according to David Luciani, the yankees have the #1 prospect

Yeah

Don't spoil it by providing any content, good diary.

I'd rate Jose Tabata an A prospect, Phil Hughes an A-. Neither are the best prospect in all of baseball.

by ian on Jun 30, 2006 9:04 PM EDT reply actions

yeah

considering how its illegal and everything...

by Rob Castellano on Jun 30, 2006 9:25 PM EDT up reply actions

ian

What makes Tabata an A to you and Hughes an A-? I see both guys as A- personally with maybe Hughes as an A.

...NJASDJDH...

by Fabian on Jun 30, 2006 9:29 PM EDT up reply actions

Why

Tabata is young for his league, so is Hughes, but Hughes needs to prove he can be durable.

To the guy above this... I understand it is probably illegal. Which to me means don't post a diary, since content can't be provided.

by ian on Jun 30, 2006 9:49 PM EDT up reply actions

well

since a lot of the people here probably do pay for that site, they probably can have an informed discussion about its content without spelling out every last piece of info that they've seen there

just because you can't take part in that discussion because you chose not to pay for that site doesn't mean its a bad diary

i've said it before and i'll say it again, if you've got nothing (productive) to bring to a discussion, move along

by Rob Castellano on Jul 1, 2006 12:25 PM EDT up reply actions

Um...

So he has Hughes ranked #1? Is there a link to this?

...NJASDJDH...

by Fabian on Jun 30, 2006 9:28 PM EDT reply actions

Charging for content?

Who does he think he is, ESPN.com? ;)

by drjayphd on Jun 30, 2006 9:38 PM EDT reply actions

There are many reasons...

... that pitching prospects don't tend to be number one prospects. Health concerns and inconsistency for one. Pitchers are more prone to injury, TINSTAPP, all that.

Hughes is a really good pitching prospect, but he's not even clearly the top pitching prospect right now (I mean, he probably is, but there's certainly competition for that spot), let alone the top overall prospect. Would you take him before the pre-season versions of Liriano and Verlander? I certainly wouldn't. Those two were amazing pitching prospects, especially Liriano, but you'd still have been foolish to prefer them to Brandon Wood, Delmon Young, Jeremy Hermida, et al. And guys like Wood and Gordon have done nothing but improve their stock.

What I'm saying is that if this guy thinks Hughes is the best prospect in baseball, he's rather foolish.

As to Tabata, I'm a big fan of his (and Hughes, I should have mentioned), but he's so far away, so raw, that it's pretty stupid to put him #1. Does he really have more potential than Brandon Wood or Alex Gordon or Cameron Maybin or any of those guys? Who has a better chance of reaching their potential? If Tabata is this mystery #1 prospect, that's rather foolish too.

Just my opinion, but it's right. Heh. And it's hardly mine alone.

by abbreviatedman on Jun 30, 2006 11:23 PM EDT reply actions

Luciani

Luciani's metric indicators put a huge amount of weight on control for a pitcher. That, to go along with his extremely young age doesn't susprise me if Luciani's system spits out that Hughes is top dog.

by npurcell on Jun 30, 2006 11:29 PM EDT reply actions

Tabata

What is the fascination with this guy? Good player, no doubt, and highly projectable.

Still, he's in A ball. Low A. It's like saying an unknown girl standing 100 yards away is a perfect 10. She might be; she might not be. She'll get closer. Wait until you can at least see if she has a bad dye job ...

))<>(( forever.

by jayg @ Minor League Ball on Jun 30, 2006 11:37 PM EDT reply actions

wow

great analogy. I love it!

by npurcell on Jun 30, 2006 11:43 PM EDT up reply actions

brilliant

perfect analogy

by Rob Castellano on Jul 1, 2006 12:26 PM EDT up reply actions

Tabata

Tabata is a stud, plain and simple. The list of 17-year-olds playing as well as he has in full season ball is short, he's a unique player in that regard. In addition, I'm not so sure he ISN'T a safer bet than Brandon Wood, for instance. Wood strikes out a ton and could flame out at the big league level as a result. Here's an interesting thing:

Player A: .320/.386/.536(BA/OBP/SLG) with 26 doubles, 5 triples, 25 homers, 115 RBI, 21 steals in 27 attempts and 53 walks to 120 strikeouts.

Tabata projected to the same amount of at bats as Player A: .323/.388/.454 (BA/OBP/SLG) with 33 doubles, 2 triples, 10 homers, 89 RBI, 28 steals in 36 attempts and 41 walks to 100 strikeouts.

Player A plays the same position as Tabata and put those numbers up in the same league playing for the same team though he was a year older. This shouldn't be tough to figure out and I'm not using it as a final statement, but rather, as some perspective.

