Top Offensive Prospects

Ok, well the pitching prospects had a few glitches to them so I'm sure these will as well. Due to time constraints and other things that I'd like to get done for the blog, I'm going to leave the pitching prospects as is. If anyone notices anything with these that need changed then let me know. This is a work in progress and any suggestions will lead to a more solid report down the line. Keep in mind that these are just being done as something to keep the blog interesting and they are not anything solid to go by.

My analysis of the offense prospects isn't good. In my previous post I had mentioned that the offensive ratings were always higher than the pitcher ratings, but that wasn't due to talent. It was a way that I set the ratings up. Once again, there aren't very many top notch prospects in the minors. I still need to do more analyzing of teams major leagues though. It could be that teams are bringing these guys up earlier and that makes it appear as though there aren't that many good prospects. One last thing that I wanted to note, these prospects are players that were in the minors when I did my player pull and that was before the 20th game of the season. It also does not include any of the IFA signings this season.

Top 20 Offensive Prospects
Rank	Player	Team	Offense	Defense	Rating
1	Benny Navarro	Seattle	A+	C+	92.6
Navarro is the most well rounded position prospect in the league. He should hit for average with some good power, a good eye and will steal a good amount of bases. His defense is solid and he projects as a secondbaseman
2	Chris Young	Nashville	A	A-	89.7
While Navarro is the most well rounded hitting prospect, Young is the most well rounded prospect. He will hit really good with some speed and projects as a good shortstop with average range
3	Raymond Petrov	Trenton	A	A-	89.3
Petrov should be a pretty good hitter with some speed as well. His glove is great with average range for shortstop. The difference between him and Young is minimal
4	Alan Wilson	Chicago	A	C-	87.2
Wilson has good contact and power and should light up right handers. His great eye for pitches will give him a real high OBP. He projects as a corner outfielder
5	Olmedo Johnson	Fargo	A-	B+	85.5
Johnson is a hitter that lacks power, but should get plenty of hits and draw alot of walks. Add his speed and baserunning to that and he should score 100 runs regularly. He has a good glove, but he doesn't project as a real good shortstop
6	Pedro Reyes	Colorado Springs	A-	C+	85.3
Reyes projects as a corner outfielder with real good hitting potential. He is a contact hitter that will rarely strikeout, has a good eye for drawing walks and hits for power. He may struggle against right handers
7	Yusmeiro Veras	Seattle	B+	A-	85.1
Veras has average contact, power and eye, but has really good splits. He should especially hit well against lefties. He is a burner on the bases and should steal quite a few of them. His defense is real good and he projects as a thirdbaseman
8	Benito Rodriguez	Trenton	A+	D	84.4
Rodriguez will be a great contact hitter with good power. He has an average eye, but his splits are good. He also has great speed, but his baserunning will get him caught stealing some. He projects as a left fielder/first baseman
9	Saul Trevino	Fargo	A-	C+	83.7
Trevino is a solid hitter that will hit great against left handers and good against righties. He has an above average eye as well. His speed and base running could lead to a lot of stolen bases. He has great range, but his glove will likely leave him as a corner outfielder/second baseman
10	John Satou	Louisville	B+	B+	82.7
Satou has real good contact with average power and eye. His splits are good and he'll likely hit for a good average. His speed and baserunning are good, but not great. He projects as a third baseman with a real good glove
11	Charles Yoshii	San Juan	B+	C+	81.4
Yoshii projects to have solid hitting. He has a really good eye and all his other numbers offensively are slightly above average. He has elite speed with average base running. His glove and range leave him as a corner outfielder that can play center in a pinch
12	Elroy Epstein	Kansas City	B-	A-	80.7
Epstein has good contact and splits and should hit for a good average, but he lacks much power. His eye is average. His speed isn't very good, but he has good base running. He projects as a real good thirdbaseman/ second baseman that could play average shortstop
13	Matt Jaha	Boston	A	C	80.7
Jaha should be a very good hitter for average with some power and a high obp with an excellent eye. His speed and baserunning are a negative for him. He projects as an average catcher
14	Billy Haynes	Durham	B+	D+	80.5
Haynes should have great contact with decent power. His splits and average eye will allow him to get on base and hit for average. He lacks speed, but his base running is good. Defensively he has strange numbers. I've never seen a player with that range and arm with such a bad glove. He's destined for left field/first base or DH even
15	Miller Hunter	St Louis	B+	D+	80.3
Hunter would have ranked much higher if he could hit right handers. His contact and power are good and he'll kill lefties. He has low speed with good base running. He projects as a left fielder/ first baseman
16	Rafael Unamuno	Charlotte	A-	D	80.1
I like this guys hitting potential. Good contact, power, splits and eye. His speed and base running hurt him. He projects as a left fielder or really good firstbaseman
17	Vic Sanchez	Durham	B	B	80.0
Here is another good prospect from Durham. He has decent contact and power with average splits and eye. His base running and speed are average. He projects as a solid third baseman
18	Fausto Espinosa	Louisville	B+	D+	79.6
Espinosa lacks good contact or power, but his splits are good and he has an elite eye. He has decent speed and great base running as well. He projects as a corner outfielder
19	Mario Manning	Colorado Springs	B-	A-	79.4
Manning has lower contact and power with average splits and eye. His speed and base running are good. He has a really good arm and likely projects as a third baseman or fill in shortstop
20	Sun-Woo Lee	Durham	B-	A	79.2
Lee's contact is fairly low, but he has decent power. He'll hit right handers and struggle against lefties, but he has an above average eye. He lacks speed and his base running is below average. He has real good range and a decent glove and arm. He projects as a slightly above average shortstop

