I caught the upper level Mariners affiliates (Jackson & Tacoma) on a swing through the southeast late in the minor league season and there are a handful of prospects from those teams I haven’t written up yet. Both of these teams were deep with big leaguers and have some interesting prospects beyond the obvious elite guys.

Stefen Romero had the lowest draft profile player among these prospects, as a 12th round pick that signed for $100,000 out of Oregon State, but he kept barreling balls up when I saw him and he’s done it all year (.346/.387/.588 in Hi-A and AA). He does it mostly with a pull-oriented, aggressive, early count approach that normally doesn’t project well, but works for some guys in the big leagues, so you can’t rule him out. Normally this kind of approach comes with below-average hitting tools and allows the hitter to take advantage of the mistakes lower-level pitchers make, but falls apart against the advanced command of the upper levels. When Romero keeps raking in AA and picking his spots against better pitching, it starts becoming more likely he’s a useful big leaguer and he has some big league tools to back that up.

Romero has solid bat speed, above-average raw power to his pull side and a simple swing. His plate discipline is just okay, there is some stiffness to his swing and there’s occasional length to his bath path with a high finish that can become an uppercut at times. Going back to my three elements of a hit tool, his tools are solid-average, his bat control shows flashes of average and his plate discipline is below. That’s enough to be a big league hitter with the power to punish a mistake and the 6’3, 225 Romero was actually playing second base for Jackson. His big frame and below-average feet will limit him to a corner utility role in the big leagues, but his hands looked good enough that he may be able to play a solid third base. Even as strictly a corner outfielder, he can be a righty platoon bat with a chance for a little more.
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Yesterday’s three-team blockbuster which sent Shin-Soo Choo to Cincinnati included a couple of my favorite prospects from the 2012 season. Trevor Bauer ranked is the third best right-handed starting pitcher and Didi Gregorius ranked as the seventh best shortstop. On Twitter, prospect followers consider Gregorius to be a lesser player than Trevor Bauer and surmised that the DBacks traded the right-hander because he’s not as good as advertised. From four-plus years scouting prospects in person, this may not be the case considering I see more quality starting pitching prospects in one season than I ever have shortstops. Read the rest of this entry »

The Giants organization possesses some strong prospects at the top of the list, as well as solid pitching depth. But the overall depth in the system is somewhat thin. It’s not a result of poor drafting or inept talent evaluation – it’s actually the complete opposite. The organization has wisely leveraged its assets to acquire key playoff contributors, such as Carlos Beltran, Hunter Pence, and Marco Scutaro. It has also seen key prospects, such as Buster Posey, Madison Bumgarner, and Brandon Belt, zoom through the minors and fill holes on the big league roster. It’s easy to see why this club has won the World Series in two of the past three seasons.

#1 Kyle Crick (P)

Opening Day Age: 20
2012 Level: A
Acquired: 2011 draft (49th overall) 
Projected 2013 Level: A+/AA

Crick has quickly become the Giants’ best prospect after being selected 49th overall during the 2011 draft out of a Texas high school. Crick, 20, has a strong pitcher’s frame and the velocity to match. He struck out 128 batters in 111.1 innings at the A-ball level in 2012.

A scout I spoke with said the right-hander is definitely a potential front-line starter with premium power, as well as a potentially-plus cutter/slider. “He’s a great athlete for a big guy… and you can’t teach that kind of velocity,” he said. “His delivery is pretty easy and the ball really jumps out of his hand… The fastball is on top of them [before they know it].” Crick also a solid downward plane on his pitches, which results in poor contact, and he also has some deception.

On the down side, the scout said Crick tries to be too fine at times and needs to trust his stuff more. “He is really, really hard to hit,” he said.”He tries to make the perfect pitch but he doesn’t need to. His stuff is more than good enough.” Crick should open 2013 in high-A ball but could easily reach double-A by the end of the year and could see the majors by the end of 2014. Read the rest of this entry »

After the Rays traded for Yunel Escobar, I began working on a piece discussing prospect ETA’s and how off-season moves affected players like Tim Beckham. In it, I closed the door on Beckham and the Rays due to Ben Zobrist and his team friendly contract manning second base for the next three seasons.

