier, Bauer)
Diamondbacks 3 (Bradley, Shipley, Owings)
Marlins 3 (Heaney, Moran, Marisnick)
Mariners 3 (Walker, Peterson, Paxton)
Orioles 3 (Bundy, Gausman, Rodriguez)
Padres 4 (Hedges, Wisler, Fried, Renfroe)
Phillies 3 (Franco, Biddle, Crawford)
Blue Jays 2 (Sanchez, Stroman)
Braves 2 (Sims, Bethancourt)
Giants 2 (Crick, Escobar)
Reds 2 (Stephenson, Hamilton)
Tigers 2 (Castellanos, Travis)
Yankees 2 (Tanaka, Sanchez)
A's 1 (Russell)
Angels 1 (Lindsey)
Brewers 1 (Nelson)
Nats 1 (Giolito)
Rays 1 (Odorizzi)

Nice!

Thanks

 

[msgkings322]

I wonder which teams have more than 4 players in the top 100. I'd bet it's a lot of second division teams and/or teams who've recently promoted several players to the bigs.

:cough: :cough: Bumgarner/Sanchez/Belt/Dunning/Hembree/Posey/Crawford/Kieshnick/Perez/Sandoval

I wasn't saying we suck at this, just that the CURRENT crop remaining isn't much relative to other teams. As cal said it's not so bad, but it's definitely not so good.

 

[calsnowskier]

I wasn't saying we suck at this, just that the CURRENT crop remaining isn't much relative to other teams. As cal said it's not so bad, but it's definitely not so good.

Our current crop is young and deep. We just aren't top heavy.

Having the 14 pick in the coming draft should certainly help with that, as our top pick will likely end up being in our own top 5 or so and our #2 should be top 15ish.

 

[tzill]

Our current crop is young and deep. We just aren't top heavy.

Having the 14 pick in the coming draft should certainly help with that, as our top pick will likely end up being in our own top 5 or so and our #2 should be top 15ish.

Oh, I wasn't taking Cal to say that we suck. I think this is cyclical and our up cycle is probably next year. I'd expect 4-5 guys in that top 100 next year (Crick, Escobar, Stratton, Mejia) maybe Williamson, Arroyo, Blach, Blackburn.

 

[calsnowskier]

Oh, I wasn't taking Cal to say that we suck. I think this is cyclical and our up cycle is probably next year. I'd expect 4-5 guys in that top 100 next year (Crick, Escobar, Stratton, Mejia) maybe Williamson, Arroyo, Blach, Blackburn.

So are you expecting an off year, or a trade?



Seriously, though, I am not sure Stratton or Blackburn are top-100 potential prospects. I hope to be wrong, and I like both of them, but I just do not feel either will end up on top 100 lists.

Also, Bags recently said that it is not expected that Gustavo will play in '14, so there goes one of our potential blue-chippers

 

[SFGRTB]

I think next year we could see more. Arroyo is a total stud, if Susac has a good year in AAA he'll be on this list, we might sneak one more pitcher in there. I'll say we have 4.

As said, our system hasn't identified the Posey's/Bumgarners/Cains/Lincecums yet to make it GREAT (except for Crick), but it is very deep. A lot of potential ML talent.

Now, there are a few guys who could emerge and elevate the talent. Cabrera (but he's a while away), Mella, Kendry Flores, Arroyo.

 

[calsnowskier]

I am listening to the game, and I am shocked at how they are pronouncing Susac's name.

They are pronouncing it Soo-Sack. I have always read it as Suh-Sick (the "u" sounding like "some").

I am going to have to get used to this...

 

[msgkings322]

I am listening to the game, and I am shocked at how they are pronouncing Susac's name.

They are pronouncing it Soo-Sack. I have always read it as Suh-Sick (the "u" sounding like "some").

I am going to have to get used to this...

