Top 20 Giants Prospects from an amateur scout

[gp956]

Minor League Blog at SBNation

Good discussion in the comments section. Looks like after Belt, not a lot of help can be expected in 2011.

This also means Pablo has to get his act together.

 

[Heathbar012]

Thanks, gp. Good discussion indeed. Aside from the argument about the abilities of various 18-year-olds, the blog and the discussion were very informative. I can't understand arguing about players that don't have the body that they will have in three years. It's futile to try to project where players will be when they are still growing both physically and in terms of understanding the game.

 

[gp956]

Thanks, gp. Good discussion indeed. Aside from the argument about the abilities of various 18-year-olds, the blog and the discussion were very informative. I can't understand arguing about players that don't have the body that they will have in three years. It's futile to try to project where players will be when they are still growing both physically and in terms of understanding the game.

Very true. A couple of those guys are trying to earn some "street cred". They're just comparing dicks, for the most part. I don't follow the low minors much, but a few years ago I went back into the archives of sbnation to see what was being said about guys like Fred Lewis, and others in his cohort - and, predictably, the comments were pretty far off.

 

[filosofy29]

Hey GP, thanks for the find/read. Quick question though, what does GO/AO stand for when they are describing Casilla's younger bro?

 

[gp956]

Hey GP, thanks for the find/read. Quick question though, what does GO/AO stand for when they are describing Casilla's younger bro?

GO = Groundouts
AO = Airouts (flyouts)

 

[TidrowThePitchingMaster]

Interesting list. I'd probably have Crawford ahead of Adrianza. Crawford had a down year but the one thing he did do in the EL was walk, had an 11.2 BB rate.

Also interesting that Sickels is still high on Thomas Neal, calling him a "future solid regular". Gives me hope that the EL was tough on him and his slash line is somewhat misleading.

 

[Giantsmojo]

Interesting list. I'd probably have Crawford ahead of Adrianza. Crawford had a down year but the one thing he did do in the EL was walk, had an 11.2 BB rate.

Also interesting that Sickels is still high on Thomas Neal, calling him a "future solid regular". Gives me hope that the EL was tough on him and his slash line is somewhat misleading.

Neal had a really slow start.

April .231/.333/.385
May .276/.313/.358
June .347/.407/.582
July .292/.390/.434
Aug .294/.352/.450

 

[filosofy29]

Brandon Belt

From TheTruthBeingRevealed at the ESPN board:

Prospect Watch: Arizona Fall League - ESPN Video - ESPN

 

[TidrowThePitchingMaster]

Neal had a really slow start.

April .231/.333/.385
May .276/.313/.358
June .347/.407/.582
July .292/.390/.434
Aug .294/.352/.450

Thomas Neal (TdaddyNeal) on Twitter
This is Neal's twitter page, and below is a tweet quoted from him a few days ago.

nothin 2 much I still live in SD but I'm out in AZ rehabbin I Tore left labrum durin the year no surgery needed tho

Apparently he played some of the year hurt? I never heard about this from the media. Interesting.

 

[Heathbar012]

Pretty awesome if he was putting up those August numbers injured. Good find, Tidrow. Thanks.

 

[TidrowThePitchingMaster]

Interesting tidbit from Law on insider that I got from MCC. He's got a nice opinion of Charlie Culberson's Bat but the glove needs work.

San Francisco second baseman Charlie Culberson has impressed at the plate while struggling in the field. The left-handed-hitting Culberson has quick hands and good hand-eye coordination, hitting line drives from the left-center gap over to right field; he doesn’t have much of a load in his hands or hips, but there could be more power there if they can improve his hip rotation. In the field, he’s shown some range to his left, but his hands are questionable and he doesn’t move as well to his right. The upside here is an offensive second baseman with at least big doubles power and a chance for 15-20 homers, but he’ll have to show he can stay at the position.

 

[Yoshi]

With that list I'm assuming we can forget about Wendell Fairley at this point? Here's something I just read:

Lucedale's Wendell Fairley looks to the future | gulflive.com

 

[Heathbar012]

Interesting story. I hope Fairley continues his rise. He really only has a window of about two more years before he should be in the majors or in danger of never being a regular starter.

 

[calsnowskier]

At this point, Fairly is a flyer at best. He had an alright season in SJ this year, but far from anything that you would expect from a 1st rounder three-years-removed.

The other first round high-schoolers we got that year?

Bumgarner
Alderson
Culberson
Noonan

All the others have either shown signs of potential or been traded for MLB talent. Fairley needs to show something in '11 or be shown the door, IMO...

 

[TidrowThePitchingMaster]

Fairley absolutely hit for no power last year. I went to a few San Jose games and that kid is a slap hitter in the Manny Burris sense. He doesn't drive his hips well at all and his mechanics need some serious work if he wants to hit well enough at this level.

On the plus, he's an outstanding athlete who can run the bases and play defense.