Fantasy Baseball Prospects

Scott Evans

Arizona Diamondbacks 2011 Minor League Review

| Fantasy Baseball Prospects | 2 Comments

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Arizona Diamondbacks 2011 Minor League Review

Organizational Talent Rankings via Baseball America:

2011 (23) | 2010 (28) | 2009 (26) | 2008 (20) | 2007 (3) | 2006 (1) | 2005 (13) | 2004 (13)

2011 Affiliate Records

MLB: [94-68] NL West

AAA: [77-67] Pacific Coast League – Reno

AA: [84-54] Southern League – Mobile

A+: [63-77] California League – Visalia

A: [67-72] Midwest League – South Bend

A(ss): [33-43] Northwest League – Yakima

R:  [41-35] Pioneer League – Missoula

The Run Down

Jerry Dipoto’s recent success as Arizona’s GM is well noted by now, as is his new gig with the LA Angels.  Dipoto leaves the Diamondbacks farm system flush with promising pitching talent.  The system that already featured frontline arms like Jarrod Parker and Tyler Skaggs bolstered their starting pitching even further by nabbing both Trevor Bauer and Archie Bradley in the first round of June’s draft.  Bradley is a couple years away from the majors, but Bauer is ready to make an impact in 2012, and should be on your mind come draft day.  The Arizona hitting prospects aren’t nearly as exciting.  Matt Davidson is a quality third base prospect, but he needs more time to develop and likely won’t see any time with the big club for a year or two.  Beyond him, the D-Backs feature a handful of okay-ish outfielders.  I’ll be surprised if any Arizona hitting prospect is fantasy-relevant in 2012.

Please, blog, may I have some more?
Scott Evans

San Francisco Giants 2011 Minor League Review

| Fantasy Baseball Prospects | 3 Comments

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San Francisco Giants 2011 Minor League Review

Organizational Talent Rankings via Baseball America:

2011 (24) | 2010 (29) | 2009 (8) | 2008 (16) | 2007 (23) | 2006 (21) | 2005 (30) | 2004 (28)

2011 Affiliate Records

MLB: [86-76] NL West

AAA: [65-79] Pacific Coast League – Fresno

AA: [76-66] Eastern League – Richmond

A+: [90-50] California League – San Jose

A: [70-68] South Atlantic League – Augusta

A(ss): [34-42] Northwest League – Salem-Keizer

The Run Down

Maybe it’s just me, but these Giants prospects are boring.  They’ve got a few guys who’ll eventually make nice big league ballplayers, but after dealing Zach Wheeler to the Mets in the Carlos Beltran trade, I see little reason for excitement.  They’re deep behind the plate, affording San Fran to take their time with guys like Tommy Joseph and Andrew Susac.  Don’t expect to see either young catcher rise above AA in 2012.  Joe Panic, the 29th overall selection in June, could rise through the organization quickly, but don’t expect to see him in a big league uniform until 2013, at the earliest.  That leaves guys like Surkamp, Hembree, Brown and Peguero who could realistically make a fantasy-impact in 2012.  And that’s just barely scraping the realm of realism.

Please, blog, may I have some more?
Scott Evans

St. Louis Cardinals 2011 Minor League Review

| Fantasy Baseball Prospects | 5 Comments

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St. Louis Cardinals 2011 Minor League Review

Organizational Talent Rankings via Baseball America:

2011 (24) | 2010 (29) | 2009 (8) | 2008 (16) | 2007 (23) | 2006 (21) | 2005 (30) | 2004 (28)

2011 Affiliate Records

MLB: [90-72] NL Central

AAA: [77-66] Pacific Coast League – Memphis

AA: [62-78] Texas League – Springfield

A+: [68-70] Florida State League – Palm Beach

A: [81-56] Midwest League – Quad Cities

A(ss): [37-38] New York Penn League – Batavia

R:  [45-23] Appalachian League – Johnson City

The Run Down

After decimating their farm system in 2009 with trades and promotions, the Cardinals have reloaded quickly and impressively.  Due in large part to the strategic amateur scouting systems implemented by Scouting Director Jeff Luhnow and Assistant GM Mike Girsch, the Cardinals have a slew of promising arms – both starting & relief – and quite a few exciting position players in their Minor Leagues.  By now, many of us are familiar with what Lance Lynn and Eduardo Sanchez can do at the big league level, but injury kept both beneath the rookie minimum in IP, so they’re included below.  MLB-ready pitching talent is a little thin, as a few of their brightest arms (Carlos Martinez, Tyrell Jenkins) are simply too youthful.  Look for St.