Your way never even crossed my mind. That would be 'Sussek' or 'Sussac'

 

[SFGRTB]

I get the growing sense that the Giants are really high on Susac. They love his character, and his leadership as a catcher. I think they put a lot of trust in his word when talking about other minor league pitchers. They didn't have this kind of praise, from a leadership standpoint, for ToJo and Sanchez, even Pablo when they were ascending the system.

It's really though to know what their plans are for his future, given the log jam at his position, but I sense the Giants are comfortable giving this kid the reigns. Maybe this is a little crazy, but maybe the Giants are planning to keep Susac in AAA for 2 full seasons, filter all the top pitching prospects through him, give him a ton of time to refine his game and plenty of innings at catcher, and give him the catching job by 2016, ideally with the big wave of young pitchers, and moving Posey to a corner in the process.

That would be a best-case scenario, even though Susac would be 26 already by that time.

Or they plan to trade him. The point of my post, though, is to point out that I don't think the Giants want to trade away tzill's favorite guy. He might be an "untouchable" in the organization's eyes. I'm very excited to see how our minor league teams will shake out this year, Susac's case is one of the many story-lines I will be focused on.

 

[tzill]

I get the growing sense that the Giants are really high on Susac. They love his character, and his leadership as a catcher. I think they put a lot of trust in his word when talking about other minor league pitchers. They didn't have this kind of praise, from a leadership standpoint, for ToJo and Sanchez, even Pablo when they were ascending the system.

It's really though to know what their plans are for his future, given the log jam at his position, but I sense the Giants are comfortable giving this kid the reigns. Maybe this is a little crazy, but maybe the Giants are planning to keep Susac in AAA for 2 full seasons, filter all the top pitching prospects through him, give him a ton of time to refine his game and plenty of innings at catcher, and give him the catching job by 2016, ideally with the big wave of young pitchers, and moving Posey to a corner in the process.

That would be a best-case scenario, even though Susac would be 26 already by that time.

Or they plan to trade him. The point of my post, though, is to point out that I don't think the Giants want to trade away tzill's favorite guy. He might be an "untouchable" in the organization's eyes. I'm very excited to see how our minor league teams will shake out this year, Susac's case is one of the many story-lines I will be focused on.

Yeah, I mean that guy was a total dark horse...NOBODY saw this coming...

 

[tzill]

A new list! by MLB.com, Giants revised top 20 prospects:

MLBPipeline.com | MLB Prospect Central | SFGiants.com: News

A couple of notes:

1. 3 new guys -- Law (10), Mella (19), Flores (20) replacing Kieshnick, Cabrera, Ragira.
2. 14/20 are pitchers with 11/14 SP.
3. The Pork Punter falls to 17 from 3, but I don't really consider him a "prospect" anymore. He's more like Heston and Kieshnick now -- org depth.
4. Ragira is still an intriguing prospect, though he fell off the list. Plays LF/RF/1B and with Williamson holding those same positions down in Richmond, we should have a healthy dose of the Stanford guy in San Jo this year. He's got plus power and plus speed to go with the ability to hit for average. Basically, he's a lot like Williamson.
5. Escobar jumps from 11 to 2, and as the #6 SP will probably see significant time in SF this year. In short, he deserves to be #2.
6. Arroyo must have REALLY looked good in rookie ball last year to be ranked 5. I've only seen glimpses, but the SS is really rocketing up the charts with the MLB.com folks. He'll be in Augusta this year, but I wouldn't be shocked to see him move up to Richmond if he puts together a solid first half.
7. Law at 10 also seems about right. Though we haven't seen that 45:1 K/BB ratio this spring, it's worth noting that he's still in camp with 10 days to go in ST. My guess: Fresno to start but like Eskie, he could be at AT&T fairly soon.
8. Finally, this: Kyle Crick is an effing ANIMAL. Prospective nicknames: Crickster, KtotheK.

That is all...

 

[tzill]

Damn I love prospect lists...so exiciting! Optimism!

