After Keith Law got me to flail my arms around yesterday in curfuddled disagreement, Marc Hulet of FanGraphs puts the Braves prospects universe back into order with a sane (and boring, I guess, but that's good) list.
- Julio Teheran, RHP
- Arodys Vizcaino, RHP
- Randall Delgado, RHP
- Tyler Pastornicky, SS
- Sean Gilmartin, LHP
- Andrelton Simmons, SS
- Christian Bethancourt, C
- Edward Salcedo, SS
- Zeke Spruill, RHP
- Brandon Drury, 3B
- J.R. Graham, RHP
- Matt Lipka, OF
- J.J. Hoover, RHP
- Carlos Perez, LHP
- Joe Terdoslavich, 1B
Sleeper: Navery Moore, RHP
Good writeups on the site, and a good list. I guess for the record I should tell you what my top-25 Braves prospects look like. I put my list together in late October last year, so no AFL performances were considered (and I'm not sure I would have put too much weight on them anyway). My top-25 after the jump (so you can bash me if you'd like). Note that the official Talking Chop top-25 is an average of my rankings, CB's, and Matt's.
Gondeee's 2012 top-25:
I'm not sure I'd change too much. I might move Graham, Jones, and Moore up some.
0 recs | 24 comments
Whats been happening with Adam Milligan?
Used to see his name a few years ago as a Braves prospect but not much at all until your top 25 list. Did he have injuries, or just a bad year? What made him fall off the radar?
jdelsandro - February 10, 2012
Two different injuries this past year, and 2 the year before I believe, have really limited his time. He needs at-bats, and he needs to cut down on his K’s and improve his BBs, but he’s got the best power in the Braves system — it’s legit. Unfortunately we haven’t seen healthy for a full season. I’m looking past some of that because several of those injuries were nowhere close to his fault, it’s just bad luck.
The Braves drafted him three times, so they’ll stick with him for as long as he needs. They will put him at double-A this year, but he’s been at high-A for the past three years, and he’s only played 91 games during that span at that level. Truly awesome power, and a super-nice guy, so I hope he works out.
gondeee - February 10, 2012
Thank you Gondeee
Another quick Milligan question is he going to be in High A again this year or they going to try him in Double A?
jdelsandro - February 10, 2012
I could see him going to Lynchburg for a month just to get back into the swing of things then moving up to Mississippi. But I think he definitely belongs at AA at this point.
cbwilk - February 10, 2012
Thanks Cbwilk
I have heard alot about him a couple years ago and he kind of faded into mediocrity, now I kind of know its cause of his injuries… hopefully he can have a healthy season and show what he can do in double A AND triple A this year!
jdelsandro - February 10, 2012
I personally love Milligan and man if he can ever stay healthy he’s going to be a beast.
cbwilk - February 10, 2012
Can you, or anyone else run down his injuries again?
Have they slowed his power? Has it been continual to one area, or just a general he might be one of the guys that can never get healthy as some part or another falls apart?
Mr. Sanchez - February 10, 2012
Nevermind
I decided to not be lazy and google myself. I see a shoulder and multiple knee injuries. Not sure if it’s repeated on one knee, or one to each.
Mr. Sanchez - February 10, 2012
I really like Hulet’s take, and writing style. Here’s a guy that finds a way to sound encouraging about all prospects while still detailing their flaws.
Unfortunately, taking this approach usually ends up with people glossing over the final 5-10 guys and thinking, “Good list,” rather than up in arms and telling everyone about how wrong the prospect evaluator is.
-C
cthabeerman - February 10, 2012
That’s the approach I always try to take and I get accused of being too positive. Like I’m lying to myself because I see potential in guys.
cbwilk - February 10, 2012
Yes, honest decent writing suffers in this space.
TKDC - February 11, 2012 via mobile
I guess it's fitting that his name is Keith Law...
instead of Keith Science…
TBuzz - February 10, 2012
my main problem with Keith Law's ranking
is how the big 3 were ranked in relationship to other prospects. You can’t get that sense from this ranking.
LEastCoastBears - February 10, 2012
although it’s clear from the descriptions of each guy that Hulet is not discounting them the same way that Keith Law had after last year
LEastCoastBears - February 10, 2012
How a guy has JT’s season and goes down, I don’t get it. I think he telegraphed his off speed stuff and bug leaguers took advantage. He can fix that, he’s a kid.
TKDC - February 11, 2012 via mobile
I like the list
Seems like he credits upside where it is present while not overlooking ML proximity. While not the most important thing in a farm system, I absolutely love the bullpen depth. The reliever market is always horrific, so churning out your own entire bullpen is a nice plus.
OrangeBravo - February 10, 2012
Great point about relievers
I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. There’s a lot of talk in the interweb/sabernerd universe about how relievers are not nearly as valuable as starters, so why are they so overpaid (according to fWAR)? Well, my take is that because they are so drastically overpaid, if your team is good at churning out high-leverage relievers, you should be able to not only save yourself some money while they’re cheap, but you should be able to cash them in after their first arb year for high-quality prospects. If Kimbrel is still doing what he’s doing in 2014, I’d love to see FW deal him for prospects. Same goes for Venters. I was disappointed that he didn’t trade EOF to some GM who would value him as a cheap potential closer.
buzzdeadwax - February 10, 2012
Thanks, nice point yourself.
There are so many high quality arms…Kimbrel, Venters, EOF, Medlen, Viz, and only so many high-leverage innings. It certainly makes sense to at the very least explore moving one of them. I would be very intrigued to see what type of return any of the big three from last year would fetch.
OrangeBravo - February 11, 2012
Bitter, party of one.
ChillyMutt - February 10, 2012
I'm holding out hope that Randall Delgado will be the best of the Big 3...
But that is only because I have his “sweet spot” autograph on a baseball, and on a program as well. };0)
Chopaholic - February 11, 2012
I REALLY like Hulet.....
….but this bothered me a bit.
“Delgado wasn’t quite ready for the Majors, as witnessed by his 5.14 FIP and 4.63 strikeout rate.”
First off, it was 7 starts down the stretch against some tough clubs after throwing 139 innings between AA-AAA. His control was passable and while hitters were making a lot of contact, it was weak contact(5 HR aside). I agree with him that he could use a bit more seasoning, but it’s just weird seeing a comment like that when he came up and posted a 2.83 ERA. No, he’s not going to strand over 86% of the runners he allows on base, but I think he can be a league-average starting pitcher if given the chance this season(hopefully it doesn’t come to that though).
Undocorkscrew - February 11, 2012
I don’t see anything wrong with Hulet’s quote about Delgado’s FIP and K rate.
The 4.15 ERA/4.82 FIP in AAA that accompanied the 5+ FIP at the MLB level is probably a cause for concern. He’s not going to strand over 86% of his runners and he’s certainly not going to have a .220 BABIP.
Got to think he’s going to be considered a disappointment as just a league average pitcher (league average ERA for starters in 2011 was 4.06).
YakuzaFro - February 12, 2012
Like seeing salcedo ranked top 5
Kid really does have 5 tool potential and is just beginning to scratch that surface. Him and Simmons and Freeman really give me hope for the future of our infield.
Also I’m sad to see lipka drop so low :(..
MikeTrain - February 11, 2012 via mobile
I didn’t know Lipka was converted to an outfielder.
roberty - February 11, 2012
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