Who is Redszone's #5 prospect?

[OnBaseMachine]

Prospect #1 - Yonder Alonso
Prospect #2 - Mike Leake
Prospect #3 - Todd Frazier
Prospect #4 - Juan Francisco

[OnBaseMachine]

As I said in the other thread - I went with Yorman Rodriguez. His incredible talent and potential is just too hard to overlook at #4. He was the youngest player in professional baseball this year and still posted respectable numbers until going into a bad slump at the end of the season. His tools have drawn comparions to the likes of Eric Davis, Carlos Beltran, and Cesar Cedeno. If he reaches just half of his potential he'll be a star. My hope is the Reds take it easy with him and resist the urge to rush him.

[Danny Serafini]

I was fully expecting to go Rodriguez here, but switched it to Wood at the last second. He put up some great numbers, and is a whole lot closer to the Majors. But to me they're pretty much interchangeable at 5 and 6.

[mth123]

Heisey. But can't argue with Yorman, Cozart or Wood.

[fearofpopvol1]

Going with Wood again. He proved an awful lot this year.

[lollipopcurve]

Heisey. He's shown enough excellence at a high level to stand above Yorman's potential-based ceiling, in my book.

[HokieRed]

I actually voted wrong, marking Heisey when I wanted to vote for Yorman. Oh well, I think the two of them and Wood are all extremely close. Heisey's going to be a major leaguer, Yorman's got great tools and upside, Wood I'm less certain has a major league future. But even if he's a 4th starter type as a lefty he will be extremely valuable in a rotation of righties. Suffice it to say, I like them all.

[tbball10]

i voted for yorman. he has great tools and potential. i just hope they dont rush him

[Scrap Irony]

Pitching is the most important position on the field and NO ONE pitched as well in the minors last season as did Travis Wood. (At least while he was in AA.) Plus, he's left-handed and already changes speeds well.

His floor is that of a pretty decent fifth starter, just what this team needs in 2010. His ceiling is that of a mid rotation (or better) starter with an idea of how to pitch. (Rick Reed as a Met, for example.)

That's a pretty big find at #5 in the minor league ladder.

[chicoruiz]

This should be an interesting one...I voted Yorman, but there are posters I respect a lot in each of the three major camps.

[mace]

What Scrap said. I, too, was torn on this one, as there's a lot to like in all the usual suspects. What broke the logjam for me was the thought: What else could Wood have done this year? I suppose he could be bigger and throw harder and have an impeccable health history, but none of that stopped him in 2009 (and it wasn't his first great season). He earned it. Plus, he's a pitcher. A left-handed pitcher. That's a tiebreaker, too.

[RedsManRick]

Again I went with Travis Wood.

I like Rodriguez, but he just has way too far to go to place him above guys who have been dominant in the upper minors. I found the Heisey/Maloney comparison quite interesting. Both are older guys who don't have star potential but who have both played quite well throughout their careers. Both of these guys are the types who should be given significant opportunity to produce while cheap and in their primes. Historically, these are the types of guys who the Reds have shafted by bringing in "proven vets". I hope they both get an opportunity in Cincinnati.

[SMcGavin]

Again I went with Travis Wood.

I like Rodriguez, but he just has way too far to go to place him above guys who have been dominant in the upper minors. I found the Heisey/Maloney comparison quite interesting. Both are older guys who don't have star potential but who have both played quite well throughout their careers. Both of these guys are the types who should be given significant opportunity to produce while cheap and in their primes. Historically, these are the types of guys who the Reds have shafted by bringing in "proven vets". I hope they both get an opportunity in Cincinnati.

Both are the type of guys who always get underrated in these polls too. Last year's community ranking had Dickerson #10, Maloney #18, Hanigan I believe somewhere in the late teens / early twenties, and Danny Ray Herrera at #33. Each of those guys contributed something of value to the MLB team the very next season, something a bunch of guys ahead of them on the list will never do.

[RedsManRick]

Both are the type of guys who always get underrated in these polls too. Last year's community ranking had Dickerson #10, Maloney #18, Hanigan I believe somewhere in the late teens / early twenties, and Danny Ray Herrera at #33. Each of those guys contributed something of value to the MLB team the very next season, something a bunch of guys ahead of them on the list will never do.

Well, that gets to the heart of the matter, doesn't it? There's no such thing as a single dimension on which we can rank players -- it has to be a ranking of something. That something could be the guy's ceiling, it could be his "mean project", it could be his trade value.

But so long as we don't ever say what that something is, ceiling will play a very significant role in these sorts of polls thanks to our optimism as fans.

[Mario-Rijo]

Well, that gets to the heart of the matter, doesn't it? There's no such thing as a single dimension on which we can rank players -- it has to be a ranking of something. That something could be the guy's ceiling, it could be his "mean project", it could be his trade value.

But so long as we don't ever say what that something is, ceiling will play a very significant role in these sorts of polls thanks to our optimism as fans.

I agree and it's unfortunate because we really don't get a real genuine ranking that way. At least as genuine as we can get with what info we have. Every area should be represented. Ceiling, Floor, Production, Proximity to Majors, Positional value, etc. We touch on all these things to some extent but ceiling is given way too much weight in these polls.

However I do have an idea, it's not the most optimal idea but based on the way we have this structured already it's a nice addition I think. I'll map it out if anyone is interested. But the short version is after every 10 rankings we take those 10 names and rank them in order of 1 pt to 10 pts in all 5 of the categories above. For example Alonso, Leake and Frazier are our 3 top picks so who has the highest ceiling at this point? I'd say Alonso so he gets 1 pt, I'll go with Leake 2nd so he gets 2 pts, Frazier gets 3. Now who has the highest floor? I'll go Frazier (1), Alonso (2), Leake (3). Now Lowest points is the highest ranking. Alonso has 3 pts, Frazier 4 and Leake 5 so that's your new overall order.

Obviously just an example as we'd have to toss in the other categories but this way everyone gets credit for their strengths and gets dinged for their weaknesses more fairly. We'd just treat it as an additional poll in between prospect 10 and 11. What does everyone think?