My 2016 projected opening day roster:

Starting lineup
CF Pagan
SS Crawford
LF Belt
1B Posey
3B Sandoval
RF Pence
C Susac
2B Arroyo

Bench -- Sanchez, Arias, Panik, Brown, Williamson
Starters -- Bumgarner, Cain, Escobar, Crick, Mejia
Bullpen -- Romo, Hembree, Dunning, Law, Kickham, Osich, Petit

 

[calsnowskier]

Damn I love prospect lists...so exiciting! Optimism!

My 2016 projected opening day roster:

Starting lineup
CF Pagan
SS Crawford
LF Belt
1B Posey
3B Sandoval
RF Pence
C Susac
2B Arroyo

Bench -- Sanchez, Arias, Panik, Brown, Williamson
Starters -- Bumgarner, Cain, Escobar, Crick, Mejia
Bullpen -- Romo, Hembree, Dunning, Law, Kickham, Osich, Petit

I disagree on quite a few...

Assuming no trades and no additions via FA...

C-Susac
1B-Belt
2B-Crawford/Panik/Arroyo (Craw if EA takes SS; Panik if CA is not ready)
SS-Crawford or Adrianza (Craw has edge)
3B-Posey
RF-Pence
CF-Brown (yuck)
LF-Mac

Hacktor will be the BUC. Pagan and Panda will be gone. Arroyo MAY end up the SS. He is supposed to actually have potential there. Ragira may be a dark horse for LF.

In reality, I expect Susac or Belt to be traded. We will likely have a 2B and CF from outside the org. Pence may be moved to LF by this point.

Rotation

Bum
Crick
Cain
Escobar
Mejia/Blackburn/Stratton/Blach/etc

Hembree or Law will be closer. Romo and Affeldt will be gone (Romo wearing Blue). Petit will be long gone. Hall will be a 7th inning guy.

 

[tzill]

I disagree on quite a few...

Assuming no trades and no additions via FA...

C-Susac
1B-Belt
2B-Crawford/Panik/Arroyo (Craw if EA takes SS; Panik if CA is not ready)
SS-Crawford or Adrianza (Craw has edge)
3B-Posey
RF-Pence
CF-Brown (yuck)
LF-Mac

Hacktor will be the BUC. Pagan and Panda will be gone. Arroyo MAY end up the SS. He is supposed to actually have potential there. Ragira may be a dark horse for LF.

In reality, I expect Susac or Belt to be traded. We will likely have a 2B and CF from outside the org. Pence may be moved to LF by this point.

Rotation

Bum
Crick
Cain
Escobar
Mejia/Blackburn/Stratton/Blach/etc

Hembree or Law will be closer. Romo and Affeldt will be gone (Romo wearing Blue). Petit will be long gone. Hall will be a 7th inning guy.

Well, let's look at that:

1. Pagan gone: this means we'd be trading him, since his K runs through 2016.
2. Panda gone: I assume you're letting him walk for the comp pick. I wanted a roster where we keep him.
3. Adrianza: good call; I should have had him as either the starting 2B with Arroyo on the bench or Arroyo at 2B with Ehire on the bench. Subtract Arias from my equation.
4. Trade Belt: good grief I hope not; dude's a fringy all-star right now. I suspect he'll break out and be locked up through 2018 to a Panda type contract.
5. Trade the Susser: you will be tracked down and shot for this.
6. CF from outside: quite possible, with Angel moving to the bench or included in the trade.
7. Pence to LF: quite possible, maybe even likely if Williamson can take RF (he's got a rocket arm).
8. Brown in CF: pretty unlikely; my hope at this point is that he can become a decent backup and a cheaper Blanco.
9. 2B from outside: not likely, unless Adrianza bombs. I think Arroyo is the future there, and Panik still has some potential. We seem to have enough 2B talent for 2016.
10. Bullpen: I could see Romo hanging around, but if he is gone that would mean Hembree/Law took the closer role and that would be a good thing. Petit would only be 31 and might hold down that long man/spot starter role for a while. Good call on Hall, he could very well make the club. I like Osich and the PorkPunter b/c they are lefties.