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Rk | Player | Pos | Comments | Age | Org | Lvl | ||||||
1 | Jason Heyward | RF | Plus power, contact ability and good patience; best high school hitter since J. Upton? | 20.1 | ATL | AA | ||||||
2 | Carlos Santana | C | He should be MLB-ready in 2010; speed and elite contact ability are all he's missing | 23.4 | CLE | AA | ||||||
3 | Jesus Montero | C/DH | Seamless A+ to AA transition; unlikely to stick at C; broken finger ended season early | 19.8 | NYY | AA | ||||||
4 | Buster Posey | C | MLB-ready hitter has very few offensive weaknesses; solid defender; decent speed | 22.4 | SF | AAA | ||||||
5 | Pedro Alvarez | 3B | Plus power hitter with good patience...minus contact? .400+ AA BABIP isn't sustainable | 22.6 | PIT | AA | ||||||
6 | Dustin Ackley | CF/1B | Storied NCAA bat may have up-the-middle defense in his bag of tricks; very polished | 21.5 | SEA | NCAA | ||||||
7 | Desmond Jennings | CF | Speedster and strong all-around hitter could turn into one of game's elite center fielders | 22.9 | TB | AAA | ||||||
8 | Fernando Martinez | CF/OF | Outstanding raw power + strong contact ability; has been out since July (knee surgery) | 20.9 | NYM | MLB | ||||||
9 | Mike Stanton | RF | While his power is outstanding, he's struggled with his strikeout and walk rates in AA | 19.8 | FLA | AA | ||||||
10 | Justin Smoak | 1B | Has been patient and made decent AAA contact; surprisingly low IsoP due to injuries? | 22.8 | TEX | AAA | ||||||
11 | Michael Taylor | LF/RF | Mashing up MiLB ranks w/ strong set of offensive tools and numbers to back 'em up | 23.7 | PHI | AAA | ||||||
12 | Matt LaPorta | LF/1B | Great bet to be average or better MLB hitter; just doesn't have much defensive value | 24.7 | CLE | MLB | ||||||
13 | James Darnell | 3B | Among the top bats we've seen in '09; chalk slow promos up to defensive development | 22.6 | SD | A+ | ||||||
14 | Alcides Escobar | SS | Light-hitting above-average defender doesn't need to do much w/ bat to be solid regular | 22.7 | MIL | AAA | ||||||
15 | Michael Saunders | LF/CF | Having breakout power + contact season; could surface as strong regular at this pace | 22.8 | SEA | MLB | ||||||
16 | Matt Dominguez | 3B | We gave him a healthy boost for his plus D; bat looked sweet in July -- for real? | 20.0 | FLA | AA | ||||||
17 | Chris Carter | 1B/OF | Below-average defender but a great line-drive hitter who draws walks and runs well | 22.7 | OAK | AAA | ||||||
18 | Logan Morrison | 1B | Power is big question mark here; likely a big league bat; relatively low ceiling, though? | 22.0 | FLA | AA | ||||||
19 | Domonic Brown | RF | Rise in K%, drop in BB% from A+ to AA is something to keep an eye on; high ceiling | 22.0 | PHI | A+ | ||||||
20 | Yonder Alonso | 1B | June broken hamate bone has shortened his season; how much power is really here? | 22.4 | CIN | AA | ||||||
21 | Alex Avila | C | From outstanding NCAA bat to potential average big leaguer over night? Let's see more | 22.6 | DET | MLB | ||||||
22 | Ryan Kalish | CF | Check out his month-to-month AA power progress; value takes a hit if he moves off CF | 21.4 | BOS | AA | ||||||
23 | Nick Weglarz | LF | Has been unlucky this year (.249 BABIP, 14% LD); slow start, slow finish (shin bruise) | 21.7 | CLE | AA | ||||||
24 | Todd Frazier | 2B | We hear his glove could be average at 2B; his bat would easily be a plus at the position | 23.6 | CIN | AAA | ||||||
25 | Caleb Gindl | LF | Brevard is masking another special hitter; power will ultimately determine his upside | 21.0 | MIL | A+ | ||||||
Honorable Mentions | ||||||||||||
26 | Mat Gamel | 3B | Scary AAA + MLB contact struggles; power not that impressive given he's been in PCL | 24.2 | MIL | MLB | ||||||
27 | Jaff Decker | LF | Decent contact hitter w/ little defensive value who walks a ton and hits for power | 19.5 | SD | A | ||||||
28 | Brett Lawrie | 2B | Earned AA promo in 1st season; tons of raw power, breakout potential; good K%, BB% | 19.6 | MIL | AA | ||||||
29 | Derek Norris | C | Awesome power and walk rates; below-average contact hitter who may move off C | 20.6 | WAS | A | ||||||
30 | Brett Wallace | 3B/1B | Polished hitter, but his power isn't impressive in park/league context; could stick at 3B | 23.0 | OAK | AAA | ||||||
Graduated: Kyle Blanks (18). Dropped out: Mat Gamel (11). | ||||||||||||
* Ages are as of September 1, 2009; Lvl is the highest level the player has reached; Our rankings put a lot of weight into floor as well as ceiling | ||||||||||||
<<< Discuss these rankings |
Strongly Considered | ||||
No. | Tier 4 | Tier 3 | Tier 2 | Tier 1 |
1 | Alex Liddi | Eric Young Jr. | Brandon Snyder | Lonnie Chisenhall |
2 | Brandon Allen | Jonathan Lucroy | Freddie Freeman | Matthew Sweeney |
3 | Donavan Tate | Josh Reddick | Thomas Neal | |
4 | Eric Hosmer | Joshua Bell | Tim Beckham | |
5 | Grant Desme | Tyler Flowers | ||
6 | Ian Desmond | Tyson Gillies | ||
7 | Ivan De Jesus | |||
8 | Jason Castro | |||
9 | Jemile Weeks | |||
10 | Johnny Giavotella | |||
11 | Josh Donaldson | |||
12 | Josh Vitters | |||
13 | Julio Borbon | |||
14 | Michael Brantley | |||
15 | Mike Moustakas | |||
16 | Reid Brignac | |||
17 | Ryan Westmoreland | |||
18 | Scott Sizemore | |||
19 | Wilmer Flores |