The Matt Garza sweepstakes finally ended on Monday, with the Texas Rangers emerging victorious in their long pursuit of the Chicago Cubs veteran hurler. In return for the 29-year-old right-hander, Chicago obtained three young players — third baseman Mike Olt, as well as pitchers Justin Grimm and C.J. Edwards — and one or two players to be named later (depending on who the first PTBNL is).
The 2013 season is still in its infancy but two organizations have already faced more than their fair share of struggles in their minor league systems. The Texas Rangers entered the year with one of the better systems in baseball, while the Toronto Blue Jays fell somewhere in the middle after nearly gutting the system in what may amount to a misguided attempt to rebuild the big league team in one off-season.
Just 20 years old, shortstop Jurickson Profar has already spent time in the majors and he opened the 2013 season in triple-A. The Curacao native, who entered the year as the club’s No. 1 prospect, struggled out of the gate but he’s hardly embarrassed himself. It’s a different story for second overall prospect Mike Olt and his struggles have been well documented. He hit just .139 with 32 strikeouts in 20 games before hitting the disabled list with vision problems. He has excellent defensive skills at third base but lacks a spot at the big league level so his bat is going to have to pick up if he’s going to shift to a corner outfield spot of first base.
The Texas Rangers organization continues to churn out high-ceiling prospects but, unlike some clubs, it relies heavily on home-grown players rather than flipping them in trades for established big-leaguers. If the playing time develops, look for Jurickson Profar to have a Bryce Harper-type impact in 2013.
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A Golden rule of developing prospects is, “Never move a player off a more valuable defensive position until he proves incapable of playing there at the Major League Level.” This leaves the Texas Rangers in an enviable, but difficult position as they have a 10 win left-side of the infield and both the best third base and shortstop prospects in baseball.
Jurickson Profar is untouchable, but Mike Olt has been discussed in a number of trade rumors. first, he was rumored to the Braves for shortstop Andrelton Simmons. More recently, Olt’s name was thrown as a key piece in a package for Cy Young winner R.A. Dickey. This leaves me questioning if the Rangers are working to sell high on the former UConn Husky. 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 Baseman
1. Mike Olt, Texas Rangers
Bobby Borchering, OF, Arizona Diamondbacks
Current Level: A+
2012 Top 15 Prospects Ranking: 7th
Current Value: Holding Steady
Borchering (16th) and Matt Davidson (35th) were both selected prior to the second round of the 2009 amateur draft and both were drafted as third basemen. Davidson has thrived in pro ball and is already in double-A. On the other hand, Borchering’s approach at the plate has left something to be desired and has resulted in low walk rates and high strikeout rates and it has hampered his development. That remains true in 2012 but his results have been getting a little bit better with each month as he repeats high-A ball. Now an outfielder, Borchering is hitting for power (32 extra base hits in 64 games) but he may never hit for average unless he makes more adjustments and learns to identify and handle breaking balls. A switch-hitter, the 21-year-old doesn’t hit left-handers very well and focusing solely on swinging from the left side might help him improve a little bit quicker.
In a perfect world, every prospect piece would be written after multiple looks at a player including batting practice, infield and in game performance. Unfortunately, everyday life makes it nearly impossible to make that goal a reality as career, family and budget restraints limit the ability for a prospect writer to keep the same schedule as an affiliated scout. And while small sample size is always a concern when it comes to writing about prospects, spending only three days in Arizona watching players did more to confuse my positions than clarify them.
Videos after the jump