Spring 2010 PuRPs List
by Jeff Aberle on May 14, 2010 11:16 AM MDT
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PrintThe Purple Row community ranking of the prospects in the Rockies' minor league system:
| Rank | Player | TOT |
| 1 | Christian Friedrich | 412 |
| 2 | Jhoulys Chacin | 400 |
| 3 | Tyler Matzek | 399 |
| 4 | Esmil Rogers | 360 |
| 5 | Wilin Rosario | 349 |
| 6 | Hector Gomez | 323 |
| 7 | Rex Brothers | 302 |
| 8 | Tim Wheeler | 298 |
| 9 | Samuel Deduno | 290 |
| 10 | Eric Young Jr. | 270 |
| 11 | Mike McKenry | 249 |
| 12 | Charlie Blackmon | 241 |
| 13 | Nolan Arenado | 240 |
| 14 | Chris Balcom-Miller | 226 |
| 15 | Juan Nicasio | 215 |
| 16 | Chris Nelson | 187 |
| 17 | Casey Weathers | 143 |
| 18 | Chaz Roe | 140 |
| 19 | Kiel Roling | 138 |
| 20 | Delta Cleary | 124 |
| 21 | Matt Reynolds | 116 |
| 22 | Jordan Pacheco | 114 |
| 23 | Cole Garner | 108 |
| 24 | Eliezer Mesa | 85 |
| 25 | Ethan Hollingsworth | 63 |
| 26 | Edgmer Escalona | 56 |
| 27 | Scott Beerer | 45 |
| 28 | Darin Holcomb | 43 |
| 29 | Ben Paulsen | 43 |
| 30 | Andrew Johnston | 36 |
Fourteen ballots were cast in this edition of the PuRPs poll, with 30 points being granted for a first place vote, 29 for second, etc. The top three, as they were in last fall's edition, were almost always some combination of Friedrich, Chacin, and Matzek (with two outliers ranking Matzek lower that jumped Chacin a point ahead of Matzek for second). Until a player was named on five ballots, his vote totals were modified on a sliding scale to avoid an individual ballot having too much say over the community forecast -- but none of the above players had that problem.
Friedrich had seven first place votes, Matzek had five, and Chacin had the other two. The top ten on this list as well as Chris Balcom-Miller at 14 were named on every ballot, with all the rest missing from at least one ballot. There were 61 players named in all (plus Shane Lindsay), with 44 of them appearing on multiple ballots.
Just missing the PuRPs list were Jared Clark, Matt Miller, Parker Frazier, Craig Baker, and James Cesario.
For a comparison, here's last fall's PuRPs list. EY2 (slipped from 5 to 10) and Weathers (down from 10 to 17) fell in the rankings while players like Tim Wheeler (up from 12 to 8) and Samuel Deduno (14 to 9) rose. Five players fell out of the PuRPs list due to trade (Brandon Hynick), waivers (Lindsay), injury (Parker Frazier), or ineffectiveness (Scott Robinson, Mike Zuanich). Taking their place are Pacheco (tearing the cover off the ball in Modesto), Mesa (off to a hot start in Asheville), Hollingsworth (having a breakout year in Modesto), and Beerer (Disney effect).
UPDATED: Removed Shane Lindsay from the list (claimed off of waivers), added Andrew Johnston.
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My two initial thoughts. (No complaints since I didn’t submit a list)
I am beginning to wonder about Friedrich, he’s spent a lot of time down due to some type of soreness and it makes me wonder a little bit about his ability to do it over the long haul of an MLB season.
I bet if we redid this list today, Jordan Pacheco would be a tad higher than 22.
Other than that I hope Parker Frazier gets healthy!
Hating Cubs fans since 1908
This is a good point -- the latest ballot submitted was April 26th, over two weeks ago.
Consider this a snapshot of PR’s opinion as of April 26th
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by Jeff Aberle on May 14, 2010 11:26 AM MDT up reply actions
I was mostly pointing out
Pacheco since he has gotten more hype the last couple weeks – I guess that’s why we do the list a couple times a year.
