Sickels Top 20 Prospects

[StealingSigns]

1) Travis D'Arnaud, C, Grade A-: Borderline B+
2) Noah Syndergaard, RHP, Grade A-: Borderline B+
3) Aaron Sanchez, RHP, Grade B+: Borderline A-
4) Roberto Osuna, RHP, Grade B+
5) Marcus Stroman, RHP, Grade B
6) Sean Nolin, LHP, Grade B
7) D.J. Davis, OF, Grade B-
8) Daniel Norris, LHP, Grade B-
9) Matt Smoral, LHP, Grade B-
10) A.J. Jimenez, C, Grade C+

See the rest of the list here.

[bomber0104]

Lots of change in the list from last year with so many prospects traded away..

As usual, Sickels seems to rate catchers very high evident by Nessy ranked 11th

how sad is it that McGuire went from a B to not being mentioned

one of the first guys i've seen that is that high on Nolin and i like it

[con_artist]

His basic summary of our system is a lot of young athletes with upside, most of whom didn't put it together last year. A lot of them are young and still have room to improve but so far, the 2011 class isn't turning out as well as we'd hoped.

[Dol-Fan]

Surprised to see Sanchez below Syndergaard, but I can't entirely disagree. They bring different tools to the table. Personally, I'd take Sanchez, but I couldn't make a bullet proof argument for him over Syndergaard.

By next year: d'Arnaud graduates, Syndergaard, Sanchez, and Osuna are all A- with Sanchez possibly an A. DJ Davis B+, Stroman graduates.

[fmradioguy]

Even more interesting than the guys he placed in his Top 20, are the guys who didn't.

[statquo]

love seeing all the pitchers in the top 10 but wouldnt mind seeing a few more position players.

[Farsight]

Its a fair list. Most of our draftpicks are either C+, or B- on this list and i dont blame him for rating them that low. Most are 4-5 prospects that are toolsy but have high ceilings. Never know, next year we can have 15 players in the B range. I like our system but its evident that many players graduate or were either traded away.

[Eagles4Lyfe]

Wow we have 3 LHP's in our top 10??? That's just dirrrrty.

I can't wait to see where our 10th pick is going to rank after the draft.

[bartron_44]

I am anxiously awaiting the debut of Matt Smoral. That kid has future stud written all over him. Huge lefty who can bring it in the mid 90's with a tight slider from a 3'4 arm slot...as a teenager.

I am also glad to see Sean Nolin's excellent season and hard work is not going unnoticed. He averages over a strikeout per inning, and just keeps doing better and better since he got into shape. He dominated AA hitters at the end of last year. If he posts numbers like that again while increasing his workload to somewhere around 150 innings, he will be a very valuable arm next off season

[Krylian]

I'm all for keeping an eye on Nolin, but this is Molina all over again as far as Sickels ratings go.

[Eagles4Lyfe]

What happened to that Anderson guy we drafted as an OF in the second round or soemthing??
Has he been a bust or something?

[Krylian]

What happened to that Anderson guy we drafted as an OF in the second round or soemthing??
Has he been a bust or something?

Lots of talent, had an awful season. If he bounces back he could rocket up the rankings again.

[Eagles4Lyfe]

Lots of talent, had an awful season. If he bounces back he could rocket up the rankings again.

Aww man, ray: hopefully he finds his form then.

[ILDD]

Lots of talent, had an awful season. If he bounces back he could rocket up the rankings again.

Which is exactly what we sould expect from AA's drafts.

He drafts based on physical skills which tends to be another way of saying draft based on ceiling, not floor. Rather than getting a 50% chance of a major league player from a draftee you get a 10% chance of a star. He stacked the deck as far as he could with extra draft picks to give a better chance of finding that star.

It's easier to draft a star than to sign a star as a free agent so he's going that way and then using free agency to fill out the roster with the non-star players. Exactly right imho so I expect quite a few of these flops in the coming years.

[Twitchy]

I'm no scout, so take what I say for what it's worth...but I think they need to do a better job of balancxing out the toolsy hitters with some guys who have baseball skills as opposed to just physical skills. Seems like a lot of the toolsy guys have flamed out and as Sickels said they don't have much to show for it.

I'm no scout, and I understand going for the toolsy guy is getting a bigger star but just seems like all the toolsy bats aren't as good as we expected. Whether that's just typical prospect bust rates or the fact they're going for boom/bust type players is the question.