Tomorrow the calendar flips to October and that means it’s time for yours truly, and the rest of the staff here on S2S, to start working on our 2013 prospect rankings. As Nathaniel did last year, we will compile a Top-100 list and reveal the list one player at a time with a dedicated profile on a daily basis. After our Top-100 is fully revealed, we will move on to organizational prospect lists.
But before all that happens we have to consider: you can’t know where you are going until you know where you have been.
The exact origins of this long-standing and popular saying/cliche unknown but it can be found in many forms and many variations. You may have come across it in your own life through Buddhist teachings, Greek philosophy or – if you’re a fan of animated cinema – from Mater the Disney-Pixar movie Cars. Regardless of the source, it’s a saying that I hold near and dear and always try to remember the past whenever I’m looking toward the future. I think this practice is a wonderful way to keep things that happen – both bad and good – in perspective.
The Padres Yonder Alonso graduated from prospect to big-league regular in 2012 (Photo Credit: Jake Roth-US PRESSWIRE)
It’s also very useful when it comes to putting together prospect rankings. After all, perspective and context are two of the building blocks of evaluation. With that in mind I decided to look back at the 2012 S2S Top-100 list Nathaniel compiled last fall and quickly assess how each of those 100 players performed this season and whether their stock has gone up or down.
Behind the scenes, as I work through these assessments, I will be putting together the rough draft of our 2013 list. I hope to have that list finalized by the end of October with our reveal of 2013 prospect #100 hitting the site on November 1st.
Since Nathaniel started at #100 and counted down to #1, I’m going to follow suit in my review but will do this in groups of ten.
In this group, that covers prospects #91-#100, five players boosted their stock in 2012 while another five saw their stock slip. Of the ten players below, three players lost their prospect eligibility (Green, Alonso and Pastornicky) this season and will not be eligible for our 2013 Top-100.
#91: Chad Bettis – RHP – Colorado Rockies
Profile Published – 10/8/2011
2012 – Did Not Pitch (Shoulder Injury)
Best Month – N/A
Worst Month – N/A
Stock Up/Down – Down. Losing a year of development is never a good thing and shoulder injuries always heighten my concern about a players future.
#92: Trevor Rosenthal – RHP – St. Louis Cardinals
Profile Published – 10/7/2011
2012 – Springfield (AA): 2.78 ERA, 1.11 WHIP, 67 H, 37 BB and 83 SO in 94.0 IP
2012 – Memphis (AAA): 4.20 ERA, 1.07 WHIP, 11 H, 5 BB and 21 SO in 15.0 IP
2012 – St. Louis (MLB): 3.00 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, 14 H, 7 BB and 23 SO in 21.0 IP
Best Month – May: 27.1 IP, 21 H, 5 ER, 11 BB and 21 SO
Worst Month – April: 25.2 IP, 16 H, 11 ER, 17 BB and 24 SO
Stock Up/Down – Up
#93: Ronald Torreyes – 2B – Chicago Cubs
Profile Published – 10/6/2011
2012 – Daytona (A+): 0.264/.326/.385, 23 2B, 5 3B, 6 HR, 13 SB, 32 BB and 29 SO in 474 PA
Best Month – June: 0.330/.400/.523 in 97 PA
Worst Month – May: 0.137/.190/.192 in 77 PA
Stock Up/Down – Down. Torreyes was at least 55 points off his career averages in each of his slash stats and those averages include his 2012 season.
#94: Christian Yelich – OF – Miami Marlins
Profile Published – 10/5/2011
2012 – GCL Marlins (Rk): 1-4
2012 – Jupiter (A+): 0.330/.404/.519, 29 2B, 5 3B, 12 HR, 20 SB, 49 BB and 85 SO in 447 PA
Best Month – June: 0.421/.488/.684 in 43 PA
Worst Month – May: 0.263/.336/.525 in 110 PA
Stock Up/Down – Up, up, up.
