Toronto Blue Jays Top 20 Prospects

Ricky Romero

TORONTO BLUE JAYS

1. Ricky Romero, LHP, Grade B+
   
2. David Purcey, LHP, Grade B+
   
3. Dustin McGowan, RHP, Grade B
   
4. Josh Banks, RHP, B
   
5. Casey Janssen, RHP, B
   
6. Curtis Thigpen, C, B-
   
7. Adam Lind, OF, B-
   
8. Ryan Patterson, OF, B-
   
9. Francisco Rosario, RHP, C+
   
10. Brandon League, RHP, C+
    
11. Shawn Marcum, RHP, C+
    
12. Chip Cannon, 1B, C+
    
13. Vince Perkins, RHP, C+
    
14. Robert Ray, RHP, C+
    
15. Paul Phillips, RHP, C+
    
16. Chi Hung Cheng, LHP, C+
    
17. Jesse Litsch, LHP, C+
    
18. Guillermo Quiroz, C, C
    
19. John-Ford Griffin, OF, C
    
20. Davis Romero, LHP, C

I expect the ranking of Romero and Purcey ahead of McGowan will be very controversial. When I wrote the book, my thinking was that McGowan had the highest physical ceiling of the three, no question, and I was VERY high on him before he got hurt. He appears healthy now, but I'm uncertain about his command, which was a major problem for him at times last season and will hamper him unless it improves.

Because of the command issue, I lowered his grade from B+ in the early draft of the book to a straight B before we went to press. But that might not be right. . .what do you guys think? Should McGowan rate Grade B+, and if so would you rank him ahead of Romero and Purcey?

I'm pretty confident in the other grades.

More of my thoughts on the Blue Jays system can be found here at BattersBox.