Top 25 Prospect Rankings

July 21, 2008

Given that it's been 42 days since our last prospect list, it should come as no surprise to see a lot of changes here.

On top of four elite prospects graduating, Max Scherzer got demoted, rocked, and landed on the DL. 2008's draft picks started signing, though Tim Beckham is the only one who made this list. And highlighted by Brett Anderson, half a dozen fresh names forced their ways into our rankings.

Thanks for checking back for our second year of in-season prospect rankings.
No. Player Pos. Comments Age Org Lvl Pre.
1 Clayton Kershaw LHP AA K rate has declined each month: April 30.1%, May 22.2%, July 18.2% -- 24.5% overall 20.3 LAD MLB 2 ↑
2 Matt Wieters C Used to be too good for High-A (.418 wOBA); now he's too good for AA (.411, 13.8% BB) 22.1 BAL AA 3 ↑
3 David Price LHP Has been solid, but not dominant in Double-A: 7.9% BB, 19.7% K, 4.07 FIP; 1.69 FIP in A+ 22.8 TB AA 5 ↑
4 Matt LaPorta LF Lots of power, decent contact skils; 17.1% K, .288 IsoP, .406 wOBA w/ Huntsville (369 PA) 23.5 CLE AA 4 ↔
5 Colby Rasmus CF Missed Futures Game and most of July with groin strain; .427 wOBA in June (120 PA) 21.9 STL AAA 6 ↑
6 Rick Porcello RHP Having his worst month to date as a pro: 10.3% BB, 10.3% K; 64% GB, 4.01 FIP overall 19.5 DET A+ 10 ↑
7 Cameron Maybin CF .335 wOBA in April, .346 in May, .409 in June -- and 33.6% K, 29.4, 19.3 respectively 21.2 FLA MLB 8 ↑
8 Andrew McCutchen CF Woeful June (.291 wOBA); hitting 1 HR since May 24 hasn't helped stock; 7 HR in April-May 21.7 PIT AAA 7 ↓
9 Jason Heyward RF After .410 wOBA in May, "cooled down" to .365 in June; 15.1% K, .365 wOBA overall 18.9 ATL A 16 ↑
10 Mike Moustakas SS Far from dominant, but not overmatched: .303 wOBA, 7.9% BB, 15.2% K, .265 BABIP, 15% LD 19.8 KC A 15 ↑
11 Trevor Cahill RHP Not dominating AA (4.02 FIP) like he did A+ (3.23); already thrown more innings than '07 20.3 OAK AA 12 ↑
12 Travis Snider LF Lack of contact (29.1% K) becoming major concern; .187 IsoP in AA (.212 in A+ last year) 20.4 TOR AA 9 ↓
13 Brett Anderson LHP Excellent ground-ball pitcher (62% in A+) has low walk rate (6.2%) and lots of Ks (27.0%) 20.4 OAK AA NR ↑
14 Madison Bumgarner LHP Dominant all year: 27.4% K, 4.2% BB, 6.5 K/BB, 2.35 FIP; 62 K vs. 8 BB over last 10 starts 18.9 SF A 13 ↓
15 Chris Davis 1B Raked in AA (.406 wOBA), slaughtered AAA (.439), crushing in MLB (.380 through 73 PA) 22.3 TEX MLB 25 ↑
16 Mat Gamel 3B After going yard 13 times in April/May, has just 2 HR in June/July; still, .428 overall wOBA 22.9 MIL AA 18 ↑
17 Chris Tillman RHP Among the youngest players in AA, he has a 24.1% K rate and 3.49 FIP; 11.6% BB isn't pretty 20.2 BAL AA NR ↑
18 Tim Beckham SS Despite professional struggles his upside rivals any prep hitter selected since Justin Upton 18.4 TB R NR ↑
19 Dexter Fowler CF Getting better each month: .349 wOBA in April to .459 in July; .390 overall after .351 in CAL 22.3 COL AA NR ↑
20 Tim Alderson RHP Finding success in Cal League: 3.32 FIP, 22.0% K, 7.1% BB; 46 K versus 10 BB in June/July 19.7 SF A+ NR ↑
21 Chris Volstad RHP After shutting down AA hitters (3.09 FIP), he's already finding some success in the bigs 21.8 FLA MLB 30 ↑
22 Jaime Garcia LHP Made 1st MLB start last week: 5.0 IP, 5 H (2 HR), 1 BB, 4 K; had a 4.16 FIP in 68.2 AAA IP 22.0 STL MLB 17 ↓
23 Neftali Feliz RHP Completely skipped A+, doing fine in AA; through 99.0 IP: 31.1% K, 8.6% BB, and just 2 HR 20.2 TEX AA NR ↑
24 Fernando Martinez CF Cool April and July take away from hot stretches in May and June: .282/.326/.408 overall 19.7 NYM AA 23 ↓
25 Jeff Clement C Mastered minors but will he ever been a good big leaguer? .267 wOBA in bigs in '08 (128 PA) 24.8 SEA AAA 19 ↓
Honorables: Michael Bowden (BOS), Jarrod Parker (ARI), Jhoulys Chacin (COL), Austin Jackson (NYY), and Gio Gonzalez (OAK).
Graduated (final ranking): Jay Bruce (1), Andy LaRoche (11), Justin Masterson (20), and Carlos Gonzalez (24).
Dropped out of Top 25 (previous ranking): Max Scherzer (14), Jarrod Parker (21), and Nick Weglarz (22).
* Our rankings combine a player's ceiling with the odds that he'll reach it and favor recent production
** Ages are as of July 21st, 2008
*** Level is the highest level the player has reached
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