Top 100 Prospects Review (50-41)
50. LHSP Frank Morales (Colorado Rockies)
Year In Review: A combined 57 walks and 41 strikeouts (not a typo, unlike the rest of the things on this site) is not the way to go. Morales has all the stuff you’re looking for, but when your control is this terrible, I don’t care.
Prospect Status: Way down, graduated.
49. RHRP Edwar Ramirez (New York Yankees)
Year In Review: The guy with possibly the best change-up in professional baseball has put it to good use… for some reason the Yankees started him in AAA where he struck out 13 of 31 batters he faced compared to only one walk. He hasn’t been quite as dominant in the majors, but a 25% strikeout rate with decent control is fine by me.
Prospect Status: Neutral, graduated.
48. C J.R. Towles (Houston Astros)
Year In Review: I just don’t know what happened. His bat just absolutely disappeared this year. However, since being sent down to the majors in June, it’s come back. He’s hitting .279/.380/.574 in 71 PAs with good strikeout and walk rates… don’t lose hope!
Prospect Status: Slightly down, graduated.
47. LHSP Aaron Laffey (Cleveland Indians)
Year In Review: Up to May 31st, Laffey was having an excellent year. In 65.2 combined innings between AAA and the majors, Laffey had 40 Ks, 14 BBs and only 1 HR allowed, the line you’d expect from a control/ground ball specialist. In 35.1 June innings, Laffey has a line of 12 Ks, 12 BBs and 6 HRs. At 23, one bad month is nothing to worry about.
Prospect Status: Neutral, graduated.
46. SS Chris Nelson (Colorado Rockies)
Year In Review: Nelson’s doing his best to prove that last year’s breakout was a pure fluke. In a great hitting environment, Nelson’s put up a monstrous .647 OPS. Considering that his 2005 and 2006 OPSs were .634 and .729 respectively, I’d say that the .861 of last year was an exception and not the rule.
Prospect Status: Way down. Way, way down.
45. OF Ryan Kalish (Boston Red Sox)
Year In Review: Kalish’s .283/.364/.370 line might suggest that Kalish’s stock will go the way of Nelson, but that’s not close to the case. Kalish’s power has been sapped by a wrist injury this year, while the rest of his excellent tools remain impressive. A lot of speed and an excellent plate approach will assure that Kalish will maintain a healthy placement on this list.
Prospect Status: Slightly down.
43. CF Austin Jackson (New York Yankees)
Year In Review: Shh… you didn’t notice anything. Anyways, Jackson is an excellent prospect. He has all the tools you can ask for, and in the last two years the production has moved up to match them. He makes good contact (17 K%), has great patience (11 BB%) and 37% of his hits have gone for extra bases. Right now those are mostly doubles, but Jackson is the kind of player who can hit .280/.360/.460/20/20 and excellent defense.
Prospect Status: Up.
42. SS Jed Lowrie (Boston Red Sox)
Year In Review: There’s no mystery to Jed Lowrie. He is, well, Dustin Pedroia pretty much. He’ll make a lot of contact and take a lot of walks. He won’t hit for a tremendous amount of power (more than Pedroia, though) and isn’t a great defender. In his brief major league stay, his minor league success has carried over with a .310/.340/.476 line. He just needs a place to play.
Prospect Status: Neutral.
41. CF Jacoby Ellsbury (Boston Red Sox)
Year In Review: I was hoping for a little more offensively from Ellsbury, but he’s done right about what he was expected to do. Honestly, I don’t understand how KG and BA could rank Ellsbury as a top 20 prospect. What kind of ceiling do you think Ellsbury has? He’ll never be a .300/.400/.500 guy. He’s an excellent glove with an ok bat. That’s not a top 20 prospect. (Unless you’re in a fantasy league, because then his steals are awesome. Trust me).
Prospect Status: Neutral, graduated.
Wow, that’s a ton of AL East prospects. We’ll get to the rest of the majors next time.
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After a lot of digging… ok, a random fluke, it turns out that the missing prospect (#44) is LF Wlad Balentien from the Seattle Mariners, who was having an excellent season at AAA and due to major league service time will not be eligible for today’s list.