Cubs 2016 #19 Prospect

[CubsWin]

#1: Gleyber Torres

#2: Willson Contreras

#3: Albert Almora

#4: Ian Happ

#5: Billy McKinney

#6: Eloy Jimenez

#7: Dylan Cease

#8: Jeimer Candelario

#9: Duane Underwood

#10: Carl Edwards Jr.

#11: Eddy Julio Martinez

#12: Oscar De La Cruz

#13: Pierce Johnson

#14: Victor Caratini

#15: Mark Zagunis

#16: Donnie Dewees

#17: Bryan Hudson

#18: Dan Vogelbach

[CubsWin]

Man, this is a deep system. Here we are voting on 19 and 20, and we still have guys with realistic chances at making the majors.

 

How many organizations can say they have an advanced college bat, age appropriate in AA (and will be all season) who's career slash is .323/.396/.399 and is currently outperforming it as their 19th or 20th best prospect?

 

Or a 20-year-old starter in High-A with good stuff (low/mid 90s FB, good breaking ball) who is still learning to command it but has never allowed more than a hit per inning in any season and consistently at or above 8 Ks/9?

 

Or a speedy, athletic CF and Vanderbilt recruit who a very astute front office saw fit to overslot ($1.3 million) in the 4th round?

 

And the list goes on. 22-year-old, AA starter Paul Blackburn (23-12, 2.98 career). 6'4", 2nd rounder Jake Stinnett. None of these guys are worthy of being another team's top 4-5 prospects, but a lot of them would be top 10.

 

Then there's the incoming IFA class of Ademan, Sierra, Albertos, Perlaza, Amaya, Paredes, Marquez, Kwon and others.

 

If there were no impact-type, starting caliber prospects at the top of the Cubs list, that would be one thing. But Contreras, Torres, Almora and Happ all currently fit that bill with Underwood and Cease knocking on the door and Jimenez and De La Cruz in line behind them.

 

Oh, and the greatest collection of 26-and-under major league talent ever assembled in my lifetime.

 

Please re-sign Jason McLeod.

[Cubswin11]

Not that I think he'd be getting votes here, but looking at the names on the list and not seeing Dillon Maples, is he not even a thing anymore?

[Aaron_Kennelly]

Chesny Young and D.J. Wilson here for me.

 

I really like D.J. Wilson. I'm very anxious to see how he fares this year.

 

Young is starting to become interesting. I would like to see a little more pop than he's shown. I was afraid he would struggle against tougher competition. But he's thriving in AA right now. The BB/K ratio is fantastic. And he gives you some value on the bases. He's definitely shooting up my list if he keeps this up.

 

After those two, there are a bunch of pitchers that I like. I don't even know who belongs where. I do know that my philosophy is "F pitchers," though. So I am cool with waiting a bit to get into them.

[craig]

I'll go Clifton and Stinnett this round.

[craig]

Steele's slow start has certainly cost him. I think if we'd had this vote the day before the season began, Steels would have probably been elected by now.

 

I'm hoping he's going to get rolling soon and end up putting together a very successful season that looks much more promising at the end than it did after his first two starts.

[toonsterwu]

Man, this is a deep system. Here we are voting on 19 and 20, and we still have guys with realistic chances at making the majors.

 

How many organizations can say they have an advanced college bat, age appropriate in AA (and will be all season) who's career slash is .323/.396/.399 and is currently outperforming it as their 19th or 20th best prospect?

 

Or a 20-year-old starter in High-A with good stuff (low/mid 90s FB, good breaking ball) who is still learning to command it but has never allowed more than a hit per inning in any season and consistently at or above 8 Ks/9?

 

Or a speedy, athletic CF and Vanderbilt recruit who a very astute front office saw fit to overslot ($1.3 million) in the 4th round?

 

And the list goes on. 22-year-old, AA starter Paul Blackburn (23-12, 2.98 career). 6'4", 2nd rounder Jake Stinnett. None of these guys are worthy of being another team's top 4-5 prospects, but a lot of them would be top 10.

 

Then there's the incoming IFA class of Ademan, Sierra, Albertos, Perlaza, Amaya, Paredes, Marquez, Kwon and others.

 

If there were no impact-type, starting caliber prospects at the top of the Cubs list, that would be one thing. But Contreras, Torres, Almora and Happ all currently fit that bill with Underwood and Cease knocking on the door and Jimenez and De La Cruz in line behind them.

 

Oh, and the greatest collection of 26-and-under major league talent ever assembled in my lifetime.

 

Please re-sign Jason McLeod.

 

I like the positive attitude, but I really question the idea that entering the season, that Paul Blackburn or Jake Stinnett would be top 10 guys for a lot of systems. For the bottom 4-5 systems, maybe, but even then ... for example, I'd have a tough time arguing that entering the season, that Jake Stinnett should go ahead of say, David Hess in the Orioles system. Or that Jake Stinnett or Paul Blackburn are better guys than say ... the Tigers Artie Lewicki, who was rated in the 20's in a system that's largely considered bad.

 

Short of it is, there's plenty of guys with similar levels of talents in most systems. We're deeper than a lot of systems, but the reality is, most of these guys, much as we like them, won't make it for one reason or another. I mean, the top evaluators have low hit rates - McLeod's Padres drafts were inconsistent in results (I think he ran it in 2010 and 2011). Obviously, a few hits in 2011, but when you consider the number of high picks ... that shouldn't be a huge surprise.

 

Not trying to rain on the fun ... but I just question the concept that our depth would be significantly higher ranked talent elsewhere.

 

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Since I want to view this as before the year, my votes went to Clifton and Steele.

 

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