Schedule and Suggestions

I’d like to see a post entitled “Are We Underrating Matt Adams, Or Overrating Everybody else?” that compares Matt Adams to recent high-ranked 1B prospects like Belt, Freeman, Rizzo, and Alonso.

Our fearless leader Mr. Sickels says Adams “has some pure hitting skills to go with all the power” and BA observes that “Adams has a hulking frame but doesn’t rely solely on muscle to catapult his moonshot homers. He has a compact swing that doesn’t need an uppercut or loop to create distance. A coach called the stroke foolproof because it gives him the ability to punish more than mistakes. One scout likened him to Freddie Freeman with more power and less defense.”

Moreover, both Sickels and BA like his defense, with both lauding “soft hands” and BA calling his arm “accurate” (Sickels just thinks it’s “decent”).

Adams looks like a good bet to be an average defender who hits somewhere between .270 and .290, and somewhere between 20 and 30 home runs. That’s a big range, but it’s a range from decent regular to All-Star. Why is a couple defensive runs saved with less power (Freeman) or twenty batting average points with less power (Alonso) SO much better? Why is Rizzo a better prospect at all? Why is adams stuck behind several relief pitchers on BA’s Cardinals Top 10?

Clearly Matt Adams doesn’t get enough respect, but Idoes he also tell us something about other 1B prospects that we’re not really willing to admit to ourselves? Should all 1B prospects be graded a bit lower and closer to Adams, or should Adams be higher?

I know you don’t like to grade international kids because it’s hard to find any news, scouting report and stuff on them. But you could either:

- do a roundup of the last three years biggest signings and see how they developed
- just do 2011

I seem to remember you were going to merge your top 50 hitters and pitchers into an overall top 100 list. I probably missed where you were going to post this. I bought he book, but it was not on there. I apologize if this has already been addressed elsewhere.

By the way, as always, the book is terrific

I think it would be cool if you took a look at the best relievers, either last year of over the last few years, to see how they were regarded as prospects. Are there any signs which pitchers might not make it in the rotation but can still dominate for an inning or two out of the pen?

Must say I found one minor glarying omission.

Jose Cisnero RHP prospect of Houston

would be nice! Also, how about the sleeper-y-est prospect from each team?

Prospect retro on roy oswalt please?

Top Players with less then one year service time but do not qualify as rookies and how you expect them to preform this year

Id still LOVE to see a top 25 under 25 list.

Given what Alex Gordon and Brandon McCarthy did last year, maybe a list of former top prospects who haven’t yet lived up to their potential but for whom it’s not too late to turn things around? Perhaps it’s too hard to predict, although in retrospect Gordon’s breakout maybe shouldn’t have been so surprising…
Also, given your recent exploration into former elite prospects and where they are now, would it be possible for you to put together a complete list of A and A- prospects through the years?
And +1 for Arfuture1985’s idea.

Oscar Taveras vs Rymer Liriano