With each read, I re-worked and lightened my wording because of Zobrist’s ability to play the outfield and the fact the Rays had an organizational hole to fill there. With the addition of uber-prospect Wil Myers, a right-fielder, consider the hole emphatically closed and punch Beckham’s bust card as well. Read the rest of this entry »

The Blue Jays took a unique approach to the new draft slots this year, spending almost all of their top 10 rounds bonus allotment on their 7 picks in the top 3 rounds, then spending no more than $5,000 each on players selected in rounds 4-10. I’ve already covered Marcus Stroman and Matt Smoral, the top two pitchers the Jays drafted in 2012, but they also selected hurlers in the supplemental first round (Tyler Gonzales) and the second round (Chase DeJong).

Gonzales is a 6’2, 170 pound righty out of a San Antonio area high school that signed for $750,000. He’s got a cleaner delivery than DeJong due to his more compact frame and the fact that he’s nearly a year older, turning 19 before his senior season started. Gonzales has a thin and long-limbed frame with some projection but his stature limits how much you can dream on him. Gonzales has an elbowy, clean arm action with a slight wrist cock early in the stroke and his throwing and lead elbows get higher than you’d like to see before foot strike. It isn’t a red flag, but with pitching prospects, there is so much attrition and uncertainty, you’d like everything to be as clean as possible to increase your odds of success.

Gonzales sat 91-93 in the outing I saw, with occasional run to his arm side and cut to his glove side helped by a slight crossfire in his delivery, but normally he throws pretty straight four-seam fastball. He compliments his heater with a slider at 83-85 mph that, at its best, had 11-to-5 tilt, depth and hard late bite for above average potential. Early on especially, Gonzales would get around the pitch and it would flatten out with three-quarters tilt, an occasional loop and frequently would leave it out wide to his arm side. He didn’t have great feel for his off-speed pitches in this outing and scouts relayed that they had seen his slider better in other outings, so there may be some room for growth from what I saw out of his slider.

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The Washington Nationals system has been weakened by trades and promotions in recent years but the organization still has some interesting prospects in the system. With that said, the depth in the upper levels of the system took a big hit during the Rule 5 draft when prospects Jeff Kobernus (6th overall) and Daniel Rosenbaum (8th) were selected from the system. It was a curious move to leave those two players unprotected, given that the organization is not exactly overflowing with near-MLB-ready players. The loss of Kobernus and Rosenbaum were done after the Nationals Top 15 list was submitted so I’ll update the list a little later on.

#1 Brian Goodwin (OF)

Opening Day Age: 22
2012 Level: A/AA
Acquired: 2011 draft (34th overall)
Projected 2013 Level: AA/AAA

Goodwin, 22, flashed a lot of potential during his amateur career but it’s taken some time for his tools to start clicking on the field. The former 34th-overall selection spent 2012 playing at two levels and completely dominated A-ball before skipping over high-A for double-A where he struggled.

A talent evaluator I spoke with wasn’t worried about the outfielder’s difficulties in double-A. “He’s got a very, very interesting ceiling. [Goodwin] hits for average, power and has defensive skills,” he said. “He’s a wonderful young man… the make-up matches the ability. He’s very coachable, and a quick learner.” The contact added that Goodwin is also energetic and a hard worker. “His disposition is always the same whether he goes 4-for-4 or 0-for-4.” Read the rest of this entry »

This year was a rather light year for Rule 5 prospects in terms of players I’ve seen in person, but a handful of players taken were worth mentioning.

