Top 100 Prospects Review (100-91)
Here’s how it works. I’ll do 10 at once, tell you what kind of year they’ve had, my opinion of how their value has changed, and if they’re eligible or not. As a rough estimate, a ’slight’ change would be a roughly 10-20 spot movement, normal would be 20-30, ‘way’ up or down is roughly 30+. Neutral is probably in the -10 to +10 range. Let’s go!
100. SS Jason Donald (Philadelphia Phillies)
Year in review: Same as it’s always been. Average contact (20.1 K%), average power, excellent walk rate. His defense continues to be in question. He has the arm, but his footwork and technique is off. If he is forced to move to third, that would, obviously, really hurt his value.
Prospect Status: Neutral.
99. 2B Tony Thomas (Chicago Cubs)
Year In Review: The low-A offensive explosion of a year ago appears to have remained in last year. After being fast-tracked to High-A, Thomas has hit .281/.332/.431, and he may have been lucky to hit that well. He is striking out in 22% of his plate appearances, his patience and power are non-existent, with an awesome .427 OPS against lefties.
Prospect Status: Way down.
98. 3B Matt Sweeney (Los Angeles Angels)
Year In Review: Okay, I’m going to have to plead ignorance. This guy has completely fell off the face of the earth. He must have had an injury of some sort, but I can find absolutely no report of it anywhere.
Prospect Status: Down… I think? Seriously, I’m sure somebody out there knows better than me what happened. Help!
97. RHSP James McDonald (Los Angeles Dodgers)
Year In Review: Still at AA, the only things that have changed for McDonald are a lower K rate and a higher HR rate. His prospect status was based on production, since his stuff is nothing special. He hasn’t taken a big step forward, but it’s not like he’s disappeared either; a 24.2 K% and 7.6 BB% are nothing to scoff at.
Prospect Status: Neutral
96. 1B Chris Carter (Oakland Athletics)
Year In Review: Nothing special. He is striking out in over a quarter of his PAs, and while the walks and power are impressive, I’d hope that a top 1B prospect would do much better than .235/.360/.514 in the California league. He really needs to show something, soon.
Prospect Status: Neutral
95. 2B German Duran (Texas Rangers)
Year In Review: The first who’s made the majors this year. Unfortunately, he hasn’t gotten much playing time. He got off to a very slow start at AAA (.694 OPS), and was called up before he could rectify that. In the majors, he’s only played in 31 games since April 17th, and he’s struggled in that part time. There’s just no way to judge a play in a year like this.
Prospect Status: Neutral, graduated.
Come on, this is getting annoying. I’m almost waiting for another ‘fell off the face of the earth’ guy.
94. C Josh Donaldson (Chicago Cubs)
Year In Review: Slightly victimized by a .236 BABIP, but a 22-year-old putting up a .211/.279/.347 in Low-A just doesn’t cut it.
Prospect Status: Non-existent.
93. C Taylor Teagarden (Texas Rangers)
Year In Review: An interesting year. A .584 OPS at AA earned him a promotion to AAA, where he’s hit a seemingly unimpressive .246/.372/.447. However, that’s depressed by a .234 BABIP; there’s far too much fluctuation in 138 PAs. The rest of his offense is what it usually is. A lot of strikeouts, a ton of walks, and respectable power for a catcher. The defense just hasn’t come along as much as people want, though.
Prospect Status: Slightly down.
92. 3B Ian Stewart (Colorado Rockies)
Year In Review: Finally, somebody I can say nice things about. Stewart has come roughly full circle as a prospect; a top prospect, then considered a disappointment, and he’s come right back up to very good prospect status. Still somehow only 23 years old, he lit up AAA, albeit an extreme hitter’s park, for a .281/.374/.614 line. He’s also hitting .255/.336/.566 on the road, so it’s not ALL the park. He’s been in the majors for a while, but nothing worth talking about. Perhaps a Mark Reynolds type player?
Prospect Status: Up! Feels so good to say that. He’s graduated as well, though.
91. C Maximiliano Ramirez (Texas Rangers)
Year In Review: Good way to end today. There aren’t many prospects who’ve improved their status as much as Max Ramirez this year. Continuing to draw an excellent amount of walks, he is now putting his power potential in play in game situations. (See: .289 IsoP). The defense isn’t quite there yet, but with this amount of offensive potential, I’ll take it. Nothing wrong with a Jeff Clement type prospect.
Prospect Status: Waaaaaaaay up.
I guess starting from the bottom up suggests an uninteresting beginning, but the next group of ten looks like it could get interesting.
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