As is usually the case, the early season in the minors for the Rockies has seen some surprises, a couple of disappointments and a couple of key injuries that might shake up how we view the top prospect list.
Surprises:
- Jhoulys Chacin - not that he's good, just that he's this good.
- Greg Reynolds - It's been a surprisingly strong MLB debut for the 2006 first rounder.
- Darin Holcomb - I don't think I expected him to do badly, but he's showing a near complete game with the Tourists.
- Cory Riordan - Asheville's second ace, Riordan's putting up some really impressive numbers. He's got a polished game that might be taking advantage over a rough around the edges SAL to put up those numbers, though, be careful before rating him too high.
- Shane Lindsay - He could be a real wild card in this discussion, I think. A lot to like, a lot to be skeptical about.
Disappointments:
- Franklin Morales - Our soon to be former #1 prospect has drifted back into major project territory.
- Chris Nelson - Speaking of drifting back...
- Daniel Mayora - Has been looking better the last couple of weeks, but still not close to the kind of performances he had the last two seasons.
- Brandon Hynick - He's had an up and down start, but eight homeruns given up already isn't making him look good.
Key Injuries:
- Hector Gomez -
- Chaz Roe - will be back this week
- Pedro Strop - torn ligament, this one hurts a lot.
- Eric Young Jr - Has succumbed to the curse of Eric Young Sr. that prevents the Rockies from having a decent second baseman since he left.
Number one on my list comes down to either Ian Stewart or Dexter Fowler with Reynolds, Chacin and Casey Weathers filling out the top five. Morales probably comes in right around number six, with Nelson, Aneury Rodriguez and Gomez in the top nine. After that I get into a large second tier of guys with lots of talent and a lot of flaws in their performance record -like Lindsay, Brian Rike or Esmil Rogers, or solid performers without the top flight talent like Holcomb and Riordan.
It's going to be a task to sort that all out. That's why we have the discussion first, though, so let's start.