Baseball America top 30

[redsof72]

J.J. Cooper does a tremendous job with this. I know he personally talks with many of the coaches and scouts. He really works it. Nothing against some of the other national lists, but J.J. goes the extra mile.

1-10 was already out. Not sure about legalities of posting entire list so I will leave that to others. Highlights...

#11 is Jeremy Kivel. Again, good homework by J.J. Kid has hit 99, in a class with Stephenson, Lorenzen in terms of velocity.

#14 is Arias. I would have gone a little higher. Same with Rogers at 15.

#16 is Lutz. I still like Lutz.

#17 is Constante. Not many have seen him in person.

#19 is Jackson Stephens. Good call, will get a chance every fifth day in Dayton.

#21 is SMB. I have said many times that I know I have him higher than most others because he is not a tool box, but I saw what I saw. I will differ on one thing. JJ calls his defense "solid average." It is exceptional in my opinion. His coach at Arizona, with a national title to his credit, says SMB is the best defensive third baseman he has ever seen. That's more like the player I saw. For the record, his fielding pct would have led the league at two different positions in 2013.

#24 is Aquino. Some comparisons have been made in the past to George Foster in terms of physical build, power. Looking forward to seeing him, but it may be a while yet.

#25 is Romano. Up a bit from last year. Still learning.

He has Elizalde higher than Medina, perhaps the biggest surprise to me on the whole list, at 26 and 29.

Langfield at 30 coming off an injury.

31 is Hector Vargas, a total unknown.

Jose Ortiz does not make the list. A mild surprise to me...but I have not heard as many good things about this player as some folks on this board, so not a shock.

[mace]

Good info, thanks. . .

Vargas was one of several players who put up impressive numbers last year in the DSL. An 18-year-old shortstop, he went .327/.408/.389/.797, with 21 SB in 263 PA. His keystone pal, Miguel Mendez, had even better numbers across the board, but he was 20.

A player down there who seemed really intriguing was Jose Siri, a 17-year-old outfielder with an .846 OPS, aided by 9 triples.

And of course the lefty pitcher, Luis Gonzalez, in his age-20 year after missing 2012: 48.1 IP, 34 H, 3 BB, 47 K, 0.766 WHIP, 1.49 ERA.

[M2]

Just curious, where's Corcino?

[redsof72]

Corcino is at 13. Comments about overthrowing, velocity falling to 88-91, but signs of improvement late in the season.

[redsof72]

Interesting that he lists the fastest runner from the 2014 draft class as Michael Lorenzen.

[redsof72]

This book is $32.95 and well worth it. If you order one, get it through Baseball America rather than Amazon and you will get it much quicker.

I would also add that I think Doug Gray's CD is also a wise investment.