Los Angeles Angels Top 20 PRE-SEASON Prospects in Review

This list was originally published December 31st, 2008. This is a REVIEW of the PRE-SEASON list for 2009, not a revision of that list. This is a REVIEW of the old list. I'm not doing new grades or lists until I start working on the 2010 book.

1) Jordan Walden, RHP, Grade B+: 5.25 ERA with 57/29 K/BB in 60 innings for Double-A Arkansas, on the DL since mid-July. Health the issue here.

2) Trevor Reckling, LHP, Grade B: 2.69 ERA with 101/68 K/BB in 124 innings, 105 hits for Arkansas. I rated him very highly and he's done well, but needs to bring the walk rate down to maintain his progress.

3) Hank Conger, C, Grade B: Hitting .299/.366/.425 for Arkansas. Hasn't really broken out but not a failure either.

4) Nick Adenhart, RHP, Grade B-:  Rest in peace.

5) Will Smith, LHP, Grade B-: 3.58 ERA with 82/22 K/BB in 98 innings, 91 hits allowed for Class A Cedar Rapids. Holding his own but not spectacular.

6) Peter Bourjos, OF, Grade C+: Hitting .276/.351/.419 for Arkansas with 28 steals in 40 attempts. Cooled off after a hot start, killing lefties at .347/.400/.611 but just .252/.333/.355 against RHP.

7) Kevin Jepsen, RHP, Grade C+: 5.30 ERA with 30/12 K/BB in 36 innings in the majors, 45 hits allowed. Not great obviously, has the potential to improve.

8) Mark Trumbo, 1B, Grade C+: Hitting .286/.325/.443 for Arkansas. Another not great but not terrible season.

9) Anthony Ortega, RHP, Grade C+: Limited to just 19 innings in the minors and 13 in the majors due to injuries.

10) Clay Fuller, OF, Grade C+: Hitting .239/.346/.361 with 27 steals, 64 walks, 109 strikeouts in 410 at-bats for Rancho in the Cal League. Draws walks and steals bases, but the hoped-for breakthrough season is not occurring.

11) Sean O'Sullivan, RHP, Grade C+: 6.60 ERA with 26/15 K/BB in 44 major league innings, 55 hits. Threw a no-hitter for Salt Lake, needs more adjustment time in the Show.

12) Tyler Chatwood, RHP, Grade C+: 4.10 ERA with 97/59 K/BB in 105 innings for Class A Cedar Rapids, 90 hits. Doing OK, needs to lower walk rate.

13) Manuarys Correa, RHP, Grade C+: 4.54 ERA with 67/40 K/BB in 149 innings for Cedar Rapids, 159 hits. Eats innings, but K/IP is poor and he's quite hittable.

14) Alexander Torres, LHP, Grade C+: 10-3, 2.74 with a 124/63 K/BB in 121 innings for Rancho, just promoted to Double-A where he's 2-1, 3.60 with a 17/14 K/BB in 20 innings. Needs to improve command, but gets lots of ground balls and fans people.

15) Ryan Chaffee, RHP, Grade C+: 3.69 ERA with a 112/57 K/BB in 107 innings at Cedar Rapids, just 72 hits allowed, 2.61 GO/AO ratio. Very intriguing pitcher.

16) Luis Jimenez, 3B, Grade C+: Hasn't played this year. Not sure why.

17) Michael Kohn, RHP, Grade C+: 1.76 ERA with 96/24 K/BB in 61 innings combined between Cedar Rapids and Rancho, just 32 hits allowed. Relief arm to watch closely for 2010.

18) Ryan Mount, 2B, Grade C+: Hitting .226/.279/.318 for Arkansas. Doesn't draw walks, power hasn't translated well to Double-A, still gets hurt a lot.

19) Jose Perez, RHP, Grade C+: Has pitched 13 innings in the Arizona Rookie League, with a 20/3 K/BB.

20) Gabe Jacobo, 1B, Grade C+: Hitting .247/.313/.410 for Cedar Rapids. Unable to maintain momentum from last year.

Trevor Bell has had a good year in the minors but I had him as a Grade C type heading into the season and didn't put him in the book, given negative scouting reports about his velocity last year. The untimely death of Nick Adenhart was a huge blow, of course. Next year's list will likely look much different.