Five-Star Prospects

1. Matt LaPorta, lf
   
2. Manny Parra, lhp
   

Four-Star Prospects
3. Jeremy Jeffress, rhp
Three-Star Prospects

4. Cole Gillespie, of
   
5. Angel Salome, c
   
6. Alcides Escobar, ss
   
7. Mat Gamel, 3b
   
8. Caleb Gindl, of
   
9. Luis Pena, rhp
   
10. Robert Bryson, rhp
    
11. Brent Brewer, ss

Just Missing: Lorenzo Cain, of; Hernan Iribarren, 2b; Mark Rogers, rhp

1. Matt LaPorta, OF
DOB: 1/8/85
Height/Weight: 6-2/212
Bats/Throws: R/R
Drafted: 1st round, 2007, University of Florida
2007 Stats: .259/.289/.519 at Short-season (7 G); .318/.392/.750 at Low-A (23 G)

Year In Review: 2005 NCAA home run leader recovered from miserable junior year to reestablish himself as the best pure college hitter in the draft, going No. 7 overall to the Brewers and not missing a beat in his pro debut.
The Good: LaPorta has true impact potential offensively, with some scouts believing that he had the best power and the best pitch recognition in last June's draft. He has the patience to wait for a pitch to hit, the bat speed to let balls carry deep into the zone, the strength to power them out to all fields, and the hand/eye coordination to hit for average as well. After signing, he was Moved to the outfield for the first time in his career; the Brewers praised both his work ethic in learning the new position, and his ability to leave his defensive issues behind him when he stepped to the plate.
The Bad: Not even a good first baseman in college, LaPorta is still an adventure in left field. He's a below-average runner who needs to vastly improve his reads and routes. The Brewers themselves hold no high hopes for him there, hoping that he can develop into a merely adequate defender, knowing that his bat will more than make up for it. His powerful swing will always come with a high strikeout rate, but he could use a better two-strike approach, and focus merely on hard contact at times. Because he played four years of college, he's 23 years old with just 30 games of pro experience.
Fun Fact: A 14th round pick as a catcher by the Cubs in 2003, LaPorta earned Defensive Most Valuable Player honors at Charlotte High School in Florida, but quickly played his way to first base once he got to college.
Perfect World Projection: LaPorta's entire value comes from his bat, but he has the potential to be a classic No. 3 or No. 4 hitter for a first-division team.
Timetable: LaPorta's bat is nearly ready, and he'll be moved aggressively through the system, making his full-season debut at Double-A.

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=7105

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3229965

DETROIT -- Outfielder Curtis Granderson and the Detroit Tigers agreed Monday to a five-year contract that includes a club option for 2013.

The deal is worth $30.25 million, sources told ESPN The Magazine's Buster Olney.

The contract covers Granderson's arbitration-eligible seasons and buys out one season of free agency.

that seems like an extremely good deal for the tigers. the FA year alone should be worth at least $15M or so. getting the four arb years for that little is a steal, especially if you believe (as i do) that g-money is one of the game's best defensive outfielders. and a club option is always a good thing (for the club). i wonder how much it's for.

this thread is for discussion of bryan anderson, C, st louis cardinals. here are some links to anderson's stats:

http://minors.baseball-reference.com/players.cgi?pid=456
http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?n=Bryan%20Anderson&pos=C&sid=milb&am p;t=p_pbp&pid=457762
http://firstinning.com/players/Bryan-Anderson-a/

i'll leave this thread open for at least 48 hours. you can vote at any time, but since you can't change your vote, if you are uncertain in any way, it's probably best to refrain from voting until after you get a chance to read the discussion.

the numerical ratings should follow this scale:

10 bona fide blue-chip grade A stud
9
8 great prospect, somebody you'd be okay with as the jewel of your favorite team's system
7
6 good prospect, but not among the best in the game
5
4 marginal prospect, but somebody with a pulse
3
2 organizational filler--just a warm body to fill out a minor league roster
1

the rating should be a combination of the player's possible outcomes and his likelihood of reaching those outcomes. in other words, consider both "upside" and "safety" when making your decision--though how you weight them is entirely up to you.

for example, you could give somebody an 8 because you feel he is sure to be a pretty good player, but you could also give somebody else an 8 because even though he has a higher chance to flame out, he also has a chance to be really special. a 5 might be a guy with a decent chance to be a regular, or it might be somebody with a pretty big upside who you are just not very confident will actually ever make it.

