John Sickels' latest Down on the Farm piece features the Jays' own Dustin McGowan and describes him as "one of the top pitching prospects in baseball."
Sickels ranks McGowan as the 7th best pitching prospect in baseball. Other recent rankings include:
- The 39th best prospect in baseball (The Minors First)
- The 2nd best prospect in the Toronto system (BA and Baseball HQ)
- The 3rd best prospect in the Toronto system (an obscure little weblog)
I think Sickels is a little higher on McGowan than most analysts, but what's not to like? Incidentally, I think that this piece demonstrates quite succinctly why Sickels is so well respected; he's one of the few minor league analysts who's comfortable with both scouting and performance-based analysis.
Just to stir the pot a bit, here's a mildly inflammatory quote: The current Blue Jays administration shies away from high school pitchers, so it is somewhat ironic that their best pitching prospect is from those ranks. Let the debate commence.
Thanks to Cristian and Robbie Goldberg for breaking this story in two other threads.
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20040108062419999