Prospect Number Nine

I got the close vote I wanted. I was hoping for 100 votes but we stalled at 91. I could do a runoff for number 8 but using Nate Silver's guidance (he makes my brain hurt) it would appear that enough of a % who voted for Gallagher would cast their vote for Bell so that I'm calling it.

Here was the vote for number one
Here was the vote for 2 - 4.
Here was the vote for number 5
Here was the vote for numbers 7 & 8

1. James McDonald
2. Ivan DeJesus
3. Andrew Lambo
4. Scott Elbert
5. Ethan Martin
6.Josh Lindblom
7.Austin Gallagher
8.Josh Bell

Xavier Paul - 23 year old former 4th round pick in 2003 has made every single step up the ladder. Slight Center Fielder was the only real prospect who played all year in AAA this year.  Xavier hit .316 with 28 doubles, nine homers and 68 runs batted in over 115 games. He got hotter as the weather got hotter and produced a .347 average after the All-Star break and concluded the season with a .370 mark the final month. He played CF but the review say he's not very good there, which is to bad because he does not seem to have the bat for a corner. If he can play CF then he might have more of a future then as a 4th outfielder. He certainly has the arm for it as it was once rated the best arm in the organization. In 2008 he cut down on his strikeouts and for the first time in three years did not strike out 100 times while keeping his walk rate at a decent level. None of his skills stand out and he will be ignored by all the prospect lists but he's on this list.

Chris Withrow - This 19 year old has thrown exactly 13 innings since being our number one pick out of Midland Texas. To soon to call this a bust but man get on the mound so we can see what you got.  We keep hearing he has stuff like Billingsley but we need to see it soon. This boy has got to get some innings in.

Nathan Eovaldi - Could we have a sleeper? This 18 year old out of Alvin, Texas was an 11th round pick and has wowed the scouts with his arm. TJ surgery while in High School turned off the scouts this spring and maybe we got lucky. He didn't pitch enough innings to make any determination about his abilities but the scouts seem to love his fastball.

I'm going to add Tony Delmonico to the vote.  The 6th  round pick hit .340 with 20 doubles and 11 home runs in 35 games. Six of those home runs came in the final 10 games of the season. The word is that he is going to transition to catcher as he's a terrible infielder. I don't think he belongs here a head of Pedroza but I'll let you guys make that decison. He was 21 in the rookie league.

Jamie Pedroza tore up the Rookie League at age 20 to the tune of a .982 OPS while playing SS. This year he skipped Low A and went straight to High A and had a .290 average, a .342 on base percentage, 31 doubles, 11 home runs and stole 25 bases to boot. He started out at 2nd base but wasn't hitting in April. They moved him back to SS and his bat responded. BA has said he will not be able to remain at SS so 2nd base still sounds like where he will end up. 

Devaris Strange-Gordon just like Delmonico played for Ogden. The 2008 3rd round pick didn't hit like Delmonico but he's a year younger and everyone was raving about his defense at SS. He may now be the fastest player in the organization stealing 18 bases in only 60 games with a 78% success rate.

Steven Johnson was the 2nd best pitcher on the Great Lake Low A team. Once he got promoted from the pitching friendly league to the Cal League he was crushed. I'm not a fan of his but some of you might be, so he is here if you want to vote for him. One scout has told he has no plus pitch and would get hammered at the higher levels. That is what happened this year.

Feel free to throw out some names you'd rather see at this level.

Geison Aguasviva, James Adkins,Jon Michael Redding, Victor Garate(my sleeper pick in 2009), Kenley Jansen(2nd sleeper pick in 2009), Kyle Russel, Cole St. Clair, Pedro Baez, Josh Wall, AJ Ellis, Jesus Castillo, Justin Miller...