Introducing the 2nd Annual RR Community Prospect Rankings

I think we might really have something with old Mike Leake.

no homo

Performance at higher levels should be, and that’s related to MLB readiness, but isn’t exactly the same.

So yes, Wood is up there considering he has performed very well at a relatively high level (AA). His AAA stats are too small a sample to consider too much. (plus, his K and BB rates weren’t great in his short time in L’Ville)

Wood can’t really be up there at the top because his ceiling just isn’t as high as the other guys. He probably tops out as a #3 starter, and his floor is as a long reliever. Guys like that (who’ve really only had 1 truly good professional season) aren’t going to beat out guys like Frazier or Alonso, who could potentially be all stars and will almost certainly be average players. He doesn’t beat Leake either, even with Leake’s limited experience, considering Leake’s ceiling as a #2 guy and floor as a #5 guy (and superior stuff and control to Wood).

Just because he has more of an established place to play than Frazier. I really think he’s going to hit well in the bigs. Based entirely off of gut hunches and wishful thinking.

I thought he “strikes out too much.” Does that mean Frazier also strikes out too much?

which, as has been noted, doesn’t count.

Except it does mean that less can go wrong between now and the bigs. Yonder has more time to get hurt/arrested/move to Cuba/join Bronson’s band and screw up his career. I think that part should count, because it basically means that the flame-out chance is lower for Frazier.

Look at it this way, if ‘readiness’ was a major factor, a guy like Josh Roenicke or Danny Ray Herrera would’ve been a top prospect last year.

Different scouts (and fans) weigh things differently, but it’s usually a combination of a player’s projected ceiling and floor, based on his tools, combined with minor league performance, with good performance at higher levels weighted more.

So a guy like Frazier has very solid tools offensively and defensively, and has performed consistently and at pretty high levels (AA and AAA).
Alonso has elite offensive tools, ok defensive ones, but hasn’t performed at the high levels yet, and has only somewhat performed at the lower levels. His status is based largely on his tools and projection.
Leake has little to no professional numbers to look at (other than his excellent AFL performance), but he does have great college numbers and great stuff and control.

It really depends on what you value in a prospect and what you consider important. Ideally, we’d have a guy with elite tools who performed well at the highest levels (think Jay Bruce two years ago), but without that, it’s more debatable.

Or you could throw all that out, like ’nukkah, and go with the guy who makes you all tingly inside.

Some people like to listen to the scouts and look for guys with “stuff”, whether it be pitch speeds and types for pitchers or hitting and defense skills that project favorably into a good major leaguer. Some people like to look at the statistics, whether it be the basics or more intensive and analytic stats like line drive rates for hitters.

And I haven’t seen a case to say that he’s the #1 prospect for this team, this year. I think he brings a lot to the table, especially when compared to the others on that list, but I don’t think he’s in the conversation for the #1 prospect.

Yeah, I totally thought the knock was striking out vs lefties.

I gave it some thought and it wasn’t a slam dunk in my mind, but his floor+ceiling sort of did it for me, while I like Fraziers floor also his ceiling isn’t as high, same goes for Leake.

I can’t tell if my mobile vote counts.

Was a stud.

But yeah, as we add more prospects to the pool as necessary, there will probably be more prospects to vote for in the later rounds of the list. No less than 4, no more than 9 or 10.

He should have his power back by mid season at the latest. I broke that bone, had surgery to remove the bone in March, and had ~90% of my power back by August or so. Considering Alonso is ten times the physical specimen and has access to considerably better medical personnel (although my surgeon supposedly works on Reds players), I think he’ll be just fine.

But most of the time, it means which player will have the biggest impact in the major leagues. For example, Jay was rated a better prospect over Joey because the tools and scouts and minor league numbers suggested that he’d become the better player in the long run (even more murky when you keep in mind that “better player” is subjective too), so he was rated as a better prospect. I think it takes a lot of factors into account, like the player’s ceiling and floor, tools, previous statistics, and the question marks that would prevent him from reaching that potential, all factored together to get the best picture of the player’s future that we can get at the current time.

The concept of the rankings is usually meant to spotlight players that are most likely to have a future impact for a big league club, and to compare farm systems against each other to predict future success for teams.

Bruce was the best prospect in baseball because he looked like (and still does) a gold glove right fielder who can give you a .280/.360/.550 line for years. I think most front offices would still easily take Bruce over Votto too. Position and upside play a big part in it.

As far as this comment goes

I think Alonso will be the best player out of all of them, as long as he can get his power back after the injury. But I think because of the injury, it will take him longer to make an impact. Again, not based on any sort of in depth knowledge on the subject but a very vague notion of what happens to players with his type of injury.

I think it tells me that you should be voting for Alonso. The idea is to vote for the guy who will have the best career. As for the injury, its a common one in baseball. Its generally accepted that the power will be sapped somewhat for up to 1 year from the injury.

if bubba thinks its heisey then i think its heisey

what does that mean? ha ha

That’s Todd there on the left.

So, if Dusty wants him to lead off, he can put Frazier in centerfield. If he wants him to bat second, he can play him at shortstop. Dusty understands versatility.