Each fall, Baseball America undertakes a process I would never have the knowledge to do – ranking all 30 organization’s prospects within their respective league top 20s.
While the base information summarized below is free to all, the detailed scouting reports on each player are for BA subscribers. Along with joining The Cardinal Nation, of course, I recommend you consider a Baseball America membership if you are a prospect watcher.
Here is the summary of the Cardinals’ placements on the various league-wide lists.
| Full-season | |||||||||
| Pacific Coast | Texas | Florida State | Midwest | ||||||
| # | AAA | # | AA | # | A+ | A | |||
| 1 | Oscar Taveras | 9 | Stephen Piscotty | 14 | Stephen Piscotty | none | |||
| 5 | Michael Wacha | 12 | Tim Cooney | ||||||
| 7 | Carlos Martinez | ||||||||
| 16 | Kolten Wong | ||||||||
| Short-season | |||||||||
| New York-Penn | Appalachian | Gulf Coast | |||||||
| # | SS-A | # | Rookie | # | Rookie | ||||
| 5 | Carson Kelly | 7 | Alex Reyes | 8 | Rob Kaminsky | ||||
| 19 | Juan Herrera | 17 | Kenny Peoples-Walls | ||||||
| 20 | Steve Bean |
A couple of names I thought might have placed include first-rounder Marco Gonzales, who split his time between the Gulf Coast League and Florida State League. Then again, the left-hander still has to prove himself as a professional. Gonzales’ rookie campaign did not stand out, despite the 19th overall pick having been said by some to have the potential of reaching the majors first from his draft class.
James Ramsey, a 2012 first-rounder, also did not appear. The outfielder appeared in three different leagues this season – Florida State, Texas and Pacific Coast. He is now with Stephen Piscotty and others in the Arizona Fall League. (Our daily AFL reports are posted each morning for subscribers to The Cardinal Nation.)
As a reminder, the members of The Cardinal Nation message board are currently voting for their top 40 Cardinals prospects. The balloting is nearing the end of the top 20 presently. Participation is free!
Those rankings will be fed into the official top 40 for 2014 from The Cardinal Nation. That annual countdown traditionally begins just after Thanksgiving.
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