Who is the Cubs #11 Prospect?

[CaliforniaRaisin]

The poll will be open for 48 hours.

 

Results so far:

 

1. Javier Baez

2. Kris Bryant

3. Albert Almora

4. Jorge Soler

5. CJ Edwards

6. Arismendy Alcantara

7. Pierce Johnson

8. Daniel Vogelbach

9. Christian Villanueva

10. Jeimer Candelario

[Clem Fandango]

Only voted for Olt this time around so as not to over saturate everything

[Cubswin11]

Blackburn

[treebird]

i don't really like any of the options here. none seem right.

 

voted olt.

[davell]

In order, I voted for Olt, Vizcaino, and Hendricks, with Blackburn on deck. With the voting from last time though, it looks like quite a few have changed their minds on Hendricks. I thought it was going to be pretty set with the next 3, in the order I had them.

 

That said, these next 4, I'm basically OK with them in any order honestly.

[SouthSideRyan]

Hendricks's competition for me: can't play the field, can't see, has been dead for 2 years, and is an unproven pen arm

[sneakypower]

i voted Hendricks again, but i think i like Neil Ramirez more than most- it's definitely worth noting only 10 qualified pitchers in all of the minors had a higher K% last year

[toonsterwu]

1. Rob Zastryzny - Yes, this is a benefit of the doubt vote. I'm also not too enthused of anyone to say that they should definitively be ahead of anyone else. That said, college lefty, relatively polished, 3 pitch mix, and solid fastball velo is an enticing mix.

 

2. Neil Ramirez - I'm not enthused about this either, but he's in the upper levels and has good stuff. The way I'm thinking about it right now is that the mid-rotation potential plus that his fallback is a possible power pen arm gives him the slight edge.

 

Only voted for 2 ...

 

3. I'm really not sure. My concern with Olt is that, while I think the vision problems might've impacted his K rate a bit and might've impacted his contact a bit ... how much did it impact it? Coming off such a bad season, even with the excuse of his eyes, it's just hard for me to really argue that he deserves to be ahead of Zastrzyny and Ramirez in my head. Can I buy it? Sure, I just don't believe in it. Then, there's Arodys. I liked Arodys better than Teheran way back in the day, but this is coming off of 2 years of inactivity. Ramirez has quality power stuff, not Arodys level, but the argument to put him ahead, just can't do it. Again, can buy it.

 

I'm not sure what my route would be, since I haven't pondered it much, for option C. If I had to put a name for 3rd, I would go "off" the list of discussed names and consider Alberto Cabrera to be in the mix.

[Guest]

I went with: Hendricks, Z & Ramirez.

 

I haven't completely given up on Neil as a starter.

[davell]

I know the guy has stuff, but Alberto Cabrera has had 90 good innings at Daytona in 2010 and was solid in his THIRD and FOURTH seasons in AA. His control has sucked out loud in his two major league stints.

 

Yeah, he's got some talent, but at some point, you need to produce. At 25 years old and needing to make the team, since he's got no options left, I think he's an ex-Cub soon. Likely to be passed thru about 10 different claiming teams hands, before landing somewhere.

[SouthSideRyan]

Yeah I haven't gone that far yet but I wouldn't be shocked to have Cabrera outside the top 30

[craig]

Toonster's going to get all the I-told-you-so's if cabrera emerges as a useful big league reliever some day. He's not on my top-30, either. Funny thing with him, he gets the buzz for "big stuff", but he's pretty much always been easy to hit. His hits-per-inning rate, his HR rate, and his WHIP's have always been high. I know he's got a big-league are strength/velocity-wise, and he can throw some pitches that look very good at times. But I suspect a lot of results are based less on the best pitches a guy throws, but on the frequency and badness of the mistakes. But, you never know. A good pitching coach, a little confidence, a little tinkering, and maybe suddenly hitters can't tell his sliders from his fastballs anymore. Or maybe a guy adds a cutter and hitters can't guess movement and location anymore.

 

Keep up the good fight for your guy, toonster. I do wonder if he has a good spring, if there's any chance a team will claim him? I assume he's pretty easy safe to waive down to Iowa, but you never know; sometimes teams will claim a good-armed guy like that.

