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Archives End of Year Prospect Poll: The Results
By my count, we had 30 entries in the poll, which was more than double what we had in the mid-season poll. We have so many well-informed readers that there's little doubt in my mind that this list is at least as good as any of the others you'll see published over the next few months.

Once again, Bauxites selected Alex Rios over Guillermo Quiroz as the top prospect in the organisation. The point system remained the same: 13 points for a 1st place vote, 10 for 2nd, 8 for 3rd, decreasing by 1 thereafter to 1 point for a 10th place vote.



Here are the top 10, with points per vote listed:

Rios 11.4, Quiroz 10.2, McGowan 8.7, Gross 7.2, Bush 5.8, Arnold 3.3, Hill and Adams 3.1, Griffin 1.6, Vermilyea 1.2. Others receiving votes: Banks, League, Peterson, Perkins, Rosario, Sequea, Chiaravallotti and Godwin.

In the mid-season poll points per vote were as follows:

Rios 10.8, Quiroz 10.1, Gross 7.3, Adams and McGowan 6.3, Bush and Arnold 5.8, Griffin 2.7, League 2.0, Hill 0.7. Others receiving votes: Perkins, Cash, Nin, Rich, Vermilyea, Negron and Gassner.

McGowan and Hill were the big gainers, while Arnold and Adams lost a lot of support. Rios was named #1 on 18 of the 30 ballots, Quiroz on 8, with McGowan and Gross on 2 each. The top 5 were named on every ballot, with the next four named on the majority of ballots.
Posted by robertdudek on Thursday, December 04 2003 @ 05:31 AM EST.
End of Year Prospect Poll: The Results | 23 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.
_Jabonoso - Thursday, December 04 2003 @ 06:11 PM EST (#84201) #
I like very much the final list, and the ones left out have a lot of upside. Actually our top twenty prospect list looks very good.
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_Nigel - Thursday, December 04 2003 @ 07:41 PM EST (#84202) #
A very interesting list. As I mentioned on the thread itself, I think its a tremendous list as far as pitching goes (when guys like Banks, League, Peterson, Perkins and Rosario aren't on the top ten that says something). I don't think its a strong list for position players. I find it hard to project any position players on the list or getting a vote other than Rios, Quiroz, Gross and maybe Hill (its a little early to get a good read on him) as holding down regular major league jobs. Adams, Griffin, Sequea and Godwin all look to have significant issues with being major league regulars. Its too early to tell with Big Vito. All in all a good exercise. Thanks for running the tally Robert.
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_Kristian - Thursday, December 04 2003 @ 07:43 PM EST (#84203) #
This is a great list. The future bodes well for the Jays in fact I would rank our system as the bestin the majors with the depth. In the American League Cleveland's looks pretty deep as well but we have better position depth and talent.
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_Jordan - Thursday, December 04 2003 @ 08:07 PM EST (#84204) #
From Jayson Stark's latest column:

One scout's nomination for the most impressive young position player in Puerto Rico is Blue Jays center field prospect Alexis Rios: "Hell of an athlete. Hell of a center fielder. And probably the best-looking young hitter in the league. Reads breaking balls well. Does a lot of things instinctively. Wouldn't surprise me if he shows up in the big leagues at some point this year."

Rios has been just going nuts down in Puerto Rico lately -- something like six straight multi-hit games, triples, homers, the works. Try this on for size after just 40 at-bats: 5 HRs, 11 RBI, .366/.409/.805
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Mike Green - Thursday, December 04 2003 @ 09:54 PM EST (#84205) #
Thanks, Robert for tabulating the results. No real surprises.

Jordan, that's the second or third extremely complimentary remark I've read about Rios' defense. I'd love to see some stats on it. Michael Humphreys' Defensive Regression Analysis on baseballprimer.com would probably be adaptable to the minor leagues, if we had the requisite putout, assist and IP data, as well as further details on the method. In five years, I expect that we will have minor league defensive stats widely available.

Until then, a trip to Syracuse (I wonder if the ferry will be convenient) in the summer or Dunedin in March may be the only way to find out for oneself.

One thing to note is that all the New Haven starters- McGowan, Bush, Gassner, Baker and Reimers had pretty good records. The last three are not famous for their stuff. It is probably a fair inference that the up-the middle defence of Quiroz, Adams (1/2 season), Rich and Rios was very good.
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_Jurgen - Friday, December 05 2003 @ 12:47 AM EST (#84206) #
Jordan, that's the second or third extremely complimentary remark I've read about Rios' defense. I'd love to see some stats on it.

I think I've said it about a thousand times now, but I expect Vernon Wells to be the best RF in baseball come 2005 or 2006.
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_R Billie - Friday, December 05 2003 @ 01:32 AM EST (#84207) #
Either Wells or Rios would make a hell of a corner outfielder. I guess it will all depend if Rios gets as stocky as Wells in another two years. Add in Gross, Werth, and Johnson and you have a pretty fine two-way outfield.
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_S.K. - Friday, December 05 2003 @ 01:36 AM EST (#84208) #
From what I've heard, I'm a little hesitant to believe that Rios will still be a CF by 2006 or so. He is supposed to be very broad-shouldered and is expected to fill out a la Jaun Gonzalez.
Of course, Vernon is a top ten CF right now, but he could get bulkier as well. He already runs much better than one could expect given his linebacker's build.
Not sure what I'm trying to say - basically, don't count your chickens before they hatch.
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_Ken - Friday, December 05 2003 @ 07:30 AM EST (#84209) #
I don't think it has been mentioned elsewhere, for what its worth there is a piece on Quiroz over at the official site. I got the impression Fordin doesn't seem to think Guillermo is as well regarded as the prospect poll suggests.

