The Best Prospect in Baseball
by GuyinNY on Jul 5, 2008 1:41 PM EDT
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PrintWe've reached the halfway point of the season, so I'm curious as to who you think is the best prospect in baseball. The only requirements are that the player has not used up his rookie eligibility, is currently in the minors, and is a member or unsigned recent draftee of an MLB organization (sorry Yu Darvish).
My bet is on Clayton Kershaw. He's got great stuff, he just acquitted himself well in a brief trial with the Dodgers, and he's got just about everything a prospect could ask for.
Who's your pick?
P.S. Yes, we're lumping pitchers and position players in together for the purposes of this poll.
EDIT : Added David Price to the poll. Honestly, I just listed the top 10 prospects I could think of off the top of my head. And if you believe the hype surrounding Inoa, he definitely belongs on this list.
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well
clearly the #1 prospect is the almighty Shooter Hunt!
Rasmus?
I’m not quite ready to move on to the shiny new toys yet.
http://mvn.com/milb-yankees/
Seriously?
No one with a brain would give up on Rasmus yet. Likewise, I’m not sure anyone would seriously consider him at #1 given what he’s done so far this season.
Founder of the Rowdy Hardy Fan Club
Says who?
You? I’d be shocked if any publication listed him as a top 3 prospect in midseason rankings.
Founder of the Rowdy Hardy Fan Club
I wasn't necessarily saying he would be #1
But I think he is more deserving of being considered for the spot than at least half of the guys on this list.
http://mvn.com/milb-yankees/
I don't see why a guy who was just picked number 1 overall
shouldn’t be at least worthy of mention. I’m not saying he is the best prospect in baseball, but if you are going to discuss a broad range of candidates the most recent 1-1 guy is as worthy as any
by nms on Jul 5, 2008 3:44 PM EDT up reply actions
Wieters for me
First off, you listed some odd choices. Not sure Bumgarner, Beckham, or Iona should get any serious consideration right now as the best prospect in the game.
On to Wieters, for me, he has everything you look for in a top prospect: great numbers, high upside, amazingly consistent, and plays a premium position.
Founder of the Rowdy Hardy Fan Club
why not
I’d probably agree with Wieters #1 but if we are going to talk about many candidates all of those guys are worthy on the basis that it would be very reasonable for an educated observer to think that they will be the best MLB ballplayer out of anyone in the minors right now
by nms on Jul 5, 2008 3:45 PM EDT up reply actions
Disagree
While everyone certainly has the right to an opinion, I think the large majority of fans on here would say it’s way too early to talk about those three as potential #1 overall prospects. They are very young, have an extreme lack of experience, and didn’t come into the league as elite superstar-type talents like a Griffey or ARod.
Bumgarner is a kid I like a lot long-term, but he’s still just an 18 year old doing well in the Sally; Beckham is flailing away in the Appy; Inoa is 16 hasn’t thrown a pitch in pro ball. I think it’s absurdly silly for anyone to bring any of these three up as a potential #1 overall at this point in time.
Founder of the Rowdy Hardy Fan Club
The List
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.
Inoa
Scouting reports must be bunk, eh? When reports say that the only other prospects in the last 10 years to show this sort of ceiling are Beckett and Felix, it can’t imply that Inoa is a very, very special talent. When a 16 year old is already pumping gas in the 90’s, how could it be that he might have an incredibly high ceiling? I’ll grant that the list shows my leanings pretty strongly, but I don’t see how Inoa doesn’t belong on it.
Would you have argued that Lebron James wasn’t already the best basketball prospect in North America in 2002 – when he was a junior in HS?
The A’s don’t oft come into alot of money to spend, and they had a bit of it for player development this offseason. That they decided to spend it all on Inoa, rather than 4-5 prospects between 500k-1M should say something. That every scout who sees him drools should say something. We were talking about Justin Upton in reverential tones at the same age. TINSTAAP aside, because there IS such a thing as a pitching prospect, why is it impossible for there to be a superb pitching prospect who just happens to be 16 years old?
Ceiling is great....
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.
"My mom always taught me it's better to laugh at yourself than to laugh at others. She was so wrong. ;)" -Pedrophile
Forgive the typo
at the end of the first paragraph.
"My mom always taught me it's better to laugh at yourself than to laugh at others. She was so wrong. ;)" -Pedrophile
Other
I’ve still got the McCutchen/Rasmus/Maybin trio at the top. I’m just not sold on a 22 year old A ball player, no matter how much he mashes, and there is no way you’re going to get me to put a pitcher ahead of five tool CF types that are producing in the upper minors. McCutchen and Rasmus are both a year younger and not one, but two levels higher than Wieters.
Wieters is still relying on scouting at this point. I know his numbers look pretty, but taken in context, they are not really that much better than the other top prospects. For some fun, take mrkupe’s new favorite toy and put everybody at the same age/level.
Wieters is in AA now
He’s hitting .353/.463/.618 (1.081 OPS) in his first 10 games at AA.
Catcher is a position where offense is at even more of a premium than CF, and Wieters is getting nothing but raves for his defense.
I guess you can ding him for putting up most of his numbers in the Carolina League, but he was far and away the best hitter in the league, so I don’t know what more he could’ve done.
Bad day at the office
As a Matt Wieters owner and a Bowie resident, I was thrilled on Monday to finally have a chance to see my Shiny New Toy. What did I get to see? Just an awful awful performance. He struck out three times, with pretty much all the strikes coming on really bad swings, or looking. He didn’t even get any good hacks in. The one pitch he did hit was ripped down the left field line, but he was so slow he turned a near automatic double into a single. On the defensive side, his arm was tested early and often. The first runner made it easily into second while Wieters tried to throw him out from his knees. (Maybe it’s tougher for him to get out of his crouch than other catchers. He’s 6’5” – I never realized he was just so huge.) The second runner who ran on him would have been safe anyway, but Wieters’ throw skipped into cf, allowing the runner to go to third. He then scored on a wild pitch, which Wieters didn’t seem real interested in getting down to block. To be fair, though, he did gun down the other two guys who ran on him later. Anyway, I’m sure this game was the anomaly for him (I should have gone to Sunday’s game – he homered in that one) and I still expect some big things from him, but my 13-year-old son, who loves to razz his old man, sure had a field day!
+1
I can understand picking Wieters over LaPorta because of position, but I still like LaPorta more. I think he can hit 30+ HR in the bigs next season.
"My mom always taught me it's better to laugh at yourself than to laugh at others. She was so wrong. ;)" -Pedrophile
Kershaw
This guy has destroyed minor league hitters and has shown the ability to get out MLB players at the age of 20. His talent is unmatched and while I love Weiters, he should be ranked number 2 and not number 1. Long live King Kong Kershaw!!!!!
"When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him."
-Jonathan Swift
by King Billy Royal on Jul 6, 2008 2:43 AM EDT reply actions
Clayton is great...
but I think he loses eligibility this season. He only needs about 1 week or 11.1IP this season and he is no longer rookie eligible next year.
"My mom always taught me it's better to laugh at yourself than to laugh at others. She was so wrong. ;)" -Pedrophile
Good point
I never thought of that.
"When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him."
-Jonathan Swift
by King Billy Royal on Jul 6, 2008 2:53 PM EDT up reply actions
http://mbd.scout.com/mb.aspx?s=321&f=2089&t=2636355&p=5
info on rasmus
his father is retarded
if that’s really his father.
The guy should just walk away from his computer and never return. The thought that the Cards are going to keep Rasmus in AA for the next three years is idiotic. And his father has been saying stupid shit on that board all year.
If I were the Cards, I would get rid of him, just to get rid of the guys jackass father.
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