Sox Top Prospects - 2007

[maurice]

This forum has been dead, and the media lists don't come out for awhile, so I threw this together quickly to see if we can't generate some discussion.

All of the players on last year's list remain with the club for the time being, and 6 of 10 saw time with the MLB club, mostly because the Sox sucked this year. That made most of the 6 ineligible for this year's list and contributed to the fact that this list looks relatively unimpressive. Another contributing factor is that lots of guys with good potential were at Kanny and below, including (shudder) actual position prospects. Virtually all of them were left off this list simply for being too damn far from MLB.

1. Gio Gonzalez - LHP
2. Jack Egbert - RHP
3. Ryan Sweeney - OF
4. Chris Carter - 1B
5. Faustino De Los Santos - RHP
6. Lance Broadway - RHP
7. John Shelby - CF
8. Justin Cassel - RHP
9. Kyle McCulloch - RHP
10. Aaron Poreda - LHP

[the fluffer]

Hey Maurice, where do Maurice Gartrell, Brandon Allen, Sergio Miranda and Chris Getz fit in? Though these guys are lower in the system, they all seem to project to be MLB quality players... maybe not all-stars, but at least in the majors....

during a WS-game chat on Baseball Prospectus, Kevin Goldstein claimed that the Sox have some serious prospects in the low levels that will come to surface over the next few seasons. He says Sox fans have a lot to look forward to, but that it will take some time for some of these guys to develop. Maybe he is referencing some of the guys signing out of the Latin camps?

Is it Gio time yet this year? He's the one guy I feel can't miss. The rest, meh...


Faustino De Los Santos is fairly "can't miss" though he's still pretty low in the system. All the scouting I've read is pretty much "Holy crap, this guy is good" and the only knock on him is that he is a bit toooo competitive and loses his focus and can lose some of his command. 94-97 sinking fastball and a devastating slider.

[Spider_Pig]

That's a solid list, but I'm mostly liking Gio. Bring him on. :thumbsup:

[maurice]

Hey Maurice, where do Maurice Gartrell, Brandon Allen, Sergio Miranda and Chris Getz fit in?

Good question. It's hard to judge these guys right now, because Getz was injured and the other 3 are being brought along slowly. I've seen Getz play several times and never was a huge fan. I project him to be no more than a border-line MLB player, either a "meh" 2B or an adequate utility guy.

It used to be easy to determine which players the org was high on, because they would push them through the system very quickly (Anderson, Sweeney, Young, Owens, etc.). In seems that KW changed this approach recently. Gartrell, Allen, and Miranda are very talented by all reports (I've only seen 2 of them and only briefly), but it's hard to grade them until they have extended success at AA or at least W-S.

Kevin Goldstein claimed that the Sox have some serious prospects in the low levels that will come to surface over the next few seasons.

Right, but it's hard to sort them out this early. Also, given the fact that they're being brought along slowly, it's hard to say whether they played well because they're really good or because they're really old for their level. Some of the really young Latin guys are intriguing, like Martinez and the 67 Dominican SS the Sox signed in the past year or so. It's going to take a few years to determine how all of this is going to shake out.

Low-level pitchers in particular are dangerous to project. For example, DLS can take a huge leap forward next year, or (God forbid) he can go the way of Honel, Liotta, Harrell, etc.

Incidentally, that's also why I see value in a guy like Broadway. His ceiling is much lower than a guy like DLS, but he's much less likely to get injured or flame out for other reasons, IMO.

[cheeses_h_rice]

5. Faustino De Los Santos - RHP


I want this guy on the team just for his name alone. He makes Fausto Carmona seem like a pile of puke in comparison.

[samram]

I want this guy on the team just for his name alone. He makes Fausto Carmona seem like a pile of puke in comparison.

His numbers were insane this year. 153Ks in 122 IP, BAA of .163.

[fquaye14ten]

nice post maurice.

it's nice to see egbert moving up the ranks

[MeanFish]

nice post maurice.

it's nice to see egbert moving up the ranks

Egbert is an awesome name too. He's like Q-Bert, but he throws eggs as well as jumps diagonally from cube to cube. That's multitasking, yo.

(kidding)

[Daver]

Sweeney at number 3 after repeating AAA and regressing?

Maybe he is getting bad advice from Rogowski.

[maurice]

It says more about the other prospects in the high minors than it does about Sweeney.

[Bonzosa]

So, I just saw this lead story on Baseball Prospectus coincidentally...
Link (http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=6912)

Five-Star Prospects
1. Fautino de los Santos, RHP
Four-Star Prospects
2. Gio Gonzalez (http://www.baseballprospectus.com/pecota/GONZALEZ19850919A.php), LHP
3. Aaron Poreda, RHP
Three-Star Prospects
4. Chris Carter, 1B (http://www.baseballprospectus.com/glossary/index.php?search=1B)
5. John Shelby, CF
6. Jose Martinez, OF
Two-Star Prospects
7. Jack Egbert (http://www.baseballprospectus.com/pecota/EGBERT19830512A.php), RHP
8. Ryan Sweeney (http://www.baseballprospectus.com/dt/sweenry01.shtml), OF
9. Lance Broadway (http://www.baseballprospectus.com/dt/broadla01.shtml), RHP
One-Star Prospects
10. Brian Omogrosso, RHP
11. Kyle McCulloch (http://www.baseballprospectus.com/pecota/MCCULLOCH19850320A.php), RHP
Just Missing: John Ely, RHP; Christian Marrero, 1B; Jerry Owens (http://www.baseballprospectus.com/dt/owensje01.php), OF