[craig]

I've got Hendricks, Z, Vizcaino, and Blackburn all in a bunch here. I left Blackburn off this time, but I like all four of them.

 

Somehow I don't really believe in Ramirez. But I can see how some of you like him here. He throws enough K's and has enough velocity to be pretty good. I'm voting for Vizcaino, which may sound hypocritical, but I'm kind of concerned that Ramirez had shoulder problems. It may be paranoid, but I have the feeling that shoulder-problem guys don't often rest-rehab them to full health. May be a ticking time bomb.

 

But, somebody is going to have to start games for the Cubs this year. If Rusin is #5, Hendricks and Ramirez seem like guys who might compete to get a shot So if Ramirez did come out just fine physically, and put in 6 weeks in Iowa that mirrored his performance at Frisco, he might be in the Cubs rotation by June.

[jersey cubs fan]

Boo to the Oltiphiles.

 

 

He didn't tweak his hammy, his brain and eyes don't work.

[Guest]

Reminds me of last passion where people believed that Brett was able to rework his swing.

[davell]

Reminds me of last passion where people believed that Brett was able to rework his swing.

 

It's more plausible to believe Olt has a shot than Brett did.(says guy who believed in both)

[Hairyducked Idiot]

Guys, they figured out what was wrong with Ian Stewart's wrist, something that had never been found before. It's all cool now, he swears.

[Cubswin11]

Reminds me of last passion where people believed that Brett was able to rework his swing.

 

It's more plausible to believe Olt has a shot than Brett did.(says guy who believed in both)

It's more plausible to believe a guy can come back from sight/brain problems that really aren't even diagnosed or have a known cure than it is for a guy to improve off of some mechanical adjustments?

[davell]

Reminds me of last passion where people believed that Brett was able to rework his swing.

 

It's more plausible to believe Olt has a shot than Brett did.(says guy who believed in both)

It's more plausible to believe a guy can come back from sight/brain problems that really aren't even diagnosed or have a known cure than it is for a guy to improve off of some mechanical adjustments?

 

Sure, if you believe the articles that it was a tear duct issue and that drops cure them. I'm more willing to believe in a concussion related problem taking hold during a season and getting fixed afterwards, than in something basically every guru said had no chance of working. Which is how everyone had diagnosed Brett's swing.

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

Plus Olt has a way better chance to be more valuable than Jackson because of his defense at third and power.

[Guest]

Can't remember if I read it here or not, but FW little IW, Jackson apparently has been working on going back to his old swing.

 

His dad tweeted it or something.

[Quakers]

I liked many of the players I saw at Boise last year, but that is the problem. I really want to see them perform in a higher level. Especially the pitchers. Most of the draft picks pitched in two inning stints. I would like to see them stretched out.

 

I admit that I voted for Olt. And, I will admit that it will be make or break for him fairly early on. Baez and Bryant both are waiting in the wings.

[davell]

Don't get me wrong, this IS it for Olt, just as last year was for Brett. Either he'll have carved out a major league role or he'll be off our prospect list by this time next year. But the talent dictates him being given this chance.

[Guest]

Toonster's going to get all the I-told-you-so's if cabrera emerges as a useful big league reliever some day. He's not on my top-30, either. Funny thing with him, he gets the buzz for "big stuff", but he's pretty much always been easy to hit. His hits-per-inning rate, his HR rate, and his WHIP's have always been high. I know he's got a big-league are strength/velocity-wise, and he can throw some pitches that look very good at times. But I suspect a lot of results are based less on the best pitches a guy throws, but on the frequency and badness of the mistakes. But, you never know. A good pitching coach, a little confidence, a little tinkering, and maybe suddenly hitters can't tell his sliders from his fastballs anymore. Or maybe a guy adds a cutter and hitters can't guess movement and location anymore.

 

Keep up the good fight for your guy, toonster. I do wonder if he has a good spring, if there's any chance a team will claim him? I assume he's pretty easy safe to waive down to Iowa, but you never know; sometimes teams will claim a good-armed guy like that.

 

Is toonster that high on Cabrera? I definitely am and will have him around 20.

[wekim81]

Us having Olt around the 11/12 range is going to look silly in September. Either he's back to 2012 Olt (in which case he's way higher than this) or he's really broken in which case he's not anywhere near the top 20.