Minor League Ball's John Sickels ranks his top-20+ Braves prospects for 2011:
- Julio Teheran, RHP, Grade A
- Freddie Freeman, 1B, Grade A-
- Mike Minor, LHP, Grade A-
- Randall Delgado, RHP, Grade B+:
- Arodys Vizcaino, RHP, Grade B:
- Craig Kimbrel, RHP, Grade B:
- Matt Lipka, SS, Grade B:
- Carlos Perez, LHP, Grade B:
- Brandon Beachy, RHP, Grade B-
- J.J. Hoover, RHP, Grade B-
- Andrelton Simmons, SS, Grade B-
- Michael Dunn, LHP, Grade B-
- Todd Cunningham, OF, Grade B-
- Edward Salcedo, SS, Grade B-
- Christian Bethancourt, C, Grade C+
- Scott Diamond, LHP, Grade C+
- Steven Kent, LHP, Grade C+
- Mycal Jones, SS, Grade C+
- Benino Pruneda, RHP, Grade C+
- Joe Leonard, 3B, Grade C+
- Brett Oberholtzer, LHP, Grade C+
- Adam Milligan, OF, Grade C+
- Paul Clemens, RHP, Grade C+
- Dave Filak, RHP, Grade C+
Three grade-A guys is fantastic. A solid list. He reviews each guy at his site, and lists several more who just missed.
0 recs | 49 comments
I agree with a lot of this, he did it well.
I like that he has Minor ahead of Vizcaino and Delgado, I have the same feelings.
BenDuronio - October 21, 2010
I’d take Minor over Vizzy, but not Delgado.
Scott Coleman - October 21, 2010
i think at this point
vizcaino and delgado are still too raw to rank ahead of minor. not to say that either won’t eventually become a better prospect than minor, but i would have to agree with where he has them currently. though they both have a higher ceiling than minor IMO.
lingsched - October 21, 2010
No Harrilchak?
Boo!
chrisdaugherty - October 21, 2010
He was on the “others of note” list
Rhyno18 - October 21, 2010
I agree. I like Harrilchak a lot more than Cunningham.
J-Turn14 - October 22, 2010
Can we give Cunningham
A full season before we rush to such a statement. Unlike Harrilchak, Cunningham didn’t start in the rookie league to start his career so that’s saying something.
Jay212033 - October 22, 2010
If only we hadn’t depleted our farm system.
justincredubil02 - October 21, 2010
I hate
Mark Texieria
HansonManCrush - October 21, 2010
He’s an awesome player who had one of the best seasons by a 1B for us in a long time. I like the guy.
I hate Furman Bisher for saying that our farm system has dried up.
justincredubil02 - October 21, 2010
Fixed that for you. You’re welcome.
Rhyno18 - October 21, 2010
You young whipper snappers with your color televisions and skateboards!
justincredubil02 - October 21, 2010
skateboards? More like hoverboards!
Sparhawk - October 21, 2010
I probably would have ranked TP higher than the bubble, but good list overall.
king of games - October 21, 2010
Am I the only one who thought Arodys would have a higher grade than B? I don’t know anything about our prospects other than what I read here, but his hype seemed to indicate he was closer to a B+ or A-.
Doghnut - October 21, 2010
Also
Anyone know how far away Lipka is? Just curious.
Doghnut - October 21, 2010
Far, was just drafted out of high school this year. Arodys hurt his elbow this year, which is always a cause for concern. He avoided TJ though, but I’ve heard some project him as a late-inning reliever.
BenDuronio - October 21, 2010
late inning reliever??
This guy was supposed to be a stud!! Is the drop bc of one injury?
Doghnut - October 21, 2010
He would be a killer closer with his stuff, but they’ll obviously give him every opportunity to start, as that’s where the most value is.
king of games - October 21, 2010
He was injured at the end of last season as well
So this is the 2nd yr in a row he’s ended the season with an injury.
Jay212033 - October 21, 2010
Ive read it too
Also has to do with him having essentially two pitches.
drumzalicious - October 22, 2010
there are a lot of stud pitchers in the low minors…for him to be labeled as a late inning releiver is better than him being a bust…he essentially has a similar outlook as Feliz did….he could start if everything goes right, but he will probably end up in the bullpen and be electric.