Hating Cubs fans since 1908
My list would definitely be different.
It would include Hollingsworth and Clark.
by Greg Stanwood on May 14, 2010 12:15 PM MDT up reply actions
Breaking it down by position:
3 C
3 MI
4 CI
6 OF
9 SP (including top 4 overall)
5 RP
The writer formerly known as Jabberwocky
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a bird in the hand...
i guess i’d take chacin over friedrich right now, just because, y’know, chacin has actually pitched in the majors, and pretty darn well at that. it’s a bit like curt schilling saying that he’s never seen anything—EVER—like strasburg and that strasburg will immediately be the best pitcher in baseball. really? okay, we’ll see…
Friedrich's arm injury woes
scare the piss out of me, especially since he needs his curveball to be dominant. As for Matzek, no one has seen him pitch in a Rockies minor league uni so he’s bound to drop a little.
when is matzeks first game?
hes in rookie ball right?
by purplesocks on May 14, 2010 11:38 AM MDT up reply actions
not in rookie ball
That league doesn’t start until after the draft. He will presumably be going to asheville in the next few weeks
"I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious." - Albert Einstein
by Andrew T. Fisher on May 14, 2010 12:09 PM MDT via mobile up reply actions
Other than Beerer, I can get behind this list.
"You spend a good piece of your life gripping a baseball and in the end it turns out that it was the other way around the whole time." - Jim Bouton
As someone who put Beerer on his list, I think Miller should have made the list over him.
by Greg Stanwood on May 14, 2010 12:25 PM MDT up reply actions
Others who might belong based on continued good performance
James Cesario, who’s mashing at Modesto to the same extent Pacheco is.
Thomas Fields, who’s having a good year at Modesto after injuries limited him last year.
New decade, new result: time for a Rockies' division championship.
But those two
don’t have much of a prior track record. Pacheco OPS’ed .871 at Asheville last year, so we can’t write this off as a total fluke.
After analyzing this list,
I’ve come to the (rather obvious) conclusion that the Rockies are somewhat weak in the area of solid position-playing prospects.
Just an average guy with exceptional hair. Nothing more, nothing less.
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by Bryan Kilpatrick on May 14, 2010 1:09 PM MDT reply actions
Disagree, except perhaps in the area of corner infielders.
We’ve got solid catching, middle infield, and outfield depth. I think all of these areas are better than our organizational relief depth, though several of the current starters (Rogers, Deduno, Roe) may be converted in the next couple years.
by Greg Stanwood on May 14, 2010 1:49 PM MDT up reply actions
I'm not a big fan of our outfield depth
I think the two guys nearest the top, Wheeler and Blackmon, are both future fourth outfielders at best, and further down none of the guys there have hit enough at any level to instil much confidence.
Our corner infield isn’t too good, but I actually really like Nolan Arenado as a prospect given his numbers and age.
Campaigning for more day baseball games since 2006
It's too early to make any kind of determination on players like Wheeler and Blackmon in terms of likely impact.
They have a ceiling, and a minor league track record. There’s infinite room on either ends of the spectrum for them to become great prospects, or to flame out into nothing.
by Greg Stanwood on May 14, 2010 2:06 PM MDT up reply actions
And we have yet to see Cleary this year as well
I would like to think he can be a very legit OF prospect, but I’d have to say I agree w/ Bryan, the position prospects leave something to be desired in our system right now.
"Whenever I see an old lady slip and fall on a wet sidewalk, my first instinct is to laugh. But then I think, what if I was an ant, and she fell on me. Then it wouldn't seem quite so funny."
Jack Handy quote
I didn't put Cleary on my list.
Yet I’m still higher on the OF than most, it seems. Fascinating.
