Who is the #32 Prospect for the Cubs?

[CaliforniaRaisin]

There is a run-off for #30 and #31 between Michael Jensen and Steve Bruno.

 

Please vote for the Cubs #32 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 #32, #33 and #34. 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: Logan Watkins

#22: Rob Whitenack

#23: Barrett Loux

#24: Ben Wells

#25: Paul Blackburn

#26: Hector Rondon

#27: Tony Zych

#28: Jae-Hoon Ha

#29: Trey McNutt

#30/#31: Michael Jensen & Steve Bruno

[CubsWin]

Trey Martin, Ryan McNeil and then.....uh...okay...Jose Arias, no, Taylor Scott...wait, I got it, Carlos Penalver...eh, flip a coin. Does anybody have a three-sided coin?

 

Fangraphs has Trey Martin at 15, Jim Callis has him at 30 and John Sickels mentioned him in the others category on his top 20 list. He has one of if not the highest upside of anyone left. He is graded as an athletic CFer who can stick at that premium position with one scout saying he was a major league CFer defensively right now at the age of 19 and he can hit some.

 

Ryan McNeil was the Cubs 3rd round pick last year and just turned 19 a few days ago. Sickels ranks him a C+ prospect, the same grade as Paul Blackburn, Ben Wells and Michael Jensen.

 

Jose Arias pitched well in Boise last year, has a good mid-90s heater and dominated Dodgers prospects and instructs this year. Taylor Scott pitched better for Boise last season, is a 5th round draft pick and is a year and a half younger. Carlos Penalver has the ability to stick at a premium position (SS), can hit decently and won't turn 19 until mid-May. I went with Penalver, but obviously I'm open to having my mind changed.

[CubsWin]

Can we just combine Raley, Rusin, Jokisch and Kirk into one guy with 4 chances of making it to the big leagues?

 

Of that group, I think Raley right now is the best and Kirk the worst, but the difference between them is far from vast...

[craig]

Scott Loosen Arias

 

All have pretty good arms and some chance to make it as starters.

 

Cubswin, I think I'd put Rusin at the bottom of the four lefties.

[davell]

Martin, Scott, and Arias.

[Cubswin11]

McNeil

Martin

Scott

[Guest]

Martin, Arias and McNeil but obviously, you can go a lot of different ways here.

 

Please mention anyone you want to add in the next poll. I'm trying to keep the options around 20, but at this point, our choices will be wildly different so I can add more.

[Bilbo161]

Martin, McNeil, Scott

 

Martin was easy. There are others like Arias that could be here too.

[rawaction]

Martin, Arias and McNeil but obviously, you can go a lot of different ways here.

.

 

No, this is the only way.

[toonsterwu]

Can we just combine Raley, Rusin, Jokisch and Kirk into one guy with 4 chances of making it to the big leagues?

 

Of that group, I think Raley right now is the best and Kirk the worst, but the difference between them is far from vast...

 

I might actually argue that Kirk is the most intriguing of the lot. It's close, though. As of this typing, I'd probably go Kirk/Raley/Rusin/Jokisch for those four.

[toonsterwu]

Martin should make it on here, and one could argue that this is low for him. I have been hesitant to push hime earlier because he's really going to need to work on his swing, and when combined with how far away he is, it was tough to go higher. But here? A raw, toolsy OF who has good to plus defensive potential and could potentially be a 15-20 HR guy if he can make the adjustments?

 

I could go a number of ways with the arms, but I'm still sticking with Struck as getting a nod. At the end of the day, he's in the upper levels at a young age. The fastball velocity is solid, so I wonder, if he's ever pushed to the pen, if he might be able to bump it up a notch. There's 3 solid pitches. Has to tidy up command a bit, but he looks like he'll get looks in the bigs. There's guys with much better ceilings, but I'll go Struck.

 

The last nod was tough, but ... I just haven't heard anything catastrophic on Jose Rosario's injury, unless I missed something. Without hearing anything catastrophic, I'll give him the nod here. A healthy Rosario (assuming he continued his early performance) probably makes the top 30 without many questions.

 

I really am intrigued with Loosen, and this was before BA's ranking (I believe there's some comments here or on TCR with me talking about Loosen at the start of last year). I like Arias a bunch. I guess, if there's something bad about Rosario that I missed ... hmm ... Arias is probably next man up for me, as his starting ceiling is simply that good.

[teddy]

In the context of the other 4 lefties, where does Del Valle fit in?

[toonsterwu]

In the context of the other 4 lefties, where does Del Valle fit in?

 

You could go any number of ways with our lefties and make a case for it. The above argument that Kirk should be last is understandable, as those weren't intriguing numbers, but I wonder if his stuff might be the best of the group (fastball in that 87-91 range, solid change, decent curve, IIRC), and hence why I wonder if he's the most intriguing of the lot (which doesn't mean that much). I'd probably put Raley as a "solid" 2nd (it's not like the gap between any of them is all that big anyway you view it). I can buy Del Valle as high as 3rd for that fivesome, but I might actually put him last. I'm not all that confident in Del Valle as a starter. In the pen, his stuff might play better than the other guys, though.

 

____

 

Raisin, I do think Rhee should be on there. He did get an AFL look, and while the fastball wasn't as sharp or as good as it was a year ago, it still hit 92/93 at times. There's a plus pitch, albeit, not a swing and miss pitch.

[Rob]

32. Trey Martin - Frankly I'm shocked you guys didn't already put him on. This is about where I had him, but I felt I was probably going to be the lowest on him of anybody.

33. Shawon Dunston Jr. - Still quite raw, but his approach was much better than I expected. I've got him in a dead heat with Martin.

 

Coming up with 34 is tough for me. I want to put an arm there, but everybody at this point has big question marks. I like Scott, but he posted some pretty awful peripherals. Struck doesn't have much of a ceiling. Rosario and Arias are kinda old for their leagues. And of course there's Concepcion, who probably deserves the Hayden Simpson "maybe he'll get over his mono" spot on the list.

 

34. Ryan McNeil - Mostly because I can pretend he wont have the problems the other guys have.

[toonsterwu]

I guess Rosario's a touch on the older side for A ball, but it was only his age 21 season. Age 21 in Low A is ... okay. A smidge on the high side perhaps, but okay.