BA writer John Manual ranked the farm systems of all 30 teams for CNNSI.  It is intersting tha the did it on teirs more than individual rankings.  Right now I would expect the Sox to fall closer to 6 than to 15...


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I know a lot of people are going WTF, who is Pat Murphy. Pat Murphy is the long standing baseball coach at ASU. One of the big names in college baseball stepped down and there is about to be some major moment in the ranks of college coaches.

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It seems that with the first run of prospect lists coming out, that there is going to be once again a few lighting rod prospects. One it seems is going to be Jordan Lyles.

Lyles lit up A ball with a 10.39 K per 9 and a 2.42 FIP in 144 ip while walking 2.39 per 9.  This led to his being voted the 6th best prospect in the South Atlantic League by BA with these comments:

Lyles showed the stuff of a potential frontline starter this season. His fastball now sits at 89-91 mph and touches 93. Using a high three-quarters, clean and quick arm action and a repeatable delivery, he challenges hitters with his heater and finished second in the SAL with 167 strikeouts in 145 innings.

"He's the first pitcher I saw say, 'Here you go, Melky Mesa,' and throw him four straight fastballs and strike him out," Tyson said. "After he struck him out and turned around, I saw a little grin on his face, which I like. He's a bulldog, a competitor."

Lyles throws two different curveballs, a show-me pitch in the mid-70s and a sharper 77-80 mph bender. He might be better served scrapping the slower curveball, which he leaves up in the zone. He mixes in an average changeup and started throwing a slider halfway through the season.

The other side of this argument comes from the questions in his ability to keep generating the strike out numbers as he faces better competition. Adam Foster of ProjectProspect.com wrote this in his conclusion of his article on Lyles: 

The scouts I spoke with each named a handful of pitching prospects in the South Atlantic League alone who impressed them more than Lyles. Going off buzz from members of our community and the information that's circulating around the web on Lyles, I think he's someone who's likely to enter 2010 very overhyped due to his Low-A walk and strikeout rates.

Looking deep into his numbers, watching a large portion of his 2009 starts, and talking to multiple scouts about Lyles, I see more than a few weaknesses in his game. The main one is that he relies on hitters chasing his fastball up in the zone. Once he faces guys who don't do that, he's likely going to slam into a wall.

So which side of the fence do people here side? Is he being overrated due to his excellent performance against  the South Atlantic League's inexperienced hitters  or is he undervalued due to his reflection of age and  performance in comparison to his numbers?

Some decent games on tap today

Fl vs. LSU

Bama vs. Ole Miss

A&M vs. Okie State

OU vs. Baylor

Georgia vs. Tenn

Mich vs. Iowa

Texas vs. Col

Wisc. vs. Ohio State

Any other games of note that we should watch? Anyone know what the Pac 10 game to watch is outside of UCLA vs. Oregon?

All I am going to say is GO UNT, don't lose to bad to UL LA.  Is that pathetic or what?