Well, if we do encounter some systematic doldrums in a couple years, at least we’ll have some money to throw around. Hopefully we do it intelligently.
by Greg Stanwood on May 14, 2010 2:46 PM MDT up reply actions
Would love it
if the staff (or anyone) could drop a post about the sub-15ish guys with some further details on upside, comps, weaknesses, etc.
As for the list, I’m more of an "upside’ player so it distresses me to see a guy like McKenry so high, considering the takeaway I get on him is that he’s Danny Ardoin, but Rosario obviously alleviates a lot of those worries. And as noted above, I wish we had some more big sticks coming along, but a minor complaint given the arm strength.
i think mckenry actually fell a few spots from last time
I think the Ardoin comp is a bit rough. He could be at least passable offensively as a catcher. Rox girl would naturally be the best to write up each of the bottom fifteen. I could give accurate bios and opinions, but I’m not sure about player comps (never much liked those anyway)
"I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious." - Albert Einstein
by Andrew T. Fisher on May 14, 2010 1:30 PM MDT via mobile up reply actions
McKenry can make a serviceable 2-starts a week catcher.
by Greg Stanwood on May 14, 2010 1:50 PM MDT up reply actions
that's my problem
having a guy with that sort of expectation at #11 makes me think either (a) this ranking heavily favors “likelihood to make bigs” over "likelihood of being a good player or, worse, (b) we don’t have many legit prospects, particularly non-pitchers (as noted above).
im not sure the list heavily favors likelihood to make the bigs
Considering mckenry is the highest ranked player of those that are pretty much guaranteed an mlb career. Unless you count chacin or brothers. But you know, TINSTAAPP
"I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious." - Albert Einstein
by Andrew T. Fisher on May 14, 2010 3:47 PM MDT via mobile up reply actions
I actually put him at #5.
This is where the fact that everyone has entirely different standards on what this list should reflect becomes apparent.
by Greg Stanwood on May 14, 2010 5:11 PM MDT up reply actions
You would think
that all the sorts of different standards that people have for the list (some favoring toolsy guys, others favoring more “sure thing” players) would produce a pretty balanced list.
bah
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by Andrew Martin on May 14, 2010 2:41 PM MDT up reply actions
Again, I think this is a very bad FO decision
we lose a pitcher w/ an upside power arm for a few weeks of Herrera, who will never be anything more than a utility IFer in the big leagues, and will have very little impact on the team. I don’t get amove like that, especially when you have an upside guy in Nelson that could come up w/out losing anybody.
"Whenever I see an old lady slip and fall on a wet sidewalk, my first instinct is to laugh. But then I think, what if I was an ant, and she fell on me. Then it wouldn't seem quite so funny."
Jack Handy quote
For a few DAYS of Herrera.
He’ll be optioned down when Francis is called up.
by Greg Stanwood on May 14, 2010 2:47 PM MDT up reply actions
Makes even less sense than!
"Whenever I see an old lady slip and fall on a wet sidewalk, my first instinct is to laugh. But then I think, what if I was an ant, and she fell on me. Then it wouldn't seem quite so funny."
Jack Handy quote
Well, Herrera does have a legitimate chance of becoming a full utility infielder with the team after this year.
With Mora almost certainly being a one year thing, Herrera will be the first in line for the utility IF position.
by Greg Stanwood on May 14, 2010 2:49 PM MDT up reply actions
I don't disagree on that, and I think he can be a decent utility guy
but we lose an arm for that, not sure it equates. Especially when BP can be so tough to build from year-to-year. Also Nelson has a chance to be a future starter, and I guess that would be the reason to leave him in AAA as well, so he can get more consistent AB’s. I just wish there was another option, to get a player up for a few days w/out losing anyone.
"Whenever I see an old lady slip and fall on a wet sidewalk, my first instinct is to laugh. But then I think, what if I was an ant, and she fell on me. Then it wouldn't seem quite so funny."
Jack Handy quote
Well, this is what happens when you have roster constraints.
