Here's what we have so far:
1) Mike Trout
3) Hank Conger
5) ???
So who's the Halos' fifth most promising prospect? Is it Garrett Richards, with that world of potential in his arm? Tyler Chatwood, who made High A look easy in his age 20 season? Fabio Martinez Mesa and his plus-plus fastball? How about position prospects Alexia Amarista and Mark Trumbo, both of whom are putting up exciting numbers against some of the best competition the minor leagues has to offer?
0 recs | 14 comments
Chatwod all the way
guy is young and doing well in AA.
PS Richards gave up THREE homers yesterday in Rancho
MH252525 - August 8, 2010
No way is Trumbo the fifth most promising prospect
ryanfea - August 8, 2010
hey when Maicer Izturis is our cleanup hitter
that is making Trumbo look awfully good lol……
MH252525 - August 8, 2010
I'm surprised too
This is where I thought Richards would land.
The people are speaking.
rghan - August 8, 2010
And they're talking in tongues like a crazy person
TheQuestforMerlin - August 8, 2010
ESPN fan poll or ASG vote.
If you want a reasoned result, you should choose the ranking, rghan. Nobody here is going to fault you your considered opinion.
Even among the enthusiasts here, there are what — ten or twenty that follow all levels of the minors actively?
Turks Teeth - August 8, 2010 via mobile
I'm intrigued by the "wisdom of crowds" hypothesis
It does make for an interesting data point.
rghan - August 9, 2010
Yeah, I've read the Surowiecki book.
And work at a company that takes it for gospel.
But I think this is a slight misapplication of its principles. It still assumes that groups are composed with relatively (if diversely) informed decision-makers who have a stake in the decision (as in investors that drive stock valuations).
The choice of Trumbo at #5 speaks to another aspect of the book: its analysis of bubble psychology (read, failures of crowd intelligence). The Wikipedia article does a good job of capsulizing this section. I think there’s some issues of emulation and emotionality that results in a complete overvaluation of Trumbo.
Turks Teeth - August 9, 2010
Interesting
But emulating who do you think? Trumbo doesn’t exactly have the highest of profiles, and I’m not aware of there being much on him in the mass media. He only broke the top ten prospects entering the year in one publication (Future Angels). The other heavy hitters left him off.
Emotionality – is it solely the homeruns? Is the answer that simple?
On the other hand, here’s a data point in the crowd’s favor: AngelsWin asked Peter Bourjos the other day which of his Bees teammates he saw as most likely to be a big leaguer; Bourjos quickly and unequivocally answered Trumbo.
rghan - August 9, 2010
Wonder what Bourjos' dad thinks..........
wumbug - August 9, 2010
But compared to whom?
The Bees aren’t that deep. It’s pretty much Conger and Trumbo at this point. Bourjos’ response isn’t that surprising given the scarcity of power on the Halos at the moment, and the relative depth at catcher.
In terms of emotionality, yes, it’s the HRs and the perception that the Angels’ woes this season are largely attributable to the lack of them. Shouldn’t be surprising — the power deficit has been reinforced among Angels media and fan forums for half a decade now, even as the team rolled to the postseason year after year on the strength of pitching, speed, defense and athleticism. It’s why the Wood blowout was taken so hard — the myth of the slugger savior is too much with us, and is emulated among fans new and old year after year.
Turks Teeth - August 9, 2010
Don't forget the twitch anarchist response
Whereby when people (ryanfea, me and you) disparage a pick, their response is a ‘Ha! I told you so. I beat the system! I’m gonna vote the guy in!’ The spike in Trumbo’s popularity isn’t unsurprising.
That and the ‘myth of the slugger’ and with him being in AAA. People just want him to be the saviour of our offense badly.
TheQuestforMerlin - August 9, 2010
I take your point about the Bees' lack of depth
But Trumbo unequivocally over Conger? That’s a strong statement, despite organizational depth at the position…
Well put regarding the slugger-as-savior myth.
rghan - August 9, 2010
It has to be Chatwood or Alexi.
Chatwood is doing very well for his age in AA and Amarista is just a stud.
angelskid2210 - August 8, 2010 via mobile
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