St. Louis Cardinals Top 20+ Prospects for 2009

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St. Louis Cardinals Top 20 Prospects for 2009

All grades are EXTREMELY PRELIMINARY and subject to change. Don’t get too
worried about exact rankings at this point, especially once you get out of
the top 10. Grade C+/C guys are pretty interchangeable depending on what you
are looking for.


1) Colby Rasmus, OF, Grade A-: I’m going to cut him some slack due to youth.
Power, speed, walks, defense are all still here. Not going to hit for a great
average right away.

2) Brett Wallace, 3B, Grade A-: Monster bat should be ready within a year.
Glove at third should be adequate in the short run.

3) Chris Perez, RHP, Grade B+: Outstanding closer-quality stuff, just needs
to throw strikes.

4) Daryl Jones, OF, Grade B: I buy into the improvement being real. Has
always had the tools and skills improved rapidly this year. This is an
aggressive grade but I’m comfortable with it.

5) Jess Todd, RHP, Grade B-: Strike-throwing inning-eater type if used as a
starter, could be more dominant in shorter stretches if used in pen.

6) Jon Jay, OF, Grade B-: I like him more than a lot of people, but I think
he can play center and put up solid numbers. Another aggressive grade, but
both Jay and Jones have impressed me and I think both tend to be underrated..

7) Jason Motte, RHP, Grade C+: Gotta love the strikeouts, but questionable
secondary stuff precludes higher grade. Should be fine short reliever.

8) Bryan Anderson, C, Grade C+: This ranking may surprise some, but I’m
starting to wonder if we could be looking at a Sean Burroughs situation here,
where the line drive bat just kind of stalls at an early age. Am I
overreacting?

9) Mitchell Boggs, RHP, Grade C+: Live arm, still trying to put everything
together, another guy who could be a decent starter or dominate more in the
pen.

10) Jaime Garcia, LHP, Grade C+: Hard to rank due to Tommy John. A grade B+/B
if healthy.

11) Pete Kozma, SS, Grade C+: I rather like him and I think he might end up
being a better hitter than people think.

12) David Freese, 3B, Grade C+: An older prospect and plate discipline looks
spotty, but he has power and a good glove at third.

13) Adam Reifer, RHP, Grade C+: Excellent stuff, dominated the New York-Penn
League, need to see at higher levels. Could hit the Top 5 next year if all
goes well.

14) Allen Craig, 3B, Grade C+: A personal favorite, could rank as high as 9
or 10 depending on criteria. I think he’ll hit, though glove isn’t the best
and he’s got a lot of competition.

15) Lance Lynn, RHP, Grade C+: Polished college pitcher, could rank much
higher once we see him against better hitters.

16) Niko Vasquez, SS, Grade C+: Good performance in pro debut, strikeouts and
defense are questions. Has higher potential.

17) Clayton Mortensen, RHP, Grade C+: Gets grounders, could be an
inning-eater, but strikes me as overrated by some other sources.

18) Francisco Samuel, RHP, Grade C+: Outstanding stuff, command is wobbly.

19) Fernando Salas, RHP, Grade C+: Throws strikes, great K/BB and K/IP marks,
but gives up a lot of fly balls.

20) Richard Castillo, RHP, Grade C+: Very young pitcher with high sleeper
potential.

21) Deryk Hooker, RHP, Grade C+: Another young sleeper, and a breakthrough
candidate for 2009.

22) Roberto De La Cruz, 3B, Grade C+: Young Dominican with power, big bonus,
and reportedly has good strike zone judgment.

23) Shane Peterson, OF, Grade C+: High OBP college guy with gap power, but
not many homers.

24) P.J. Walters, RHP, Grade C+: Uses a nasty changeup to rack up large
numbers of strikeouts.

Others: Nicholas Additon,LHP; Jermaine Curtis, 3B; Anthony Ferrara, LHP; Eric
Fornataro, RHP; Scott Gorgen, RHP; Tyler Greene, SS; Luke Gregerson, RHP;
Tyler Henley, OF; Tyler Herron, RHP; Steven Hill, 1B-C; David Kopp, RHP;
Gerardo Mannbell, SS; Adam Ottavino, RHP; Shane Robinson, OF; Nick Stavinoha,
OF.

As usual, don’t sweat so much about where the Grade C+/C types rank exactly
on this list. After I get past the top 10 I don’t worry so much about exact
placement, since I’m trying to concentrate on the book right now. Some of
the Grade C guys could be C+ in the book, and vice versa.


NOTE TO READERS:

I’ve received criticism lately about these lists being “incomplete” and
not detailed enough. These aren’t supposed to be in-depth reports, folks,
these are preliminary grades from the book and thumbnail blurbs. That is what
"full reports are in the book" means. I thought everyone understood that.


SYSTEM IN BRIEF

    The Cardinals system is rapidly improving. Rasmus, Wallace, and Perez all
have strong impact potential, and the B/B- guys all look like useful role
players at least and possibly regulars.

     After that you have a gigantic mass of Grade C+ prospects that are
difficult to rank. Some of these Grade C+ guys look like role players, but
others could end up with much higher grades next year once we get more data.
The Cardinals continue to focus on college guys in the draft, but are now
popping an occasional high school ceiling player (Kozma, Vasquez, Hooker,
Ferrara) in there to provide more balance..They are also focusing more on
Latin America, putting down more money on tools bets like De La Cruz and
Mannbell. This mixed approach should provide dividends and has already
boosted depth.

     Overall I think Cardinals fans should be optimistic about the way this
system is going.

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◆ From: 140.112.5.3
推 keyboardmm:連Sickels也這麼看好Jones
推 ColbyRasmus:沒想到有人會注意到Mannbell^^ Sickles大概是所有評比
→ ColbyRasmus:唯一給Castillo這麼高的評價吧
推 ColbyRasmus:我錯了，scout.com給他第15名(剛好今天公佈XD)
推 ColbyRasmus:嗨了嗨了，有人希望他長成Rick Porcello 冏
推 waitla:那個是嗨過頭了吧 .....
推 baronterry:我熊熊發現我有Brett Wallace代表米國隊的球員卡耶XDDD
推 ColbyRasmus:baron你確定那是真的嗎? 我可以幫你鑑定一下:P
推 baronterry:真的...吧  我抽卡抽到的@@  老闆幫我封起  剛剛發現
→ baronterry:我沒辦法用Print Screen把我的"桌面"照給你看XDDDDDD
推 ColbyRasmus:你以為我那麼好心喔 "寄給我"我幫你鑑定啊XD
推 Pujols5:Colby你明年上得來嗎？
→ Pujols5:好像該改口成今年了XD
推 ColbyRasmus:老拉說如果開季放3A的話，外野有缺，Raz就是第一選擇
推 baronterry:Raz你給我好好準備上MLB  有空幫我簽幾個球就好XD
推 baronterry:不然你來高雄  來個紅鳥聚會-0-
推 waitla:好久沒收卡 現在連Rasmus一張都沒有 XD
推 keyboardmm:Raz我如果有你的卡拿給你簽，會增多少倍？xd
推 ColbyRasmus:我幫你簽的話，那張卡就報銷了XD
推 baronterry:樓上可能要倒貼給鍵盤姐姐了XDDDDDDDDDDDD
推 baronterry:剛發現這系列還有autograph&jersey的卡~拿到一位火球男