Sickels rolled out his Top 20 Cards today at his blog.
Here’s the list, along with his quotes:
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Colby Rasmus, OF, Grade A
- Chris Perez, RHP, Grade B
- Jaime Garcia, LHP, Grade B
- Adam Ottavino, RHP, Grade B
- Bryan Anderson, C, Grade B-
- Tyler Herron, RHP, Grade B-
- Clayton Mortensen, RHP, Grade B-
- Pete Kozma, SS, Grade B-
- Jess Todd, RHP, Grade B-
- Allen Craig, 3B, Grade B- (judgment call on a personal favorite)
- P.J. Walters, RHP, Grade B- (judgment call on a personal favorite)
- Jose Martinez, SS, Grade B- (an intriguing overlooked prospect)
- Mitchell Boggs, RHP, Grade C+ (I know he has a good arm but he strikes me as overrated by other experts for some reason)
- Jon Jay, OF, Grade C+ (I think he will rebound)
- Brian Barton, OF, Grade C+
- Joe Mather, OF, Grade C+
- David Freese, 3B, Grade C+
- Cody Haerther, OF, Grade C+
- David Kopp, RHP, Grade C+
- Steven Hill, C-INF, Grade C+
John goes on to say-
This is an underrated farm system that deserves more attention. Some of these ratings are rather different than in you will find from other sources, but I’m making some judgment calls here.
Preach it, holmes.
John warns that grades are more important then placement, so keep that in mind. He also agreed to do some Q and A with me at the site sometime, so we’ll get some reason into some of his judgments here whenever he finds some spare time from editing his book, which may be a little while. Just some off the cuff reactions-
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B- for Anderson seems a little tough to me, but I’m not sweating it.
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On the other hand, B for Ottavino seems pretty generous.
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Earlier this week we heard from Bryan Smith and he was very high on Todd. Now we’re seeing the same from Sickels. Interesting.
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He likes some of our darlings-Craig, Martinez, Walters- in spite of what some others may say.
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David Kopp? Steve Hill? I know John has personally seen Hill, so maybe he knows something. I like his bat, but I still am rather skeptical of him for some reason. I’ve heard good things about Kopp’s mechanics and am interested in seeing how he does in A ball this year.
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I’m a little baffled by the snubs of Jarrett Hoffpauir, Jason Motte, Kenny Maiques and Mark Hamilton.
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12 guys with B grade is a pretty nice improvement from last year, when they had 7 (Jay and Haerther were two of the B’s)
Discuss.
Filed under: Prospect rankings
erik
azruavatar
fewgoodcards
roarke49
theredbaaron
More fodder for the trade Brian Anderson while his value is high camp. If other teams value him as highly as Cards fans do, then we should move him for someone else. Call me crazy, but I see a set backwards coming this season for him.
i was a fan of kopp before the draft and thought he was a pretty good pick where we got him. he has a true power sinker that he can get up into the 93-96 range at times and a slider that could definitely be an out pitch if he becomes more consistent with it. he also looks to be a very good athlete, and he is built like an absolute horse. i think he could have been close to the top 10 if he wasn’t shut down this summer, and i am glad someone finally put him in their rankings. i can’t wait to see what he can do this year.
I guess I just don’t get the idea of giving “grades”. It seems to be a way to try to vastly oversimplify a very complicated subject and imo instead of making it “accessible” it dumbs it down to the point of uselessness.
Is Anderson a B- because of his arm? His speed? His bat? Is Hill a C+ because he was drafted last year, because of his age and level, because he won’t stay at catcher? It’s impossible to tell. I wouldn’t trade Anderson for Martinez if Martinez was in a different system, or Boggs for Mather, etc. Yet they are ranked the same. I don’t see how giving what seems to be arbitrary grades clarifies anything.
he explains the grades on his site, and if you want his reports on individual players you have to by his book.
“he explains the grades on his site”
Well, I can’t find it; probably should be a sticky or something, since I’m sure it’s a FAQ kind of thing. I love the Minor League Ball logo though…
If you look at the grades he gives the other systems, The Cardinals are in the top 5. If you look at the top 15 only you could say that the Cardinals are as good, or even better, as the Reds, since they only have 11 B- or better when we have 12. The only one that looks better for sure is the Devel Rays.
Um, theres no way you could say the Cards are just as good or even better than the Reds. These 5 teams Sickels clearly thinks are better:
Athletics
Rays
Red Sox
Reds
Rangers
The Dodgers, Yanks, and if A. Jones and F. Pie were considered prospects their teams would be up their or better than the Cards in my opinion. Then theres probably another couple teams I’m leaving out. Even though Sickels’ grades may disagree it looks like he was a little generous with the Cards, other than Anderson who I would have given a straight B to.
Just my opinion though.
Oh, and thats nothing against our farm, I just don’t think it’s top 10.
yeah, i agree. the reds is by far and away the best in our division
Did anyone else see the news that the club gave Jaime Garcia an NRI. Verrrryyyyy interesting. If you buy the major league equivalency projections he could do a better job then most of the other Cards back of the rotation fodder. My fear though is that if Jaime’s arm is hurting in big league spring training will he report it…. Sickels grades are encouraging though I agree with SleepyCA in terms of the would you trade for analogies. Obviously the Cards dont value Haerther as much as Sickels as they put 4 unranked relievers on their forty man before one Cody Haerther…
Lawless- I didn’t see that. When I first read your post, I thought it contained a typo and you meant MRI. I immediately began panicking.
I have to say here, I’m really high on David Kopp. Great frame and all that, and I really love his delivery. Very low stress, appears quite repeatable, and still manages to generate more than adequate power to get the job done. I think he’s going to be really good.
SleepyCA, here’s what John has to say about his grade system:
“GRADES AND WHAT THEY MEAN
Grade A prospects are the elite. They have a good chance of becoming stars or superstars. Almost all Grade A prospects develop into major league regulars, if injuries or other problems don’t intervene. Note that is a major “if” in some cases.
Grade B prospects have a good chance to enjoy successful careers. Some will develop into stars, some will not. Most end up spending several years in the majors, at the very least in a marginal role.
Grade C prospects are the most common type. These are guys who have something positive going for them, but who may have a question mark or three, or who are just too far away from the majors to get an accurate feel for. A few Grade C guys, especially at the lower levels, do develop into stars. Many end up as role players or bench guys. Some don’t make it at all.
A major point to remember is that grades for pitchers do NOT correspond directly to grades for hitters. Many Grade A pitching prospects fail to develop, often due to injuries. Some Grade C pitching prospects turn out much better than expected.
Also note that there is diversity within each category. I’m a tough grader; Grade C+ is actually good praise coming from me, and some C+ prospects turn out very well indeed.
Finally, keep in mind that all grades are shorthand. You have to read the full comment for my full opinion about a player, the letter grade only tells you so much. A Grade C prospect in rookie ball could end up being very impressive, while a Grade C prospect in Triple-A is likely just a future role player.”
One thing to keep in mind, Matt Scherer was rated by Sickels as the Cardinals 13th best prospect last year. He gave him a C+.
Most of us really thought Scherer wasn’t anything too special last year.
A little surprised Scherer made the cut last year, and high up, and Jason Motte didn’t make it this year.
Just and FYI I know the cardinals have started inviting players to big league camp. Also, before spring training they are having a mini camp with about 6 of the minor league pitchers and all the pitching coaches and the new minor league head of pitching and the new pitching mechanics guy.