Celebrate the New Year with the 2012 Baseball Prospect Book: The Mayan Edition

Buy some books, guys! We will be shipping the hard copies in about a month, and are selling the .pdf from the beginning this year. Use some of your Christmas gift money and support American business! The best way to support all the free material here at MinorLeagueBall is to buy the book.

The book will have reports on well over 1,000 players. Some samples below.

Ruben "R.J." Alaniz, RHP, Houston Astros
Bats: R Throws: R HT: 6-4 WT: 175 DOB: June 14, 1991

(STATS GO HERE, data from the last two seasons, including college stats, will be here in the book)

Alaniz was signed by the Astros as an undrafted free agent in 2009. He went to high school in La Joya, Texas, but his senior spring season was cancelled due to the swine flu outbreak, and most scouts didn't get to see him. He hit 95 MPH in a post-draft workout, and the Astros brought him into the professional ranks with a $150,000 bonus. Alaniz works at 90-92 currently, mixing in a promising curveball and changeup. He's erratic, but when everything is working he has three major league pitches and throws strikes. It will be interesting to see how he adapts to the difficult pitching conditions at High-A Lancaster, but there is sleeper potential here. Grade C.

Sean Albury, RHP, Milwaukee Brewers
Bats: R Throws: R HT: 5-11 WT: 180 DOB: March 24, 1989

A right-hander from the Bahamas, Sean Albury was a lights-out closer for two years at Nova Southeastern University in Florida. The Brewers had good luck with another product of that school, Mike Fiers, so they went to the well again in the 2011 draft and picked up Albury in the 31^st round. He blew through the Pioneer League, holding right-handed hitters to a .136 mark on the strength of his 90-93 MPH fastball, curveball, and change. We need to see him at higher levels, but he could move quickly as a reliever. Grade C.

Jeff Ames, RHP, Tampa Bay Rays
Bats: R Throws: R HT: 6-4 WT: 225 DOB: January 31, 1991

SLEEPER ALERT! It would be easy to ignore Jeff Ames due to his 7.12 ERA in rookie ball, but that would be a mistake. His excellent K/BB and K/IP ratios are a better indicator of his potential. Drafted in the supplemental first round in 2011 (42^nd overall) from Lower Columbia Junior College in Washington state, Ames has a 92-95 MPH fastball and an effective slider. He needs to improve his changeup to remain a starter, but his fastball/slider combination would look good in the bullpen too. He threw strikes in rookie ball, and the ugly ERA was the result of three poor games where he gave up 17 runs, six walks and 20 hits in seven total innings. Take those games out and he had a 2.73 ERA with 20 hits in 23 innings with a 31/1 K/BB ratio. Of course, we can't take those games out, but the point is that he pitched well more often than he pitched poorly. Grade C+.

Matt Andriese, RHP, San Diego Padres
Bats: R Throws: R HT: 6-3 WT: 210 DOB: August 28, 1989

SLEEPER ALERT! Andriese was drafted in the third round last June from UC-Riverside. A ground ball specialist, he posted a 2.35 GO/AO ratio in addition to his sharp K/BB, K/IP, and H/IP marks that you can see above. He didn't allow a single home run all season, college or pro, which is quite an accomplishment in 138.1 innings. Andriese has a low-90s sinker, a promising curveball, and a solid splitter. He doesn't have much physical projection left and is as good now as he's likely to get, at least in terms of velocity, but his present stuff is enough for him to succeed if he throws strikes. He usually throws strikes. I can see him developing into an inning-eating workhorse starter if his command remains intact. Grade C+.