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One of my two favourite books arrived at my door this week in the form of the 2012 edition of the Baseball America Prospect HandbookThis year's handbook has added a couple of new wrinkles in evaluating each team's top 30 minor league prospects.


Baseball America has introduced a numerical grade based on the traditional 20-80 scouting scale and a risk factor for each player with safe, low, medium, high and extreme ratings.  A numerical grade of 75-80 is for  franchise players or number one starters, 65-70 means perennial All-Stars or number two starters, 55-60 grades are for first division regulars, number three starters and closers, a grade of 45-50 are for second division regulars, number four starters and eighth inning relievers and 35-40 grades are assigned to number five starters, utility players/backup catchers and relievers.

For risk factors, "safe" means the player is ready to contribute in the bigs and has shown a realistic ceiling.  A "low" risk factor has the player likely to reach his ceiling and become a big leaguer, "medium" means the player still has some tools to sharpen, "high" is for players who are first year draft picks and "extreme" is for teenagers in rookie ball or for players with significant history of injuries.

Down below is BA's top 30 prospects in the Blue Jays system with the accompanying grades and risk factors.
              
   
No.# Player Position Grade     Risk
1
Travis d'Arnaud
C
60
Medium
2
Anthony Gose
OF
65
High
3
Jake Marisnick
OF
60
High
4
Daniel Norris
LHP
60
High
5
Justin Nicolino
LHP
55
Medium
6
Aaron Sanchez
RHP
60
High
7
Noah Syndergaard
RHP
60
High
8
Deck McGuire
RHP
55
Medium
9
Drew Hutchison
RHP
55
Medium
10
Asher Wojciechowski
RHP
55
High
11
Matt Dean
3B
55
High
12
A.J. Jimenez
C
55
High
13
Adeiny Hechavarria
SS
55
High
14
Carlos Perez
C
55
High
15
Moises Sierra
OF
50
Medium
16
Dwight Smith Jr.
OF
55
High
17
Kevin Comer
RHP
55
High
18
Adonys Cardona
RHP
55
High
19
Kellen Sweeney
3B
55
High
20
Joe Musgrove
RHP
55
High
21
Jacob Anderson
OF
55
High
22
David Cooper
1B
45
Medium
23
Michael Crouse
OF
50
High
24
Marcus Knecht
OF
50
High
25
Christopher Hawkins
OF
50
High
26
John Stilson
RHP
55
Extreme
27
Dickie Joe Thon
SS
55
Extreme
28
Chad Jenkins
RHP
45
Medium
29
Christian Lopes
SS
50
High
30
Roberto Osuna
RHP
50
Extreme



Look what he's got!  In addition to the baseball, Jake Marisnick snagged the #3 spot in Baseball America's list of the Jays Top 30 prospects for 2012.

Nathan Rode
, the author of the Jays Top 30 list, is tabbing Deck McGuire as the team's top rookie for 2012, Kevin Comer as his breakout prospect and lefty Mitchell Taylor as his sleeper.  Overall, BA ranks the Blue Jays farm system fifth in the majors. 

Four BA writers also compiled a personal Top 50 prospects list.  Jim Callis lists Travis d'Arnaud as his #26 prospect and has Anthony Gose at #48 among his Top 50 prospects.  J.J. Cooper puts d'Arnaud at #21 but had no love for Gose. Will Lingo is buying what d'Arnaud is selling by rating him at #13 and has Gose at #44.  Finally, John Manuel slots d'Arnaud at #22 and is the most bullish on Gose by placing him at #36.

Finally, which"B.A." is the coolest?  B.A. Baracus of The A-Team fame or Baseball America.  Discuss among yourselves!  ;D
BA Jays Top 30 Prospects | 11 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.
greenfrog - Friday, March 02 2012 @ 06:45 PM EST (#252448) #
Interesting...the Jays have terrific depth but only one 65 player and no 70-80 players. I guess this means BA doesn't envision any of the Jays' pitching prospects as #2 starters (maybe a 60 pitcher has sort of a #2/3 ceiling).

Incidentally, besides, Gose, how many 65-80 prospects are there in the AL East? Bundy, Machado, Moore, I imagine? And do any of Harper, Trout or Moore qualify as an 80 prospect?
TamRa - Friday, March 02 2012 @ 07:04 PM EST (#252449) #
I wonder how many "70-80" guys there really are in the whole major leagues?

