BA Eastern League Top 20

by Brett Keith on Sep 25, 2008 3:14 PM EDT

Got the issue with all the lists in it yesterday, so here ya go...

1 - Matt Wieters
2 - Chris Tillman
3 - Travis Snider
4 - Lars Anderson
5 - Jordan Zimmermann
6 - Carlos Carrasco
7 - Fernando Martinez
8 - J.P. Arincibia
9 - Daniel Bard
10 - Austin Jackson
11 - David Huff
12 - Jose Tabata
13 - Daniel Murphy
14 - Lou Marson
15 - Michael Bowden
16 - Wes Hodges
17 - Brett Cecil
18 - Jonathan Niese
19 - Pablo Sandoval
20 - Greg Golson

Now remember, these lists lean more towards performance than other BA lists, and rankings are in context of the league. NOW you can start whining.

0 recs | Comment 27 comments

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sandoval

I’d rather have him than tabata in my organization, or hodges. Even if Sandoval can’t field. And i prefer Cecil and Huff to Zimmerman. But of course I haven’t seen them.

by wobatus on Sep 25, 2008 3:52 PM EDT 0 recs

zimmerman

Scott (D.C.): I hate to beg, but please find it in your heart to say something nice about the Nationals’ farm system, organization or current major league roster?

Jim Callis: (3:00 PM ET ) I think Jordan Zimmermann is one of the better pitchers in the minors who doesn’t get much hype.

I heard Tim Lincecum will win 1 Cy Young & 11 Tim Lincecums. Question is, how many Cole Hamels will he win?

by the pinstripes on Sep 25, 2008 4:06 PM EDT up 0 recs

My thoughts:

Carrasco, too high.

No Mike Carp? He certainly has the numbers to be on that list and isn’t that old yet.

by Lunkwill Fook on Sep 25, 2008 4:13 PM EDT 0 recs

sure

one of the best of the non-hyped pitchers. Are Huff or Cecil hyped? Are they among the best of the non-hyped?

Well, looks like Zimmy gets the nod. I’ll take Cecil as a lefty with more grounders. But BA likes Huff even more than him.

Oh well, they all made the list.

Austin jackson and F-Mart are the worst of the over-hyped outfielders. :)

Just kidding, but Austin’s numbers don’t seem to warrant this much attention. At least F-mart is really young. Austin just kinda young.

by wobatus on Sep 25, 2008 4:14 PM EDT 0 recs

Austin jackson

Never really looked at his Fla St. league numbers from ‘07 until now. Wow. OK, only a partial season. Add that to the tools, though, and I suppose he is better than i thought. Still, his AA numbers aren’t that impressive.

by wobatus on Sep 25, 2008 4:35 PM EDT up 0 recs

jackson

his numbers were slightly above league average. he plays in a pretty poor hitters park as well.

he also struggled mightily down the stretch while dealing with a back injury

by skiinginNJ on Sep 25, 2008 6:20 PM EDT up 0 recs

David Hernandez

I’m a little surprised he didn’t make the list.

by dkdc on Sep 25, 2008 4:17 PM EDT 0 recs

hernandez snub again!

I’m a little susprised also!! If it’s done by performance than Hernandez should be on this list. How does a pitcher who leads the league in strikeouts and was 3rd in ERA and had a BAA of .217 not be on this list. He outperformed half the people on this list. If this list is based on top prospects Hernandez should be on this list also.

by orioole26 on Sep 26, 2008 12:14 PM EDT up 0 recs

the word "list"

“You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means”…. Inigo Montoya

I heard Tim Lincecum will win 1 Cy Young & 11 Tim Lincecums. Question is, how many Cole Hamels will he win?

by the pinstripes on Sep 26, 2008 12:21 PM EDT up 0 recs

hernandez

How hard does he throw?

by wobatus on Sep 26, 2008 12:39 PM EDT up 0 recs

Low-mid 90s

I don’t think anyone has concerns about his stuff. His fastball and slider are both plus pitches.

There are some other legit concerns about Hernandez: his command is spotty, he’s a flyball pitcher, and he’s had trouble going deep into games.

I think if he can sort out his command, his pitch count will come down, and his durability issues will go away. If he stays wild, he’s probably destined for the bullpen.

by dkdc on Sep 26, 2008 1:00 PM EDT up 0 recs

BB/9

If he can get his BB/9 to what he did in ’07, which was 2.91 and have the numbers he had in the EL this year, then you have a quality starter that should go deep into games.

by orioole26 on Sep 26, 2008 3:11 PM EDT up 0 recs

You killed my father.

Prepare to die.

by slurve on Sep 27, 2008 2:27 PM EDT up 0 recs

BA bias?