Poll

How good a prospect is Bryan Anderson?

9%

8

11 votes

0%

3

1 votes

29%

7

34 votes

0%

2

0 votes

29%

6

34 votes

0%

1

1 votes

2%

10

3 votes

18%

5

21 votes

2%

9

3 votes

6%

4

7 votes

115 votes | Poll has closed

this thread is for discussion of jesus montero, C, new york yankees. here are some links to montero's stats (warning, there's not much here):

http://minors.baseball-reference.com/players.cgi?pid=33900
http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?n=Jesus%20Montero&pos=C&sid=milb& ;t=p_pbp&pid=524968
http://firstinning.com/players/Jesus-Montero-a/

i'll leave this thread open for at least 48 hours. you can vote at any time, but since you can't change your vote, if you are uncertain in any way, it's probably best to refrain from voting until after you get a chance to read the discussion.

the numerical ratings should follow this scale:

10 bona fide blue-chip grade A stud
9
8 great prospect, somebody you'd be okay with as the jewel of your favorite team's system
7
6 good prospect, but not among the best in the game
5
4 marginal prospect, but somebody with a pulse
3
2 organizational filler--just a warm body to fill out a minor league roster
1

the rating should be a combination of the player's possible outcomes and his likelihood of reaching those outcomes. in other words, consider both "upside" and "safety" when making your decision--though how you weight them is entirely up to you.

for example, you could give somebody an 8 because you feel he is sure to be a pretty good player, but you could also give somebody else an 8 because even though he has a higher chance to flame out, he also has a chance to be really special. a 5 might be a guy with a decent chance to be a regular, or it might be somebody with a pretty big upside who you are just not very confident will actually ever make it.

Poll

How good a prospect is Jesus Montero?

17%

7

23 votes

0%

2

1 votes

27%

6

35 votes

6%

10

9 votes

2%

1

3 votes

19%

5

25 votes

4%

9

6 votes

6%

4

8 votes

11%

8

15 votes

3%

3

4 votes

129 votes | Poll has closed

this thread is for discussion of j.r. towles, C, houston astros. here are some links to towles's stats:

http://minors.baseball-reference.com/players.cgi?pid=14692
http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?n=J.R.%20Towles&pos=61&sid=milb& t=p_pbp&pid=453525
http://firstinning.com/players/Justin-Towles-a/

i'll leave this thread open for at least 48 hours. you can vote at any time, but since you can't change your vote, if you are uncertain in any way, it's probably best to refrain from voting until after you get a chance to read the discussion.

the numerical ratings should follow this scale:

10 bona fide blue-chip grade A stud
9
8 great prospect, somebody you'd be okay with as the jewel of your favorite team's system
7
6 good prospect, but not among the best in the game
5
4 marginal prospect, but somebody with a pulse
3
2 organizational filler--just a warm body to fill out a minor league roster
1

the rating should be a combination of the player's possible outcomes and his likelihood of reaching those outcomes. in other words, consider both "upside" and "safety" when making your decision--though how you weight them is entirely up to you.

for example, you could give somebody an 8 because you feel he is sure to be a pretty good player, but you could also give somebody else an 8 because even though he has a higher chance to flame out, he also has a chance to be really special. a 5 might be a guy with a decent chance to be a regular, or it might be somebody with a pretty big upside who you are just not very confident will actually ever make it.

Poll

How good a prospect is J.R. Towles?

