Dead heat after two votes so they both get to call themselves the TBLA 13th best prospect. Final vote is now up for the 15th TBLA best Dodger prospect.  I don't know how the rest of you vote but I do it on what the ceiling is and if I expect them to reach the ceiling. So for me Lucas May will be no more then a backup catcher, while Jonathan Garcia could be Adam Jones (a comparable for his age in the Arizona League) offensively or just another fast starting kid who is swallowed up by advanced pitching.

Dead Heat between Webster and Russell with Lucas May getting some surprising support.

1 Chat and Vote -  Chris Withrow
2 Chat and Vote -  Dee Gordon
3 Chat and Vote - Scott Elbert
4 Chat and Vote - Ivan DeJesus
5.Chat and Vote - Ethan Martin
6.Chat and Vote - Andrew Lambo
7.                             Aaron Miller
8. Chat and Vote - Josh Lindlbom
9. Chat and vote  - Trayvon Robinson
10. Chat and vote  - Nathan Eovaldi
11.                              Xavier Paul
12. Chat and Vote  Garrett Gould

Garret Gould wins the vote for number 12 quite easily and is now the youngest player on the list. Seven out of twelve are pitchers. I've add a plethora of names to the poll as we head into the strech for the top 15.

1 Chat and Vote -  Chris Withrow
2 Chat and Vote -  Dee Gordon
3 Chat and Vote - Scott Elbert
4 Chat and Vote - Ivan DeJesus
5.Chat and Vote - Ethan Martin
6.Chat and Vote - Andrew Lambo
7.                             Aaron Miller
8. Chat and Vote - Josh Lindlbom
9. Chat and vote  - Trayvon Robinson
10. Chat and vote  - Nathan Eovaldi
11.                              Xavier Paul

It took two different votes but Nathan Eovaldi holds off Xavier Paul to win the coveted TBLA 10 spot.  A near dead heat in the first vote resulted in a run off vote that was close for most of the day, but the late afternoon/evening crowd pushed Eovaldi into the lead by 18 votes.

Now this may ruffle some feathers but I'm not putting Paul back out there. He got enough support for the 10 spot that I'm putting him in at 11.  I don't agree with it but the voters have given him plenty of support.  The vote is on for 12 and I'm adding the youngest player in the organization.

We all have our reasons for who and why we vote for someone. For me the next three spots are between the teen-agers. The high bonus golden arm of Garrett Gould or the promise of Jonathan Garcia or the unexpected brilliance of Allen Webster.

Fricking crazy that I'm talking about three guys who were born after 1990.

Anybody else you would like to have the voters have a crack at? Lucas May, Jamie Hoffman, Brent Leach, Francisco Felix, Travis Schlichting, Justin Sellers, Javy Guerra, Pedro Baez, Steven Caseres, Jamie Ortiz, Tim Sexton, Kenley Jansen, Tony Delmonico, Jamie Pedroza, Gerald Sands, Geison Aguasviva, Jon Michael Redding , Allen St. Clair, Brian Cavazos-Galvez, Gorman Erickson, Franklin Jacobs, Mario Songco, Brett Wallach, Jonathan Garcia, Danny Danielson, Roberto Feliciano.

1 Chat and Vote -  Chris WIthrow
2 Chat and Vote -  Dee Gordon
3 Chat and Vote - Scott Elbert
4 Chat and Vote - Ivan DeJesus
5.Chat and Vote - Ethan Martin
6.Chat and Vote - Andrew Lambo
7.                             Aaron Miller
8. Chat and Vote - Josh Lindlbom

It was close between Lindblom and Trayvon until the afternoon when Josh just blew him away using his killer repertoire

Lindblom touched 96 mph as a college reliever, and he still pitched with plus velocity (89-94) as a pro starter, with plenty of heavy life on his fastball. His heater bores in on righthanders, his slider has lateral tilt and his splitter is a swing-and-miss pitch. He has a durable body, clean delivery and good mound presence..

If the voters go down the same path as the last vote this next poll is really between Xavier Paul and Trayvon Robinson as we decide which one of these center fielders has the better future. Both of these players are similar in some aspects.

