Do you think that Fowler is a .335 hitter? He’s always posted high BABIP numbers, but .409 number this year was ridiculously high. Normalized for luck, his BABIP is .358, in line with each of the previous years, and giving him a line of .296/.397/.462/.859-very good numbers still. While I think that because of the size difference that Fowler has an advantage projection wise, McCutchen has been a level ahead and a year younger each of the last two years. That’s not his fault, the Pirates kind of rushed him in my opinion. Who’s to say that if they followed the same career path that the numbers wouldn’t be closer?

And for saying that he would have been just as good in AAA this year as he was in AA, it’s possible the numbers may have been just as inflated for him as they were in AA, but it also doesn’t mean what Fowler did this year is what to expect from him next year. He played in a hitters league, his numbers are inflated due to that. He posted an extremely high BABIP, his numbers are inflated due to that. I’m not saying that he’s not better than McCutchen, because I think he does beat him out here, but I also think you’re discounting age/level/league difference way too much here.

How about their numbers aren’t that far apart? How about Fowlers BABIP was over .400 for that “breakout” season in AA at 21?

If age and level of play are BS then I don’t know what we are doing here. If McCutchen had a BABIP over .400 like Fowler did then he would have hit .320. When Fowler’s numbers regress back to the mean their numbers will once again be very similar. Maybe it’s just any arguement against your’s is BS though. /me shrugs

Well that is interesting but he hasn’t yet. I’ll keep an eye on it but I’ll still take the younger player at the more advanced level every day of the week. I don’t dislike Fowler by any means but I just think when you take into account his league/park, age/level and his BABIP that most of the arguements don’t hold water. Add to that that when talking projection, it’s an opinion based assumption that I find it hard not to stick with McCutchen in this debate. :(

Where are the other four players? And, isn’t it patently absurd to think that 5 of the top 13 players were drafted this year, when minor league prospects stretch over 6 or 7 draft classes?

You’re doing the exact counterpart of what you accuse everyone else of doing— giving way, way, WAY too much credit to tiny sample sizes.

Overall this site emphasizes ceiling far too much, to the point where you wonder why teams don’t just call prospects up out of low-A ball since they’re clearly so much better than everyone in AA and AAA. And you want it to become more ceiling-obsessed? OK.

Maybe if you actually took a look at what has happened, maybe you wouldn’t have gone on this ridiculous rant. Posey pulled in 36 votes out 460 in the last poll, and he now has 30 out of 204 votes, and that doesn’t smell fishy, since the last prospect voted on came from the same team? It would be one thing if Posey had been competing for the 12th spot, but he was 6th out of 9 guys on the last poll. The four other top vote getters in this poll, were the 2nd thru 5th guys on the last poll vote wise. See, that’s consistent. Posey jumping from behind all of Fowler/Anderson/Porcello/Alvarez , to ahead vying neck and neck with all of them is pretty odd.

Giants fans ballot stuffing for another Giants prospect isn’t the same thing as “that’s what the community picked”, and that’s what it tends to look like to rational observers. I’m sure you won’t do this on your list, so why not stick with running your own list, and not trying to change the process the community has used for 3 years running?

Well said Sidd, not that I’d expect much less really though. On top of what you’ve said, I want to add that I’m afraid that announcing we’re not going to worry about ballot stuffing will actually encourage more of it and totally ruin the list. Once I pointed out the oddity of the Posey voting, and suggested following the previously followed approach to correcting it, suddenly things returned to a more normal level. I’d be happy to jump the gun and call an odd trend stuffing now and then if it heads things off at the pass and keeps people honest.

But I do think for this list to maintain any value in the end, we do have to deal with ballot stuffing and not just ignore and allow it.

Camwoody, this is probably your last chance to step back, relax, and be quiet. It’s late, and I’m sure you’re tired. You’re acting like a moron. I normally wouldn’t care, but you sir, are embarrassing Giants fans everywhere.

First off, the poll is for fun. However, we as a community participate in the polls because we believe it is a fair process. After all, how ‘fun’ could it be when one person is singlehandedly manipulating the results?

I understand you’re trying to defend against what you perceive as a slight against Buster Posey, or Tim Alderson. That’s not the case at all – the accusations are against some ‘rogue fan’ who is singlehandedly wrecking the polls. Nobody here has some vendetta against Buster Posey(nor did the rest of the community hate Philip Humber last year) – in fact, I’m sure many of us here are big fans, and believe he has a bright future. Your repeated accusations at gatling and doublestix are not only immature, but just plain wrong. They are not anti-Giants, and have no personal stake in this – only to preserve the validity of the polling process so it can be fun for all of us. Doublestix is a Royals fan – he’s not lobbying for Eric Hosmer or any other player for this particular poll. He is a longtime member of this community, and deserves to be treated with some respect. Similarly, gatling is a Bay area sports fan who voted for Bumgarner at #3, #4, and #5.

Buster Posey is an “acceptable” choice at #13 – a stretch, but with all prospect debates, there is no clear cut answer. I personally would not rank him here myself, but that does not preclude you from using your one vote on him, camwoody. In fact, any Giant fan by nature must “believe” in Buster Posey to some extent, just as any Mariner fan must “believe” in King Felix, or to go to another sport – a Warriors fan in Monta Ellis. For a franchise cornerstone to become a bust/severely injured would be devastating. Nobody faults you for using your single vote on Buster – and any ensuing debate is good. If you can somehow convince the community to vote him on at #13, it would be a controversial decision, but an acceptable one in my view.

That’s not what is happening here. The problem is that his vote count at this point is statistically unlikely, considering his support in previous polls, and the voting trends of this poll. All of just want to see a fair process – nobody is treating this poll as a “big thing”, but at the same time, it ruins the fun for all of us when polls are rigged and our vote means absolutely nothing.

The good news is that despite this likely ballot stuffing, Posey does not have the lead, and would need another run of ballot stuffing to win this poll. With all of us aware of the possibility, I’m sure it would be fairly easy to spot.

Either way, it is just a poll, the results don’t matter one way or another. No need to insult each other over such a trivial issue. Everybody please relax, and remember to treat other members with some respect.

On another note, I just wanted to thank King Billy Royal and pinstripes for running this list – keep up the great work.

And a random shout-out to jpahk and DrBGiantsFan. I was perusing some old records to see if I could locate the identity of this obnoxious Giants fan (with no success) and saw you guys were still around. Nice to see you are still with us.