Quote Originally Posted by Brutus the Pimp View Post
Cozart has a career .739 OPS in the minors. For a SS, that's not terrible, but relative to a guy that has better speed, a better throwing arm and top notch athletic ability so far and 5 years younger with thus far similar production (.726 OPS in over 500 PAs), it seems like the upside far wins out.

This is no knock on Cozart. I think he's a "safe" player. But we're talking about, in theory, the fourth best prospect in the organization. Cozart can be a solid major league shortstop, IMHO. But Hamilton could wind up being a great major league shortstop.

If Cozart's numbers were far superior, it could outweigh some of that upside. But while Cozart has displayed more home run power, their OPS has still been nearly identical.
IMO just too soon to extract much from comparing their OPS. Alot of the reason Cozarts isn't higher has to do with contact ability, he's not gobbling up the singles. I think it's a mistake not to expect him to continue to progress and potentially be an above average hitter, plus defense and base stealing he's far more than just "safe". And while Hamilton could be an even better defender and base stealer in pretty short order he still could have issues with the bat in all aspects, contact, power and discipline. If so he's potentially a non prospect. In a year or 2 I might come to a point where I can see that bat is gonna not be a drag on the rest of his game but until that point I will pull back the reigns a bit on him.

Cozart may be safe and Hamilton could be a star but IMO it's just to soon to call either of them those things and those things alone.