We have reached the major league all-star break, and enough baseball has been played to take a look at our Dodger prospect rankings. Keep in mind that Coolguy_88888888 and Kensai put a hell of a lot more thought into this then I do.
This is what I had to say on Dec 1st
Pre-Season Los Angeles Dodgers Top Prospect Ranking |
Order | Hitter | Pitcher |
1st | Dee Gordon | Scott Elbert |
2nd | Ivan DeJesus | Chris Withrow |
3rd |
Trayvon Robinson | Aaron Miller |
4th | Andrew Lambo | Ethan Martin |
5th | Xavier Paul | Joshua Lindblom |
6th | Jonathan Garcia | Allen Webster |
7th | Luke May | Nathan Eovaldi |
8th | Kyle Russell | Garrett Gould |
9th | Anthony Delmonico | Kenley Jansen |
10th | Gerald Sands | Danny Danielson |
11th | Steven Caseres | Carlos Frias |
12th | Scott VanSlyke | Geison Aguasviva |
13th | Brian Cavazos-Galvez | Jon Michael Redding |
14th | Pedro Baez | Brett Wallach |
15th | Austin Gallagher | Justin Miller |
HON | Gorman Erickson | Travis Schlichting |
Some big whiffs on that list. While I like calliing Elbert a WAL(Wild Ass Lefty), when it comes to my rankings I've always given him the benefit of the doubt because of his potential. Last year I saw a marked increase in his command that I thought would pave the way for future major league success. Without knowing the particulars of Elbert's situation I'm going to sit him out of the mid-season ranking and take another look at the end of the year.
Danny Danielson was my 2nd biggest whiff. I must have really over estimated his skill set if he himself thought so little of his abilities that he quit this early in his career. On the hitting side Steven Caseres looks like I totally over rated him. My thinking was that he'd be able to hit RHP enough to become some part of of a platoon option but right now that does not seem possible. Gorman Erickson has been disappointing but I only gave him an Honorable Mention.
On the plus side I did have Sands ranked above Van Slyke and 10th on the positional prospect list. I think that was a fairly high ranking for Sands given his draft position and age. I also had Jonathan Garcia ranked fairly high and I continue that trend below.
Regarding the Mid-Season ranking below. I've been fairly aggressive with the positional rankings as Sands simply forced his way to the top. His destruction of the MWL was impressive, and would have gotten him into the top five if he had simply held is own after his promotion to AA. Since he didn't hold his own but continued his path of destruction in the Southern League, I really had no choice but to make him the top positional prospect. His OPS would be 100 points higher then anyone in the Southern League. He may fall hard in the 2nd half, but for now he's the guy we have been looking for. A power hitter. Keith Law may not be impressed and in the end he may be right, but I think he's missing the boat on Sands. The Sands that was playing in the Midwest League in April 2009 is not the Sands who changed his swing in Ogden in 2009, and has done nothing but rake ever since.
Jonathan Garcia has only had a few abats in the Pioneer League but he's done enough for me to move him a head of the rest of the position players. Looks like Logan White nailed this one.
Tae-Hyeok Nam is only in the Arizona Rookie League, but the 19 year old is powerfully built and looks like he could be a power plant. This pick is mostly hopeful projection.
I love our pitching, haven't really seen enough from the rest of the pack to knock Withrow off his number one ranking. They are young and inconsistent but big arms abound up and down the system. Aaron Miller might be the closest to being ready from the starters. Most of us think Jansen is already ready to unleash his gun on the NL.
One pitcher who I know nothing about is Javier Solano but when you are 20 years old in the Cal League and you put up these kind of K/BB ratio's (38 K's, 5 walks) along with the K/9 dominance (38 Ks in 32 Innings) you get my attention. So he's on the list. Strictly a numbers call.
I'd love to know the one player that was considered untouchable in the recent Lee negotiations because I hope it was not Dee Gordon. I don't really see an untouchable in our system. Lots of great arms, but they all have warts, some smaller then others.
Mid-Season - Los Angeles Dodgers Top Prospect Ranking |
Order | Hitter | Age | Level | Pitcher | Age | Level |
1st | Jerry Sands | 22 | AA | Chris Withrow | 21 | AA |
2nd | Jonathan Garcia | 18 | Rookie | Aaron Miller | 22 | AA |
3rd |
Trayvon Robinson | 22 | AA | Kenley Jansen | 22 | AA |
4th | Dee Gordon | 22 | AA | Ethan Martin | 21 | A+ |
5th | Xavier Paul | 25 | AAA | Allen Webster | 20 | A |
6th | Ivan DeJesus | 23 | AAA | Nathan Eovaldi | 20 | A+ |
7th | Andrew Lambo | 21 | AA | Garrett Gould | 18 | Rookie |
8th | Mario Songco | 21 | A | Matt Magill | 20 | A |
9th | Blake Smith | 22 | A | Brett Wallach | 21 | A |
10th | Tae-Hyeok Nam | 19 | Rookie | Rubby De La Rosa | 21 | A |
11th | Lucas May | 25 | AAA | Elisaul Pimentel | 21 | A |
12th | Kyle Russell | 24 | AA | Josh Lindblom | 23 | AAA |
13th | Pedro Baez | 22 | A+ | Carlos Frias | 20 | Rookie |
14th | Anthony Delmonico | 23 | A+ | Javier Solano | 20 | A+ |
15th | Leon Landry | 20 | Rookie | Justin Miller | 22 | AA |
HON | Russell Mitchell | 25 | AAA | Steven Ames | 22 | A |