Top 100 Prospects Review (60-51)
60. LHSP Scott Elbert (Los Angeles Dodgers)
Year In Review: Elbert’s perennial injury problems have continued, as last year’s shoulder surgery held him out until June 4th this year. He’s been brought back slowly as a reliever, and while he hasn’t been dominant, he’s been decent enough. This is one of those ‘wow’ moments when you see that a guy who’s seemingly been a top prospect for years is still only 22; his control isn’t any better yet, and the injuries are always a concern, but with his stuff he’s very much in the picture for the Dodgers’ future.
Prospect Status: Slightly down.
59. RHRP Casey Weathers (Colorado Rockies)
Year In Review: Weathers has retained his strikeout ability, with 28.2% of batters being punched out, and only allowing 21 hits and 1 HR in 31.1 innings. However, he’s also retained the control issues from last year, with 17 walks. Still, with his strikeouts and the ability to induce a lot of ground balls, some control issues aren’t the end of the world.
Prospect Status: Slightly down.
58. 3B Neil Walker (Pittsburgh Pirates)
Year In Review: Walker’s low batting average (.232) isn’t a huge concern for me, as that’s depressed by a .250 BABIP. With average luck, that should be closer to last year’s .277 total. His power remains high, with fully half of hits going for extra bases. My biggest concern is that his walks have completely disappeared. After walking 9.8% of the time last year, that number is down to 4.6 this year. A 3B prospect just has to be able to hit, and he isn’t doing that this year. He really needs to turn it around.
Prospect Status: Way down.
57. RHSP Nick Adenhart (Los Angeles Angels)
Year In Review: If Walker needs some walks, I think Adenhart has a few to lend him. Adenhart walked 40 of 349 batters he faced in AAA and 13 of 63 in the majors. Adenhart used to be a power pitcher who didn’t get an overwhelming number of strikeouts (not a terrible number either), but this year he’s gotten no strikeouts and a ton of walks. That means…
Prospect Status: Way down.
56. RHSP Greg Reynolds (Colorado Rockies)
Year In Review: This isn’t a good group of prospects so far, although things are looking up ahead. Reynolds’ 2008 has been pretty much an unmitigated disaster. With 15 K, 22 BB and 10 HR allowed in 50.7 innings, he’s probably been lucky that his ERA is ‘only’ 5.68. Reynolds has always been a power pitcher who can’t strike people out, but he made up for that with excellent control and the ability to induce ground balls. However, striking out only 11% of batters in AAA and 6.7% in the majors is not even close to acceptable.
Prospect Status: Way down, graduated.
55. LHSP Tyler Robertson (Minnesota Twins)
Year In Review: That was depressing. Finally a little good news. Robertson isn’t a world beater, but he’s already shown to be above-average in strikeouts, control and keeping the ball on the ground. I’ve always felt that the Twins have generally had absolutely no idea how to utilize their talent, but they’ve always been excellent at acquiring it, and Robertson is another example.
Prospect Status: Slightly up.
54. RHSP Trevor Cahill (Oakland Athletics)
Year In Review: Wheeee! At the age of 20 in the California league, Cahill was one of the most dominant pitchers in the minors. Cahill struck out 30% of batters he faced, as well as showing good control and an excellent knack for keeping the ball on the ground. With a fastball, curve and change all ranging from above-average to plus, Cahill will be very, very high on this list.
Prospect Status: Way up.
53. LHSP Neftali Feliz (Texas Rangers)
Year In Review: Feliz has helped his stock nearly as much as Cahill, only held back by the fact that his feats have been at Low-A instead of High-A. With some of the best stuff of any prospect, his control problems are now a thing of the past. It is only general wariness around pitching prospects that will keep Feliz out of the top ten.
Prospect Status: Way up.
52. RHSP Jarrod Parker (Arizona Diamondbacks)
Year In Review: Parker just hasn’t shown the dominance that many expected of him. In 57.2 innings, Parker has 51 strikeouts, 62 hits and 5 HR allowed. Nothing particularly terrible, but a Low-A pitcher needs to do much better than that to be this high on the list.
Prospect Status: Way down.
51. C Jesus Montero (New York Yankees)
Year In Review: Montero really has special hitting ability. The walks and the power aren’t completely there yet, but he’s been very impressive for an 18-year-old. He’s no real catcher, but no scout doubts that he’ll have the bat for first base.
Prospect Status: Slightly up.
If you're new here, subscribe to my blog through RSS or Email. Thanks for visiting!
Related posts
Comments
Comments »
Subscribe
No comments yet.