Minor League Ball: An SB Nation Community

Navigation: Jump to content areas:



Sports blogs for fans, by fans.
New Blog: Backing the Pack for NC State Fans!


Arizona League Top 20 prospects

  1. Angel Villalona, 3b, Giants
  2. Engel Beltre, of, Rangers
  3. Nick Noonan, 2b, Giants
  4. Danny Duffy, lhp, Royals
  5. Wilmer Font, rhp, Giants
  6. Wilber Bucardo, rhp, Giants
  7. Drew Cumberland, ss, Padres
  8. Danny Carroll, of, Mariners
  9. Cristian Santana, c, Rangers
  10. Mario Martinez, ss/3b, Mariners
  11. Mason Tobin, rhp, Angels
  12. Michael Anton, lhp, Angels
  13. Matt Mitchell, rhp, Royals
  14. Yefri Carvajal, of, Padres
  15. Charlie Culberson, 2b/ss, Giants
  16. Larry Suarez, rhp, Cubs
  17. Clay Fuller, of, Angels
  18. Sam Runion, rhp, Royals
  19. Ivan Contreras, 2b, Angels
  20. Jacob Wild, rhp, Mariners
http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/prospects/features/264877.html

0 recs | Comment 21 comments

Story-email Email Printer Print

Comments

Display:

Wilmer Font
is a Ranger, you doofus.

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

I'm guessing they fixed it
Since:
  1. Braves obviously copied and pasted the list, rather than retyped it; and
  2. 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 to parent up reply reply actions 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 reply actions 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 to parent up reply reply actions actions   0 recs

Giants
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 reply actions 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 to parent up reply reply actions 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 reply actions 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 reply actions 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 to parent up reply reply actions 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 to parent up reply reply actions 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 to parent up reply reply actions 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 reply actions 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)

by Brett Keith on Sep 22, 2007 6:03 PM EDT to parent up reply reply actions actions   0 recs

2 or 3 from most top 20's make a top prospect
down the road.  Pie, Jones, Wood, Balentin, and Young are the notibles.

by Bravesin07 on Sep 22, 2007 8:28 PM EDT to parent up reply reply actions actions   0 recs

matt cain
....and lubanski are notable

by daveh33 on Sep 23, 2007 12:19 AM EDT to parent up reply reply actions actions   0 recs

Also
McCarthy and Garcia/Casilla. That's more than 2-3 per year, at least those two years, but then 2002 was really strong.

by Brett Perryman on Sep 23, 2007 1:09 AM EDT to parent up reply reply actions actions   0 recs

thanks
thanks for looking that up. seems like the top 1-2 guys and then 2-3 more from further down the list develop into good prospects.

by jpahk on Sep 24, 2007 11:19 AM EDT to parent up reply reply actions actions   0 recs

Comments For This Post Are Closed


User Tools

Minor League Ball: Where the Future of Baseball is Discussed
Start posting on Minor League Ball »

Join SB Nation and dive into communities focused on all your favorite teams.

FanPosts

Community blog posts and discussion.

Recommended FanPosts

Small
Favorite All-Time Tool?
Img_small
Vin Mazzaro 6/28 predictions
Pulp_fiction_small
Which team has the best young players in the MLB?

Recent FanPosts

Ziegler160px_small
Pics from the Texas League All-Star Game
Small
Dominican baseball documentary
Batmanbaseball_small
Wishing Spoondoggie Well...
Dewey_finn_small
Hope for Fausto Carmona?
Small
Tyler Pastornicky
Small
My Top 50 Prospects
Small
Who is the best available?
Small
BEST PROSPECT IN BASEBALL
Small
Smoak Promoted to AAA
27_small
Frederick's Top 50 Prospects

Post_icon New FanPost All FanPosts Carrot-mini


Managers

Carew_small John Sickels

Official Partner of Yahoo! Sports


Site Meter