Baseball America and Baseball Prospectus are in agreement about who the top two prospects are in the Blue Jays system. BP has released its list of the Top 11 Jays up and comers and if that's not enough, they take things four steps further. A tip of the 1999 Jays Batting Practice cap to Bauxite jdog for the heads-up.
Brett Wallace, the number two prospect in the Jays farm system according to Baseball Prospectus.
Baseball Prospectus gave righthander Kyle Drabek and third baseman Brett Wallace five star ratings and list them as the one-two punch atop the Jays list. BP handed out three star ratings for the Jays three to ten prospects and a two-star rating to the number eleven prospect. Leading the rest of the brigade is catcher Travis D'Arnaud, who along with Drabek and Wallace, was picked up in the Roy Halladay deal.
Here's the BP list from Kevin Goldstein with the BA rankings in parentheses. The Batter's Box rankings are right beside them in the fancy brackets but keep in mind the minor league crew's Top 30 list was done well before "Doc" was dealt.
- Kyle Drabek, RHP ***** (1)
- Brett Wallace, 3B ***** (2)
- Travis D'Arnaud, C *** (5)
- Chad Jenkins, RHP *** (6) {4}
- J.P. Arencibia, C *** (4) {5}
- Zach Stewart, RHP *** (3) {1}
- Carlos Perez , C *** {8}
- Jake Marisnick, OF *** (9) {29}
- Henderson Alvarez, RHP *** (8) {3}
- Tim Collins, LHP *** {10}
- Gustavo Pierre, SS ** {16}
- Brian Dopirak, 1B {15}
- Josh Roenicke, RHP (10)
- Brad Mills, LHP {11}
- David Cooper, 1B (7) {6}
The initial BA list had Mills, shortstop Justin Jackson and Perez rated eight through ten before the Halladay deal went down so they should be bumped down to the 11 to 13 range by the time the BA Prospect Handbook comes out.
It's interesting to note how Jackson's stock has fallen in BP's eyes as he didn't crack their top 15, let alone their top 10. Batter's Box gave him more love by rating him 14th.
BA and BP were more comfortable giving Marisnick a spot in their top 10 while he barely cracked our Top 30 list at #29. On the other end of the spectrum, they both ignored our #2 prospect in outfielder Moises Sierra, who showed gains with the bat and earned a brief trial at AA New Hampshire. Of course, his calling card is his cannon/hose for an arm that evokes memories of Jesse Barfield.
BP was also less than impressed with Cooper by giving him a #15 ranking but BA and BB are still hopeful about his long term prospects by keeping him in the top 10 and not working the counter at McDonald's or Tim Horton's (again, no offence to those fine folks!).
That should do it as far as the main prospects lists goes. I hope you're not all "prospected out" at this point. Again - discuss, debate, pontificate, alleviate, love your mate, try not to have, mediate.....sorry, that was getting out of control. A little excessive there. Anyways, have your say down below!
