Are you reading for a big one? OK, here goes…

Overall I think the Angels organization has improved significantly over the past few years, from being considered one of the best orgs in baseball 5-6 years ago* to one of the worst 2-3 years ago (after the generally disappointing prospect group from 5-6 made it to the big leagues). Right now I think they’re in the upper half, maybe in the #10-15 range, but I don’t study other farm systems well enough to be able to say with any certainty except to compare where they were a year or two ago. Given that the bulk of top prospects are moving up, the org should be top 10 by the end of the year, especially if Trout doesn’t graduate this year.

For the second year in a row the Angels had five picks in the first round, thanks to the losses of John Lackey, Chone Figgins, and Vlad Guerrero. With them they picked a group of high-risk/reward high school position players in Ryan Bolden, Chevez Clarke, and Taylor Lindsey. We haven’t seen much yet from top pick Kaleb Cowart, but from all accounts he has star potential. Steve Bedrosian’s son Cam could also really come along.

Let’s take a stroll through the organization, position-by-position, starting with the pitching staff….

One area that the organization currently excels at is good relief prospects, including Jordan Walden, Michael Kohn, Jeremy Berg, Steven Geltz, Eddie McKiernan, and Daniel Tillman. In 2-3 years they could truly have an incredible bullpen at the big league level. After that you have Cam Bedrosian, a supplemental first rounder in 2010.

Despite losing a few good pitching prospects through trades in 2010, most notably Tyler Skaggs (who, in my opinion, could be very, very good) and Patrick Corbin, not to mention Alex Torres a year before in the infamous Scott Kazmir trade, the Angels still have a few very good starting prospects: Garret Richards, Tyler Chatwood, and Fabio Martinez Mesa. In 2009 Trevor Reckling was probably their best starting prospect but his star has fallen after a year of stagnation. On the outskirts is supplemental pick Tyler Kehrer who struggled with his command but improved as the year went on.

The organization is, as usual, weak at catcher, but Conger is a very good and, at this point, underrated prospect. Look for him to break in with the big league club this year, probably around midseason. Carlos Ramirez also has some promise, especially behind the plate, but projects more as a backup.

They have two very good middle infield prospects in Jean Segura and Alexi Amarista. Segura could be a borderline star in the Ray Durham mold while Amarista projects more as a utility player or a poor man’s Placido Polanco. They have their usual assortment of light-hitting middle infield marginal prospects in Andrew Romine—possibly a Marco Scutaro-type—Darwin Perez, and the stalled Hainley Statia. I look forward to seeing what first-rounder Taylor Lindsey will do in a full season this year; his bat projects well although he may not be able to hold 2B defensively. One name in Rookie ball stands out as having some promise is Wendell Soto, but he’s just getting started. Ryan Mount and Brandon Phillips’ little brother PJ both seem to have flamed out.

As usual, the Angels don’t have much in the way of big bat corner infield prospects other than Mark Trumbo, who may be underrated at this point. He’ll be 25 next year and probably back to AAA but he really has nothing more to prove after posting a .945 OPS there last year; his plate discipline is improving and his swing isn’t as long as one might think, but his defense is weak and he has nowhere to play on the Angels unless they’re willing to have Juan Rivera ride the bench and give Napoli more time at catcher. Gabriel Jacobo seems to be another in the long tradition of Angels first base “prospects”: Robb Quinlan, Chris Pritchett, Nick Gorneault and even Casey Kotchman types: A good glove + a little bit of average + very little power + no plate discipline = minor league veteran or, at best, the last man on the bench of a major league club for a few years (e.g. Quinlan). Kole Calhoun has a great name and good plate discipline but may not have the umph to make it to the majors.

Luis Jimenez and Dillon Baird are solid 3B prospects but project more as quality regulars or bench players. Kaleb Cowart would be the top 3B prospect but he’s headed for low-A this year and we just don’t have much to go on yet.

As for the outfield, the Angels are gathering steam. Peter Bourjos is already with the big club so the next nearest prospect would be Jeremy Moore, who will play in AAA Salt Lake this year. Moore had a solid breakout campaign last year and is a bit of a sleeper pick given his tool-set, but at this point he’s still a good but not great prospect. After that you have Angel Castillo, another raw-and-toolsy outfielder probably headed for AA, Randal Grichuk whose tremendous power makes him a good prospect but whose poor plate discipline keeps him from being an elite one, and a group of lower-draft college batsmen in the low minors in Andrew Heid, Brandon Decker, and Travis Witherspoon. Heid’s bat rates as the best and is another sleeper candidate, while Witherspoon has the best overall package. Below them you have the the very raw-and-toolsy Chevez Clarke and Ryan Bolden, both of whom could turn out to be stars or flame out in the next couple years.

I’d group their prospects as follows:

Elite Prospects (Grade A- or higher): Mike Trout
Good to Very Good Prospects (Grade C+/B- to B+): Conger, Segura, Richards, Walden, Chatwood, Martinez, Grichuk, Cowart, Amarista, Trumbo, Moore
Solid Prospects (Grade C/C+): Reckling, Aldridge, Kehrer, Romine, Castillo, Clarke, Bolden, Lindsey, Tillman, Heid, Witherspoon, Decker, Jimenez, Baird, Jacobo, Kohn, Geltz, Berg, McKiernan, Bedrosian, Perez, Ramirez, Calhoun, Decker, Soto.

*John may never live down his Mathis/Mauer comparison but we all make mistakes ;-).

Donn Roach: Drafted in the 3rd round of this past year’s draft. His ERA stunk and it looks like he gave up a fair number of hits, but he had a pretty solid BB/K ratio and keep the ball on the ground pretty well (5.25 GO/AO)

Max Russell: Drafted in the 4th round. Got promoted up from Orem to Cedar Rapids. Seemed to have trouble with the long ball, but got a fair amount of K’s, at least while he was in Orem.

I also agree that Bedrosian might be better than a C/C+ prospect, but it all depends on what scouts are saying as his scant pro data wasn’t very impressive.

I like Bolden’s tools, but with his problems with the bat, I’m not sure at this point that he should be included in the C/C+ range. His numbers were, to say the least, pretty ghastly