Not surprisingly, according to Baseball America only one Driller qualified as top 20 material in the Texas League, #18 Ubaldo Jiminez. The Drillers in 2005 were largely a collection of journeymen and projects with several of their best players, particularly some of their pitchers, being too old to be considered for a youth-centric magazine like BA. The Rockies have to be pleased with the performance of some Drillers, however, for instance pitchers Sandy Nin, Judd Songster and Jon Asahina as well as outfielders Jud Thigpen and Tony Miller all put up solid campaigns. Whle none of thes players figure to be much more than role players down the line in the major leagues, all provide some nice depth to the upper levels of the system that will be especially nice to have next year when they move on to AAA.
At this point Jayson Nix seems in the same boat, a role player who will provide some nice depth, and while keeping him isn't costing us anything, I'm not holding my breath that his talent will ever mature into legit everyday MLB skills. Next season Tulsa promises to be the showcase of the top talent in the system, at least for the beginning of the year, so Driller Stadium ought to be rocking then.