Who is Redszone's #4 prospect?

[OnBaseMachine]

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.

[Mario-Rijo]

Originally Posted by mth123

This is really tough. At one point I had Rodriguez at 3, but I can't get past how far he has to go. I like Francisco a lot as well and had him here too but he has a higher probability of washing out (and of being a star) than the others so I went the safer route. Cozart is in the picture by now since he'll at least be a major leaguer of some type, but I'd like to see him hit at AAA first. That leaves Heisey for me. He looks to at minimum be a solid role playing OF with power, speed and defensive abilities at all three spots.

Ditto for me.

[Highlifeman21]

Originally Posted by TRF

Yorman, again.

That's my vote

Hopefully he gets it, and then El Nino Destructor @ 5

[Kc61]

I'm for Francisco, of course. My top five was Francisco, Alonso, Frazier, Yorman, Leake.

In all this, I still think Leake at Number 2 is the one that gives me the most pause. He is advanced, but I wonder if his upside potential is as great as some of these other guys.

Should be some good debate over 6-10.

[RedsManRick]

Originally Posted by Kc61

I'm for Francisco, of course. My top five was Francisco, Alonso, Frazier, Yorman, Leake.

In all this, I still think Leake at Number 2 is the one that gives me the most pause. He is advanced, but I wonder if his upside potential is as great as some of these other guys.

Should be some good debate over 6-10.

Agreed, I have a hard time putting Leake over Wood at this point.

[dougdirt]

Originally Posted by RedsManRick

Agreed, I have a hard time putting Leake over Wood at this point.

Not me. Leake has the better fastball, the breaking ball, better control and better size (not that either has a size bonus though). Wood has a better change up, but even with that said, Leake has a plus change up.

[RedsManRick]

Originally Posted by dougdirt

Not me. Leake has the better fastball, the breaking ball, better control and better size (not that either has a size bonus though). Wood has a better change up, but even with that said, Leake has a plus change up.

I'd like to see more of that control against major league hitters. I've seen many guys who have great stuff and "control" as measured by walks in college and then lose it when professional hitters start laying off their breaking stuff and not chasing fastballs out of the zone. I'm certainly optimistic about him, but Wood has done it against upper minors competition when Leake was pitching against Pac 10 opponents at the same age.

[Red Daddy]

I know Yorman is young and talented, but Wood dominated AA this in a scary good way. He is at his ceiling and it looks pretty good to me.

[SMcGavin]

I am pretty high on each of the top three guys, but I feel like there's a big drop off starting now. Five guys bunched together in my mind:

Travis Wood 2009 reminds me way too much of Daryl Thompson 2008. Except I actually liked Thompson's 2008 better.
Juan Francisco has major OBP issues, as discussed constantly here.
Matt Maloney and Chris Heisey are MLB players, but pretty old and not really impact guys.
Yorman Rodriguez may have all the potential in the world, but he's 16 and just had a .625 OPS. I don't know how you compare him to guys five or six years older than him.

I think you could pick any of the five. Maybe Zach Cozart could even sneak in there due to his defensive value trumping anyone else's.

[nemesis]

Francisco... again. Has all the numbers at ever level to prove true prospect status. Way to much can happen between Billings and MLB for me to think Yorman is better. Wood was my second choice. Doug I undrstand what you said about Leake. But Wood's FB seems comparible in speed so far and Wood put up better numbers against higher level of competion. No way does Leake put up better numbers than Wood in the Minors last year.

[Will M]

Question for the Francisco critics:

He had a nice 2009. He is playing LF in winter ball & leads the league in home runs. What does he have to do or show in spring training to win the LF job?

[Scrap Irony]

For some, it won't matter what numbers he puts up in Spring Training.

For myself, a 2:1 BB:K ratio would go a long way to making me more comfortable with him in my lineup. I'd also like to see him lead the league in homers, of course.

[dougdirt]

Originally Posted by Will M

Question for the Francisco critics:

He had a nice 2009. He is playing LF in winter ball & leads the league in home runs. What does he have to do or show in spring training to win the LF job?

To me there isn't anything. I want to see him get 200 at bats in a league and have him post a K/BB rate of 3 or better, something he has never come close to doing in his minor league career. Right now the odds are incredibly stacked against him to have major league success this year based on his history. I do believe his plate discipline is getting better, but it still has a ways to go before its in the acceptable range.