It's an interesting winter update and those power numbers are good to see.
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Mike Green - Friday, December 05 2003 @ 09:21 AM EST (#84210) #
To see the strength of the system, check out BA's comments on the St. Louis' farm. BA has their top prospect as Blake Hawksworth, whose career to date is less impressive than Vince Perkins'.
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_coliver - Friday, December 05 2003 @ 09:45 AM EST (#84211) #
Rios, of course, was in Toronto during the last weekend of the regular season to receive his Webster Award, and i was amazed at the size of this guy. He looks nothing like the skinny kid who was drafted by the Jays. I just can't seem Rios as a CF but he will be an effective RF.

Besides, I do not think there is anything in Wells' Game that necessitate his move over to RF.

Speaking of skinny kids drafted by the Jays, how strong of a prospect is Franklyn Gracesqui these days. Drafted by the Jays, Gracesqui was selected in the minor league draft by Florida and pitched fairly well, at least stat-wise, in Double A. I remember him as a very undisciplined pitcher on the St. Catherines Stompers for two seasons.

Does anyone have any additional information on Gracesqui?
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_Dylan B - Friday, December 05 2003 @ 11:03 AM EST (#84212) #
Franklyn Gracesqui had a pretty good season with Florida's Class AA team, the Carolina Mudcats, who play in the Southern League, and added to the 40 man roster this offseason. In 58 innings over 44 games, Gracesqui went 3-3 with 5 saves, an era of 2.48 with 44 hits, 75 k's and 43 walks. He didn't allow a single home run, but had 11 wild pitches. His control still needs alot of work, but has an outside shot at the ML team as a LOOGY, if he has a good spring. I was able to find all of this info at Baseballamerica.com.
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Pistol - Friday, December 05 2003 @ 11:10 AM EST (#84213) #
How did the first place votes work out?
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_salamander - Friday, December 05 2003 @ 11:26 AM EST (#84214) #
How does Rios stack up against all major league prospects? (Or: among all position prospects?)
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_Jordan - Friday, December 05 2003 @ 11:44 AM EST (#84215) #
The best overall minor-league rankings -- Baseball America, John Sickels, Baseball Prospectus -- are still a couple of months away yet. But you have to imagine that Rios will be around the Top Ten on most lists. He ranked #1 in BA's most recent ranking of all minor-league outfield prospects, and that's pretty darn good. His Puerto Rico stint is only going to improve his standing.
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_Matt - Friday, December 05 2003 @ 11:46 AM EST (#84216) #
Isn't Wells more like a top 5 CF? I can't name 9 guys I'd rather have out there than him.

Or am I just giant Jays homer?
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_John Neary - Friday, December 05 2003 @ 12:14 PM EST (#84217) #
I think S.K. meant defensive centre fielder.
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robertdudek - Friday, December 05 2003 @ 12:52 PM EST (#84218) #
Pistol,

Read the last paragraph, please.
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_John Neary - Friday, December 05 2003 @ 01:30 PM EST (#84219) #
Mike,

While I don't want to be too picky about it, I don't understand what makes Hawksworth's career less impressive than Perkins'. Hawksworth is a year and a half younger (1/3/83 vs. 27/9/81). Here are their 2003 stats:
Pitcher     Level   TBF   $H  $BB   $K  $HR

Hawksworth  Lo-A    213 .257 .056 .266 .000
            Hi-A    132 .299 .083 .242 .015
            Total   345 .273 .067 .256 .006

Perkins     Lo-A    168 .212 .131 .357 .006
            Hi-A    351 .250 .151 .197 .003
            Total   519 .240 .145 .249 .004
[Hi-A = FSL, Lo-A = Midwest (Hawksworth) or Sally (Perkins)]

As far as I can tell, the only significant difference between the pair is that Perkins walks almost twice as many batters. Also, Hawksworth adjusted much better to the FSL.

In 2002, Perkins repeated the New York-Penn league while Hawksworth made his professional debut in rookie ball. Perkins had a modestly higher strikeout rate than Hawksworth, but Hawksworth had a far better K/BB ratio (69/20 vs. 85/44.)

Both pitchers are very toolsy, so they're probably both better prospects than their stats would suggest. But looking at the numbers I'd say that Hawksworth is the more valuable of the pair.

Cheers,

John
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Pistol - Friday, December 05 2003 @ 01:42 PM EST (#84220) #
Pistol,

Read the last paragraph, please.


D'oh!
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Mike Green - Friday, December 05 2003 @ 03:22 PM EST (#84221) #
You're right, John. Anyway, it's questionable whether Hawksworth would have made the top 10 list here.
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_John Neary - Friday, December 05 2003 @ 03:35 PM EST (#84222) #
Mike: Fair enough. I probably should have said so myself.

Personally, I might have ranked him as high as #7. But I completely agree with your point about how deep this system is relative to some others.
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_steve - Friday, December 05 2003 @ 11:01 PM EST (#84223) #
it was written in one of the prospect reports that they would have a prospect wrap-up. i wonder what happened to that
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End of Year Prospect Poll: The Results | 23 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.