Friday, November 1, 2013

My Top 5 Dodgers' prospects at minor-league every level

In preparation for prospect season, I'm going to rank the Top 5 prospects at every level of the Dodgers' minor-league system.

It won't necessarily reflect a prospect's position on my Top 50 list (as I've yet to complete it), but it should give some sort of idea where I rank these players.

To be eligible, I'm using Baseball America's rules. For hitters, they must average at least one plate appearance per team game. For starting pitchers, they must average at least 1/3 of an inning per team game (no applicable to short-season teams). For relievers, they must have made 20 appearances (10 appearances for short-season leagues).

Here are my top 5 Dodgers' prospects at each level. Player's age-season in parenthesis.

Dominican Summer League Dodgers
1. OF Michael Medina (16)
2. OF Deivy Castillo (17)
3. LHP Jairo Pacheco (16)
4. OF Ariel Sandoval (17)
5. RHP Osiris Ramirez (17)

Arizona League Dodgers
1. 1B Cody Bellinger (17)
2. LHP Victor Gonzalez (17)
3. RHP Victor Arano (18)
4. RHP Bryan Munoz (17)
5. SS Cristian Gomez (17)

Ogden Raptors
1. OF Jacob Scavuzzo (19)
2. 3B/OF Alex Santana (19)
3. 2B/SS Jesmuel Valentin (18)
4. 1B Justin Chigbogu (18)
5. RHP Scott Barlow (20)

Great Lakes Loons
1. SS Corey Seager (19)
2. LHP Julio Urias (16)
3. RHP Chris Anderson (20)
4. LHP Tom Windle (22)
5. RHP Zachary Bird (18)

Rancho Cucamonga Quakes
1. OF Scott Schebler (22)
2. RHP Duke von Schamann (22)
3. OF Noel Cuevas (21)
4. 1B O'Koyea Dickson (23)
5. SS/2B Darnell Sweeney (22)

Chattanooga Lookouts
1. OF Yasiel Puig (22)
2. RHP Zach Lee (21)
3. OF Joc Pederson (21)
4. RHP Ross Stripling (23)
5. LHP Chris Reed (23)

Albuquerque Isotopes
1. RHP Matt Magill (23)
2. OF/1B Scott Van Slyke (26)
3. RHP Red Patterson (26)
4. LHP Kelvin De La Cruz (24)
5. No one else qualified

-----

Hope this gives some insight to how I rank the Dodger prospects. I'd like to hear how you'd rank some of these prospects in the comments section.

I'm shooting for December or January for my Top 50 prospects list. Follow me on Twitter for updates on its status.

Photo credit: Ali Messick, courtesy of the Great Lakes Loons

13 comments:

  1. Valentin over Joey curletta in odgen?
    Great work by the way!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Know what? I think Curletta may have been an omission on my part. I'd slot him in at No. 3 or 4 here. I may be a little too high on Valentin. Glove and plate discipline are there, but the bat isn't yet.

      Thanks much!

      Delete
    2. Actually, I'm on the opposite end of the spectrum. I'd put Valentin number one. If he repeated his Ogden slash line over a full season of MLB ABs along with above average but not elite defense, he'd be a 5 WAR player. If he just put up Yunel Escobar's 2013 line of .256/.332/.366 with above average defense, he'd still be a 3-3.5 WAR player (Yunel, with his plus defense, was 3.9). You just can't teach that K/BB ratio, which is what's worrying about Scavuzzo

      Delete
    3. Not terribly concerned with Scavuzzo's walk rate. 6.4 percent isn't great, but he did much better as the season went on.

      In his first 34 games, he walked five times (141 PA, 3.5 percent). In his last 29 games, he walked 12 times (125 PA, 9.6 percent).

      Delete
    4. Ehh...still not sold on scavuzzo. And for a supposed power/ speed guy, it's a bit worrisome to see 3 SB and 5 CS. Also, I think there's a good chance Barlow will breakout next year, a year removed from TJ. I remember hearing reports before the injury that he was sitting 96+ with a wipeout breaking ball. But Valentin is still #1 for me

      Delete
    5. True, but Scavuzzo just started playing baseball full time last year. As a four sport athlete in high school he is still very raw, it will take a lot of seasoning for him to put all his tools together (specially playing center field and walking). Just looking at how much he improved over one year is very telling to me, but you do have to like Valentins walk rate. With the dodgers current outfield depth and Guerrero signed to man secong base, it will provide a lot of time for Valentin to develope his bat and Scavuzzo to put all his tools together.

      Delete
  2. What is the criteria for the rankings?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "To be eligible, I'm using Baseball America's rules. For hitters, they must average at least one plate appearance per team game. For starting pitchers, they must average at least 1/3 of an inning per team game (no applicable to short-season teams). For relievers, they must have made 20 appearances (10 appearances for short-season leagues)."

      Also, they had to be prospect-eligible to start the 2013 season.

      Delete
    2. It obvious the best talent was at Chattanooga and Great Lakes. Do you know if Kyle Farmer at Ogden is projected to be a major leaguer? I know they're moving him to catcher and he had good stats, even if he was one of the older players.

      Delete
    3. He's a fringe prospect, but he's playing the right position to have a chance at a big league career.

      Delete
  3. How do you know who was prospect eligible at the start of 2013? For instance, was Ibandel Isabel a prospect beginning the season just gone past?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Should clarify: prospects who began the 2013 season as prospects (less than 50 IP/130 AB in majors) or those international prospects signed during the season.

      Delete
    2. Thanks. Good lists. I would have Ibandel Isabel of the DSL Dodgers on mine. He is a year or so older than others but still young and can rake.

      Delete