Who is the #43 Prospect for the Cubs?

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Please vote for the Cubs #43 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 Sunday.

 

For this vote, you should select the players you feel should be #43, #44 and #45. 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: Steve Bruno

#31: Michael Jensen

#32: Trey Martin

#33: Tayler Scott

#34: Jose Arias

#35: Ryan McNeil

#36: Jose Rosario

#37: Shawon Dunston Jr.

#38: Nick Struck

#39: Austin Reed

#40: Reggie Golden

#41: Carlos Penalver

#42: Marcus Hatley

[toonsterwu]

Can honestly just pick random names and I could probably buy a case for it. Still went with Loosen and Chen, and as for the 3rd ... uh ... I'm leaning Marra as of now, but could buy de la Rosa, maybe Torrez I guess. Hendricks/Raley/Rusin ... I could see cases for them. Heck, I could buy Rhee as an option as a pen arm.

[CubsWin]

Can honestly just pick random names and I could probably buy a case for it. Still went with Loosen and Chen, and as for the 3rd ... uh ... I'm leaning Marra as of now, but could buy de la Rosa, maybe Torrez I guess. Hendricks/Raley/Rusin ... I could see cases for them. Heck, I could buy Rhee as an option as a pen arm.

Yeah, it's possible to come up with a justification for just about anyone. At this point, I'm going with who I perceive has the highest ceiling.

 

Frandy de la Rosa

Josh Conway

Willson Contraras

 

I'm interested to see, whether they voted for them or not, who people think has the highest ceiling of the guys that are left.

[craig]

....as for the 3rd ... uh ... I'm leaning Marra as of now, but could buy de la Rosa, maybe Torrez I guess. Hendricks/Raley/Rusin ... I could see cases for them. Heck, I could buy Rhee as an option as a pen arm.

 

Have we heard much about Marra's defensive projection? I assume yes, and positive, for you to ranking him this high? I admit I don't recall much if any talk about his defense. Given that he had decent patience and hit well in rookie league, and given that he's a catcher in a system with almost none, I can see some interest. I voted Contreras instead, since I have heard about his defense and his manager compared him to Pudge Rodriguez.

 

One prospect that isn't on the list but might merit consideration at this point might be AJ Morris. He was a 4th round draft pick, had good arm reports, and had pretty solid if unspectacular results prior to surgery. The Cubs supposedly liked him so well that they targetted him in the Gorzellany trade, even though they knew he'd had surgery and would miss a year. But this year his numbers were pretty sweet. 2.0 GO/AO ratio; 1 HR; 0.98 WHIP; 15BB/52 IP; 42K not great but not bad either. I wouldn't be surprised to see him fall off this year in high minors, but neither would I be at all surprised to see him sustain strong success, and look like a very legit big-league pitching prospect. Often when a guy goes relief, it's because he's failed in rotation for some reason. But Morris obviously it was "just" the surgery. He was a big-league prospect pre-surgery, so I don't hold his relief status against his chance of becoming a good major leaguer. (When guys have 42K/15BB/1HR, thats a combo that wins, if it's even remotely sustainable.)

 

For TJ surgery these days, most guys seem to recover their velocity. It seems much more rare to recover the "touch" for command. Morris would seem to have done so; Rhee not so. Hard to guess how they'll roster fill, but I wouldn't be at all surprised to see Rhee get released this camp. Too bad, he seemed so promising pre-surg.