Future Redbirds

DanUp from GUB recently ranked his top 10 prospects 2 months into the season and finished with the open ended question ” who’s your top ten?”. Well that’s a darn fine question, one I’ll just answer here.

1. Colby Rasmus- Who else? His .291 isolated power leads the Texas League.
2. Jaime Garcia- The return of his K’s certainly is nice, but the jump in his walks and HR rate is alarming. He’s still just 20, and pitching in the Texas League, particularly at Hammons, can make for inflated numbers.
3. Bryan Anderson- He’s thrown out 45% of would be base stealers, but the passed balls are still a problem. If he could start to reverse his gb/fb rates, the much hoped for power will come. Hits the ball to all fields.
4. Chris Perez- Maybe I’m higher on Perez then I should be. But he’s striking out 16 batters per nine innings!!!! He cut his walks down a bit this month, but he still needs to show better control then he has. I have enough knowledge of leverage to be dangerous, and perhaps I’m dangerously overvaluing Perez. Eh, whatever.
5. Adam Ottavino- Despite not taking well to throwing the 2 seamer, 51% of his balls are grounders. He’s striking out nearly 11 batters per 9 and has cut his walks down in the month of May. He’s also starting to master lefties. I’d like to see him face AA talent and see what happens. Fears of him possibly being another Lambert should be quelled there, or at least my hunch says they will.
6. Blake Hawksworth- As Dan noted, his K rate is not particularly indicative of success, but he’s keeping the ball on the ground and demonstrating good control. I still like him, but my gut feelings about the Hawk are not so good.
7. Tyler Herron- A supplemental first round pick out of high school, Herron was a 2 way player who looked like he should’ve stayed at shortstop his first season, as he got his head kicked in in the Appy League. He showed improvement last season, but this season he’s taken a big leap forward. With a good sinker and a plus curve at his disposal, he’s keeping the ball on the ground with extreme prejudice while still missing his fair share of bats. He’s also keeping down the free passes and has only allowed 1 HR all season. I’m jumping on his bandwagon in a major way, at least for now.
8. Shaun Garceau- Surprise! I really like this guy. When I saw him he sported a sizzling 94 mph fastball and a nice change that had batters way out in front. He’s striking out nearly 11 per 9 while a decent level of command. His .271 batting average against doesn’t seem like much, but his .374 BABIP speaks of really craptastic luck. He’s just 19.
9. Rick Ankiel- I love the raw power but the walk to strikeout ratio leaves much to be desired. I still have hopes he’ll adapt.
10. Marck Stavinohamilton- Neither have lit the world on fire, but both have rebounded from rough starts. When you look at their production relative to their parks, it’s not half bad.

The more I try to do rankings, the less fond of doing them. The first 5 or so were easy, after that there’s a million different directions I could go. I have my pet prospects and there should be others that probably belong on this list despite poor starts for whatever reasons…IE, Tyler Greene, Jon Jay, etc. You could also make a case for some of the hot starters like Joe Mather, Brandon Buckman or Eddie Degerman.