Dodgers 2011 #5 Prospect Chat

Rubby De La Rosa ran away with the #4 prospect ranking with 28 votes, beating out Dee Gordon (10 votes), Kenley Jansen (10 votes), and Chris Withrow (2 votes).  Rubby’s 100 mph fastball and impressive 2010 stats were just too much for people to resist.  Thus far, the TBLA Prospect List looks like:

1.     Jerry Sands

2.     Trayvon Robinson

3.     Zach Lee

4.     Rubby De La Rosa

As people discussed in the comments yesterday, this is definitely not how the Baseball America top 4 this offseason.  However, we shouldn’t really care how other sites rank our players because this is the TBLA vote, and we can have a difference of opinion.

I don’t believe I saw any suggestions for players to be added to the voting options, and therefore I’m not going to add anybody this round.  Next round I definitely want to add one or two names, however, so let me know who they should be.  We are going to continue voting using the comment method, so refer to the Fanpost and submit your vote in the comments.  I’m going to leave this vote open for approximately 24 hours, which should give everyone a chance to vote.

To make it obvious for those not reading the whole article, Click Here To Vote.

As always, use this thread to talk about the voting and other things, and only use the other Fanpost to submit your votes. 

The round 5 candidates (ages as of 2011 opening day):

Kenley Jansen (23.5 years old) RHP – Dominated the minor leagues, and then went on to record the 4^th lowest major league rookie ERA in major league history (min 25 innings) at 0.67.  Still technically a rookie heading into 2011, major league batters also hit just .130 against him.  Will almost certainly stay in the bullpen for the rest of his career.

Dee Gordon (22.75 years old) SS – Has a .297 career minor league batting average and has 126 stolen bases over the past 2 seasons, and scouts still describe him as very raw with a ton of potential.  Was one of the younger players in AA in 2010, and despite making a lot of errors at shortstop, many believe he has the tools to one day be a plus defender.

Allen Webster (21 years old) RHP – Webster has been excellent in his 3 minor league seasons, and has a career minor league ERA of 2.76 in 218.1 innings.  While his strikeout rate dropped a bit in 2010, his 131.1 innings with the Loons as 20 year old almost doubled his workload from the previous year, so it was expected that he’d tire a bit.  He has a low 90’s fastball that hits 94 and has a lot of sink, and his curveball is very solid. 

Aaron Miller (23.5 years old) LHP – Was great in the California league, but struggled during his 23 innings in AA.  He doesn’t throw real hard, generally working in the low 90’s, but he has great control.  He also has a power slider and is working on a changeup.

Chris Withrow (22 years old) RHP – TBLA’s #1 prospect last year, Withrow had a very disappointing 2010 season in AA.  However he was one of the youngest players in the Southern League at just 21 years old, so he still have plenty of time to improve his game.  He still has great stuff, as Baseball America’s most recent report says that "he features a mid-90s fastball that bores and sinks, and he also spins a plus curveball in the mid-70s." 

Again, Click Here for the #5 Dodger Prospect Voting