Please, blog, may I have some more?
Scott Evans

Detroit Tigers 2011 Minor League Review

| Fantasy Baseball Prospects | 3 Comments

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Detroit Tigers 2011 Minor League Review

Organizational Talent Rankings via Baseball America:

2011 (25) | 2010 (27) | 2009 (28) | 2008 (27) | 2007 (14) | 2006 (13) | 2005 (29) | 2004 (22)

2011 Affiliate Records

MLB: [95-67] AL Central

AAA: [67-77] International League – Toledo

AA: [67-75] Eastern League – Erie

A+: [64-74] Florida State League – Lakeland

A: [70-69] Midwest League – West Michigan

A(ss): [39-35] New York Penn League – Connecticut

The Run Down

2011 didn’t deplete the Tigers pipeline too terribly, as most of their top guys are still around.  Dan Schlereth had a nice year out of the bullpen for the Tigers, and a few others (Sizemore, Furbush) made impacts with other big league clubs after being traded.  The shuffling, though, didn’t do much to alter the complexion of the farm system.  Offensively, Detroit is pretty well set for 2012.  There could be a void in left field if Delmon Young signs elsewhere, but I imagine they’d try to fill that slot with an impact bat via free agency, rather than through their system.  The Tigers will, however, have an opening in their starting rotation.  And while it appears that top prospect Jacob Turner has a firm grip on that role, there are a number of promising starters in Detroit’s minor leagues and it isn’t fair to rule anyone out just yet.

Please, blog, may I have some more?
Scott Evans

Houston Astros 2011 Minor League Review

| Fantasy Baseball Prospects | 7 Comments

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Houston Astros 2011 Minor League Review

Organizational Talent Rankings via Baseball America:

2011 (26) | 2010 (30) | 2009 (30) | 2008 (29) | 2007 (22) | 2006 (20) | 2005 (22) | 2004 (29)

2011 Affiliate Records

MLB: [56-106] NL Central

AAA: [68-75] Pacific Coast League – Oklahoma City

AA: [50-90] Texas League – Corpus Christi

A+: [55-85] California League – Lancaster

A: [59-79] South Atlantic League – Lexington

A(ss): [33-42] New York Penn League – Tri-City

R: [25-43] Appalachian League – Greenville

The Run Down

Having revamped their amateur scouting department in 2008, Houston finally seems to be on a better track with their farm system.  After the previous administration yielded miserable draft class after miserable draft class, it appears that Scouting Director Bobby Heck has rejuvenated their Minor Leagues with four consecutive nice drafts.  Now, this is all very good news for the real life Astros and their fans.  For us in fantasyland, however, Houston’s farm system is too youthful to generate much excitement in 2012.  Due to their extraordinary lack of genuine big league talent, the Astros graduated an unusually high number of prospects, leaving the heights of their farm system a bit depleted.  I’d love to discuss some of their most exciting prospects (DeShields, Wates, Mier, Fotynewicz, to name a few), but they’re simply too far from fantasy relevance to be included just yet.

Please, blog, may I have some more?
Scott Evans

Chicago White Sox 2011 Minor League Review

| Fantasy Baseball Prospects | 9 Comments

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(Note from Grey: Please welcome Scott to the Razzball family. He’s going to be taking over as our prospects writer.  He charted prospects in the Midwest League in 2008, has a sound understanding of player development and said my mustache was robust.  Flattery will get you everywhere!)

