Post by ericmvan on Jul 20, 2014 1:14:05 GMT -5
I've waited several years to suggest this. But for the last few years, this site could easily have listed 75 guys without including anyone embarrassing. You could put 25 guys on the home page, 25 more pictures on page 2, and list 25 guys underneath them.
I think we all agree that the difference between a 50 ranking and a 60 ranking is hair-spllittingly thin. So the question is, are there 15 more guys that are being excluded via a series of toss-a-coin judgment calls, but who really deserve a link on the first two pages? Guys who are simply interesting talents worth following, and who are worth differentiating from the roster filler?
Check out right now. Let's start with some unlisted guys who seem like egregious oversights to me:
-- Derrik Gibson, two years removed from Callis declaring him the best athlete in the system, and dominating AA while playing SS and CF
-- Chris Hernandez, a LHP dominating in half his starts (and holding his own in the other) in AAA
-- Michael Almanzar, already taken in the Rule 5 and raking in AA
-- Luis OF Basabe, a $450K bonus guy with a 900+ OPS at age 17 in the DSL
-- Raymel Flores, a $900K bonus guy having a very fine year at Lowell, age 19.
Given their pedigree and performance this year, Kendrick Perkins, Carson Blair, Daniel McGrath, and, yes, Jordan Weems deserve some linky goodness.
Well, that's 9. And I'm pretty sure you have a policy against listing new international signings until they play -- but I think that Anderson Espinoza and maybe Chris Acosta are worth making exceptions for. So that's 10 or 11 more names, maybe.
So, now look at Kyle Martin and tell me that you can't find 4 to 6 guys as worthy from this list:
Franklin Guzman, Janzten Witte; big bonus pitchers who are either having credible years or who had a solid one in 2013, and should still be on people's radars in Ty Buttrey, Enmanuel DeJesus, Austin Maddox, Edwar Garcia, Jacob Dahlstrand (nice relief conversion), Gabe Speier, Gerson Bautista, and maybe still Madison Younginer; and a host of other pitchers having interesting seasons in Matt Ott, Pete Ruiz, Mike Adams, Taylor Grover, Jason Garcia, Carlos Pinales, Randy Perez, Keivin Heras, Luis Ramos, and Ryan Verdugo, who has fanned 5 of the 7 guys he has faced since his relief conversion! That's a SSS joke, but it allows me to segue into Kevin McAvoy, who's off to a very nice start.
That's 21 more guys. I would hate to be the one to pick the 5 or so worth including, and there would certainly be a lot of flux at the bottom of the list. But you have that already! The difference would be that you wouldn't be fluxing off guys like McGrath whose actual decline in prospect status isn't nearly as large as that implied by having him disappear entirely.
To sum up, the bottom of the list should be populated by the best of the borderline prospects, guys who, if they come and go from week to week, it's no big deal. There are a few such guys on the list now, I think: De La Cruz, Whitson, Martin, and Miller, all of whom I would have in the 75-ish range. But other guys in the bottom 10 like Layne, Light, and Kukuk are better than borderline even though they may be properly ranked relative to the guys just above them. They shouldn't be in danger of losing their link luster in order to accommodate the overlooked guys I mentioned at the beginning.
So, the shortest possible version is maybe this: if Cody Kukuk is roughly your #60 prospect, you need 75.
So, is this viable?
I think we all agree that the difference between a 50 ranking and a 60 ranking is hair-spllittingly thin. So the question is, are there 15 more guys that are being excluded via a series of toss-a-coin judgment calls, but who really deserve a link on the first two pages? Guys who are simply interesting talents worth following, and who are worth differentiating from the roster filler?
Check out right now. Let's start with some unlisted guys who seem like egregious oversights to me:
-- Derrik Gibson, two years removed from Callis declaring him the best athlete in the system, and dominating AA while playing SS and CF
-- Chris Hernandez, a LHP dominating in half his starts (and holding his own in the other) in AAA
-- Michael Almanzar, already taken in the Rule 5 and raking in AA
-- Luis OF Basabe, a $450K bonus guy with a 900+ OPS at age 17 in the DSL
-- Raymel Flores, a $900K bonus guy having a very fine year at Lowell, age 19.
Given their pedigree and performance this year, Kendrick Perkins, Carson Blair, Daniel McGrath, and, yes, Jordan Weems deserve some linky goodness.
Well, that's 9. And I'm pretty sure you have a policy against listing new international signings until they play -- but I think that Anderson Espinoza and maybe Chris Acosta are worth making exceptions for. So that's 10 or 11 more names, maybe.
So, now look at Kyle Martin and tell me that you can't find 4 to 6 guys as worthy from this list:
Franklin Guzman, Janzten Witte; big bonus pitchers who are either having credible years or who had a solid one in 2013, and should still be on people's radars in Ty Buttrey, Enmanuel DeJesus, Austin Maddox, Edwar Garcia, Jacob Dahlstrand (nice relief conversion), Gabe Speier, Gerson Bautista, and maybe still Madison Younginer; and a host of other pitchers having interesting seasons in Matt Ott, Pete Ruiz, Mike Adams, Taylor Grover, Jason Garcia, Carlos Pinales, Randy Perez, Keivin Heras, Luis Ramos, and Ryan Verdugo, who has fanned 5 of the 7 guys he has faced since his relief conversion! That's a SSS joke, but it allows me to segue into Kevin McAvoy, who's off to a very nice start.
That's 21 more guys. I would hate to be the one to pick the 5 or so worth including, and there would certainly be a lot of flux at the bottom of the list. But you have that already! The difference would be that you wouldn't be fluxing off guys like McGrath whose actual decline in prospect status isn't nearly as large as that implied by having him disappear entirely.
To sum up, the bottom of the list should be populated by the best of the borderline prospects, guys who, if they come and go from week to week, it's no big deal. There are a few such guys on the list now, I think: De La Cruz, Whitson, Martin, and Miller, all of whom I would have in the 75-ish range. But other guys in the bottom 10 like Layne, Light, and Kukuk are better than borderline even though they may be properly ranked relative to the guys just above them. They shouldn't be in danger of losing their link luster in order to accommodate the overlooked guys I mentioned at the beginning.
So, the shortest possible version is maybe this: if Cody Kukuk is roughly your #60 prospect, you need 75.
So, is this viable?