27%

6

32 votes

1%

1

2 votes

1%

10

2 votes

13%

5

16 votes

4%

9

5 votes

3%

4

4 votes

16%

8

19 votes

5%

3

7 votes

24%

7

29 votes

0%

2

1 votes

117 votes | Poll has closed

this thread is for discussion of taylor teagarden, C, texas rangers. here are some links to teagarden's stats:

http://minors.baseball-reference.com/players.cgi?pid=14331
http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?n=Taylor%20Teagarden&pos=C&sid=milb& amp;t=p_pbp&pid=460003
http://firstinning.com/players/Taylor-Teagarden-a/

i'll leave this thread open for at least 48 hours. you can vote at any time, but since you can't change your vote, if you are uncertain in any way, it's probably best to refrain from voting until after you get a chance to read the discussion.

the numerical ratings should follow this scale:

10 bona fide blue-chip grade A stud
9
8 great prospect, somebody you'd be okay with as the jewel of your favorite team's system
7
6 good prospect, but not among the best in the game
5
4 marginal prospect, but somebody with a pulse
3
2 organizational filler--just a warm body to fill out a minor league roster
1

the rating should be a combination of the player's possible outcomes and his likelihood of reaching those outcomes. in other words, consider both "upside" and "safety" when making your decision--though how you weight them is entirely up to you.

for example, you could give somebody an 8 because you feel he is sure to be a pretty good player, but you could also give somebody else an 8 because even though he has a higher chance to flame out, he also has a chance to be really special. a 5 might be a guy with a decent chance to be a regular, or it might be somebody with a pretty big upside who you are just not very confident will actually ever make it.

Poll

How good a prospect is Taylor Teagarden?

6%

10

9 votes

12%

5

17 votes

7%

9

10 votes

3%

4

5 votes

13%

8

18 votes

3%

3

4 votes

27%

7

36 votes

0%

2

1 votes

21%

6

28 votes

2%

1

3 votes

131 votes | Poll has closed

previous batch:

cole rohrbough: mean 6.93, SD 1.22
brett cecil: mean 6.09, SD 1.14
nick hagadone: mean 5.96, SD 1.27
james simmons: mean 6.34, SD 1.28
aaron poreda: mean 5.76, SD 1.33

full results here. some interesting developments: we get 3 out of our 4 worst-ever ratings, including poreda, who beats out humber for the bottom spot (so far). also, very low response rate, causing me to add the spreadsheet column for uncertainty of the rating.

onward and upward. this one's about catchers.

this thread is for discussion of hank conger, C, los angeles angels. here are some links to conger's stats:

http://minors.baseball-reference.com/players.cgi?pid=32240
http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?n=Hank%20Conger&pos=C&sid=milb&t =p_pbp&pid=474233
http://firstinning.com/players/Hank-Conger-a/

i'll leave this thread open for at least 48 hours. you can vote at any time, but since you can't change your vote, if you are uncertain in any way, it's probably best to refrain from voting until after you get a chance to read the discussion.

the numerical ratings should follow this scale:

10 bona fide blue-chip grade A stud
9
8 great prospect, somebody you'd be okay with as the jewel of your favorite team's system
7
6 good prospect, but not among the best in the game
5
4 marginal prospect, but somebody with a pulse
3
2 organizational filler--just a warm body to fill out a minor league roster
1

the rating should be a combination of the player's possible outcomes and his likelihood of reaching those outcomes. in other words, consider both "upside" and "safety" when making your decision--though how you weight them is entirely up to you.

for example, you could give somebody an 8 because you feel he is sure to be a pretty good player, but you could also give somebody else an 8 because even though he has a higher chance to flame out, he also has a chance to be really special. a 5 might be a guy with a decent chance to be a regular, or it might be somebody with a pretty big upside who you are just not very confident will actually ever make it.

Poll

How good a prospect is Hank Conger?