Swo12bv - October 22, 2010
no
when he is healthy, he probably wouldn’t get a B+ like Delgado
Braves24 - October 21, 2010
I can’t argue with much of his list. I know I would put Cory Gearrin in our top 25 list, and maybe L V Ware and Harlichek, but adding them means taking someone else off, and some of these guys I haven’t seen yet so I don’t even want to get into that game yet.
Rhyno18 - October 21, 2010
Looks pretty good.
In the long term I’d take Delgado over Minor, but Minor is probably the better prospect now since he’s already made the jump to Major League ball.
And I know Kimbrel is just a relief pitcher — or a closer for that matter — but I feel like he should be rated a bit higher. A closer can have a huge impact over the course of a 162 game season.
Scott Coleman - October 21, 2010
They have similar ceilings. I would give the slight edge to Delgado, but I like this ranking as of right now.
Braves24 - October 21, 2010
For what it’s worth, this is a tweet from Mycal Jones this morning:
“i think i’ve found a new home at second base”
eaheckman10 - October 21, 2010
That's very interesting...
You know, the Organizational Meetings were this week.
Maybe they’ve decided they’ll move Prado over to 3rd when Chipper leaves and will try Pastornicky and Jones at 2B to fill the void? That doesn’t sound like a bad plan to me. We’d just need a power-hitting LF or CF if this ever happened.
Scott Coleman - October 21, 2010
…and is Pastornicky really not on his list? am I missing something here?
Scott Coleman - October 21, 2010
He's just not that good
Jay212033 - October 21, 2010
He’s only 20 and already in AA ball though. His numbers weren’t great, but they’re not bad either.
Scott Coleman - October 21, 2010 via mobile
True
He hasn’t shown much with the bat yet and that’s why I can see him not making the list. Hopefully he’ll prove me wrong and start hitting. He did make the “all others” list though.
Jay212033 - October 22, 2010
He’s killing the ball in the AFL right now.
king of games - October 22, 2010
Come on now
He’s had like 15 ABs and only has 1 XBH so I wouldn’t say he’s killing it.
Jay212033 - October 23, 2010
I like … and I tend to agree — that tweet would seem to speak volumes.
carpengui - October 21, 2010
This is exactly what I’ve been thinking since I saw TP in the AFL, that kid has some skill with the leather. Prado, Lipka, TP, and Freeman is a groundball pitchers wet dream on defense.
king of games - October 21, 2010
9 of the top 12 are pitchers....
I guess you would classify that as our strength.
MTSU11 - October 21, 2010
Braves top prospects
It is sad that there are so few position players on the list. Matt Lipka and Freddie Freeman are the best choices, but where are the future third basemen and outfielders?
vernbickford - October 21, 2010
LOL
Well we did just graduate the top prospect in the minors and he’s an outfielder…
We also just spent $1.6M on Edward Salcedo who supposedly has the best tools out of the DR since Hanley Ramirez. If he grows much more at all (he’s 18, so it’s likely.) he’ll be a 3rd baseman.
Does that make you happy?
Scott Coleman - October 21, 2010 via mobile
Salcedo
I agree dude has sick tools for a 19 y.o. and Wren said that he’s doing much better down in instructs so hopefully he’ll continue his success next season!
Jay212033 - October 22, 2010
I like the potential of Salcedo but people are mentioning he won’t be ready till 2014! Thats forever so will we just get veteran stop gaps until Lipka,TP,Salcedo,Jones are ready?
PhuckthePhillies - October 22, 2010
LOL
Our system is weak in position player talent. That’s a fact. The good thing is we’ve always had success with the pitchers over hitters approach so there’s no reason to be worried yet. But let’s not act like we have all kinds of position player depth when we don’t.
ajones2522 - October 22, 2010
Well when we develop and put out an A (Heyward) and A- (Freeman) in back to back years, our system might take a bit of a hit.
Scott Coleman - October 23, 2010
I’m not suggesting we deplete the farm in a big way, but it seems reasonable to trade a MiL pitcher or two for a couple of decent upper level position prospects.
bighop - October 23, 2010
When we drafted him, a lot of the talk on Lipka was that he was going to end up in CF.
Lennox - October 22, 2010
really?
now THAT would be interesting.
drumzalicious - October 22, 2010
Or 2B
Jay212033 - October 22, 2010
not a bad list
Nice to see Beachy getting some love
drumzalicious - October 22, 2010
I wish Wren would draft or acquire a power hitter already
Albert K - October 24, 2010
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