RR Community Prospect Rankings: Aroldis Chapman needs to get a bigger trophy room

It’s fixed now

I hope ’raco proves me wrong again, but I just still have a hard time forgetting his 3 sucktastic years before last year.

I also think Wil Meyers is a bit better still as well. Plus, Conger and Arenciba are still prospects, so they could be up there.

Devin is in the conversation, but he’s certainly not the best.

Is by far a better offensive force. But he is not a catcher. His defensive skills are greatly lacking, and he will not be a catcher for the Yankees. If he is traded he has a chance to catch for another team, but will still probably stay at the position. He is a future 1B/DH.

Meyers is really good, but his highest level is A+. He does have age on his side and I would say a higher ceiling than Mesoraco. I think Conger is under Mesoraco, while Arenciba is above him, but not by much.

My main reasoning is that Mesoraco is a better defender than all of them, while hit hitting tools aren’t as high. That is why I termed him the best overall catcher, not the best overall prospect.

He and a few others will be on the list tomorrow.

and his bat and patience profile for a pretty good OBP. Even with his supposed struggles, he has a career .291/.368/.458 line in the minors.

I think “excited” is a strong word, but he should be able to OPS over .800 for a season, making him an average MLB first baseman. Guys like that don’t grow on trees.

His career hitting line in the minors is .291/.368/.458. That’s not too far off of Votto (.289/.386/.477), but Alonso needs to start showing some real power beyond the doubles. He slugged .470 last year, which is encouraging coming off the hamate injury.

The things that I really like about him are that he’s a line drive machine (I wish MinorLeagueSplits was still up so that I could demonstrate this), and in his minor league career he has walked 102 times while striking out just 143 times. Those two facts give me confidence that he’ll be a hitter in the big leagues, but the question is whether or not he’ll ever hit for real power (25+ HR).

(1) Cool name, (2) First-rounder, (3) Can use the headline “Alonso Mourning” when he’s traded away.

I do think his inability to move quickly and play any position other than 1B cuts into his value. The other guys here can boast defense as an asset and may stick at premium positions. But no other prospect on the ballot is as likely to OPS 800+ in the majors, much less be capable of doing it next season.

My point is simply that Yorman’s potential is boundless, but it’s the uncertainty that makes him hard to rank. What if he’s a hacker and not just immature? He’s going into his age 18 season and we only have a nice season worth of 184 PAs to stake his reputation. He could very well be the best positional player in the org.

My sense is the Reds will bring him along a little slower than Cabrera. The Marlins had Cabrera and, more recently Stanton, skip over AAA. This could be strictly a function of the examples I can think of off-hand. If Yorman is 19 and mashing at AA, it doesn’t seem like a very Reds move not to send him to Louisville.

Part of me wishes they’d say screw it and stick him in LF, part of me hopes he gets traded for something of value, and none of me hopes for the other scenario where he gets significant playing time in Cincinnati.

That thing’s a pain in the ass to take down.

even though Smoak got the Rangers Cliff Lee. Smoak has sucked in the majors so far

Hopefully Alonso will fetch a similar return.

Alonso when we had Votto?
Grandal when we had Mesoraco (although who could blame them on that one?)

and, let’s not forget a certain OF when a certain P was still on the board a couple years back….

mea culpa

And I could be arguing in my spare time!