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Doc - Do you expect Zunino to crack the Top 100 Prospect Lists? If so, that would make 9 Mariner candidates for these lists.
Stefen Romero Scouting Report 7 - Dr's Prognosis (Yellow Light)
Q. What are Romero's chances to be an impact player in the major leagues? As a percentage?
A. I don't know. Maybe 20%, 30%.
Any number of guys have done what Romero has done, to this point in their careers, and never even made the majors. His career accomplishments are not yet impressive. Intriguing, sure.
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Q. Career accomplishments not impressive? He jumped to AA and slugged .677 in his first month there.
A. Actually, in his first 17 games. Since when do we move a guy from #35 in his own org, to top-100 in all of baseball, based on 17 games? ... Heh! :- ) you know what I mean. ... BaseballHQ did not have Romero in the M's top 40 prior to this year.
This year he had 60 games in hitter-happy, low-minors High Desert, which is about 1/3 of a major league season. He didn't nuke it. He hit well. There are other Mavericks who hit .350 for 60 games, and Romero's EYE was only 13:35 there.
Then go back before High Desert and what do you have? A 12th-round draft pick who hit .280/.340/.460 in the low minors for a year.
Most of us in Seattle are sabermetricians, rather than tools scouts (Gordon, Jay, we ain't talking to you!). Being a sabermetrician means analyzing how players have performed. Romero hasn't done much. To call him a top-100 prospect, based on a 17-game splash at AA ... objectively speaking, that's Flava Of the Month thinking.
There is nothing inconsistent with Romero's performance and his becoming an All-Star, even. The average major leaguer was taken in the 15th round, or at least that was true some years ago when I checked it. Romero's performance record, to date, is skimpy and it looks like what a Troy Tulowitzki might do in such short time, or what Rich Poythress might do in such a short time.
His stats themselves don't scream Pheenom! at you. Neither do they rule out a big future.
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Q. There's a consensus on Romero becoming a top-100 prospect this winter. He's broken from the pack. All the scouts think so.
A. Right, and Dr. D does not disagree. We're just opining that the glee is properly founded in an appreciation of Romero's wrists.
Right now the M's have four guys who are clearly top-100 prospects - Hultzen, Paxton, Taijuan, Nick Walker. The next four in are Victor Sanchez, Brad Miller, Stefen Romero, and Carter Capps. Supposing the M's promoted all of the first four, you'd probably see all of the next four in the top 100 next year. Of course they won't be, if the M's don't promote the first four - can't have eight Mariners in the top 100 :- )
But are Zduriencik, McNamara and Grifol earning their paychecks? Slap me silly.
Where would SSI rank Stefen Romero? We got a few keystrokes in us yet...
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