League

Trevor Cahill

wouldn’t put him there yet—need to see more production

Yikes at Jennings and Thompson as top 10 guys.

Brignac??? top 10??

But Ramirez and Heyward?

What is not to like a bout Cahill. First of all, to the bottom guy, what is your opinion of “plus stuff” Low 90’s sinker is a plus pitch. Same as his knuckle curve.

Then look at the numbers, the age, the league, the size. What is not to like????

Find me one statistical area where he hasn’t been downright dominant this year.

The numbers, obviously, have a lot to do with it. He’s putting up awesome numbers at a young age in some of the most pitching-adverse conditions in pro baseball. His peripherals are just plain great.

He’s not exactly lacking stuff-wise, either. His velocity isn’t outstanding but it’s very solid, with tons of sink on his 2 seamer. His curve is a nasty pitch. He can throw his stuff for strikes. Makeup rates very highly - extremely intelligent young man. Very athletic, would’ve projected as a solid prospect at shortstop if not for his development as a pitcher in his senior year of HS.

The combination of plus-plus sinker and plus curve makes me think of Brandon Webb, and Cahill is just way ahead of where Webb was at the same point.

That is coming from a guy who worked with Roy Halladay, so that’s saying something.

Look at his absurd GB% if you want to see proof of it.

Also, the radio feed I listened to of Cahill’s last start, the announcer mentioned several times that “Cahill works in the mid 90’s” never specifically saying a number, but that is what he said.

And if his Sinker is 88-92, I’m sure he can throw a 4-seamer in 94 no problem. Trevor Cahill does have plus stuff, it’s just not straight heat.

I mean, Feliz certainly has the heater down, and he’s got #1 upside, but I don’t even think Goldstein will put him his top 10, if for no other reason than because he’s just so far away.

John had him as the 45th best hitter. That is looking like a pretty good evaluation.

I think he was at .180 when I posted that. Look out!

Just my opinion but I don’t think you can put Porcello on top 10 without putting Cahill(If he continues his dominance) Porcello is a year younger pitching in the Florida State league which if I recall correctly is a very pitcher friendly league compared to the California league which is very hitter friendly. You do realize they have similar skillsets both being sinkerball pitchers. Why do people say Cahill doesn’t have 2 plus pitches? Please link me something that says he doesn’t? That BA chat was one persons opinion it was not polled to the entire staff and just his opinion at this time.

He may have the tools, the good body type, etc. but right now his numbers are just not that good. He’s still 22 years old so he has room to grow, but No. 8? That’s just crazy.

A few thoughts:

-Inman received an “8C” grade from the MiLB Analyst, the same one that both Hellickson and Cahill got. However, unlike those latter two pitchers, Inman also received a plus grade for a pitch (his FB). I still think Hellickson is the best out of the three, regardless of the Analyst’s grades, but Inman is not far behind. He is only a year older than Cahill, and is dominating at AA.

-I understand that Ramirez is a decent pure hitter (the Analyst gives him plus avg and pwr), but between his shitty defense and his high BABIP, I think he’s being ridiculously overrated by many. He’s barely a top 20 prospect, and it’s silly to argue otherwise. The Analyst lists his potential as being a platoon CA/1B.

-When I wrote that McCutchen would graduate, my list was still top 10. I looked a little more closely when I expanded it to 20, reinstated him on the list, and forgot to edit my endnotes. My fault, sorry.

-Wade Davis has never really done it for me. I’m still not really sure what type of pitcher he is. Early on, he looked like a high-K, low control type. Last year, he turned into a great all-around pitcher, and this year, both his Ks and BBs have regressed. He actually has a very similar arsenal with Inman, as both have three average-to-above average pitches, with similar velocities. Inman’s command just impresses me more than Davis’ at this point.

-Fowler, for me, has already passed Maybin at this point. He’s added power this year, and while Maybin has the higher ceiling, Fowler has a far higher floor. Defensively, Fowler is as good as any of the top 3 (him, Maybin, McCutchen). I guess, for me, I like that Fowler is both close to the majors, is relatively low risk, and is already looking comparable to guys who were previously considered much better prospects offensively.