...NJASDJDH...

by Fabian on Jul 1, 2006 12:39 AM EDT up reply actions

Hey.

Putting aside the fact that I entirely disagree with you for a moment, are you the Fabian from Replacement Level Yankees Weblog?

by abbreviatedman on Jul 1, 2006 1:16 AM EDT up reply actions

Yes

I am. I don't know what's to disagree with though. The only statement I made was that Tabata is a stud. Do you disagree with that?

...NJASDJDH...

by Fabian on Jul 1, 2006 12:57 PM EDT up reply actions

What I disagree with...

... is the idea that he's a safer bet than Wood. I have to admit, though, that I disagree based on scouting reports, and I haven't compared their numbers this year. So I guess I have little to say until I look that up.

I enjoy your work on the blog, by the way. Time to go watch the Mets and Yanks!

by abbreviatedman on Jul 1, 2006 1:12 PM EDT up reply actions

Wood

That's understandable, I'm probably in the minority, but to me K% is easily one of the most important things to consider with hitting prospects and Wood's numbers terrify me. Of course, he could end up being Ryan Howard, but we'll see.

...NJASDJDH...

by Fabian on Jul 1, 2006 2:04 PM EDT up reply actions

Howard?

Man, if he became Ryan Howard (I'm not really expecting that, but) that would be incredible, especially since he'd be at 3B.

by abbreviatedman on Jul 1, 2006 3:10 PM EDT up reply actions

howard

I meant in the sense that Howard had some some scary strikeout rates, but has done well so far.

...NJASDJDH...

by Fabian on Jul 1, 2006 3:32 PM EDT up reply actions

100 pts of slugging

is a pretty big difference, especially considering that Player A can't slug his way out of a box in AAA these days...

"If there wasn't nine guys out in the field, I'd have a hit every time except when I strike out." - Delmon Young

by Brickhaus on Jul 1, 2006 1:13 PM EDT up reply actions

Not even mentioning

that young players who have never played a full season before almost universally tail off at the end of the year. Look at Delmon's midseason stats that year, and they were much higher than his final stats for the year. He's still a stud, but he's not a top-5 type stud.

"If there wasn't nine guys out in the field, I'd have a hit every time except when I strike out." - Delmon Young

by Brickhaus on Jul 1, 2006 1:16 PM EDT up reply actions

SLG

I know the SLG difference is large. By the way, Delmon didn't trail off that year. He did much better in the final months of the season than he did in the first half. I know because I was pissed that he was selected to the Futures Game that year since at the time he had about a low to mid .700s OPS.

I'm not saying that Jose Tabata is as good a prospect as Delmon was then, just that he is an excellent prospect. No worse than Top 25 right now probably. If he finished the year with a low .800s OPS, which essentially means maintaining the course, then he should be Top 15 or so, I think. Of course you can just call me a biased Yankee fan, but scouts love him and his performance is excellent considering age/league/home park/etc.

...NJASDJDH...

by Fabian on Jul 1, 2006 2:02 PM EDT up reply actions

No

I'll agree that he's top 25. High risk high reward guy at this point.

"If there wasn't nine guys out in the field, I'd have a hit every time except when I strike out." - Delmon Young

by Brickhaus on Jul 1, 2006 8:30 PM EDT up reply actions

Decent analogy

but far from a perfect match. Scouts get to look at this guy up close - closer than 100 yards. They like what they see. They've stoppped short of A-Rod/Griffey comps like they have w/ Upton, but he has drawn some HIGH praise from guys that know what they are talking about. The numbers he is putting up in LoA against guys that are 2-4 years older are astounding. Looks like a prospect that is good enough to take home and introduce to mother to me.

"Second guessers are guys that could have never gotten it right the first time." - Tommy Lasorda (for guys that have no other defense for their actions.)

by slurve on Jul 3, 2006 10:55 AM EDT up reply actions

Duncan

It's Eric Duncan!

by Stephcaflowne on Jul 1, 2006 1:31 AM EDT reply actions

Before anyone goes crazy...

That was a joke.

by Stephcaflowne on Jul 1, 2006 1:32 AM EDT up reply actions

Is Travis Denker #2?

:)

by delmonfan on Jul 1, 2006 11:20 AM EDT reply actions

Unless he's changed his

mind, this guy is getting out - don't think he'll be around next year so the rest of us may never see this latest list. I refuse to pay for premium content - his site or any other. That's not to say that I think everything should be free, I just don't do it.

"Second guessers are guys that could have never gotten it right the first time." - Tommy Lasorda (for guys that have no other defense for their actions.)

by slurve on Jul 3, 2006 10:59 AM EDT reply actions