Who is Redszone's #5 prospect?

[OnBaseMachine]

Prospect #1 - Aroldis Chapman, LHP
Prospect #2 - Devin Mesoraco, C
Prospect #3 - Yorman Rodriguez, CF
Prospect #4 - Yonder Alonso, 1B

[cinreds21]

Here is where it starts to get hard for me.

[dougdirt]

Billy Hamilton. Not too close IMO. Switch hitter who showed skills from both sides of the plate. Plus plus speed. Plus plus defense. The main concern is a lack of power at this point. I will take that concern for a middle infielder with the rest of his game and not think twice about it.

[New Fever]

Billy Hamilton. Not too close IMO. Switch hitter who showed skills from both sides of the plate. Plus plus speed. Plus plus defense. The main concern is a lack of power at this point. I will take that concern for a middle infielder with the rest of his game and not think twice about it.

Yasmani Grandal has to be pretty close to Hamilton. Baseball America, Baseball Prospectus, and John Sickels have all stated that Grandal is a lock for their Top 100 list. Sickels even said that he would take Grandal over Devin Mesoraco. I think Grandal is being underrated here.

[*BaseClogger*]

Yasmani Grandal has to be pretty close to Hamilton. Baseball America, Baseball Prospectus, and John Sickels have all stated that Grandal is a lock for their Top 100 list. Sickels even said that he would take Grandal over Devin Mesoraco. I think Grandal is being underrated here.

He's my #6, FWIW...

[dougdirt]

Yasmani Grandal has to be pretty close to Hamilton. Baseball America, Baseball Prospectus, and John Sickels have all stated that Grandal is a lock for their Top 100 list. Sickels even said that he would take Grandal over Devin Mesoraco. I think Grandal is being underrated here.

John has flipped a few times on Mesoraco/Grandal, but from what I have read from John, he is much more pro Grandal defensively than I am.

With me, Grandal's upside is essentially to be what Mesoraco is right now but who happens to switch hit. That is why I can't take Grandal over Mesoraco at this point and don't feel its all that close between the two guys.

FTR, I don't see any way that Hamilton isn't a Top 100 prospect when lists start rolling out.

[New Fever]

John has flipped a few times on Mesoraco/Grandal, but from what I have read from John, he is much more pro Grandal defensively than I am.

With me, Grandal's upside is essentially to be what Mesoraco is right now but who happens to switch hit. That is why I can't take Grandal over Mesoraco at this point and don't feel its all that close between the two guys.

FTR, I don't see any way that Hamilton isn't a Top 100 prospect when lists start rolling out.

I agree, but was speaking more on the fact that Grandal is an industry lock to be a Top 100 prospect, and he has one vote. Grandal and Hamilton will be ranked fairly close to each other when list come out this winter.

[dougdirt]

I agree, but was speaking more on the fact that Grandal is an industry lock to be a Top 100 prospect, and he has one vote. Grandal and Hamilton will be ranked fairly close to each other when list come out this winter.

Probably true. But in my mind, Hamilton is clearly ahead of Grandal. Not that they aren't close as prospects, but to me, Hamilton is clearly the better of the two.

[medford]

I took Cozart, though I suspect that Hamilton will win. Cozart's apparent readiness wins out over Hamilton in my mind. Hamilton may have the higher upside, but Cozart is more of a sure thing to contribute in the majors to some degree, while Hamilton still have several levels where he could ultimately flame out. I've liked Cozart ever since I first saw him play for the dragons where the seemed to have a better idea of what to do at teh plate than the scouting reports indicated at the time, and ever since, he's done nothing to make me think my first hand view of him at that time was wrong.

Another thing that gives me pause, for all the Hamilton as the future at SS talk, he still played more than 4x the games at 2b this year as he did at SS this season. Yeah, I know he's got the athletic ability, and perhaps the billings SS was older and ready to move along quicker and the Reds figured they had time to figure out if Billy could handle it at SS for sure or not, but to me, if you're the SS of the future, I'd like to think there is no question which spot you're taking in the field every day. If you're not occuping short, then a red flag should pop up that the organizations may have questions if he can handle short full time in the majors.

