Quote:
Originally Posted by m21eagle45
Hamilton is far from a sure thing. We don't know if he will ever be able to hit major league pitching. He still K's a lot. As far as prospect rankings come, even with all the publicity that he has got, you would think he is the best prosect in the game. Which he is not. I would trade a prospect who has not proven anything at the MLB level for a proven MLB player any day of the week and twice on Sunday.
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You certainly make some valid points but I think you may be a little misunderstood on prospect rankings. They are not necessarily ranked based on ceiling or likelihood of success or failure. According to mlb.com, he is the 14th ranked prospect. There are several things keeping Hamilton from being a higher regarded prospect:
-He's a non-catching position player. These are the two positions in the highest demand and toughest to find good ones. Shortstops are highly prized as well, but even when he was a SS, there were doubts of his ability to stick there
-He's 22 years old and still widely considered a year away from MLB. There are 4 prospects the same age or older than Hamilton ahead of him: 3 pitchers and a catcher. All of them are projected to be MLB ready in 2013
-He's raw. He started switch hitting when he was drafted at 18, so he's still learning to hit from the side of the plate that a majority of your ABs will come from as a switch hitter.
So, he is very highly regarded, however, not higher than he is for the above reasons