#95: Barret Loux – RHP – Texas Rangers
Profile Published – 11/4/2011
2012 – Frisco (AA): 3.47 ERA, 1.27 WHIP, 120 H, 41 BB and 100 SO in 127.0 IP
Best Month – April: 27.2 IP, 27 H, 5 ER, 8 BB and 28 SO
Worst Month – June: 18.0 IP, 21 H, 12 ER, 9 BB and 12 SO
Stock Up/Down – Up. Loux dropped his ERA and held serve on most of his rates while pitching against more advanced competition, in a more offensively biased environment.
#96: Taylor Green – 3B/2B – Milwaukee Brewers
Profile Published – 10/3/2011
2012 – Nashville (AAA): 0.274/.345/.408, 17 2B, 7 HR, 1 SB, 28 BB and 57 SO in 313 PA
2012 – Milwaukee (MLB): 0.192/.268/.354, 7 2B, 3 HR, 9 BB and 24 SO in 112 PA
Best Month – August: 0.292/.344/.460 in 121 PA with Nashville
Worst Month – June: 0.167/.250/.417 in 40 PA with Milwaukee
Stock Up/Down – Down. It was unreasonable expect a repeat of what he did in 2011 between AA and AAA, but he fell well short of that and his minor league career averages.
#97: Yonder Alonso – OF – San Diego Padres
Profile Published – 10/2/2011
2012 – San Diego (MLB): 0.277/.352/.396, 37 2B, 9 HR, 3 SB, 61 BB and 99 SO in 603 PA
Best Month – July: 0.290/.368/.505 in 106 PA (there were month’s where Alonso had a better BA and/or OBP but his 0.873 OPS put July over the top).
Worst Month – June: 0.218/.277/.264 in 95 PA
Stock Up/Down – Up. Alonso started and finished the season in the majors and was fairly consistent with only one down month. Overall he turned in above average offensive season with an OPS+ of 111.
#98: Francisco Lindor – SS – Cleveland Indians
Profile Published – 10/1/2011
2012 – Lake County (A-): 0.257/.352/.355, 24 2B, 3 3B, 6 HR, 27 SB, 61 BB and 78 SO in 568 PA
Best Month – April: 0.314/.369/.451 in 111 PA
Worst Month – August: 0.226/.328/.292 in 119 PA
Stock Up/Down – Up, based on his performance in his first full season. Way up based on where Nathaniel had him ranked. Lindor will be much further up the list when we start revealing our 2013 Top-100 rankings.
#99: Henry Rodriguez – 2B – Cincinnati Reds
Profile Published – 9/30/2011
2012 – AZL Reds (Rk): 0.235/.278/.294, 1 2B, 1 BB and 2 SO in 18 PA
2012 – Pensacola (AA): 0.348/.385/.439, 6 2B, 2 HR, 3 SB, 9 BB and 18 SO in 144 PA
2012 – Louisville (AAA): 0.244/.264/.333, 10 2B, 3 HR, 5 SB, 6 BB and 35 SO in 221 PA
2012 – Cincinnati (MLB): 0.231/.333/.308, 1 2B, 2 BB and 2 SO in 15 PA
Best Month – May: 0.419/.471/.452 in 34 PA with Pensacola
Worst Month – August: 0.198/.212/.252 in 114 PA with Louisville
Stock Up/Down – Down, but just slightly. There’s an argument here that his stock stayed the same given his improvement in his time with Pensacola and may have been pushed too agressively.
#100: Tyler Pastornicky – SS – Atlanta Braves
Profile Published – 9/29/2011
2012 – Gwinnett (AAA): 0.268/.317/.399, 15 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, 3 SB, 11 BB and 21 SO in 167 PA
2012 – Atlanta (MLB): 0.242/.288/.327, 6 2B, 1 3B, 2 HR, 2 SB, 10 BB and 32 SO in 184 PA
Best Month – July: 0.394/.488/.757 in 42 PA between Atlanta (8) and Gwinnett (34)
Worst Month – May: 0.238/.253/.274 in 90 PA with Atlanta
Stock Up/Down – Down
~~~~~
For links to plenty more content on prospects check out, Fantasy Rundown and to keep tabs on all the happenings in the majors, check out Call to the Pen.