MLB Phase

Chris McGuiness, Cleveland Indians

A fine organizational piece, I saw McGuiness in 2010 as a member of the Greenville Red Sox. At the time, he presented as a solid, all-around hitter with no stand out tool and limited defensive upside. Soon after, he was dealt to the Rangers and spent two-plus years with that organization. At 24, his Double-A power numbers should be taken with a grain of salt, but the Indians really have no answer at first base. Might as well throw him in the mix with a number of former top prospects and see how things shake out. As with most Rule 5 draft picks, it’s a no lose proposition for the Indians. For McGuiness, this is what the Rule 5 draft is for. With Mitch Moreland already producing league average offense at first base and Mike Olt looking for an opening, he really had no shot at surfacing with the Rangers. Read the rest of this entry »

Seeing prospects in person is my passion. In 2012, I was fortunate enough to visit parks in five different leagues — collecting information and video on 200 legitimate prospects or more. The lists released over the next few weeks will highlight the best prospects I’ve seen in person at each position during the 2012 season. The rankings will be adjusted based on projected position at the major league level, not present position (in italics if ranking includes position shift). After writing the first three lists, I realized there’s really no way to keep statistical information out of the equation completely and focus on scouting/projection alone. This has caused me to hedge my bets a bit on high ceiling talents and focus more on the complete player. Additionally, understand this is not meant to be a complete list of the best prospects at each position across all of Minor League Baseball, but the best of what I’ve seen.

Previous Rankings:
The Catchers
The First Basemen
The Second Basemen
The Third Basemen
The Shortstops
The Corner Outfielders
The Center Fielders
The Relief Pitchers
The Right Handed Starting Pitchers

1. Danny Hultzen, Seattle Mariners

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The MLB Winter Meetings are upon us and one things is certain: General managers will spend a great deal of time discussing potential trades. Below are six names that won’t be the centrepiece of any deals as B/C grade prospects but they still have value to big league organizations. They don’t belong in the same sentence as other top prospects that could be had in the right deal – like Royals outfielder Wil Myers or Diamondbacks pitcher Trevor Bauer – but they could end up being useful future big league contributors.

The Dec. 9, 2011 trade between the Arizona Diamondbacks and Oakland Athletics is a perfect example of the value that “add-on” trade pieces can have. The key players in the trade were pitchers Trevor Cahill (going to Arizona) and Jarrod Parker (going to Oakland). However, Craig Breslow also went to Arizona and had a solid year in the bullpen before being dealt away in another trade to Boston, and Ryan Cook – the third best prospect that went to Oakland – ended up pitching in the all-star game and had 37 shutdowns.

The majority of impressive prospects in the Los Angeles Dodgers system are pitchers but I stumbled across an interesting hitting prospect while scouting one of those young hurlers. Coyle, 23, was a high school teammate of former first round draft picks Mike Moustakas (Kansas City) and Matt Dominguez (Miami, now Houston) at a California high school notorious for producing professional baseball players – including former Red Sox great Dwight Evans.

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The MLB Rule 5 draft is scheduled for Dec. 6 during the final day of the 2012 Winter Meetings. It’s become a fan favorite over the years but the draft is not as valuable as it used to be for clubs. In the last Collective Bargaining Agreement update roster rules were changed to give organizations one more year of protection for prospects before they had to be added to the 40-man roster and therefore protected from the selection process.

The key thing to remember about players chosen in the amateur draft is that they cannot be optioned down to the minors (expect for an injury rehab assignment) and must remain on the big league roster for the entire season. There are basically two approaches for teams to take: 1) Take a very raw player from the low minors and use him sparingly for the year expect perhaps in blowouts, basically spending the year with a 24-man roster, or 2) Look for a player that is MLB ready and can hopefully provide at least league-average production for a league-average salary.

Below, you’ll read three scouting reports on prospects who I personally feel could make solid Rule 5 selections in 2013. For those of you new to the process, here is a quick primer for the Rule 5 draft by our own Bradley Woodrum.