2010 Top 20 Los Angeles Angels Pre-Season Prospects in Review

2010 Los Angeles Angels Top 20 Prospects in Review

Here is a review of the 2010 Angels prospect list, originally published November 23, 2009. THIS IS A REVIEW OF THE OLD LIST AND PRE-SEASON GRADES. THIS IS NOT A NEW LIST.  The 2011 list and new grades won't be ready until the season is over and I start writing the book.

1) Mike Trout, OF, Grade B+: .362/.454/.526 with 45 steals for Low-A Cedar Rapids, .282/.368/.427 in 25 games for High-A Rancho Cucamonga, six steals. Power is still developing, but speed , OBP, and defense are excellent.

2) Hank Conger, C, Grade B+:   .278/.370/.414 in 86 games for Triple-A Salt Lake City. Actually hitting much better on the road (.868 OPS) than at home (.707). Has caught 29% of runners, but made 12 errors in 63 defensive games. Not breaking through like I'd hoped.

3) Trevor Reckling, LHP, Grade B:  Horrible at Salt Lake (8.53 ERA, 46/50 K/BB in 70 innings, 99 hits). Better after moving back to Double-A Arkansas (3.54 ERA, 39/21 K/BB in 48 innings), but he already showed he could handle that level last year. Stock has dropped substantially.

4) Garrett Richards, RHP, Grade B:  3.55 ERA, 121/36 K/BB in 119 innings between Cedar Rapids and Rancho, 109 hits, 2.10 GO/AO. A solid season.

5) Peter Bourjos, OF, Grade B-:   .314/.364/.498 in 102 games for Salt Lake, 27 steals, 13 homers, 13 triples. 5-for-27 (.185) in eight major league games so far. Not much left to prove in the minors.

6) Fabio Martinez Mesa, RHP, Grade B-: 3.92 ERA, 141/76 K/BB in 103 innings for Cedar Rapids, 80 hits. Excellent K/IP and H/IP marks confirm quality stuff scouting reports, but has to get the walks down.

7) Tyler Skaggs, LHP, Grade B-:  3.61 ERA, 82/21 K/BB in 82 innings for Cedar Rapids, 78 hits. Traded to Arizona in the Dan Haren deal. A fine young southpaw prospect.

8) Jordan Walden, RHP, Grade B-:  3.26 ERA, 38/22 K/BB in 47 innings between Arkansas and Salt Lake, 46 hits. Doing OK after conversion to relief due to durability problems. Need to see the walks come down.

9) Jon Bachanov, RHP, Grade B-:  5.47 ERA with 23/14 K/BB, 1.94 GO/AO in 26 innings for Cedar Rapids, 31 hits. On the DL since late May with a sore elbow, not a good sign for a Tommy John survivor.

10) Chris Pettit, OF, Grade B-:  Out all year with shoulder injury.

11) Randal Grichuk, OF, Grade B-:  .244/.286/.489 in 34 games for Cedar Rapids, .327/.365/.714 in 12 games in the AZL for rehab of sprained thumb. Excellent power potential, bad plate discipline.

12) Trevor Bell, RHP, Grade C+:  3.00 ERA, 19/6 K/BB in 30 innings for Salt Lake, 6.03 ERA in 34 major league innings, 52 hits, 27/9 K/BB.  Still has a chance to be a useful pitcher eventually, but may get stuck as a Quadruple-A type.

13) Ryan Chaffee, RHP, Grade C+:   6.93 ERA, 56/36 K/BB in 74 innings for Rancho, 102 hits, 1.67 GO/AO. I thought he was a big breakthrough candidate but he's been awful. Still gets grounders, but strikeouts way down from last year.

14) Tyler Chatwood, RHP, Grade C+:  1.77 ERA, 70/36 K/BB in 81 innings for Rancho, 2.93 GO/AO. Has remained effective after promotion to Double-A, 3.27 ERA, 25/20 K/BB in 52 innings for Arkansas, 53 hits, 1.73 GO/AO. I don't like the deterioration in his strikeout rate at the higher level.

15) Jean Segura, 2B, Grade C+:  .307/.353/.443 with 40 steals for Cedar Rapids. No complaints here, stock is rising.

16) Alexia Amarista, 2B, Grade C+:   .310/.352/.429 with 22 steals in 110 games between Rancho (72 games), Arkansas (36 games) and Salt Lake (two games), production fairly steady between levels.

17) Michael Kohn, RHP, Grade C+:  2.15 ERA, 57/25 K/BB in 46 innings between Arkansas and Salt Lake, 11 saves, 28 hits. Three runs in 5.2 major league innings thus far, with 5/4 K/BB. Should be a useful relief arm.

18) Carlos Ramirez, C, Grade C+:   .228//341/.395 for Cedar Rapids, however this breaks down to .176/.308/.289 in the first half and .329/.410/.603 in the second half. Murders lefties (1.142 OPS). Good defense.

19) Tyler Kehrer, LHP, Grade C+:  5.08 ERA, 77/55 K/BB in 89 innings for Cedar Rapids, 85 hits. Decent strikeout rate and gets some ground balls, but too many walks are hurting him.

20) Will Smith, LHP, Grade C+:  Racking up frequent flier miles this year: six starts at Rancho, four at Arkansas, nine at Salt Lake, then three more for High-A Wilmington after trade to Royals. Results are not impressive: 5.36 ERA with 93/45 K/BB in 128 innings, 155 hits combined. Needs some stability next year.

21) Pat Corbin, LHP, Grade C+:  13-3, 3.54 with 122/31 K/BB in 130 innings between CR, Rancho, and Visalia after trade to Arizona. A very nice season.

The big breakout for Trout is the big news in the Angels system this year. Richards, Martinez-Mesa, Chatwood, and Corbin have also done well, Corbin of course has now been traded as part of the Haren deal. There are some stagnant players and some who have slipped (Reckling, Chaffee)....it's a better season than some organizations have had, and worse than some others.