I’ll freely admit that the list showed my leanings pretty strongly. As I said earlier, it was just a “top 10 prospects in the game off the top of my head” sort of list. Evidence of this is that I initially forgot about a player like David Price, who absolutely deserves to be in the conversation. That having been said, I don’t understand why top-end potential from very young players is being devalued the way that it is.

I’m not going to rehash nms’ argument, since I concur with it pretty strongly, but regarding the Griffey/A-Rod comparison, I think Inoa has generated that sort of buzz (at least as much as a pitcher can). And having gone no.1 overall in the draft and being spoken of breathlessly for over a year, Tim Beckham is obviously a terrific prospect. To hold Griffey/A-Rod as the standard for what it takes to be considered a potential no.1 prospect in the low levels of the minors early in one’s career would have negated the chances of virtually any really potential-laden, really young product.

and I will admit that Inoa’s is up there and he is a great prospect. My problem is that he is being given #1 prospect status already. I could see him in the top 10 or top 20, even though I wouldn’t put him there. I may not like him that high, but I can understand the argument. But putting a 16 year old pitcher with absolutely no pro experience #16 seems far fetched to me.

I agree that there is such a thing as a pitching prospect, TINSTAPP is just an ironic saying now, eluding to the high failure rate of pitchers. You cited LeBron at at 16 or 17 as a Junior in high school, the big difference between LeBron and Inoa is that LeBron was only a year away from the NBA, Inoa is at least 4 probably, and that is if he doesn’t have to have any major surgery on his arm, which I personally expect because of his height. He is already 6’7” and will probably gain a few more inches since he is so young. That’s a lot of length in a pitching motion to try to get to repeat the same movement constantly.

How many high school Junior pitchers get noticed and then have a crappy senior season and slips 10 rounds in the draft and are rarely heard from again. There is so much that can go wrong with a pitcher that is so young. No one is doubting his ability or his ceiling, we are only saying that we should temper the excitement and the Shiny New Toy Syndrome some and not annoit this kid the best pitcher in baseball already… he’s no Tim Lincecum.