Arizona League Top 20 prospects

by Bravesin07 on Sep 21, 2007 12:10 PM EDT Comment 21 comments

Angel Villalona, 3b, Giants
Engel Beltre, of, Rangers
Nick Noonan, 2b, Giants
Danny Duffy, lhp, Royals
Wilmer Font, rhp, Giants
Wilber Bucardo, rhp, Giants
Drew Cumberland, ss, Padres
Danny Carroll, of, Mariners
Cristian Santana, c, Rangers
Mario Martinez, ss/3b, Mariners
Mason Tobin, rhp, Angels
Michael Anton, lhp, Angels
Matt Mitchell, rhp, Royals
Yefri Carvajal, of, Padres
Charlie Culberson, 2b/ss, Giants
Larry Suarez, rhp, Cubs
Clay Fuller, of, Angels
Sam Runion, rhp, Royals
Ivan Contreras, 2b, Angels
Jacob Wild, rhp, Mariners

http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/prospects/features/264877.html

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Wilmer Font

is a Ranger, you doofus.

by mdickson on Sep 21, 2007 12:40 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

hey that's BA's fault not mine

by Bravesin07 on Sep 21, 2007 12:43 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

BA

He's listed as a Ranger on the page you linked

by mdickson on Sep 21, 2007 12:57 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I'm guessing they fixed it

Since:

Braves obviously copied and pasted the list, rather than retyped it; and
Why would he change it from what they had on the page.

So could we lay off the namecalling?

by Locke000 on Sep 21, 2007 1:05 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Oh wow...

almost forgot about Suarez.

He's got sh*t for control, but he's one of the few exciting young arms in the Cubs system.

by SenorGato88 on Sep 21, 2007 12:48 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

suarez

let's hope they work a lot with him this offseason. raw talent wise, he's probably at the top of the Cubs pitching prospect list (again, just raw talent). But he's got a lot, a lot of work to do.

by toonsterwu on Sep 21, 2007 3:02 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Heartening to see all the Giants prospects listed. Can't remember the last time they had this many. Biggest surprise for me was how high Bucardo is ranked given his pedestrian K rates. He was an extreme groundball pitcher with a GO/AO of something like 3. Also pleasantly surprised to see Culberson listed. I thought Jose Valdez, a very young pitcher who appears to have a much higher upside than Bucardo might make the list.

Great pic of Big V. I hope weight doesn't become an issue for him. Aside from that, he looks like a monster. Maybe a slightly pudgier version of Vlad Guerrero in terms of build?

by DrBGiantsfan on Sep 21, 2007 2:08 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Oh Yeah!

I, too, am stoked to see some Giants on that list. I had never heard of Bucardo, so it is nice to see another pitcher that is having success down in the minors.

by Bib12 on Sep 21, 2007 2:16 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Response

Well, the late signings certainly are showing a huge impact on the low-level rankings, aren't they?

#1 and #2 look like good bets to make the BA top 100. For everybody else, it looks like their chances of making an appearance would be fringy at best.

by mrkupe on Sep 21, 2007 5:06 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Dropoff

I saw #1 and #2 in person, and let me tell you, the dropoff is humongous...pun intended:)

by rwperu34 on Sep 21, 2007 5:31 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

the difference between 1 and 2 is huge

is that what your trying to say?

by Bravesin07 on Sep 21, 2007 6:01 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

He's trying to say

that Angel is fat and Engel is skinny.

by Brett Perryman on Sep 21, 2007 9:13 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Talent

There's also the talent issue to deal with, which is probably bigger than the weight difference.

by rwperu34 on Sep 22, 2007 2:00 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I don't know about that

I'm not sure that Villalona is three times bigger talent.

by Brett Perryman on Sep 23, 2007 1:07 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

question

does anybody remember the AZL top 20 from, say, five years ago? how does that usually turn out? should we be paying attention to any of these kids other than V and maybe beltre? i admit i like duffy's stats (a lot) but at that level, stats are not exactly the most important consideration.

by jpahk on Sep 22, 2007 1:29 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

+1

by smittybanton on Sep 22, 2007 4:37 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Past AZL Top 20's

2002

Felix Pie
Micah Schnurstein
Justin Jones
Jesse English
Carlos Sosa
Daniel Haigwood
Matt Brown
Travis Ishikawa
Billy Petrick
Ryan Rodriguez
Josh Womack
Matt Cain
Chris Young(OF)
Michael Garciaparra
Matt Creighton
Rafael Rodriguez
Brandon McCarthy
Jairo Garcia
Steve Moss
Alfredo Francisco

2003

Chris Lubanski
Wladimir Balentien
Ryan Harvey
Mitch Maier
Alexi Ogando
Ronald Bay
Shane Costa
Adam Jones
Brandon Wood
Charlie Fermaint
Leslie Nacar
Lizahio Baez
Mike Aviles
Jorge Mejia
Don Sutton
Brett Martinez
Irvin Falu
Sean Rodriguez
Gilberto Acosta
Javier Herrera(OF)