Prospect Number 11

BHSPORTSGUY provided this great link to keep track of what is happening in the winter leagues.

Xavier Paul is prospect number 10, holding off Nathan Eovaldi by a 2 -1  margin.

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
Here was thevote for Number 9

Top Ten
1.James McDonald
2. Ivan DeJesus
3. Andrew Lambo
4. Scott Elbert
5. Ethan Martin
6. Josh Lindblom
7. Austin Gallagher
8. Josh Bell
9.Chris Withrow
10.Xavier Paul

Most of you may have thought you were voting for number eleven last time but Canuck noticed I'd skipped number 7 and went right to eight. Many don't consider Mr. Paul to be much of a prospect but here he is in our top 10. Right now he's punishing the Mexican League pitching and sits fourth in OPS. On Sunday he went 4-for-7 with a pair of solo homers and three runs scored. Before we get excited about his winter league performance take a look at the name a head of him. That is right, old friend Carlos Oscar Robles is sporting a .950 OPS so between the pitching and the altitude I'm impressed and unimpressed with his showing.

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.

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...