Jeff Gross - Getty Images
10 months ago: PHOENIX, AZ - JULY 10: U.S. Futures All-Star Nolan Arenado #12 of the Colorado Rockies stands on base during the 2011 XM All-Star Futures Game at Chase Field on July 10, 2011 in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Jeff Gross/Getty Images)
Fantasy owners, especially those in keeper or dynasty leagues, are always looking for the next top prospect to draft who will carry them the their next (first?) fantasy baseball championship. The prospect experts are in full force right now with John Sickels covering his Top 20 Prospects for each major league team, Baseball America with their Top 10 Prospects and Baseball Prospectus's Kevin Goldstein publishing his Top 20 Prospects as well. ESPN's Keith Law will publish his Top 100 Prospects for 2012 at the end of January.
With that said, I will post some of the top rated prospects from each of the experts over the next 3 months leading up to draft day, so today I continue with more of John Sickel's Top rated prospects for 2012. I will limit the list to A, A- and B+ rated prospects.
John Sickels updated top rated prospect list after the jump:
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Hitters
A Rating
Jurickson Profar, TEX
Manny Machado, BAL
Bryce Harper, WAS
Mike Trout, LAA
Jesus Montero, NYY
A- Rating
Bubba Starling, KC
Wil Myers, KC
Cheslor Cuthbert, KC
Anthony Rendon, WAS
Nolan Arenado, COL
B+ Rating
Andrelton Simmons, ATL
Nick Castellanos, DET
Miguel Sano, MIN
Eddie Rosario, MIN
Kolten Wong, STL
Oscar Tavares, STL
Xander Bogaerts, BOS
Jonathan Singleton, HOU
George Springer, HOU
Christian Yelich, MIA
Josh Bell, PIT
Anthony Rizzo, SD
Rymer Liriano, SD
Jedd Gyorko, SD
Hak-Ju Lee, TB
Jake Marisnick, TOR
Travis d'Arnaud, TOR
Gary Sanchez, NYY
Gary Brown, SFG
Some thoughts on Sickel's top rated hitting prospects:
Rockies third base prospect Nolan Arenado had a break out 2011 season, and continued his torrid hitting in the Arizona Fall League as well. Arenado hit .298-.349-.487 with 20 HRs, 32 doubles and 122 RBI at High A in 2011. Arenado has some power, but I have to admit, for a third baseman hitting in the California League, I thought he would have a higher slugging percentage than .487. The Cal League is know to be a hitters league, and Arenado's 20 home runs was good for just 9th in the league. For comparison purposes, Padres third base prospect Jedd Gyorko hit 18 home runs in the Cal League last year, and he hit .365-.429-.638, yet Arenado is considered the better prospect. I wonder if the prospect experts are too high on Arenado.
Yankees catcher/DH Jesus Montero will probably be the Yankees everyday DH in 2012, while catching maybe once a week, if that. But, make not mistake about it, he should hit and provide plenty of value for fantasy owners hitting in the solid Yankee lineup. The big question remains whether fantasy sites will give him catcher eligibility this year. I drafted Montero in the FakeTeams Dynasty League with the hope that he will, but would be fine if he is not.
The Giants will move outfielder Gary Brown to AA in 2012, and there will be many eyes on him as he will be hard pressed to duplicate his breakout 2011 season. With that said, he has all the tools to be a solid leadoff hitter capable of stealing 35+ bases in the big leagues.
0 recs | 11 comments
For comparison purposes
Jedd Gyorko is two and a half YEARS older than Arenado. Its not worth much to simply compare their stats and say who is the better prospect.
HeLeftYouBagEnd - January 3, 2012
Its the Cal League...
Its hardly worth comparing any hitters Cal League Stats, because they aren’t indicative of a players true talent or power. Grant Green hit 20 HRs in the Cal League in 2010 for heavens sake. The Cal League inflates a players ISO and garners a tremendous amount of false hope for prospects. The ISO drop for Gyorko alone from Cal(A+) to AA was .130! We will have to see how Arenado handles AA/AAA this season, but I think its premature to over-hype or highly rank a prospect based on Cal/AFL performance.
Mr. Homerun - January 3, 2012
I completely agree
but when comparing Gyorko/Arenado, age is a HUGE factor that cannot be overlooked. Same with Grant Green. He was 23 years old when he hit 20 home runs in the Cal league. Arenado isn’t going to turn 21 til April. No doubt the Cal League inflates numbers in most ballparks, but I would still say Nolan deserves much of the hype, most of which is around his improved defense and potential to stay at third.
HeLeftYouBagEnd - January 3, 2012
Also
I wasn’t trying to over-hype or highly rank Arenado, just mention the difference between him and Gyorko. I personally would rank him somewhere in the 30-50 range of prospects. I think that is fair.
HeLeftYouBagEnd - January 3, 2012
And another thing
Arenado’s ISO interestingly went down since last year. Probably means he’s on a downward trend and heading for failure.
HeLeftYouBagEnd - January 3, 2012
good point
I did not look at their ages…..but still, a sub .500 SLG in the Cal League for a power hitting third baseman? MAybe I am being too harsh here, but I really expected a better SLG.
Ray Guilfoyle - January 3, 2012
Who told you
he was a power hitting 3B? Sure the high amount of doubles give you hope that he might be in the future but he is progressing perfectly.
HeLeftYouBagEnd - January 3, 2012
aren't third baseman
power hitters, for the most part?
Ray Guilfoyle - January 3, 2012
Well yes, but
that doesn’t mean a 20 year old hitting 20 hr in the Cal league is disappointing.
HeLeftYouBagEnd - January 3, 2012
YOUR BIGGEST MISTAKE
just because the Cal League is offensive heavy doesn’t mean every home park is. Bakersfield’s HR park factor for RHB is 124 (StatCorner). Stockton 137. High Desert 160.
Guess what Modesto is….just guess. no…lower, lower…..still lower… try 40. FORTY. Arenado’s home park limits home runs like no other park on the planet. PetCo Park checks in at 95.
So yes, you are missing quite a lot here, Ray. The kid was one of the youngest in the entire league and was near the league leaderboards despite playing half his games in a park that limits HR to RH 12 times more relative to average than PetCo Park.
Andrew T. Fisher - January 4, 2012 via Android app
if anything, I think Sickels is underrating Arenado
he had more extra base hits than strikeouts for crying out loud
Andrew T. Fisher - January 4, 2012 via Android app
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