We’ll be into the season, but I’ll put in the time if there is interest in continuing it to say 125 or something.

What’s the thought on that?

but i honestly didn’t want to. i have him loosely pegged in my head as a 90-100 guy. close enough, but i gotta think there’s others (I would’ve taken, for example, Nick Hagadone).

But in Jay Jackson, you have a close to ready prospect that still has some growth potential. He’ll be in AAA barring a last second surprise (not impossible). As most know by now, he had a really interesting 2009, to say the least. He was jumped to Tennessee after going through 3 levels of the system in 2008 and finishing at Daytona (and by all accounts, having an excellent postseason outing in the FSL playoffs for the D-Cubs, who eventually won). After struggling in his first three outings, he settled down in Tennessee and had himself a nice little run through June.

Then, the bottom fell out. The control, which had been improving each month, simply bottomed out. His monthly BB/9 rate: 4.35/3.13/2.30/7.13. Then, he got demoted to A+ for disciplinary reasons. Without going into detail, which I’m sure most people can find out about online by now, it seemed like he was having too much fun. Reportedly there were some disagreements with coaches, to say the least.

He went to Daytona, where he just ran roughshod over the opposition, with a 10.1 K/9 and a 0.88 BB/9 in 41 innings, then ended the year with a cup of tea callup to Iowa (1 start).

There are some concerns with flyballs, and there are some obvious control concerns, but I think July was more an aberration than some sort of hole exposed, so I don’t think the control issues are glaring. What is well-acknowledged is that he’s more of a thrower. Arm action is, by most accounts, fairly clean, but he needs to learn to use his whole body.

Sounds bad … but this is a guy who is only going to be in his 3rd year of full-time pitching after being a good 2-way guy in college. His velocity picked up this year, sitting more 92-94, with a few instances where he gunned upper 90’s when he had to reach back. The slider can be a dominant pitch, the curveball improved a lot. The change is a work in progress, but it did show progress.

Furthermore, he’s a good athlete, which, while not eliminating the concerns about his body usage right now, gives some hope that it won’t be as physically taxing. He’s also, by most accounts, really improved pitching once he focused on it. It is possible that, with more time, that if he improves his delivery, that his velocity and/or movement of his pitches could improve.

The floor is probably a good late inning pen arm (upper 90’s fb with a good slider and show-me pitches, control issues wouldn’t be as big a concern). By itself, that doesn’t mean much, but when you factor in that his ceiling is that of a number 2 (ceiling, not saying he’ll reach it - others have utilized the “number 2” potential as well), and that he is in the upper levels and close to ready, well, I’m not sure who else I can vote for.

I’m very intrigued with Knapp and Delgado, but I’m not sure the latter necessarily has a higher ceiling than Jay, and both are far away, with the former having some health issues to at least grab my attention in a voting situation like this. I’m not big on Ramos at all. Maybe I’m just off there, but I just see more Henry Blanco/Bengie Molina-ish, and I’m not sure that’s top 100. I’ll be honest, I just can’t pull the trigger on Romine here (and probably not top 100), although I don’t have a good reason why. I pondered Chase for awhile.

I personally think it’s way too high for Michael Main, but what’s the case for Main over Jay Jackson? I’m not sure. Melville? His ceiling isn’t higher than Jay’s, and he’s far away. I like Sizemore to be a decent regular, but I’m just not sure his ceiling is enough for me to put ahead of Jay (top 100, maybe).

Again, there are probably a few guys that should go ahead, but I don’t like the options on this poll enough to vote any of them ahead.

A leg injury negates his potential and throws him off the list completely?