Prospect Face-Off: Brett Lawrie vs. Kyle Skipworth

that most, if not all, answers you get here will be irrelevant.

Most everyone here hasn’t ever seen one of them play much less both players play and the stats don’t matter at this point.

So basically you’re going to be getting opinions based only on what folks have heard from other folks or talking heads.

If Kyle Skipworth had been taken by the Redsox in the top 10 of the draft he would be blowing Lawrie out of the water. As is Lawrie is getting the canadian vote to put him over the top.

You have to rely 100% on the scouting reports. And based on those reports, Skipworth is the better player.

+1

wow this is close…54 votes for each right now

Well since you’re comparing these two I’m going to jump to the conclusion that you want their ceilings compared assuming they both stay at catcher.
 
Skipworth, from all I’ve heard is has a swing that produces a lot of line drives. He’ll hit for average, maybe better and produce plenty of doubles and potentially 15-25hrs annually if all goes well. He’s been called the best prep catcher since Mauer, but please keep in mind he is not Mauer. I know it’s been a few years but Mauer was a type of prep player that had outstanding hitting abilities, great hand eye coordination, great approach and frankly he could (and still can) hit anything. Skipworth is not that. I know rookie ball stats don’t mean too much but Mauer in his rookie ball debut in 2001 struck out 10 times in 110ab over 32 games while drawing 19 walks. Over the course of his minor league career he struck out on avg once every 10 ab. Skipworth has so far struck out 46 times in 159 ab over 43 games. That said I’m not trying to put Skipworth down, I just don’t want people to misunderstand the "best prep catcher since Mauer" to take that he’s even close to the second coming of Mauer.
 
Now on to Lawrie.
 
Lawrie is harder to judge, since as a Canadian he doesn’t have the exposure as Skipworth does. From a pure hitting point of view I like Lawrie over Skipworth. I’ve seen hitting clips of both hitters and while Skipworth has a nice compact swing, Lawrie has a swing that should have him hit for average and produce 30hrs+ annually if everything goes right. Now if you ask me who has a better chance of sticking at catcher I would say Skipworth, partly because of his experience at the position over Lawrie, and partly because if Skipworth were to change positions where we he go? He’d have to compete with Morrison in a few years for 1B, and frankly I doubt he’ll be better than Morrison as a hitter. Lawrie has a potent enough bat that he could play in the infield, and should be athletic enough to play at 1b, 2b or 3b. The bigger question mark for Lawrie is which position and how much effort he’ll put into learning it.
 
If I was to taken into account that both players were to stick at catcher I’d take Lawrie over Skipworth because I believe in Lawrie’s bat much more. If you take positions into account then it would be harder to decide. FYI in my league we just held our 08 amateur draft and Lawrie was taken a spot ahead of Skipworth. Skipworth seems to be more universally liked, while people have a love / hate relationship with Lawrie.