If this list was based upon performance than Hernandez diffidently should be on this Top 20 list, but I think it’s more BA bias and the reason I say this is that Carrasco is on this list and he really didn’t have a good year, in fact he hasn’t had one in a couple of years and when he came on the scene he was considered a top prospect by BA. I think he is being judged by his past performance rather then what he has accomplished since. Hernandez had a better season than Zimmerman but again BA has had him a top prospect since he came on the scene. Both are outstanding pitchers but they both didn’t have a season as good as Hernandez.

by egboyz on Sep 27, 2008 1:26 PM EDT up 0 recs

here's a link to a jason donald conversation that is related to this list

linkage

i think it’ll be proven to be a huge omission as soon as next year. the guy has a damn good bat, and his defense was steady enough in the olympics to suggest he could stay at the position. and with his bat, i think that makes him a very good prospect, easily better than, well, all of the outfielders on this list, minus travis snider.

ANATOMY OF ERA:
Variables Don't; Constants Aren't

by variablesdont on Sep 25, 2008 4:44 PM EDT 0 recs

oh really

its tough to see donald “easily” outperforming dan murphy who just had a nearly identical minor league season in the same league…oh and murphy is almost a year younger and has very successfully made the jump up to the majors…but donald did play in the olympics…

by robcast23 on Sep 25, 2008 8:55 PM EDT up 0 recs

Donald also plays SS . . .

Murphy is a LF/3B right now, if he can actually make a move to 2B his value would be higher.

I don’t really get the one year older thing, they both played their entire seasons as 23 year olds. So age really isn’t much of a factor. . . . I mean yeah Murphy is younger but he’s not even close to a full year younger like you’re trying to tell people lol.

I’m not sure if you’re trying to dismiss his play at the Olympics, but he was arguably team USA’s best hitter and outperformed all of the higher rated prospects on the team.

by Southwest on Sep 25, 2008 9:10 PM EDT up 0 recs

yeah and i play the piano

but neither of us does it well. a position change off of the spot that gives him the most value, as a trade chip or otherwise…hmm…well we can eat up the phillies company line about “versatility!” or you can see it as it is: we don’t see him cutting it at short at higher levels so hopefully he can move over…but either way, he doesn’t play short well and the most you can reasonably expect is average at 2nd, does that profile really scream out a huge margin in positional value? not in my opinion, the 2 of them are prospects because of their bats

regarding the age thing, i just thought i would point that out but if you don’t like it, fine…and i wasn’t dismissing the olympics but rather framing donald’s ‘08 extra-eastern league experience against murphy’s…if you value the olympics that much that you think they’re comparable to murphy’s stellar debut in major league baseball, then thats on you…but you’d be wrong

i’m not particularly trying to hate on donald, personally i think hes a pretty good prospect and probably underrated…i’m hating on the idea that hes “easily” better than murphy, which is laughable

by robcast23 on Sep 25, 2008 9:48 PM EDT up 0 recs

it gets better

about 20 minutes after my last post, i was alerted to the following:

Jason Donald, an All-Star shortstop at Reading and the leading hitter on Team USA that won an Olympic bronze medal, is changing positions this off-season.

He played second base in the first FIL game in Clearwater yesterday. “We’re going to work him at second and third this fall to see how versatile he can be,” explained Mike Arbuckle. Donald will spend time in Clearwater and join the Arizona Fall League on October 7. He’ll play both positions there, too.

ANATOMY OF ERA:
Variables Don't; Constants Aren't

by variablesdont on Sep 25, 2008 9:10 PM EDT up 0 recs

yeah and did you hear about villalona?

the giants are simply teaching him versatility by moving him over to first this season…

by robcast23 on Sep 25, 2008 9:51 PM EDT up 0 recs

Why suck at just one position...

…when you can be versatile, and suck all over the field?

by JayWise on Sep 25, 2008 11:08 PM EDT up 0 recs

Quite a discussion here. A couple of thoughts…

I think most will agree that Donald is a glaring omission from this list. Whatever their upside, guys like Tabata, F-Mart, and Golson performed significantly worse than Donald this year, and none of them plays SS (more on that in a minute).

With regard to Donald vs. Murphy: I give a slight edge to Murphy given his success at the ML level and his superior BB:K. But Murphy is a 2B in a best case scenario — I’m a big fan, but his bat is subpar for LF — while Donald sticking at SS is a very real possibility. He’ll never win a Gold Glove, but Keith Law (among others) thinks he could stick at short as a slightly below average defender.

Finally, with regard to the defensive issue, Donald working at 2B and 3B reflects less on him and more on the situation in front of him. Jimmy Rollins and Chase Utley aren’t going anywhere, so Donald’s short-term future is as a super-utility guy and bench bat. Personally, I think the Phils would love to keep Donald on the 25-man next year and give him 300 at bats between 3B, SS, 2B and PH.

by PhillyFriar on Sep 26, 2008 10:47 AM EDT up 0 recs

Daniel Valencia

I thought that he might have made it towards the bottom of the list. He had a great beginning to the season in the Florida State League and then got called up AA New Britain. He started of slow there, but finished pretty strong. Thoughts?

by ahope on Sep 25, 2008 4:45 PM EDT 0 recs

Bard over Bowden? I dont see how you can put Bard above Bowden when Bards ultimately a reliever, even if he throws 100 mph.

by soxrchamps07 on Sep 25, 2008 7:11 PM EDT 0 recs