Lindsay was demoted this week to AA, I think the organization was done with him before they needed a spot for Herrera.
by Greg Stanwood on May 14, 2010 2:57 PM MDT up reply actions
Tough decisions have to be made
when you suffer as many injuries as we have, but I don’t like giving up on power arms too early. I would have to say the Rox have made good decisions for the most part on those guys lately, such as Morrillo. I wasn’t ready to give up on him yet either, and he really didn’t pan out. I guess I should stop getting so attached to our prospects.
"Whenever I see an old lady slip and fall on a wet sidewalk, my first instinct is to laugh. But then I think, what if I was an ant, and she fell on me. Then it wouldn't seem quite so funny."
Jack Handy quote
I wasn't happy when Herrera was taken off the 40 man
But looking at where that left them in middle infielders, they still had Tulo, Barmes, Gomez, Nelson and EYJr on the 40 man roster. The problem is that Gomez and Nelson have both had injury issues (again) and they seem to have decided that EYJr. is an OF. So what we’ve seen up to this point has been Mora playing butcher at second while Barmes has struggled or Tulo has been hurt, and now Lindsay being lost in order to get Herrera back on the 40 man.
Bottom line, the decision to keep two injury plagued prospects on the 40 man was understandable, and I probably would have done the same thing. But when they represent 40% of your roster at those two positions and you get a rash of injuries there, you’re probably going to have to pay a price for the decision… a deferred price, since the real decision last winter was probably not whether to keep Nelson and Gomez, but whether to count on them to the point that you take Herrera off the roster in favor of protecting another young pitcher.
by Junction Rox on May 14, 2010 5:15 PM MDT up reply actions
I don't think anyone is sold on EYJ
being an OFer, I think its temporary as they find places for him to play and try to get him on the field more, but hopefully the coaches are seeing what we already see, and that is, he’s not an OFer.
"Whenever I see an old lady slip and fall on a wet sidewalk, my first instinct is to laugh. But then I think, what if I was an ant, and she fell on me. Then it wouldn't seem quite so funny."
Jack Handy quote
It always hurts to lose prospects this way, but it has to happen this way sometimes.
Lindsay hasn’t been himself this year, and we likely would have lost him this way before 2012 anyway.
by Greg Stanwood on May 14, 2010 2:51 PM MDT up reply actions
Let's not get carried away.
To be sure, Lindsay is a prospect, but he’s more likely to miss since he can’t get his control under, ahem, control.
No one is carried away, just not worth the trade off IMO
"Whenever I see an old lady slip and fall on a wet sidewalk, my first instinct is to laugh. But then I think, what if I was an ant, and she fell on me. Then it wouldn't seem quite so funny."
Jack Handy quote
So should I move everyone up once or keep this list as a "snapshot" of 20 days ago?
The writer formerly known as Jabberwocky
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This is the same question
we had with Brandon Hynick the last time. I wanted to keep it based on original voting, but if you want to update no problem in doing so.
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You know what, I'm just going to update it.
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by Jeff Aberle on May 15, 2010 11:34 AM MDT up reply actions
what happened to Aaron Weatherford?
"These are thin mints. I put them in the freezer. My favorites. So good."
--Reds outfielder Adam Dunn, on the girl scout cookies he keeps in his locker
Mentioned on one ballot, 56th place overall
The writer formerly known as Jabberwocky
READ and LEARN about the business of baseball at Purple Row Academy
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hes still in the organization though right?
"These are thin mints. I put them in the freezer. My favorites. So good."
--Reds outfielder Adam Dunn, on the girl scout cookies he keeps in his locker
According to Jack Etkin at ITR from April 6th.
Weatherford underwent shoulder surgery in late February and will miss the season. He’s home in Nashville, Tenn., rehabbing.
by WanderingRoxFan on May 15, 2010 9:39 PM MDT up reply actions
Ahhhh bummerrrrr
thanks
"These are thin mints. I put them in the freezer. My favorites. So good."
--Reds outfielder Adam Dunn, on the girl scout cookies he keeps in his locker
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