[*BaseClogger*]

I still am not convinced Cozart's ceiling is high enough to make him a top prospect. His ceiling is essentially Juan Uribe, with a floor a notch below Cliff Pennington. I'll take the player with tremendous upside...

[Kc61]

I still am not convinced Cozart's ceiling is high enough to make him a top prospect. His ceiling is essentially Juan Uribe, with a floor a notch below Cliff Pennington. I'll take the player with tremendous upside...

And what is this kid Hamilton's upside? Honus Wagner? Derek Jeter?

I'm glad Hamilton is in the Reds' organization, he seems like a good prospect. But there's a tendency to take raw, athletic guys and assume they have tremendous upsides.

Hamilton is apparently not clearly a shortstop. He could wind up at second base. And so far he hasn't displayed power.

Cozart is clearly a shortstop, and he hit 17 homers this year. I wish his OBP was a bit higher, and I wouldn't rank him as high as fifth, but the Cozart fans certainly have a good argument.

I remember years ago when Janish didn't even make the RedsZone list. Lacked upside I guess.

[dougdirt]

And what is this kid Hamilton's upside? Honus Wagner? Derek Jeter?

I'm glad Hamilton is in the Reds' organization, he seems like a good prospect. But there's a tendency to take raw, athletic guys and assume they have tremendous upsides.

Hamilton is apparently not clearly a shortstop. He could wind up at second base. And so far he hasn't displayed power.

Cozart is clearly a shortstop, and he hit 17 homers this year. I wish his OBP was a bit higher, and I wouldn't rank him as high as fifth, but the Cozart fans certainly have a good argument.

I remember years ago when Janish didn't even make the RedsZone list. Lacked upside I guess.

I can't tell you why the Reds aren't playing Hamilton at SS, but it surely isn't because he can't handle it. The guy is a wizard in the field.

[mace]

I can't tell you why the Reds aren't playing Hamilton at SS, but it surely isn't because he can't handle it. The guy is a wizard in the field.

Doug, I'm not challenging your statement there. I'd just like a little elaboration. We've seen the highlights and know that he can make the sensational play. But are his hands, arm and fundamentals good enough to make him a Gold Glove-caliber shortstop? Does he project to be that efficient and reliable?

[dougdirt]

Doug, I'm not challenging your statement there. I'd just like a little elaboration. We've seen the highlights and know that he can make the sensational play. But are his hands, arm and fundamentals good enough to make him a Gold Glove-caliber shortstop? Does he project to be that efficient and reliable?

Hamilton is incredibly sure handed and his arm is quite strong.

[*BaseClogger*]

And what is this kid Hamilton's upside? Honus Wagner? Derek Jeter?

Jose Reyes
Jimmy Rollins

I'm glad Hamilton is in the Reds' organization, he seems like a good prospect. But there's a tendency to take raw, athletic guys and assume they have tremendous upsides.

I thought I was a numbers guy?

Hamilton is apparently not clearly a shortstop. He could wind up at second base. And so far he hasn't displayed power.

What Doug said about defense. Power? Check those guys I listed above and their minor league stats. It's far too early to come to any conclusions about the kid's power (I can call him a kid! I'm finally older than the prospects! I've always wanted to type that! Yippee!)

Cozart is clearly a shortstop, and he hit 17 homers this year. I wish his OBP was a bit higher, and I wouldn't rank him as high as fifth, but the Cozart fans certainly have a good argument.

...And he slugged .416 because his BA is too low (BaseClogger is backing BA everybody!).

I remember years ago when Janish didn't even make the RedsZone list. Lacked upside I guess.

I've always been a big Janish supporter and my posting history supports that...