This list is up for debate, I make no bones about it. Here is what I see as the top talent of the NL Central:
Team One:
SP-Johnny Cueto, Reds
SP-Homer Bailey, Reds
SP-Manny Parra, Brewers
SP-Edinson Volquez, Reds
SP-Jaime Garcia
CL-Chris Perez
C-Geovany Soto, Cubs
1B-Joey Votto, Reds
2B-Shelby Ford, Pirates
3B-Josh Vitters, Cubs
SS-Pete Kozma
LF-Matt LaPorta, Brewers
CF-Colby Rasmus
RF-Jay Bruce, Reds
Team two:
SP-Sean Gallagher, Cubs
SP-Felipe Paulino, Astros
SP-Adam Ottavino
SP-Clayton Mortensen
SP-Jeremy Jeffress, Brewers
CL-Daniel Moskos, Pirates
C-J.R. Towles, Astros
1B-Steven Pearce, Pirates
2B-Jose Martinez
3B-Neil Walker, Pirates
SS-Todd Frazier, Reds
OF-Andrew McCutchen, Pirates
OF-Drew Stubbs, Reds
OF-Tyler Colvin, Cubs
A few comments–Some of you may argue Frazier over Kozma, I figured Kozma was drafted ahead of him for a reason and there’s a very good chance Frazier will have to move to 3B. After the two top catchers, I would’ve went Anderson and Mesoraco. I’ll let you decide who you’d rather want–high upside or a very good young player closer to the majors. Votto was a slim winner over Pearce for the best 1B, you could really go either way though. Some may argue Gamel deserves to be the 3B on team two, but I just can’t get the 54 errors out of my head. I give it also to Walker because he has a peak EqA of .302, Gamel .285.
That is just monstrous OF for team one, Team 2 has question marks but a lot of upside. All are CFers. Jamie Romak was a near miss in there. Team one’s rotation was pretty much a no-brainer, Team two was a lot trickier and I’m not sold on my choices but I’ll stick with them for now. 2B is hardly a position of strength for any team. And yes, I know Martinez is a SS but many are saying he may have to move over to 2B.
So what do you all say? What would you do different?
Oh, and Happy New Year.
Filed under: behind enemy lines
erik
azruavatar
fewgoodcards
roarke49
theredbaaron
Hmmmm…. the Cardinals are supposedly lacking in middle infield prospects yet 2 of the 4 MIF´s are from our system and on top of that, many would argue that Greene and Hoffpauir would be as good as Kozma and Martinez.
One minor quibble and I should have mentioned this in the Reds one, but Volquez isn’t considered a prospect anymore.
Also, I’m not so sure Alcides Escobar doesn’t deserve a mention here, scouts love him. While I personally don’t love him, everything I judge him off is purely statistically.
i don’t see why he wouldn’t be considered a prospect, he’s only thrown 80 innings
Because those are the rules?
Felix Pie only has 177 ABs wheres he?
pretty solid looking list, i don’t see how you can really complain with anyone on there.
Shhh…Everyone has their own interpretation of the rules, i don’t really know of some sort of official amount of innings or games a player has to play in order to be considered a prospect or not. I put him on their because it’s my list, feel free to quibble, that’s cool. it’s all done in fun and whatnot. you are right, pie could be considered an oversight according to the same logic. i guess he’d be one team one alongside rasmus and bruce, and bumping laporta down to team 2.
Hi Erik,
Nice work. How close was Herron to making your list? I spent quite awhile this weekend tracking how guys with different numbers tended to to in the following season, and from 2005 to 2006, and again from 2006 to 2007, guys with numbers like Herron tended to do much better the next year than guys with numbers like Ottavino’s, regardless of level.
Also, I think Shhhh is just pointing out that rookie eligibility is what prospect rating sites usually use as their cutoff, just to try to keep things standard.
Here’s my stab at the rotations, FWIW:
*Team 1*
Bailey
Cueto
Parra
Jeffress
Veal
*Team 2*
Garcia
Brad Lincoln (injured, wild card)
Gallagher
Mortensen
Herron
Garcia’s elbow makes me choose Veal over him. Otherwise, the two would be swapped. Tough to put Lincoln on there, but the division is shallow for prospects, and the recovery from TJ is usually good now.
Paulino and Ottavino don’t excite me much. I could see Ottavino turning it around, though.