Who is the #23 Prospect for the Cubs?

[CaliforniaRaisin]

There is a run-off for #21 and #22 between Logan Watkins and Rob Whitenack.

 

Please vote for the Cubs #21 prospect (serious votes only, please!). Please post your rationale below.

 

If someone convinces you that someone else should be higher, please feel free to change your vote anytime between now and Wednesday.

 

For this vote, you should select the players you feel should be #23, #24 and #25. If we end up with multiple players having similar vote totals at the end of the voting period, there will be a run-off with just those players.

 

Results so far:

 

#1: Javier Baez

#2: Jorge Soler

#3: Albert Almora

#4: Arodys Vizcaino

#5: Dan Vogelbach

#6: Brett Jackson

#7: Juan Paniagua

#8: Christian Villanueva

#9: Dillon Maples

#10: Josh Vitters

#11: Pierce Johnson

#12: Junior Lake

#13: Jeimer Candelario

#14: Duane Underwood

#15: Matt Szczur

#16: Arismendy Alcantara

#17: Ronald Torreyes

#18: Marco Hernandez

#19: Gioskar Amaya

#20: Alberto Cabrera

#21/#22: Logan Watkins/Rob Whitenack

[Cubswin11]

Blackburn

Wells

Rondon

[toonsterwu]

I may change my vote on the third pick of this later on, so here's hoping my top 2 hold on, giving me some more time to contemplate it. But

 

1. Hector Rondon - He has enough pedigree that the positive reports out of winter ball push him up.

2. Ben Wells - We're talking mid-20's here for a guy who, had he continued his early season success, might've been top 10. I'm assuming that the health decision was one the organization agreed with, so ... this seems like a sufficient enough drop.

 

So ... then comes the hard part ... A part of me leans Paul Blackburn (draft pedigree), another part of me leans Jose Rosario (performance/upside) ... craig has talked up Zych enough that I even give that some thought ... I also ponder Jose Arias here due to his immense ceiling, but

 

3. Michael Jensen - This is my nod for now. Fastball/breaking ball look solid. I'm not enthusiastic about this, as I'm still not sure if I feel like he's a starter or better off in the pen, but he had a good run in Peoria this year and the stuff is solid.

Edited January 9, 2013 by toonsterwu

[Bilbo161]

I may change my vote on the third pick of this later on, so here's hoping my top 2 hold on, giving me some more time to contemplate it. But

 

1. Hector Rondon - He has enough pedigree that the positive reports out of winter ball push him up.

2. Ben Wells - We're talking mid-20's here for a guy who, had he continued his early season success, might've been top 10. I'm assuming that the health decision was one the organization agreed with, so ... this seems like a sufficient enough drop.

 

So ... then comes the hard part ... A part of me leans Paul Blackburn (draft pedigree), another part of me leans Jose Rosario (performance/upside) ... craig has talked up Zych enough that I even give that some thought ... I also ponder Jose Arias here due to his immense ceiling, but

 

3. Michael Jensen - This is my nod for now. Fastball/breaking ball look solid. I'm not enthusiastic about this, as I'm still not sure if I feel like he's a starter or better off in the pen, but he had a good run in Boise this year and the stuff is solid.

 

Loux - hopefully for the last time?

Blackburn - Purely on upside.

Bruno - a personal favorite. Needs to keep hitting as he moves up. Anyone think he skips KC and goes to A+?

 

Jensen is next on my list. Maybe I could even rank him above Bruno and Blackburn.

[Little Slide Rooter]

Golden

McNutt

Loux

[craig]

Rondon

Zych

Wells

[toonsterwu]

I may change my vote on the third pick of this later on, so here's hoping my top 2 hold on, giving me some more time to contemplate it. But

 

1. Hector Rondon - He has enough pedigree that the positive reports out of winter ball push him up.

2. Ben Wells - We're talking mid-20's here for a guy who, had he continued his early season success, might've been top 10. I'm assuming that the health decision was one the organization agreed with, so ... this seems like a sufficient enough drop.

 

So ... then comes the hard part ... A part of me leans Paul Blackburn (draft pedigree), another part of me leans Jose Rosario (performance/upside) ... craig has talked up Zych enough that I even give that some thought ... I also ponder Jose Arias here due to his immense ceiling, but

 

3. Michael Jensen - This is my nod for now. Fastball/breaking ball look solid. I'm not enthusiastic about this, as I'm still not sure if I feel like he's a starter or better off in the pen, but he had a good run in Boise this year and the stuff is solid.

