Who is Redszone's #4 prospect?

[OnBaseMachine]

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

[dougdirt]

Yonder Alonso hit .347/.421/.592 over 240 plate appearances in AAA.... Those PA's came from the 1 year mark of him breaking his hamate bone and moving forward. I love me some Billy Hamilton, but Alonso is a little better of a prospect right now.

[OnBaseMachine]

I am stupid. I just realized I included Yorman Rodriguez in this poll. Disregard that please, he won the previous poll.

[AWA85]

This one was fairly simple for myself. I went with Yonder Alonso, he gets comparisons to Sean Casey and people make it sound like a negative. I think his bat could be a great addition to an MLB lineup next year, even if that lineup isn't the Reds.

[HokieRed]

Originally Posted by AWA85

This one was fairly simple for myself. I went with Yonder Alonso, he gets comparisons to Sean Casey and people make it sound like a negative. I think his bat could be a great addition to an MLB lineup next year, even if that lineup isn't the Reds.

Don't know why you wouldn't make it a priority to get a guy with the AAA numbers Doug posted into your own lineup.

[medford]

Well I voted Yonder @3 and would have voted yorman at 4, so we'll go w/ Yonder again. I suspect hamilton will finish a distant 2nd for this spot as Yonder & Yorman are really 3 & 3a.

[mace]

I appear to be alone on the Cozart bandwagon. Like everyone else, I'm more excited about Hamilton's prospects, but I can't in good conscience put him ahead of Cozart at this point. Cozart, in his first year at AAA, showed both power (17 HR in a tough park) and speed (30 SB) to go along with a glove that everyone seems to love. I had to ask myself if Hamilton seems likely to have a AAA season like that in, say, 2012, and decided it was questionable enough to take the bird in the hand. Cozart appears to have all the tools to be a productive starter as a big-league SS. That said, I'd like to see a few more base hits out of him.

Hamilton's next on my list.

[OnBaseMachine]

I knew somebody would be a joker and vote for Yorman Rodriguez.

I voted for Billy Hamilton. I'm still a big fan of Yonder Alonso but I like Hamilton better. He's an incredible athlete, has great defensive tools at second base and shortstop, and has great upside. As a 19-year old this season, Hamilton hit .318/.383/.456 - .839 OPS in 316 plate appearances with Billings. He showed an ability to draw a walk and stole 48 bases in 57 attempts. Not bad for someone who is still learning to switch-hit and is viewed as very raw.

[Brutus]

Originally Posted by mace

I appear to be alone on the Cozart bandwagon. Like everyone else, I'm more excited about Hamilton's prospects, but I can't in good conscience put him ahead of Cozart at this point. Cozart, in his first year at AAA, showed both power (17 HR in a tough park) and speed (30 SB) to go along with a glove that everyone seems to love. I had to ask myself if Hamilton seems likely to have a AAA season like that in, say, 2012, and decided it was questionable enough to take the bird in the hand. Cozart appears to have all the tools to be a productive starter as a big-league SS. That said, I'd like to see a few more base hits out of him.

Hamilton's next on my list.

Cozart is obviously arriving sooner, and might be a 'safer' pick, but when ranking prospects, upside is a big thing with most people and I don't know that anyone thinks Cozart's upside is anywhere near that of Hamilton. Naturally, as you say, Cozart is ahead of Hamilton because he's further into his development cycle, but the better question to ask is: what will Hamilton be like when he's at Cozart's age/level?

[mth123]

Originally Posted by mace

I appear to be alone on the Cozart bandwagon. Like everyone else, I'm more excited about Hamilton's prospects, but I can't in good conscience put him ahead of Cozart at this point. Cozart, in his first year at AAA, showed both power (17 HR in a tough park) and speed (30 SB) to go along with a glove that everyone seems to love. I had to ask myself if Hamilton seems likely to have a AAA season like that in, say, 2012, and decided it was questionable enough to take the bird in the hand. Cozart appears to have all the tools to be a productive starter as a big-league SS. That said, I'd like to see a few more base hits out of him.

Hamilton's next on my list.

IMO, besides Mesoraco, Cozart is the most likely guy to have a regular role in the majors. He's #3 on my list.

[Mario-Rijo]

Originally Posted by Brutus the Pimp

Cozart is obviously arriving sooner, and might be a 'safer' pick, but when ranking prospects, upside is a big thing with most people and I don't know that anyone thinks Cozart's upside is anywhere near that of Hamilton. Naturally, as you say, Cozart is ahead of Hamilton because he's further into his development cycle, but the better question to ask is: what will Hamilton be like when he's at Cozart's age/level?

I get what you are saying and I absolutely love Hamilton, his talent is off the charts good. That said I think perhaps people are underestimating Cozarts ceiling a bit, I don't know that Hamilton's ultimate ceiling is that far ahead. Cozart has something going for him that Hamilton may or may not eventually have, decent power. A reasonably solid equalizer to Hamilton's speed and range. Also it's not as if Cozart is devoid of speed himself.

And that he is on the cusp of proving himself (or not) at the highest level while Hamilton is so far away yet I gotta concur with mace to the letter on this one.

[Kingspoint]

Originally Posted by dougdirt

Yonder Alonso hit .347/.421/.592 over 240 plate appearances in AAA.... Those PA's came from the 1 year mark of him breaking his hamate bone and moving forward. I love me some Billy Hamilton, but Alonso is a little better of a prospect right now.

I have a feeling that information isn't lost on opposing scouts. Could bring back a valuable commodity if he's traded in whole or as part of a package this Winter.

[kaldaniels]

Where he ends up, I don't know. But in 3 years it will look silly that going into the 2011 season, YA was only the fourth rated prospect on RZ.

[Brutus]

Originally Posted by Mario-Rijo

I get what you are saying and I absolutely love Hamilton, his talent is off the charts good. That said I think perhaps people are underestimating Cozarts ceiling a bit, I don't know that Hamilton's ultimate ceiling is that far ahead. Cozart has something going for him that Hamilton may or may not eventually have, decent power. A reasonably solid equalizer to Hamilton's speed and range. Also it's not as if Cozart is devoid of speed himself.

And that he is on the cusp of proving himself (or not) at the highest level while Hamilton is so far away yet I gotta concur with mace to the letter on this one.

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.

[bubbachunk]

Originally Posted by Brutus the Pimp

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.

Yea but Hamilton may get a jump in obs due to lack of control by many pitchers in the lower levels, if the pitching was better he may not walk as much.