Chicago White Sox 2011 Minor League Review

Organizational Talent Rankings via Baseball America:

2011 (27) | 2010 (23) | 2009 (16) | 2008 (30) | 2007 (25) | 2006 (14) | 2005 (12) | 2004 (20)

2011 Affiliate Records

MLB: [79-83] AL Central

AAA: [69-74] International League – Charlotte

AA: [71-69] Southern League – Birmingham

A+: [69-71] Carolina League – Winston-Salem

A: [76-62] South Atlantic League – Kannapolis

R: [24-44] Appalachian League – Bristol

R: [42-34] Pioneer League – Great Falls

The Run Down

In terms realistic fantasy value for 2012, the White Sox farm system has very little.  The system that Baseball America ranked 27th prior to the 2011 season graduated most of its big league-ready talent (Chris Sale, Brent Morel, Dyan Viciedo, Tyler Flowers), leaving it severely depleted and perhaps the worst in baseball.  Starting pitching depth is a major organizational concern, and I suspect Kenny Williams will look to bolster that area during the offseason.  An abundance of promising relief arms in the Minor Leagues and an already deep Major League bullpen should allow for some trading leverage, but not much.  And while the Sox surely have a few exciting athletes in the offensive pipeline (see Thompson & Mitchell), no one appears ready to make an impact with the bat.  Beyond Addison Reed and Dylan Axelrod, I don’t really believe that any of these highlighted prospects will have much fantasy value in 2012.  Maybe Kenny Williams Jr.

Please, blog, may I have some more?
Stephen

Oakland Athletics 2011 Minor League Review

| Fantasy Baseball Prospects | 16 Comments

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Oakland Athletics 2011 Minor League Review
Overall farm rankings via Baseball America (2011)
2011 (28) | 2010 (12) | 2009 (3) | 2008 (27) | 2007 (27) | 2006 (26) | 2005 (8) | 2004 (17)

Record of Major and Minor League Teams
MLB: [74-82] AL West
AAA: [88-56] Pacific Coast League – Sacramento
AA: [63-77] Texas League – Midland
A+: [75-65] California League – Stockton
A: [76-62] Midwest League – Burlington, Iowa
A(ss): [39-35] Northwest League – Vermont Lake
R: [27-29] Arizona Rookie League

The Run Down
Once again, the Oakland Athletics farm system is rather top heavy, lacks pitching depth and several of their “future” studs have struggled.

Please, blog, may I have some more?
Stephen

Florida Marlins 2011 Minor League Review

| Fantasy Baseball Prospects | 5 Comments

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Florida Marlins 2011 Minor League Review
Overall farm rankings via Baseball America (2011)
2011 (29) | 2010 (8) | 2009 (2) | 2008 (14) | 2007 (15) | 2006 (3) | 2005 (14) | 2004 (14)

Record of Major and Minor League Teams
MLB: [72-90] NL East
AAA: [69-74] Pacific Coast League – New Orleans
AA: [70-70] Southern League – Jacksonville
A+: [60-80] Florida State League – Jupiter
A: [79-60] South Atlantic League – Greensboro
A(ss): [35-40] New York – Pennsylvania – Jamestown
R: [38-16] Gulf Coast League

The Run Down
The graduation of Mike Stanton, Logan Morrison and Gaby Sanchez in 2010, left their farm system dry.

Please, blog, may I have some more?
Stephen

Milwaukee Brewers, 2011 Minor League Review

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Milwaukee Brewers 2011 Minor League Review
Overall farm ranking via Baseball America (2011)
2011 (30) | 2010 (14) | 2009 (10) | 2008 (21) | 2007 (5) | 2006 (5) | 2005 (3) | 2004 (1)

Record of Major and Minor League Teams
MLB: [94-65] NL Central (record as of 9/25/11
AAA: [71-73] Pacific Coast League – Nashville
AA: [64-73] Southern League – Huntsville
A+: [62-76] Florida League – Brevard County
A: [67-72] Midwest League – Wisconson
R: [30-46] Pioneer League – Helena
R: [17-39] Arizona League

The Run Down
Prior to the 2011 season start, the Brewers made several trades that depleted their farm system of top talent.

Please, blog, may I have some more?