16%

9

21 votes

0%

4

0 votes

36%

8

48 votes

0%

3

0 votes

26%

7

35 votes

0%

2

0 votes

7%

6

10 votes

1%

1

2 votes

3%

10

5 votes

6%

5

9 votes

130 votes | Poll has closed

this thread is for discussion of cole rohrbough, LHP, atlanta braves. here are some links to rohrbough's stats:

http://minors.baseball-reference.com/players.cgi?pid=34641
http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?n=Cole%20Rohrbough&pos=P&sid=milb&am p;t=p_pbp&pid=502478
http://firstinning.com/players/Cole-Rohrbough-a/

i'll leave this thread open for at least 48 hours. you can vote at any time, but since you can't change your vote, if you are uncertain in any way, it's probably best to refrain from voting until after you get a chance to read the discussion.

the numerical ratings should follow this scale:

10 bona fide blue-chip grade A stud
9
8 great prospect, somebody you'd be okay with as the jewel of your favorite team's system
7
6 good prospect, but not among the best in the game
5
4 marginal prospect, but somebody with a pulse
3
2 organizational filler--just a warm body to fill out a minor league roster
1

the rating should be a combination of the player's possible outcomes and his likelihood of reaching those outcomes. in other words, consider both "upside" and "safety" when making your decision--though how you weight them is entirely up to you.

for example, you could give somebody an 8 because you feel he is sure to be a pretty good player, but you could also give somebody else an 8 because even though he has a higher chance to flame out, he also has a chance to be really special. a 5 might be a guy with a decent chance to be a regular, or it might be somebody with a pretty big upside who you are just not very confident will actually ever make it.

Update [2008-1-14 0:28:22 by jpahk]:
freeze:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
2 0 0 1 5 18 35 15 7 1

Poll

How good a prospect is Cole Rohrbough?

19%

8

17 votes

0%

3

0 votes

40%

7

35 votes

0%

2

0 votes

20%

6

18 votes

3%

1

3 votes

1%

10

1 votes

5%

5

5 votes

8%

9

7 votes

1%

4

1 votes

87 votes | Poll has closed

this thread is for discussion of brett cecil, LHP, toronto blue jays. here are some links to cecil's stats:

http://minors.baseball-reference.com/players.cgi?pid=33961
http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?n=Brett%20Cecil&pos=P&sid=milb&t =p_pbp&pid=446399
http://firstinning.com/players/Brett-Cecil-a/

and since he's got so few pro innings, here's a link with his college stats:

http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/C/Brett-Cecil.shtml

i'll leave this thread open for at least 48 hours. you can vote at any time, but since you can't change your vote, if you are uncertain in any way, it's probably best to refrain from voting until after you get a chance to read the discussion.

the numerical ratings should follow this scale:

10 bona fide blue-chip grade A stud
9
8 great prospect, somebody you'd be okay with as the jewel of your favorite team's system
7
6 good prospect, but not among the best in the game
5
4 marginal prospect, but somebody with a pulse
3
2 organizational filler--just a warm body to fill out a minor league roster
1

the rating should be a combination of the player's possible outcomes and his likelihood of reaching those outcomes. in other words, consider both "upside" and "safety" when making your decision--though how you weight them is entirely up to you.

for example, you could give somebody an 8 because you feel he is sure to be a pretty good player, but you could also give somebody else an 8 because even though he has a higher chance to flame out, he also has a chance to be really special. a 5 might be a guy with a decent chance to be a regular, or it might be somebody with a pretty big upside who you are just not very confident will actually ever make it.

Update [2008-1-14 0:27:52 by jpahk]:
freeze:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1 0 1 3 12 28 19 3 0 1

Poll

How good a prospect is Brett Cecil?

27%

7

19 votes

0%

2

0 votes

40%

6

28 votes

1%

1

1 votes

4%

10

3 votes

17%

5

12 votes

0%

9

0 votes

4%

4

3 votes

4%

8

3 votes

1%

3

1 votes

70 votes | Poll has closed