Yankees Top Ten Prospects

by jscape2000 on Jan 8, 2008 10:26 AM EST in New York Yankees News

Baseball America has finally posted their top ten Yankee prospects:

Joba Chamberlain, rhp
Austin Jackson, of
Jose Tabata, of
Ian Kennedy, rhp
Alan Horne, rhp
Jesus Montero, c
Jeff Marquez, rhp
Brett Gardner, of
Ross Ohlendorf, rhp
Andrew Brackman, rhp

I have more than a few thoughts on this.

Joba makes perfect sense in the top slot since Phil Franchise lost his rookie status in 2007. He got the nod for best fastball, best curve, and best slider in the Yankee system.

Austin Jackson? Really? I know the kid had a great second half in A+, and for a 20 year old he shows a ton of promise. And he got some great press at the end of the season. But for him to rank above Tabata and IPK shows that BA let themselves be swayed by the current buzz.

Jose Tabata's birthday is August 12, 1988. He'll be starting at AA Trenton in the spring. Get excited people.

Ronster22 has said several times how impressed he is by IPK's makeup and his knowledge of how to pitch. I would have ranked him the number 2 prospect.

If you're only slightly interested in the Yankee farm system, I'm picking Alan Horne as the player to watch in '08. I bet he's with the big club by the All-Star break.

BA lists Montero as the 6th best prospect in the system and the best hitter for power, but has Austin Romine as the 2011 catcher and Francisco Cervelli as the best defensive catcher. Their solution is to move the 18 year-old Montero to first, but I figure two of those three catchers are tradebait.

With the exception of my man-crush Ohlendorf, I take issue with the entire 7-10 crew.

No Sanchez, no Melancon, no JB Cox? I know they were injured, but I'd still rank all of them ahead of Jeff Marquez. And if you're holding their injuries against them, how could you possibly include Andrew Brackman who has never thrown a professional pitch and is recovering from TJ surgery?

For those of you keeping score at home, I would have ranked the Yanks: 1 Joba, 2 IPK, 3 Tabata, 4 Horne, 5 Jackson, 6 Sanchez, 7 Melancon, 8 Montero (grudgingly), 9 Ohlendorf, 10 Gardner

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Miranda?

I was actually hoping Miranda would make the team this year. He gets no mention in the top 10?

I kbow our nrrds at first bias me, but..

What do you guys think?

A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort. Herm Albright (1876 - 1944)

by Cbeck3 on Jan 8, 2008 11:01 AM EST reply actions

Miranda

Will start the season at AAA, but there are questions about his swing, his age, and his defense.

He might crack my top 20, mostly because he's closer to ready (I don't think we'll see him in '08 without some injuries). But just like Andy Phillips and Shelley Duncan, 1B are a dime a dozen. You have a better shot at the bigs as an all-hit 3B or SS who gets moved to first than to come up through the system as a 1B.

"Have faith in the Yankees, my son. Think of the great DiMaggio."

by jscape2000 on Jan 8, 2008 2:04 PM EST up reply actions

Wax Heaven

Just had a good writeup on Philly Franchise. Very very interesting and comprehensive. They did one recently on Joba. I've never posted HTML in comments before so if this doesn't work, the link is http://completist.wordpress.com/2008/01/07/the-prospect-corner-with-adam-g-5/

Wax Heaven/Hughes

"The secret of managing is to keep the guys who hate you away from the guys who are undecided." -Casey Stengel

by bxgrl1 on Jan 8, 2008 12:06 PM EST reply actions

Great stuff

Thanks for posting that.

"Have faith in the Yankees, my son. Think of the great DiMaggio."

by jscape2000 on Jan 8, 2008 2:08 PM EST up reply actions

Well done.

We need more of this kind of stuff.

"Baseball is the background music of my life." -George Will

by Ronster22 on Jan 8, 2008 3:31 PM EST up reply actions

Question ...

Don't get me wrong ... I'm thrilled that we have what appears to be legitimate prospects for the first time in what seems like decades. But are most of these guys truly prospects, or are they products of "Yankee Spin"?

I've come from the Steve Balboni, Dan Pasqua, Hensley Muelens era where we always thought we had the next Mickey Mantle.

"Baseball is the background music of my life." -George Will

by Ronster22 on Jan 8, 2008 3:34 PM EST reply actions

I begin to take seriously

Anybody who makes it through about half a season at AA.
Anybody who performs above league average while 2+ years younger than league average (approximate average for A is 21, AA is 23, AAA is 27).

By those standards Joba, IPK, Horne, Marquez, Gardner, and Ohlendorf are legit. Whelan, Sanchez, Chase Wright, and the Stevens (White and Jackson) deserve consideration, too.

Tabata and Jackson are so highly regarded (and have performed so well at young ages) that I take them seriously too.

As well regarded as Montero, Brackman, Betances, and so many others are, I won't give them serious attention until they've performed at a couple levels.

I have this cut off because I only have so much time to invest in the Yankees (though it is a lot). So much can go wrong for a ball player so quickly that I simply can't trust projectibility.

"Have faith in the Yankees, my son. Think of the great DiMaggio."

by jscape2000 on Jan 8, 2008 4:19 PM EST up reply actions

AAA

I think the average age for AAA is a little misleading. You have has-beens and retreads like Sal Fasanos and Pat Borders of the world filling out rosters and bumping that number up a bit.

Fear the Evil Empire

by pfistyunc on Jan 9, 2008 1:14 PM EST up reply actions

Yes

but since a ball player's prime is about 27, I think a player should still be a prospect at 25. Look at Ryan Howard or Carlton Fisk.

"Have faith in the Yankees, my son. Think of the great DiMaggio."

by jscape2000 on Jan 10, 2008 2:04 AM EST up reply actions

Marquez and Horne

Marquez has always been a work horse. He projects to be a #4 or #5 guy. He is a innings eater. Once he masters the curveball he has three legit pitches. I saw him in Trenton (AA) and his stuff is nasty. Horne has a dominate fastball and will need to work on his other out pitches, but he is a stud also. Look for these two guys during spring training they will surprise you.

by justyankees on Jan 8, 2008 7:41 PM EST reply actions