1. Both play center field

2. Both have some power but neither will ever be considered home run hitters.

3. Both strike out much more then they should given their lack of power. At least when Kyle Russell makes contact you know the ball is going big fly.

4. Paul put up huge numbers in AAA but a closer look shows he did most of his damage at home in one of the best offensive parks in baseball. Robinson put up big numbers in the offensive California League. Paul couldn't break an OPS of .800 while in the Southern League joining Lambo in that futility.

5. They both need work on their stolen base game. Robinson has been caught 46 times in 149 attempts  which won't get it done if he wants to have value as a basestealer. Eric reported for what it is worth that Trayvon is considered by 66er fans to be one of the worse baserunners on the team. Paul isn't much better as he's been caught 48 times in 134 attempts.

To be honest I'm not sure why Paul got so much traction in the last vote. In the best possible scenario he could become Shane Victorino but I think he has a very small chance of that happening. The reality is that Paul is probably going to become at best a platoon outfielder who never holds a regular job on a good team. We don't know yet what Robinson will do with the two 1/2  years he has on Paul.  I'd rather hedge my bet on what we don't know then what we do know. Some have seen Paul's excellent numbers in AAA but as Eric showed in the chat, the MLE's for that kind of production are tepid.  I don't want to make it seem like I don't like Paul, I do, I think in 2010 he'd make an excellent fourth outfielder for the team because he can play all three outfield positions, can give us a solid pinch hitter against RHP, can pinch run. But this team is probably in trouble if Xavier Paul is playing LF with any regularity.

I'd welcome any arguments for anyone on this list. If you think someone should be winning this poll just don't call the vote a sham. Put together a cohesive argument on why you think so because otherwise it is irritating to read someone say "this is ridiculous, blah blah is clearly the better player" without any arguments to back it. I spend a good amount of time writing this stuff up and a three second comment bashing the voting is just irritating. If you don't like the way a vote is going, give reasons why you think the voters are wrong. 

Kyle Russell was talked about quite a bit in the last chat and vote. I personally like Kyle Russell very much because the Dodgers have no one close to him when it comes to power. He may have more power then anyone has had since Billy Ashley was in the system but those of us who remember, know what happened to Billy Ashley. The difference and I hope this is the difference between failure and success is that Kyle Russell is an excellent athlete. That said I'm not putting him on the ballot until after this next vote.  I'm a bit amazed that our system got so deep that Gould/Eovaldi/Webster are looking at the outside of the top ten.

After a heated battle Aaron Miller, Andrew Lambo, and Ethan Martin were just about dead even. This next vote will only take place in the comments and will run until 09:00 AM tomorrow.  Only vote for one of the three, you may use initials if you choose.

AM = Aaron Miller

AL = Andrew Lambo

EM = Ethan Martin

TBLA Prospect Number One Chat and Vote -  Chris WIthrow
TBLA Prospect Number Two Chat and Vote -  Dee Gordon
TBLA Prospect Number Three Chat and Vote - Scott Elbert

Scott Elbert gets on the board with a closer vote then the previous two spots. So far we have a power 20 year old, a Jose Reyes or Jimmy Rollins ceiling SS, and now Elbert. Elbert could become Billy Wagner if relegated to the bullpen or hopefully make a dent in the rotation.  SilverWidow has requested Garrett Gould be added to the list making him the youngest player on the list below.  TBLA members were elated when we signed Gould after making him our 2nd round pick  since he was considered to have a first round arm thus making up for the loss our real 1st round pick when we signed Orlando Hudson.

TBLA Prospect Number One Discussion and Vote

Number One - Chris WIthrow

Due to a late surge Chris Withrow takes the top spot and is the community TBLA top Dodger prospect for 2010. A worthy choice, Withrow showed why he was the Dodgers top pick in 2007 by handling the tough California League in his first full professional season, and then doing more then holding his own as a 20 year old in AA.

This was tight vote with every person on the ballot getting some support. We are going to make it even tougher by adding Aaron Miller and Trayvon Robinson  to the mix for the next round. From this point on we will be doing a vote a day during the week and skipping weekends.

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