I may remake my list tonight to look at a few more pitchers (When all is said and done in ‘08, Hurley/Elbert/Kiker/Detwiler will all likely deserve looks), but I’m pretty pleased with how that top 20 turned out, and I’m comfortable with most of the rankings.

why does everyone have him as a consensus top 10, when he hasn’t really performed so well in AA this year. I understand he is young, but still.

...to the point where you ranked him twice. He’s not that good, you know. ;-)

The dude is a butcher in the field.

There is no way to sugarcoat it without completely lying.

I realize that, but LaPorta is going to be passable somewhere. I don’t think Gamel will ever be even average.

Nobody is debating he has an incredible bat. I don’t think he belongs in the top 10, though.

I will say that maybe LaPorta should be dropped to the back end of the top 10, for the same reasons that I think Gamel is out of it.

“Generational” hitters do not get passed up by anybody in a draft, no matter what. “Generational” hitters do not have questions about them, at all.

Alvarez looks like he should be a pretty nice hitter with a bat that plays at any position, but he struck out an awful lot against college competition. I don’t really see a reason to think that he’ll be more of an offensive presence than, say, Pat Burrell. Which isn’t to say that he isn’t an excellent prospect.

I love how you have Davis on this list and not McGee, I’m one of the few who are higher on Davis. And I find it very interesting how you have Brignac in the top 5 over Wieters and Laporta.

Is he having a good year for the Phils? Man I hope so. We keep drafting high-tools players, which really concerns me, but for some reason they tend to turn out…

Not as a consensus opinion, but perhaps if you really love upside (not that Porcello has a low ceiling of course).

Aumont’s got to be one of the more pleasant surprises thus far. For a very raw kid who had barely pitched in a competitive setting prior to this year, he’s been extremely impressive.

Adam Miller has been hurt again, he won’t be that high.

You think Desmond Jennings is one season away from top 20-30 status? He still is in High A but he absolutely raked last season and he just started playing this year.

Hoe could Hellickson be so much Higher than Cahill?

This isn’t personal, since obviously other people ranked him much higher, but I don’t see Lars Anderson getting (or deserving, for that matter) much attention this high on a prospect list. Sure, he gets on base. But he’s a first baseman with 18 professional home runs in 825 PA, and he’s playing in the park/league which provides absolutely the best hitting environment in the minors. I think at this point, just off the top of my head at the position, Smoak or Alonso would have to be considered at least his equal as far as prospect value goes. And I personally like his Lancaster teammate Reddick better as a prospect (a year older, I know, but hitting .328/.354/.600 this year, and had 19 OF assists last year and 11 already this year!), and possibly even Jon Still, since catchers develop so late so frequently. But with Still, much would depend on how good his defense turns out to be, which is always dicey to predict with catchers who aren’t elite.

Anyway, John rated Lars the #18 hitter last year, and I don’t see that he’s improved his stock in any way so far in 2008. Slugging .500 as a first baseman at Lancaster just doesn’t wow me.

Eh, maybe . . .a top 10 prospect doesn’t just get where he is on pure minor league production however, a lot of the ranking has to do with what you can project out of the guy at the major league level. I think he’s probably a 3 or a 4 in the majors based on current information. And I’m not totally certain how I feel about his chances of doing that, either.

I’d take at least a handful of pitchers alone above him.

Escobar, while putting up nice numbers so far this year, is probably still the 4th and maybe even 5th best player on his team behind LaPorta, Gamel, Salome and you can argue between him and Brantley for 4th in my opinion. While he is having a good year, I don’t see him as a top 50 talent at this point.

As for Fowler, he was ranked in a bunch of top 100 lists last year, and I think he has a chance to creep into the top 30 for lists this year. He has put up pretty solid, although not outstanding, stats this year at AA Tulsa to back up his case. Although at 22, will be interesting to see if he gets a look for a mid-season callup to AAA.