Probably no more than six or seven.
Mike Green - Saturday, March 03 2012 @ 09:38 AM EST (#252458) #
I don't buy the grading scheme, at all.  When it comes to subjective evaluation of tools, BA is a good source.  When it comes to putting together the tools evaluation with other available information, it is way behind several other sources.  It is good that they are putting in a bit of effort to move beyond simply tools evaluation, and maybe in a few years, they will get the hang of it. 
sam - Saturday, March 03 2012 @ 11:14 AM EST (#252459) #
I'm not a big fan of it either. The grade and risk assessment should reflect a clear difference between prospects. The rankings seem to indicate that Asher Wojiechowski is an identical pitching prospect to Adonys Cardona.
ayjackson - Saturday, March 03 2012 @ 05:54 PM EST (#252464) #
Harper was an 80, Trout and Moore were 75.
greenfrog - Saturday, March 03 2012 @ 06:58 PM EST (#252466) #
Thanks, ayj.
gnor - Sunday, March 04 2012 @ 07:13 AM EST (#252476) #
Yeah, BA puts a lot of weight on tools. A system like John Sickels' on the other hand, heavily weighs the eventual impact a prospect will have in the big leagues. The BA #5 farm system ranking is the lowest I have seen this year, but even a #5 ranking is excellent. John Sickels rated The Jays system #1, with 6 B+ prospects and "ridiculous depth". Anyway, enough top prospects have flamed out over the years to divorce any ranking system from reality. In other words, depth is far more important than tools.
What I take away from all this is that The Jays' system now has the ability to feed impact players to the big club on a regular basis. Starting this year as well, there is a lot more depth for injury replacement, and to trade for players to fill in any weak spots going forward.

John Northey - Sunday, March 04 2012 @ 08:12 PM EST (#252481) #
I think an important question with depth is where is that depth? If it is all in one position it might not help when needed, also if it is weak depth then the value is also reduced (ie: 10,000 C+ prospects but no A ones).

Looking at the list here lets check 55+'ers (1st division starters) and lower listed
RHP: 9 + 2 : 3 medium, 6 high, 2 extreme
LHP: 2 + 0 : 1 medium, 1 high
CA: 3 + 0 : 1 medium, 2 high
1B: 0 + 1 : 1 medium
2B: 0
3B: 2 + 0 : 2 high
SS: 2 + 1 : 2 high, 1 extreme
OF: 4 + 4 : 1 medium, 7 high
-----------
22 + 8 : 7 medium, 20 high, 3 extreme

Interesting - not one second baseman and just 1 low level at first base. Outfield looks packed with 8 but that is 8 for 3 positions so 1 + 1 each plus 1 + 1 at DH you could assume. The staff is well stocked though with 13 pitchers (a full staff plus one).

This suggests AA has kept his focus fairly balanced, ignoring 2B & 1B as normally guys who aren't strong defensively at other positions end up there. SS & CA both have 3 vs the 2 at third/each OF-DH slot which is good as those are the hardest to fill defensively. More LHP would be nice, but 11 vs 2 is about what the real population has suggesting he isn't chasing LHP for the sake of chasing LHP.

Nice situation even with over 2/3rds high or extreme risk.
greenfrog - Sunday, March 04 2012 @ 09:18 PM EST (#252482) #
If BA currently has the Jays fifth, I could see the team being in the top three next year. Few top prospects are expected to graduate to the majors in 2012, and there should be another strong infusion of talent from the June draft (given the number of early-round picks and above-average slot allocation).
hypobole - Tuesday, March 06 2012 @ 10:12 AM EST (#252501) #
So where did these 30 prospects come from?
Only 8 of the 30 were in the system when AA took over.

JPR's 8:
2 - IFA's (Sierra, Perez)
2 - College draft(Cooper, Jenkins)
4 - High School draft (Marisnick, Hutch, Jimenez, Crouse)

AA's 22:
2 - Trade (d'Arnaud, Gose)
3 - IFA's (Hech, Cardona, Osuna)
4 - College draft(McGuire, Wojo, Knecht, Stilson)
13 -High School draft (Norris, Nicolino, Sanchez, Syndergaard, Dean, Smith jr., Comer, Sweeney, Musgrove, Anderson, Hawkins, Thon, Lopes)

The first round the past 4 years has yielded no talent with impact potential; McGuire the best of the lot projecting to be a mid-rotation starter at best.

Since Eppy/Gillick signed Carlos Delgado back in '88, is Kelvin Escobar the only IFA signing who's made more than a minimal contribution?

The high schoolers left from JPR - picks #104 and #460 in '09 and #279 and #489 in '08. A couple of overslot signings and a couple of good scouting/good luck kids.

Half this list was of high school age less than 2 yrs ago. Hence the high risk ratings from BA. Player development side of the operation will be crucial for future success or failure.
92-93 - Tuesday, March 06 2012 @ 11:00 AM EST (#252504) #
Molina's already made more than a minimal contribution by getting the Jays Santos, and Alvarez should provide some impact going forward. The Great Balbino, on the other hand...
BA Jays Top 30 Prospects | 11 comments | Create New Account
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