Pitching Prospects

Here is my first post about prospects. Keep in mind that these are based on my advanced scouting, which is set at 20 million, so it's fairly accurate. I've also done this using my own formula based on things I've learned about this game through my own and from others. There are too many to list names, but I do want to thank anybody that has helped give me input to come up with my formulas. Now I know some are going to say,"but you've never won a championship," and my response to that is, just because I have an idea of what a good player is, doesn't mean that I can get them or have the luck on my side come playoff time. To give a little bit of insight on my formula's and not give away everything I'll give you guys some hints. First thing I want to be very clear of, these are put together based on a players abilities. I put very little consideration into stamina, durability, makeup and other things like that. A good owner can get the most out of a player regardless of that. Some players may be ranked higher than a player of less ability that can play more games. I also put a heavier consideration of abilities based on right handed splits due to a high average of right handers in the game. This is a pitchers report, but when I do the position players, I want to be clear that a heavy emphasis has been put on hitting. I know that some stud defenders will rank lower than some would rank them, but an offensive player with some semblance of defense can play positions that benefit them. It's a thing about the game that I don't like, but it's a reality. Another thing I've noticed by doing the ratings is that there was no way to make a stud pitcher rated higher than a stud hitter/ fielder. So my ratings are based on a sliding scale to get a better measure of a players worth.

Here's a little analysis of the pitching prospects that I've come up with. There are very few stud pitchers in the minors right now. I guess that's a good thing, but if injuries pop up or players don't pan out due to many factors then the quality will drop even farther. I think WIS really needs to assess how they do the draft. There just aren't enough of these types of players popping up that can make up the difference if these guys don't reach their potential. A little farther down the list is the group of solid to good major leaguers. I would say there is about 2 to go around per team of solid up to stud pitchers. Since there are 11 pitchers on the average team in a world then that isn't a good ratio. Of the pitchers that made my list as possible major leaguers that aren't really solid, but could have a role there are about 6 per team. Now we are at 8 per team. That leaves 3 spots per staff. I'm guessing there should be enough young arms in the majors now to make the difference, but that requires 6 below average pitchers per team. That's how I analyze the situation and I feel like season 18 is a good time to get an idea about how worlds will turn out after the original set of players are retiring. With that, here is my top 20 pitching prospects.

Top 20 Pitching Prospects
Rank	Player	Team	Rating
1	Roberto Lopez	Durham	92.8
Lopez lacks starter stamina, but has all the tools to dominate for 5 to 6 innings
2	Orlando Cruz	Durham	89.0
Cruz is a lot like fellow Durham farmhand Lopez in that he lacks the stamina to pitch deep into games, but he'll dominate while he is in the game
3	Hipolito Owen	Boston	89.0
Owen has a bit more stamina and durability than the top 2 guys on the list and should be a pretty dominant pitcher that can get 6 great innings a game
4	Sticky Farquhar	Iowa City	89.0
Sticky has great stamina and durability to go along with great pitching ability. He could be a regular allstar and Cy Young candidate
5	Rock Randall	St Louis	88.4
Here is another future star. Randall will dominate for many seasons and should rack up a few Cy Youngs
6	Sean Shipley	St Louis	88.1
Shipley has a bit lower stamina than fellow St Louis minor leaguer Randall, but should be just as dominant against opposing hitters
7	Brendan Taylor	Iowa City	88.1
Taylor's biggest downfall is his stamina, but his great durability will get this guy in the game quite often for 3 innings to shut down opponents every other day
8	Vinny Napoli	Chicago	88.0
Vinny ranks at the bottom of elite starters in the minors and should have a great carreer. His stamina is low, but high durability will allow him to pitch 200+ innings a season
9	Nash Casanova	Boston	86.4
Casanova will be a dynamite closer in the future. He has all the tools to close out even the best of hitters
10	Victor Maranon	Durham	85.4
Maranon has the pitches and velocity to rack up the strike outs. He should be another key starter for the future of Durhams rotation
11	Bo Carter	Tampa Bay	83.4
Carter has good stamina, but lower durability. He should be a pretty good starter in the future that should make a few all star appearances
12	Geronimo Osuna	Trenton	83.3
Osuna has the tools to keep opposing hitters down, but his low stamina and durability won't allow that to happen too often
13	Joe Grace	Durham	83.3
Grace is the fourth Durham pitcher on the list. His biggest downfall is his pitches, but he should still be a big part of this future rotation
14	Geraldo Molina	Kansas City	83.1
Molina has the tools to be a very solid pitcher in this league. His lower stamina and durability will likely only allow him to max out at 180 innings a season
15	Alberto Blasco	Colorado Springs	82.7
Blasco should turn out to be a really good closer in this league. There aren't many of them on this list and he should see a few all star appearances due to that
16	Mitchell Hayes	Nashville	82.4
Hayes has the abilities to be pretty good in the future. He lacks good stamina or durability. He'd likely excel as a setup man
17	Desi Hernandez	Charlotte	82.3
Hernandez is another pitcher that could excel as a setup man due to low stamina and durability. He has all the other tools to be a good pitcher though
18	Heinie Hutton	Scottsdale	81.8
Hutton will be a really solid starter for Scottsdale. He has the stamina and durability that will allow him to be a real good starter in Scottsdales rotation
19	Jamie Saito	Fargo	81.7
Saito has a bit lower stamina for a starter, but he can get it done in shorter stints. He has a real good pitch selection and velocity, but his splits aren't great
20	Orlando Sanchez	New Orleans	81.7
Sanchez should be a pretty good starter for this team. He has good splits and pitches, but lacks velocity and gb/fb. His biggest negative is his health rating