At least from what we’ve seen so far. Villalona could be a beast, but he’s limited defensively, his approach at the plate is still somewhat rudimentary, and he’s always going to have to keep an eye on his girth. Heyward, meanwhile, is rapidly approaching elite status, in terms of his overall tool set. Villalona, if he reaches his ceiling, will have the advantage power-wise, but that’s about it.

that Heyward cannot (offensively). Other parts of the game are obviously in Heyward’s favor. A more fitting contest would have been Heyward vs. Moustakas (apologies for the potential hijack of thread)…

I’ve yet to see the latter play but am very familiar w/ Heyward (called him a fringe top 10 prospect for this yr upon draft). I know the times we played his teams we could not get him out unless he hit it right at people. Tried to pitch around him some w/ tons of offspeed on the outer half, he would wait and kill it to oppo field. No FBs for strikes, but try to sneak one or 2 inside he would hammer that too. My team didn’t have a guy who could throw over 90 then but a few others did, he had trouble w/ inside heat, every teenager does (incl. the younger Upton, but that was his only foil). Outside of Upton (maybe) his is the best HS bat I have ever seen in my 10+ yrs of this. I doubt he keeps his speed past age of 22/23 but I see a string of 1.000+ OPS and 40-45 HRs seasons in his peak yrs. Also quick feet/hands, a limber athlete for a kid his size, he should “age” well too.

How many 17 year old “prodigies” actually make, let alone succeed in, the majors? Heyward looks like the next superstar OF. As a comparison, I have Heyward at #3 in my Top 25, while Villalona was left off the list. As to what Dew said, I have Heyward slightly above Moose, but I am VERY high on both of them.

Villalona looks a little tubby already while Heyward seems to be the better athlete. Villalona can eat himself out of professional baseball before he is 25 while Heyward seems primed to make a steady climb to being a Top 5 prospect and eventually a much safer bet to fulfill his potential.

The power will be neglible unless Villalona turns out to be the right-handed version of Ryan Howard.

I know it’s probably been overstated but Villalona’s improvement over the course of the season was quite impressive. Sure overall the numbers arent that spectactular but the fact that each month there was marked improvement in almost all categories I thought spoke volumes.

Yes, there is no question at this point in time that Heyward is a sure pick over Villalona, but I feel that this thread is really not giving enough credit to what big V could potentially become at the same time…what he did as a 17 yr old for most of the season is pretty excellent. He has big time power potential and many years to learn improved plate discipline. Heyward is the safer pick here, but I’d say if Villalona reaches his potential, he could be a total beast.

If the question was who has the higher potential, there may be something to discuss there but I just really don’t see this as a legitimate question. Villalona has greater raw power and is a bit younger but aside from that, he really has nothing that would make him a better prospect. In terms of his body, speed, plate discipline, defense, positional flexibility, etc. he’s just out of Villalona’s leg.

Again, asking who has the higher ceiling is different, but if you went around to every GM in baseball and they gave an honest answer to this question, I think you’d be hard pressed to find one or two that would say V.

A better comp would have been Freedie Freeman vs. Villalona since both play 1B and were in the same league.