Mike Trout is the consensus number one guy, and Peter Bourjos bested Hank Conger by forty-five votes to claim the number two spot.
So will the number three guy be Hank Conger, or will the folks who voted for Bourjos prefer a pitcher? Here are some write-ups that have appeared on other threads touting the pitching:
Sam Miller on Garrett Richards:
...That stuff with that groundball rate and somehow only 2.7 BB per nine makes my toes tingle.
Halowood on Trevor Reckling:
...20 years old in AAA and we wanna nitpick?... T-Recks is 21 now, and he’s still dominating AA. He’s got three years to develop some command and put up respectable numbers in AAA before I even begin getting concerned.
So who's it going to be?
0 recs | 10 comments
Because of how close he is to the bigs, and his rare skill set at a highly demanding position.....
It’s gotta be King Conger. In my opinion, he’s a future all star. Perhaps the only alarming trends with Hank are:
1. The power seems to be coming up short. In AAA SLC I’d figure he’d bop 20-30. Not looking so. Though he did show he can put a charge into one in the future’s game.
2. His propensity to get hurt. Catcher is a physically demanding position, and Hank
s been hurt quite a bit. Perhaps it would be best if he never was a full time starting catcher. Perhaps a time share, similar to the Napoli/Mathis arrangement would be best, where Hank could catch 2-3 days a week and maybe DH another game or two.
Halowood - August 6, 2010
I think he has been concentrating more
at being patient rather his power stroke. 42/45 BB/K ratio is stellar. His power stroke is there as evident in the Futures game. I think he is the 3rd best prospect and a stud at that. The only guy in my eyes who challenges him is Reckling. After the top 4 it is a toss up and cane be placed in any order because they are all pretty damn good and young.
angelskid2210 - August 6, 2010
Perhaps I am bias, but I put less emphasis on pitchers and more on position players
Position players are on the field everyday, so I give them the high ranking usually. Thus our top 3 prospects are position players as they should be, and our #4 prospect should be as well.
Alex Amarista – He’s putting up Howie Kendrick type of numbers in the minors, except his BB/K ratios are more favorable. Amarista is 21 years old in AA, he owns a lifetime BA of .322/.386 OBP and is capable of swiping 40 bags a year. He will be more than ready to take over 2B should we ever lose Howie to trade/FA. I think he’s made the strongest case for #4.
Halowood - August 6, 2010
I agree and like you said the other dayu
he has the attitude. That bulldog mentality and I love the fact all of our young guys seem to give off that attitude. I cannot wait to see him up there with Gorgeous and Trout and Grichuck gives off the same attitude.
angelskid2210 - August 6, 2010
Conger's Future
I wondered the same thing. With his shoulder issues, I wonder if Conger’s future is at catcher, or if he’s destined to move to first base. Of course, this would make him less valuable for us.
Of course, I’m a baseball fan, not a surgeon, so what do I know about nature of his arm/shoulder issues. The fact that after his most recent stint on the DL, that he’s back to playing catcher, is a good sign I would say.
righteous halo - August 6, 2010
I made a top 30 three weeks ago, and #3 was Tyler Skaggs.
Unambiguously. (I had Corbin at #9, FWIW.)
The pitching situation is far dimmer now — the prospect situation in general is.
It’s a hard pick between Conger and Richards, but I went for Conger — largely because he’s closer to the show, and because of his improvements to defense and plate patience. They’re a close 3/4 at this point.
I can’t elevate Chatwood until we see his K/9 and SO:BB ratios improve. Also need to see more from Reckling — he hasn’t just lost his groundball tendencies of late — he’s profiling as an extreme flyball pitcher since his return to Arkansas. That should be temporary, but at this point, there’s no consistent read on this pitcher yet. He’s likely still a couple years away.
Turks Teeth - August 6, 2010
And Amarista?
And, if Cowart were to sign, would he be high on your list immediately or would you take a more conservative approach and prefer to watch him play. The only reason I ask, if because Trout, Grichuk, Richards, Skaggs and Martinez all appeared on our top prospect lists the last couple of years without anyone ever watching them play. The state of our minor leagues was a bit different back then.
