but I disagree with Markakis-lite sort of. Cunningham has the fielding ability, the power ability, the speed and plate discipline to be Markakis period. The only question is the BA, and even that won’t be too much less.

Plate discipline is important, but the guy was only 20 this year, and those were some monster numbers in A+ ball (and he handled AA after being promoted.) I tend to worry about guys with poor plate discipline struggling against better pitching, but for being only 20 and already putting up an .813 OPS in AA, that can’t be too much of a concern at this point. The guy was hitting 1 xbh per 8.5 PA this year, and 29 of those xbh were HR.

home runs! And, he plays catcher!

Yankees don’t have a better system than the Blue Jays. Travis Snider and Brett Cecil both outclass anything in the Yankees pipeline. The speciality of the Yankees system right now is pitchers with good potential but insufficient data.

And I dont think Arencibia even belongs on the list yet.

If anyone is the product of hype its Romine, not Arencibia.

Sorry but that coming from a Yankees fan in regards to their farm system is just kind of funny.

We’re not trying to create a list of every prospect we like at all.

I’m not huge on McAllister, but he does a lot of the things you like to see out of a young pitcher.

I am, however, very big on Austin Romine. Very promising bat with a good chance to stick at catcher.

I’m beating on this one pretty hard because it only dawned on me today, but I think Cunningham’s downside is becoming Kevin Mench. That’s a really good downside to have.

LD% plus .120 should = BABIP, roughly. Think of it as an eyeball tool to figure out true talent BABIP, basically.

http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/data-erratum-etcetera/

So:

2007: .109 + .120 = .229
2008: .133 LD% + .120 = .253

Conclusion? He hasnt really hit the ball that hard outside of 06 (18% LD% – 05 was 6%). His BABIP’s are luck driven. He’s not hitting line drives – he’s hitting flyballs and groundballs. Unless you can show me some special skill he has to explain how he is able to turn flyballs (in play) and groundballs into hits at a MUCH better rate than every other player… well, I think Tabata is crap, frankly.. and I always have.

But I mean… unless a guy is super fast (Ellsbury/Ichiro/Rickey Henderson style) or hits the ball really hard (Big Papi, Adam Vlad, etc…) they really arent capable of regularly posting BABIPs that high.

a matter of how “likely” these people are to be “pretty good hitters.” There’s a much higher degree of confidence with Cunningham and Jones than Arencibia or DeJesus, who both have mixed track records and huge holes in their games. Certainly upside matters, but it’s not ALL that matters.

I said it earlier with Cunningham, but I think his worst case scenario (not counting injuries, etc.) is Kevin Mench. That’s a pretty good downside. Jones probably has a lower downside and a higher upside than Cunningham, but I would put both ahead of Arencibia. Arencibia has such poor plate discipline that I think his upside is limited (especially considering how many superior young backstops have jobs secured in the majors right now), and his downside is ugly. Like I said before, one of his better outcomes is to be Rod Barajas, and that ain’t pretty.

DeJesus isn’t “likely” to be a pretty good hitter. When you have a guy with an IsoP that tops out at .099, you don’t have someone likely to be a good hitter. Especially when DeJesus is running off of one year with a good BA. The only thing you can count on Ivan doing in the majors is having good plate discipline, and if he pans out a .280/.360/.360 line with 10 SB. I doubt he’ll even crack the .800 OPS mark in his entire career.

Arencibia has yet to walk over 20 times in a season. You can’t be a good MLB player without taking some pitches. Even Juan Pierre walked 40 to 50 times a year when he was doing well. The only good player I’ve seen with no discipline is Alfonso Soriano, who luckily has incredible pop and speed.

There is an argument for Salome, albeit not an incredible if you look at Cunningham’s numbers.

As for Coghlan, Cunningham has put up similar OBPs with a much higher SLG, is a year younger and closer to the MLB. THe only thing Coghlan has on Cunningham is some speed, which in most cases is the least valuable of any offensive tool.