 

Loux - hopefully for the last time?

Blackburn - Purely on upside.

Bruno - a personal favorite. Needs to keep hitting as he moves up. Anyone think he skips KC and goes to A+?

 

Jensen is next on my list. Maybe I could even rank him above Bruno and Blackburn.

 

Looks like Loux has a shot to get on.

 

I love Bruno. Part of it is UVA bias, as I'm a UVA fan, but love Bruno. That said, I've got a tough time putting him in my top 30. I said midseason that I could see him as our 2nd baseman of the future ... but his only plus tool is his potential to make contact, and as a college bat, we really need to see him higher up to see if that holds. Now, I still think he could be passable to solid at short, and I think there might be some more pop, but with a limited plus tool, it's hard for me to rank him high. It's the same reason I just can't rank Torreyes that high either, and those two are similar guys, with Torreyes deserving to be higher on account of level.

 

Bruno could see A+. If the catching thing is something they go with entering the season, I think he probably starts in A, or even XST, but if he is kept in the IF, he's got a chance to jump up there and perhaps play 2nd/3rd. All comes down to this catching thing.

[CubsWin]

I voted for Loux because of his proximity to the majors. He doesn't have the upside of Wells, but he's a lot closer. That said, I also voted for Wells as I have been for the last couple of polls. Last I went with Michael Jensen.

 

As I look around the rest of the organizations (I've become addicted this off season to perusing other teams farm systems on Baseball Reference), Jensen's numbers compare favorably with other team's second tier prospects. I often look at the other team's systems with an eye toward what prospects would be nice to get back in a trade. Jensen doesn't have the pedigree, but as a 21 year old starter in the MWL, his hits per inning is almost elite with a K/BB ratio that is acceptable. Obviously, a lot of prospects with similar numbers flame out when they get to the higher levels, but we are talking about the 25th best prospect here. Until he does flame out, I'll hold a torch for him. Pun intended.

[craig]

I didn't vote for him, but I agree on Jensen. Like him quite a bit.

 

None of his numbers were great, and none of his stuff scouts great. But all of his numbers seemed very good, especially for a guy in his first full year out of JC. And his stuff sounds good, even if it isn't great. And its maybe getting better. My understanding is that he came up with a changeup midyear, which was looking like a very good pitch by the end of the year.

 

Callis didn't put him in his top-30, said his ceiling was #4 starter, and envisions Jensen ending up in relief, with his low-90's fastball that has natural cutting action. Callis gets his info from scouts, so I take that seriously. Still, a 90's fastball with cutting movement and control, what's wrong with that? That's a very useful first pitch. It's not like every team has 3-5 big-leaguers actually working faster than low-90's with good movement and with good control. The "cutting action" would seem to explain Jensen's strong GB rate, modest HR rate (6HR/140 innings), and good success versus LH hitters.

 

I think the earlier reputation was that he was fastball/curve, kind of a 2-pitch guy, which might explain the relief projection. Either that or being only 6'1". (Or just that he's not good enough.) But if he successfully integrates the change, that might give him the more complete repertoire that he'd want as a starter.

[cincycub31]

I voted for Loux and I'd probably go with Wells and Blackburn next. I'm surprised Loux didn't come in higher. I don't know a lot about him from a scouting perspective, but what I've found otherwise indicates he could be a legit mid ( 3 or 4) rotation guy who is pretty close to the majors and age appropriate. If he started in our system would we be more excited about him?

[toonsterwu]

I voted for Loux and I'd probably go with Wells and Blackburn next. I'm surprised Loux didn't come in higher. I don't know a lot about him from a scouting perspective, but what I've found otherwise indicates he could be a legit mid ( 3 or 4) rotation guy who is pretty close to the majors and age appropriate. If he started in our system would we be more excited about him?

 

I guess I don't really have a problem with Loux getting on here, but I'm still not sure his ceiling is really mid-rotation, and hence why I haven't been voting for him. Manuel and Eddy, in their writeup of Loux when we got him, indicated a 5th starter, and suggested that it was average fastball velocity, average breaking ball, with a slightly better changeup. A guy like Jensen feels like he has a tick better ceiling. Wells/Whitenack have far superior stuff (with all three (including Loux) having some health concerns). That stuff report on Loux sounds very similar to Marcelo Carreno or Nick Struck.

[davell]

Runoff for 23 and 24 time, with voting on 25?