hi mike!!!

i was SO desperately hoping that SOMEONE would see something good in the minors especially upper minors i was missing but no - no surprise.

we are not either picking OR developing any decent prospects.

and the Organization ain't too careful with the waiver wire neither.

agree with the top 2 prospects. and hopefully gothreaux' arm will come back.

jimerson has lousy strike zone judgement and the rest of those guys in the low minors.

bleh

so i'm not holding my breath.

Favorite sleeper: C J.R. Towles - good fielder, decent speed, showed serious pop (albeit intermittently) as a juco, and hit the snot out of the ball last year.

Favorite sleeper: C J.R. Towles - good fielder, decent speed, showed serious pop (albeit intermittently) as a juco, and hit the snot out of the ball last year.

Towles spent 2005 backing up Lou Santangelo, who didn't hit badly himself. A lot of guys hit well at Lexington, though, and Towles didn't exactly distinguish himself at Greeneville in '04 - yeah I realize Der-K is touting him as a sleeper, but still... there does appear to be something of a dropoff for players when they move up to Salem, so I'm not getting on board yet.

-- MWE

Jason Hirsh is #1, not surprisingly.

Count me in as a bit surprised. I think that Patton easily has the most upside of the 2 and BA normally puts more stock into that type of thing. Patton is 3.5 years younger and pitched very well at just a level below Hirsh.

Iorg over Pence is indefensible.

Felipe Paulino making the list is pretty surprising. His performance was much better this year, but his numbers weren't eye-popping for an A ball reliever. He throws extremely hard but doesn't have much to go with it.

I thought Albers would make the list because of his 2nd half resurgence and I thought Anderson would make it because of his speed. I'm glad they left off Anderson though.

Zobrist not making the list is a shame. He may start next year as a 24 year old in AA, but there's no denying that the guy can hit. I've haven't heard anything about his D besides "solid".

Strictly speaking, I don't think Towles was the "backup" - he didn't join the team until the short season teams were about ready to start. He wasn't the everyday guy either, though.
While he hit poorly in the Appy, I'm willing to chalk it up to adjusting to the wood bat .. not that I have an informed reason to feel one way or another. Armchair prospect commentating is great.

One thing that worries me about Towles is his huge HBP marks ... seems like a lot of those guys don't develop like they should as they move up the ranks (speculating: they eventually get busted inside by guys who can locate their fastballs).

Oh, and since I haven't said it in awhile: I (heart) Troy Patton. I'm cool with Hirsh being #1 over him, but Patton is a ton of fun to watch.

i was SO desperately hoping that SOMEONE would see something good in the minors especially upper minors i was missing but no - no surprise.

Does AA not count as the upper minors?

we are not either picking OR developing any decent prospects.

Based on what?

C.J.R Towles : Sounds like a good "clean-up" hitter :)

C.J.R Towles: author of "the two tolkiens"

Oh, not that this is enough to make you feel better baseball chick, but Josh Flores is a very interesting ballplayer - excellent speed and can hit a little too. I was very disappointed that my Braves couldn't land him as a draft-and-follow.

Does AA not count as the upper minors?

There aren't any hitting prospects at AA.

-- MWE

stubby c

if you see ANYONE who can hit at AA or AAA PLEASE PLEASE tell me who you thinkin of.

it's REAL hard to get myself all het up over Carolina Appy hitters

benny zobrist at LEAST seems to have strike zone judgement, judging by hiw stats - the few i have.

- we have not had much success in the last 5 drafts with hitters - except for chris burke. the last good hitter we developed was jason lane

like i said either we not picking them or developing them.

in fact - that BA article showed that in the past 10 years, 3 of our #1 picks aren't even in the majors and 2 in the last 5 years are already out of baseball (robert stiehl and derrik grigsby)

if you see ANYONE who can hit at AA or AAA PLEASE PLEASE tell me who you thinkin of.

Your original comment was that we didn't have any prospects period in the upper minors. That's clearly untrue. I do view as Luke Scott as a prospect despite his struggles in limited time in the majors last year. He's a streaky hitter and unfortunately his worst streak was in the majors. He hit about .200 for the first month in AAA as well before getting red hot. He's obliterating VWL pitching right now. I don't view Brooks Conrad as a future regular, but I think he still qualifies as a prospect who can hit. The AA team was a different story. I don't think anyone in the lineup down there can hit at all.

- we have not had much success in the last 5 drafts with hitters - except for chris burke. the last good hitter we developed was jason lane

It amazes me how people can continually moan about our farm system. Did you see our team last year? Berkman, Ensberg, Biggio, Lane, Everett, Taveras, Burke, Bruntlett, Scott, Lidge, Qualls, Gallo, Oswalt, and Backe all spent considerable time in our farm system or had break through years as part of our minor league system. If Jason Lane was the last hitter we developed than he must have developed this year or Morgan Ensberg doesn't count. It's hard to have a superstar come out of your farm system every year. The Astros have had legitimate superstars come out of their farm system Berkman (2000), Oswalt (2001), Lidge (2003)while developing players like Ensberg, Lane, and Qualls along the way. We have lost tremendously talented pitchers (Miller and Hernandez) and hitters (Hidalgo) to injury and whatever Hidalgo's problem was.

in fact - that BA article showed that in the past 10 years, 3 of our #1 picks aren't even in the majors and 2 in the last 5 years are already out of baseball (robert stiehl and derrik grigsby)

That doesn't really seem that uncommon. I bet plenty of 1st rounders who were drafted from 5-10 years ago are completely out of baseball. Stiehl is still in baseball and Grigsby had some issues that the Astros didn't know about. Each were obviously risks and bad picks. They were also picked at the very end of the first round. When this team has had a pick in even the middle of the first round they've made use of it. The last 3 picks we've had that weren't well into the 20s we've selected Berkman, Lidge, and Burke.

This team is also at a disadvantage when it comes to the draft. We constantly have a pick somewhere in the 20s or are without a 1st pick at all because we're signing guys like Kent or Pettitte. This is not the Devil Rays or the Cubs who went through stretches where they had a top 5 pick every year.

There aren't any hitting prospects at AA.

The original comment just said prospects. With Hirsh, Nieve, and Buchholz I obviously disagreed.

As far as position player prospects in the upper minors, I still hold out hope for Luke Scott. I don't view him as some AAAA guy. I also think Conrad could develop into a decent role player.

stubby c-

i SHOULD have said hitters and made myself clear.

ok.

i rechecked my 04 lists - luke scott wasn't even considered. and i don't think of him as AAAA OR a prospect. and we didn't draft him - you know very well we got him and taveras for jeriome robertson.

brooks conrad looks ok as a hitter and he might could be another viz - if we don't re-sign viz he might could get a chance - we'll hafta see.
ESPECIALLY if his L/R splits favor lefty

i said developed lane because he was a pitcher in college (drafted in 99) and ensberg (drafted in 98)was a hitter.

I bet plenty of 1st rounders who were drafted from 5-10 years ago are completely out of baseball.

Just for the heck of it, I went back and looked at the 2000 draft. There were 40 picks in the first round (original and supplemental) These first rounders are out of organized baseball:

Matt Harrington - who never really got into it, of course.
Matt Wheatland
Mark Phillips
Blake Williams
Scott Heard
Chad Hawkins

Stiehl didn't play anywhere in '05, either - I assume stubbyc has some info about his health that I don't. Joe Torres might be done after missing all of '04 and pitching poorly in '05.

-- MWE

Well it's been a long time and I managed to find this thread while searching for something else, but Stiehl was still in baseball last year.

Stiehl Last Year