Baseball America's Top 20 GCL Prospects

[OnBaseMachine]

13. Billy Hamilton, ss, Reds
16. Yorman Rodriguez, of, Reds
20. Daniel Tuttle, rhp, Reds

http://www.baseballamerica.com/today...09/268909.html

I thought Yorman would be in the five to ten range.

They describe Billy Hamilton as being a 70 runner on the 20-80 scale and having plus range and a plus throwing arm. He led GCL shortstops with a .955 fielding percentage. A natural righthander but is working on switch-hitting.

Yorman - Five-tool outfielder, plus-plus speed. Great range, glides to the ball, an above-average and accurate arm. Great bat tools but still raw.

Tuttle - Survived a car accident that nearly killed him when he was 12. Threw 90-93 and touched 97 in HS but sit at 89-91 and peaked at 94 with good armside run during his pro debut. Mixes in a curveball and changeup both of which need refinement.

[OnBaseMachine]

I'm surprised Harold Johnson or Juan Silva didn't crack the top 20. Johnson was 18 for the whole season and posted a 2.83 ERA, with 16 BB/37 K, and only 38 hits (1 HR) allowed in 47.2 innings. Juan Silva is also only 18 years old and he hit .280/.372/.462 - .834 OPS. He outhit fellow Puerto Rican Reymond Fuentes by a longshot but because Fuentes is a first rounder he ranked in the top five while Silva failed to make the top 20.

[OnBaseMachine]

I sent in a question asking whether or not Juan Silva or Harold Johnson received any consideration and Nathan Rode's response was that Silva and Johnson both received considerable consideration but it came down to lots of good candidates for very few spots. He says Johnson is a big righty with an average to above average fastball with good command and a potential average breaking ball and changeup. He said Silva struggled in high school events but rebounded in the GCL. He has great speed and a good arm and shifted to CF after Yorman Rodriguez was promoted to Billings.

[lollipopcurve]

I think BA sticks quite close to what they were saying about these prospects

before

the season unfolded. I'm generally disappointed in the freshness, or lack thereof, of these evaluations.

Dinging Yorman for his poor numbers in the Pioneer League was weak, in my opinion. This is a GCL ranking, not a Pioneer League ranking. He'd actually been doing well there until a massive slide in the last 2-3 weeks.

[Brutus]

Originally Posted by OnBaseMachine

I'm surprised Harold Johnson or Juan Silva didn't crack the top 20. Johnson was 18 for the whole season and posted a 2.83 ERA, with 16 BB/37 K, and only 38 hits (1 HR) allowed in 47.2 innings. Juan Silva is also only 18 years old and he hit .280/.372/.462 - .834 OPS. He outhit fellow Puerto Rican Reymond Fuentes by a longshot but because Fuentes is a first rounder he ranked in the top five while Silva failed to make the top 20.

Of that entire team, I'm actually most excited about Johnson and Silva. I said immediately after the draft that I think Jacob Johnson is a tremendous sleeper prospect. Silva is probably not as high in potential as Yorman, but I think he's going to be a solid player at some point.

I do tend to agree with lollipopcurve - their rankings might be more of a reflection of their overall evaluations of the player rather than ranking performance.

[lollipopcurve]

Let me add some thoughts re: their eval of Yorman...

Again, super weak that they ding him for what he did in a higher league. And, if we look in a little detail at his performance in the Pioneer League (a league populated by a lot of players 4-5 years older than Yorman), do we really see that his weaknesses were exposed?

Take away his last 10 games, in which he went 4 for 42. (That's about a quarter of his season there.) Before that slide, his BA was .298, and 16 of his 36 hits were for extra bases. I think it's well within the realm of possibility that the kid -- emphasis on 'kid' -- was just plain tired and ready to go home, not that some secret to his apparently egregious weaknesses was suddenly revealed to league pitchers.

Shallow stuff from BA, in my opinion, just trotting out old evals.

[bellhead]

Not to mention he played on a team that finished last in the league at Billings.

[fearofpopvol1]

what's the comp for a 70 out of 80 on a running scale? i know that's fast. but how fast? what does stubbs rate?

[Brutus]

Originally Posted by fearofpopvol1

what's the comp for a 70 out of 80 on a running scale? i know that's fast. but how fast? what does stubbs rate?

The way the scale works, it's about 4.1 seconds out of the box to first base for RHH and 4.0 seconds for LHH.

[dougdirt]

Originally Posted by fearofpopvol1

what's the comp for a 70 out of 80 on a running scale? i know that's fast. but how fast? what does stubbs rate?

Stubbs is a 75-80.

[GOYA]

Originally Posted by OnBaseMachine

13. Billy Hamilton, ss, Reds
He led GCL shortstops with a .955 fielding percentage.

That is hard to believe. But a quick sampling of GCL stats shows that SS on all teams had a bunch of errors.

[Kc61]

One of my off-season resolutions is to take these lists with a grain of salt. They don't mean much.

Paul Janish looks to me like someone who will play in the majors for awhile. I don't remember him on any lists. Ryan Hanigan? Did he ever make a list? Drew Stubbs and Homer Bailey -- some lists dropped them like a hot potato when they had down years in the minors.

It's nice to see Reds guys get national recognition, but those of us who follow the franchise, we know what they have. Good overall depth, outstanding position prospects at AAA, a number of very interesting younger prospects in Rookie Ball.

I don't remember Votto being that high on the lists. He's made one out this entire series against the Bucs, four for four tonight. He makes my list.

[OnBaseMachine]

Votto was always an underrated prospect IMO. It frustrated me every year that he didn't get the recognition he deserved.

[OnBaseMachine]

Originally Posted by lollipopcurve

Let me add some thoughts re: their eval of Yorman...

Again, super weak that they ding him for what he did in a higher league. And, if we look in a little detail at his performance in the Pioneer League (a league populated by a lot of players 4-5 years older than Yorman), do we really see that his weaknesses were exposed?

Take away his last 10 games, in which he went 4 for 42. (That's about a quarter of his season there.) Before that slide, his BA was .298, and 16 of his 36 hits were for extra bases. I think it's well within the realm of possibility that the kid -- emphasis on 'kid' -- was just plain tired and ready to go home, not that some secret to his apparently egregious weaknesses was suddenly revealed to league pitchers.

Shallow stuff from BA, in my opinion, just trotting out old evals.

Good post. I agree it was a bit odd that they judged Yorman on what he did in Billings. As you noted, Yorman was actually OPSing around the .800 area before going in a brutal slump to end the season. Yorman was the youngest professional baseball player in the United States this season. Considering his age, I thought he played well. I thought for sure he would rank in the top 10 at worst.

[New Fever]

Originally Posted by OnBaseMachine

Good post. I agree it was a bit odd that they judged Yorman on what he did in Billings. As you noted, Yorman was actually OPSing around the .800 area before going in a brutal slump to end the season. Yorman was the youngest professional baseball player in the United States this season. Considering his age, I thought he played well. I thought for sure he would rank in the top 10 at worst.

Yep, they talked about Yorman like he was a 19 year first round draft pick that was a disappointment in the GCL. I was suprised they didn't talk about his age at all. I remember reading about previous bonus baby and Baseball America always mentioned age.