1
...but otherwise agreed with your commentary. I would have liked to see BA give Lueke some credit...I like him a whale of a lot more than I liike Cortes.
BA Top 10
1. Dustin Ackley, 2B
2. Michael Pineda, RHP
3. Nick Franklin, SS/2B
4. Taijuan Walker, RHP
5. Guillermo Pimentel, OF
6. Mauricio Robles, LHP
7. Johermyn Chavez, OF
8. Marcus Littlewood, SS
9. Kyle Seager, INF
10 Dan Cortes, RHP
http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/prospects/rankings/organization-top...
Top three are no shock to anyone here. Taijuan and Pimentel appeal to the toolsy-types (these are the ones who had Halman No. 1 a couple years ago), but, boy, they have a long way to go. But BA projects the 2014 lineup to have Pineda as the #2 starter and Taijuan as the #3 starter. (But then, they had projected Ian Snell as the #4 starter in 2013 a year ago.) So, FWIW. They have Pimentel penciled into LF, too.
They mention Lueke only as part of the litany of bad news during the course of 2010, but, of course, he should be in there with Robles and Cortes. But I don't mind seeing them give some props to Seager, who certainly earned some credit.
Comments
2
Bloomie's best year in the minors (age 22): 24 doubles, 44 walks in 500 PAs (60% Cal League; 40% PCL)
Seager's year (also age 22): 40 doubles, 71 walks in 643 PAs (100% Cal League)
Bloomie has the edge in baserunning and defensive versatility. I expect Seager will surpass Bloomie's career OPS of .653 quite handily. But he still has to prove he can do it in AA and above.
3
You guys have really dropped the ball, no Peguero post yet? Up to four Top 50 prospects plus Smoak and Felix
4
I like that we're adding IFA's from the top of the pile...but IFAs have an extremely...EXTREMELY high failure rate (see: Carlos Triunfel)
5
If anyone knows bedir, he is fond of saying that he doesn't pay attention to prospects until they hit AA. These are wise words. You would be surprised at how many future All-Stars wash out before they master this level.
Something to keep in mind when people get worked up about not wanting to trade Nick Franklin.
6
Where is he, anyway?
And yes...I agree that prospect evaluation before AA is a crapshoot, which is why I'm always in favor of trading single-A studs to get matriculated talent...but in this case, I want to keep Franklin because without him, the Mariners have ZERO hope at short.
7
Some very interesting stuff here: www.baseballamerica.com/blog/prospects/?p=10644
Peguero got the 4th-highest Latin-American bonus EVER, at $2.9M, and also the 4th-highest Mariner bonus ever (after Ichiro, Ackley and -- sigh -- Jeff Clement).
BA says he'll have to move to 2b or 3b, however, which makes him a little less intriguing. Encouraging that it's the same scouting crew responsible for signing Pineda and Pimentel.
Someone to replace Triunfel in the prodigy-tracking department, at least.
And if E. Peguero gives us 4 in the top 50 + Smoak, as Justin points out, then Gerrit Cole or Matt Purke (or whomever, unless something goes all weird) will give us 5.
8
15 hits and 6 doubles in his last 7 games at AA Jackson.
The High Desert to AA jump is always tricky. Seager seems to be adjusting, but all of his damage has been against RHP.
Chavez, so far, has seen his K rate jump back up to his "bad old days" (over 30%) and his eye ratio and OBP drop accordingly, and he's only got 1 HR.
Poythress has been walking like crazy (16 BB in 19 G), but a .267 BABIP is keeping his overall numbers low. Would not be surprising to see him bust out soon.
9
Here's a fun article from the good amigos at Fangraphs.
Seager isn't my kind of player, or at least isn't my kind of template :- ) but HQ likes him ... Reading the Zobrist article, it reminded of Kyle Seager at several points.
Seager fans might enjoy a trip to dreamland.
10
...but he does have the ability to be an on base threat, run the bases well and play good defense a la 2010 Zobrist. I liken him to Mark McLemore, actually.