Prospect Number 7

I'm going to keep moving this along until we get a close vote.

Here was the vote for number one
Here was the vote for 2 - 4.
Here was the vote for number 5

1 James McDonald
2. Ivan DeJesus
3. Andrew Lambo
4. Scott Elbert
5. Ethan Martin
6.Josh Lindblom

Austin Gallagher - Turns 20 this November and was one of the youngest players in the California league this summer at 19. He's a 6'5 left handed hitting 3rd baseman who shows alot more power in practice then in the real games. Only 9 home runs after two professional seasons. He was drafted in the 3rd round of 2007 and has progressed rapidly for a high school draftee. I'd be more impressed if I felt he could stay at 3rd base but there is a reason you don't see many successful 6'5 3rd baseman.

Josh Bell - last years belle of the ball had knee surgery during the season and that is why Austin Gallagher ended up playing 3rd base in the California League at the age of 19. Bell was drafted in the 4th round of the 2005 and is going to be 22 in a week. Losing 1/2 year of development time didn't help him any. Still power hitting switch hitters who can play 3rd base don't grow on trees. He didn't dominate the Cal League but he held his own. Plate discipline seemed to take a step up this year. Unlike Austin he has a better chance of sticking at 3rd base.

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. He started out very slow but came on and ended up with a solid year. 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.