Baseball America published their top ten prospects today and it looks a lot like the Batters Box top 10. In addition the BA guys did an AL East podcast yesterday that had some Blue Jay related discussion.
There will also be a subscriber chat at 2pm today. We will add some commentary here.
The one difference in content in the top 10's between BA and BB is that BA dropped Daniel Norris and included John Stilson. Norris was discussed as part of the podcast. The BA guys thought that Norris's record in the Appy League was too bad to include in a top 10. They said the Appy league hitters aren't that good and if you can't do well against them you no longer deserve a top ranking. The defense of Norris from Bluefield is that Norris was prone to the bad inning and that overall he pitched better than his record showed. The Jays did give $2M to Norris so his performance next spring will be carefully watched.
The podcast was some somewhat downbeat on Jake Marisnick, yet they rated him higher than Batters Box at #2. The question for Marisnick is the hit tool. BA did say that the Jays were working with Marisnick to take a hitch out of his swing but BA still thinks there are a lot of moving parts in his swing and it needs to get shorter to the ball.
BA does rank Syndergaard ahead of Sanchez. Mike Green will be happy. BA notes that Syndergaard doesn't match Sanchez in stuff but is more polished.
The podcast also discussed Hechavarria. Both of the BA podcasters preferred Hechavarria to Boston's Iglesias. John Manual was comparing Hech to Cesar Izturis although he did say it was more of a Blue Jay specific comp but he though Hech might be better than that.
BA is very impressed with DJ Davis' speed but notes his arm is fringy.
As mentioned Stilson gets the #10 slot although BA projects he could end up in the bullpen.
The podcast led off the Blue Jay section with a discussion of Deck McGuire. The commentary revolved around the comment of someone they consulted for this list "How was that guy ever a number one pick?"
More comments from the chat later today.
Some tid-bits from the chat:
There was no obvious #10 prospect, and #10 is a drop off from #9. Norris, Smoral and Jimenez were mentioned as alternate #10's.
Marisnick ranked at #2, despite the hitting issues, because not many guys hit right away in AA.
DJ Davis is fast, but not super quick to steal a ton of bases.
Christian Lopes is the best 2B in the system, but Dwight Smith was given a look at 2B in instructional league.
Chris Hawkins needs to be more selective.
Ryan Borucki, 15th rounder this year, is a sleeper.
Deck McGuire has command problems.
Dwight Smith is the best of the 2011 drafted high school hitters, although Christian Lopes has been a nice surprise.
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20121107111036842