Bullpen Banter's Brewers Preview and our Top 50 Prospects

Hello Brewers Fans!  My name is Michael Herrick and I've been an SBN member of various sites for 5 years now.  Those of you that frequent John Sickels minorleagueball.com will probably recognize me from running the Community Prospect list this year.  I recently partnered with three other long time SBN members(JD Sussman, alskor, mrkupe) to start a website, Bullpen Banter.  

About Us from our site:

The Bullpen Banter Team is dedicated to providing outstanding baseball analysis from various points of view. Our website hosts both a chat room and a forum so our readers can constantly interact with a knowledgeable and vibrant baseball community. Each writer represents a different area in the country which provides a unique ability to gauge the thoughts of both the mainstream media and the fans in the region. Additionally, we are always open to new ideas and voices, so feel free to submit a guest piece.

We are currently previewing each team by division, we are now working on the NL and AL Central.  Our Brewers preview is up, where we examine the outlook for 2010, the best and worst moves, and prospects to watch in 2010.  We take a round table approach to topics giving us differing viewpoints on the same article.

Here is a peek at the Prospect to Watch section of the preview:

JD Sussman: I really liked the Kyle Heckathorn pick (47th overall in last year's draft). They will start him until he proves to them he can't start anymore. In the end, the ability to miss bats and get bad swings is all that matters, and Heckathorn should be able to do that. However, it does concern me that he was so unsuccessful at Kenneshaw State, winning 12 games in 3 seasons.

Michael Herrick: Heckathorn is a solid choice but I'm going with a different pitcher, Jake Odorizzi.  Athletic build and smooth mechanics, his fast ball is in the high 80's-low 90's range but as he fills out a bit he should end up more in the low 90's consistently.  He has a full arsenal with a curve, slider and changeup.  Each could be an above average pitch once they've been refined a bit.  Cold weather arms take a little longer to develop don't forget, and high school pitchers don't normally have advanced secondary stuff no matter where they're from so none of this should come as a surprise.  There are actually quite a few good pitchers in the Brewers system with Wily Peralta, Cody Scarpetta, and Eric Arnett joining Odorizzi and Heckathorn.

Al Skorupa: I can't pass up the tools of OF Kentrail Davis here, even though he's a kind of boring choice. He already has a pretty good approach in some respects. I'm optimistic they can sort out his problems.

Although he's another obvious guy to watch, it wouldn't take much for RHP Eric Arnett to jump into the top 50-75 range for me. He came in at #107 on my personal list this year. I wouldn't be surprised to see Rule 5 pick LHP Chuck Lofgren end up a nice piece out of the pen, either.

We also have our Top 50 Prospects for 2010 posted with the rest of the Top 100 to follow over the next couple of weeks.  

Here is a sample for Mike Stanton:

Notre Dame High School has produced its fair share of notable baseball players. The most famous include Cy Young winner Jack McDowell, 1968 first overall draft pick Tom Foli, and the general manager of the '92,'93, & '08 World Series champions, Pat Gillick. Giancarlo Cruz- "Michael" Stanton has the potential to be among those names with his combination of athleticism and elite power. Stanton is young but relatively polished for a former football star who didn't concentrate fully on baseball until being drafted by the fins 79th overall in 2007. Stanton has deposited 68 baseballs over the fence in first three seasons and is arguably the fourth or fifth best player today from his draft class.

Steve Kuperman: Grade A easy for me, No. 4 on my list currently. If he had played in the FSL the entire year nobody would be asking questions, as he managed to absolutely crush the ball in one of the worst hitters' parks in the minors while cutting his strikeouts substantially. The guy gets tons of praise for work ethic.

JD Sussman: I disagree with your point on Stanton's contact issues. While he has been great thus far, I foresee his contact issues and poor pitch recognition limiting him offensively. What keeps him ranked so highly is that he should have solid defensive value in both his arm and his range. For me, he has the highest bust rate of any player int he top 10. If those issues really hurt him, in a years time he could be pretty far down the list, despite his accomplishments at a young age. I have him slightly lower at 9.

Michael Herrick: I can understand you knocking Stanton down a few spots due to the contact/strikeout issues, JD.  I know the High A stint is a SSS, but his K rate wasn't horrible there.  I think as long as he's not rushed too far, too fast the plate discipline can improve some, at least into a somewhat manageable "less than 30% K rate" type of range.  I guess I tend to see him as more of a .260 hitter in the bigs as opposed to something in the .230 range.  That power is just such a valuable tool though, I really can't see him lower than 5.

Al Skorupa: Strikeouts a concern? Yes. Special bat despite that? Absolutely.

His 80 power is something that we can be fairly certain will come with him to the majors. He does enough other things well to still project as an offensive force despite some questions about his contact ability, patience and strikeouts.

Stanton is plenty athletic and a good fielder. He could very easily end up the best major leaguer out of the top 5 prospects, but I'm not ready to bet on that just yet.

So if you have a chance, stop by and let us know what you think.  If you're interested in a guest writing spot, contact us and we will give you that opportunity.

Thanks for your time,

The Bullpen Banter Team