I alo don’t share your dim outlook on our minor league system.
Halowood - August 6, 2010
Cowart? The kid's not even in the picture.
Of the five players you mention, all of them had some pro appearances before rghan ever placed them on the offseason prospect list. I saw three of them play myself. I think you get too worked up over newbies on the basis of internet blurbs. Give them time to show themselves.
Amarista — the walks have really gone down this season, and his baserunning is really inefficient. That has to improve for him to be anything better than an Amezaga-type reserve. But he may become an MLB player of Aybar’s stature — it’s possible.
I’m generally skeptical of any contact hitters who fail to develop their patience at the upper levels. I had hoped Howie Kendrick would become a Robinson Cano, or at least Jose Vidro. It’s now not clear that he’ll ever be anything more than an middling defensive fielder who hits for average. That may change. But he’s approaching 2000 plate appearances — he needs to show up.
Amarista and Kendrick have superficially similar numbers. Kendrick flashed a lot more power in the minors. He had 70 XBHs between Rancho and Arkansas at age 21. His batting average was also 50pts higher than Amarista across the same levels. His OPS was 200+ pts higher. Look how that translated to Anaheim.
“I alo don’t share your dim outlook on our minor league system.”
I’m sure you don’t, Halowood. I’m sure you don’t. Coming into this season, you said the Angels had one of the top five systems in the Majors, and haven’t deviated from that belief. You pretty much stand alone in the extent of your belief of the fundamental depth and promise of our minor league system — it’s something in between a drug and a religion with you. Because you personalize it so deeply, I don’t think you’re that capable of objectivity, but I’m sure you’ll disagree. :)
Turks Teeth - August 6, 2010
I had a healthy Conger ranked above Skaggs
But Skaggs was the clear #4. When Conger went on the DL, I swapped them, but would swap them back now that he’s past his scare. They both get a significant injury discount
- Conger for his history, Skaggs for being a teenage pitcher- but in the end, I’d give the on-the-cusp catcher the nod.Richards’ peripherals look good, especially that groundball rate, but I can’t get past his propensity to give up hits in the worst situations. Three years of mediocrity at Oklahoma, followed by 108 innings of moderately-above-average pitching in a league where a whole host of Angels’ teenagers have-out pitched him. I’ve seen him pitch twice now, once in person and once on milb.tv, and both times he had difficulty putting away hitters and grooved pitches in the worst possible situations. I’m beginning to see him as the minor league version of Javier Vasquez. He might flip the proverbial switch (Some of the game’s legendary power pitchers have done exactly that relatively late in their minor league careers), but it hasn’t happened yet and it’s by no means inevitable.
I view Reckling’s situation as analogous to Adenhart circa late 2008. Adenhart’s AAA collapse wasn’t quite as extreme, but he was also older at the time. Tragically, we’ll never know what his professional outcome would have been, but he looked very, very good in spring training of 2009. I suspect Reckling, who has two very good pitches and showed no command problems until he hit AA, will experience a similar resurgence. I’d put him above Richards at this point. While it’s somewhat inconsistent to say Reckling’s 2010 stat line ultimately doesn’t matter, while Richards’ does, Reckling has the much more impressive track record of success at far younger ages.
I really like Chatwood’s fastball. His command with it is improving, and every time I’ve seen him pitch (July of last year in Cedar Rapids, spring training this year) hitters have been unable to square it up, even when he hits the fat part of plate. This isn’t the case with Richards. I don’t know what Chatwood’s change-up looks like right now, but at best it’s inconstant, so it’s not clear that he’ll stick in the rotation. If he winds up as a reliever, however, the fastball gives him a high floor. Richards’ upside probably makes him more valuable at present, but I think it’s very, very close.
So, for me: Conger, Reckling, Richards, Chatwood. Corbin would have been 11.
rghan - August 6, 2010
ignore the cross out of "Conger for his history, Skaggs for being a teenage pitcher"
rghan - August 6, 2010
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