1. Ryan Braun, 3b
2. Yovani Gallardo, rhp
Very Good Prospects
3. Jeremy Jeffress, rhp
4. Will Inman, rhp
5. Mark Rogers, rhp
Good Prospects
None
Average Prospects
6. Lorenzo Cain, rf/cf
7. Cole Gillespie, of
8. Mat Gamel, 3b
9. Hernan Irrabarren, 2b
10. Chris Errecart, of
Hard to quibble with the top two, obviously, but it seems strange to rate Jeffress above Inman, even taking into account their relative ceilings. Sure, Jeffress COULD become an ace, while Inman will probably max out at #2/3, but Inman is also about ten times more likely to even make it to the majors at this point. Hell, if it's all about upside, where's Rolando Pascual? Rating Rogers as "Very Good" after news of his shoulder surgery broke is a bit of a reach, too.
Down into the Average class, I'm surprised to see Chris Errecart mentioned. Like Gillespie, he was good at Helena, but not quite as good, and it would seem Charlie Fermaint, by virtue of age and tools, is a better prospect. The real omission, though, is Angel Salome; if you have a catcher who can hit even a little bit, he's one of your top ten prospects almost by default. Also preparing their appeals: Steve Hammond and Tim Dillard.
Update [2006-12-12 15:15:25 by Jeff]: Sorry about the site downtime--I think server upgrades are going on. Usually we try to schedule them for late nights, but apparently that wouldn't fly this time. Because of the up-and-down of the site, I didn't see this post and wrote one of my own...it's somewhat redundant, but if you want to read it, click on Read More.
Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus checks in with the Brewers Top 10 prospects.
Even now that Hardy, Weeks, Fielder, and Hart are all off the list, it's still pretty decent. The best part of all is that the top five include four pitchers, each of whom will be at a different level next year:
- 2. Yovani Gallardo (AAA)
- 3. Jeremy Jeffress (low-A)
- Will Inman (hi-A or AA)
- Mark Rogers (AA, perhaps)
Of course, Ryan Braun tops the list. I'm a bit surprised by some of the guys in the bottom half: I'm glad to see Cole Gillespie get the nod, but I don't think I've ever seen Mat Gamel on a prospect list before. He was solid (.288/.359/.470) at West Virginia, but he is already 21 and get knocked for his defense. He made 34 errors (!) last year, but my calculations put him only at -8, which isn't good, but is within spitting distance of decent.
Filling out the bottom half are Lorenzo Cain, Hernan Iribarren, and Chris Errecart, and Robert Hinton got an mention as a "sleeper." I trust Goldstein on stuff like this, but I'm surprised another pitcher or two didn't make the list. Steven Hammond had a breakthrough year at Brevard County and Huntsville last year, and while Tim Dillard didn't pitch as well in '06 as he did in '05, he's still a very solid prospect (in my eyes).
I'm choosing to look at the bright side, here: if guys like Hammond, Dillard, and Steve Bray don't get so much as a mention, this is a pretty good organization, even if I'm not holding my breath for Gamel and Iribarren to make an impact. If you've got a BP subscription and can read the whole thing, check out the list at the bottom of the article: the top 10 players in the organization under 25. Since we've graduated so many prospects recently, the minor league list isn't as good as it's been, but the under-25 list? Smokin'.