Devil Rays Top 25 Prospects

by Jim Wisinski on Feb 16, 2005 2:45 PM EST

A few weeks ago six of us put together our own Rays prospect lists and then they were averaged out to get a single master list. Here are the top 10, and the full list with player bios and links to our individual lists and comments can be found here.

1.Delmon Young - OF
2.Scott Kazmir - LHP
3.Jeff Niemann - RHP
4.Wes Bankston - 1B
5.Chad Orvella - RHP
6.Elijah Dukes - OF
7.Seth McClung - RHP
8.Chris Seddon - LHP
9.Joey Gathright - OF
10.Jason Hammel - RHP

Any comments or opinions on it would be welcome.

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DRAYS BAY

The thing i see missing from the list is BJ Upton. I love the season Bankston put up last year. His numbers are close to Delmons. I know , I know, he is a little older. The thing that I have been thinking about is where Niemann starts the year. I'd say if he can show that he is healthy this Spring, he goes to AA as a Biscuit.

by David Bloom on Feb 16, 2005 3:30 PM EST reply actions

I guess

that they went my rookie standards to consider someone a prospect. Upton doesn't qualify then.

by Russ Oates on Feb 16, 2005 3:34 PM EST up reply actions

Yeah

BJ Upton and Jorge Cantu aren't on the list because they passed the AB minimum in the majors. I believe Seth McClung is ineligible for ROY voting because he spent time on the major league DL, counting against the time he is allowed to spend on the roster and maintain eligibility, but we consider him a prospect anyway because he's under the IP limit.

by Jim Wisinski on Feb 16, 2005 3:48 PM EST up reply actions

gomes

isn't jonny gomes a little too low? i mean way too low? he's 23 and put up a 900 OPS in the international league, and that's not at all out of line with what he'd done before. sure he looked a little lost during his callup, but it was a handful of at-bats. i think he could slug .500 in the majors as early as this year, and he deserves a chance to prove it.

by jpahk on Feb 16, 2005 5:03 PM EST reply actions

I think so

I had him rated 5th, but of course that's the point of doing it together and getting various opinions on him. The main concern among the others has been that his strikeout rate has been too high and his batting average too low to translate into great production in the majors at this point.

by Jim Wisinski on Feb 16, 2005 7:32 PM EST up reply actions

BP

He has a nice Pecota projection. He is my pick to land the OF position over Gathright. I see him sharing the LF position with Bautista, unfortunatey

by David Bloom on Feb 16, 2005 5:17 PM EST reply actions

houser

Where is mr James Houser? He is #6 on the baseballameric list, while putting great numbers. He is also very young (a couple years out of high school)

by mrmetaa on Feb 16, 2005 6:27 PM EST reply actions

Click the link in the original post

It takes you to the whole list, where Houser is 17th. His performance has been great so far but he has had injury problems that make him a concern. He only pitched 32.2 innings in 2004, which makes his stock fall quite a bit considering that young pitchers are already risky enough to count on. I had him ranked 21st, if he had been healthy and completed a full season in 2004 at his potential level of performance then he probably would have been somewhere between 10th and 15th on my list, partly because I weigh being close to the majors more than most people do and Houser is still pretty far away.

by Jim Wisinski on Feb 16, 2005 7:38 PM EST up reply actions

Danny Bautista? doh...

I'm flipping through my USAToday Sportsweekly I got at the newstand today. It's the Spring Training preview issue. I am SHOCKED that in the DRays depth chart Danny Bautista is listed as a starter in the OF instead of one of the kids. I thought they traded Cruz to get PT for some kids not a replacement level veteran. Dohhhh

by natsfan2005 @ Minor League Ball on Feb 16, 2005 10:44 PM EST reply actions

Cruz wasn't traded for Bautista...

It was Cruz Jr. for Casey Fossum, just as bad...

Bautista was a FA signee. He'll be gone by July when Rocco returns.

by The Rocc on Feb 17, 2005 8:21 AM EST up reply actions

shocker...

Well, if you continue on Alomar is the starter over Cantu.

A-Gone is now a 3B. Why not put Huff back there ..

Neagle might take a kids spot in the rotation.

Hopefully, this nightmare will be over by midseason.

DRAYS BAY

by David Bloom on Feb 28, 2005 3:49 PM EST up reply actions

Niemann

John Manuel has Niemann pretty high on his righties list according to a BA chat wrap.... A pretty good looking list.

"John Manuel: I like Miller next in that group, followed by Cain, Jeff Niemann (huge Niemann fan, now that he's signed, he has to be considered) and Billingsley, whose command gives me pause. Jose Capellan and Gavin Floyed and Edwin Jackson are in that mix."

by Bobo2 on Feb 16, 2005 11:50 PM EST reply actions

Hypothetically...

Where would you place Cantu on your list if he qualified? He's a guy that I think a lot of people around the country don't know a lot about (myself included) because he doesn't qualify for many prospect lists...

by fargocraig1971 on Feb 17, 2005 2:57 PM EST reply actions

Hmm

As I noted in another post, I weigh major league readiness more than most, so he gets bonus points for that. He would probably go 7th on my list, after Bankston and before Dukes. The big concern with Cantu is his poor plate discipline, raising questions about his ability to post a good OBP.

by Jim Wisinski on Feb 17, 2005 7:14 PM EST up reply actions

Cantu

Amazing to see his turnaround. I saw him play for 2 straight seasons in Orlando and I was less than inspired with what I saw. He was swinging for the fences but rarely made it there. Of course, he was about 30 lbs lighter than he was last year. For some reason, I have it in my notes that he was part of age-gate as I saw it on BA somewhere but I have been unable to verify that anywhere.

Gomes is a heck of a nice kid who can hit some tape measure shots. If you've seen the Braves spring training home, you know how imposing the scoreboard is in left center to centerfield. I saw Gomes hit 2 shots over that in consecutive at bats one night of Heath Trotten of the Dodger organization that totaled over 900 feet.

by UCFKnights on Feb 17, 2005 3:08 PM EST reply actions

Age-gate

Cantu is not a part of the age-changing scandal in the minors, he was signed when he was 16. He's finally turned it around and will continue to get even better.

by The Rocc on Feb 17, 2005 5:57 PM EST up reply actions

Age-gate

Cantu is Mexican, much more difficult to falsify ages with players signed there than from the Dominican Republic.

by Jim Wisinski on Feb 17, 2005 7:11 PM EST up reply actions

thanks

thanks for the update....I don't know why I had it but it was a note from 2003 but I failed to note the online source of it.

I guess it was just a matter of maturing because the Cantu I saw in 02 and 03 as a Orlando Ray is not the same guy I saw playing last year. Let's just hope he learns a little more patience though :)

by UCFKnights on Feb 17, 2005 9:59 PM EST up reply actions