- This topic has 669 replies, 26 voices, and was last updated 8 months, 3 weeks ago by
.
-
Posts
-
Louis,
Roycroft isn’t eligible because he’s spent more than 45 days on the major league roster.
I’m curious what you like about Velasquez. He wasn’t on my radar at all. He spent 2024 as an 18-year old DSL player, which is a touch on the older side. He ran a BABiP of over 400, which says lucky and he struck out over 30% of the time (Yuck!). The OBP and OPS were good, but as an older DSL guy, he doesn’t scream promising player to me. Power would have to be his carrying tool as he’s not fast (5 stolen bases in 8 attempts).
Salazar is worth mentioning though as I don’t think anyone has brought him up. He’s still just 21 and had a solid season at A ball. He’s not on my watch list either, but I could see him getting there.
Roycroft isn’t eligible because he’s spent more than 45 days on the major league roster.
Thank you Jnevel. My mistake, I change it to M.Watson
D.Harris
F.Velasquez
J.Suarez
J.Salazar
M.WatsonAbout Velasquez I’m interested in the power expressed: 17 extra bases on 42 hits. I think he can play another year in DSL and improve it even more. If in the future he manages to stay in the role of CF it could be a surprise. I don’t see him inferior to Yordalin Pena
How Sparks missed our list will remain one of this planet’s greatest mysteries. Sparky will definitely bust a major move in 2025. At the risk of sounding cocky, those who’ve been around here for oh about the last 15 years, know that when I make a baseball prediction…….I have about the same success rate as Scotty Rolen had with fielding easy ground balls.
Pugs, I just haven’t really seen anything of Sparks and he played at a D3 school. Without any minors data to back it up and lack of scouting reports out there, I don’t see a reason to put him in the top 50 yet. Hopefully he can be a stand out player this next season.
Honorable Mentions:
Osvaldo Berrios
Bryan Torres
Inohan Paniagua
Jose Davila
Brannelli FrancoIn hindsight I feel I should have Davila (47 for me) higher and even over Paniagua (40). I for some reason have held onto Paniagua longer than I should have.
Branneli is my choice for sleeper to be in the top 25 next year. He didn’t have a great year in the DSL, but he is 17 years old and is still very raw. There is a lot of talent there and if he can harness, he has a shot to shoot up the rankings.
Nolan Sparks literally can’t miss, Albert. He’s a winner. Barring injury, he’ll definitely be in our Top 20 next year at this time.
Pugs, are you going to lock in your honorable mention picks? We know that Sparks is there, but who else?
Thanks for the reminder, stlcard25.
Sparks
Burns
Paniagua
-I’ll stop here as I have about 20 evenly matched prospects in mind.I’m not giving up on Alec Willis unless he gets released. But sorry to say, the last time he did anything worth mentioning was when he got drafted in 2021. He was thought to be committed to college and didn’t get drafted until the 7th round. The Cardinals offered him a million dollars, $800,000 over his slot, and he took it. Fortunately for him, he collected his signing bonus while he still had a chance. As a result he got to start out in life as a teenage millionaire. Unfortunately for everyone else involved, including Cardinals fans, a million dollars just got pissed away.
Anyone else left to get their honorable mentions in? We will close the voting tomorrow morning. There are still quite a few who voted at various points who have not checked in. Every vote should count!
Ok, so for the final time, here are the results of our honorable mention voting (in order, additive number of votes with the tiebreaker being first to reach the total):
51. Michael Watson, LHP
52. Inohan Paniagua, RHP
53. Dakota Harris, IF
54. Bryan Torres, IF/OF
55. Jack Findlay, LHP
56. Jose Davila, RHP
57. Jon Jon Gazdar, IF
58. Adari Grant, IF
59. Drew Rom, LHP
60. Josh Kross, C
61. Branneli Franco, RHP
62. Tre Richardson, IF
63. Angel Cuenca, RHP
64. Alec Willis, RHP
65. Yordelin Pena, OF
66. Trey Paige, IF
67. Facundo Velasquez, OF
68. Jose Suarez, OF
69. Johnfrank Salazar, IF
70. Nolan Sparks, RHP
71. Osvaldo Berrios, RHP
72. Jake Burns, CThat closes our final voting for the TCN Top Prospect Voting list for 2025. Thanks for voting, everyone!! I will include the full list in my next post. Following the New Year I’ll post a few followup thoughts and questions to answer that should take us through another couple of weeks of the long, hard, lonely winter.
Full List:
1. Quinn Mathews, LHP
2. JJ Wetherholt, IF
3. Tink Hence, RHP
4. Jimmy Crooks, C
5. Michael McGreevy, RHP
6. Thomas Saggese, IF
7. Cooper Hjerpe, LHP
8. Chase Davis, OF
9. Leonardo Bernal, C
10. Chen-Wei Lin, RHP
11. Gordon Graceffo, RHP
12. Tekoah Roby, RHP
13. Sem Robberse, RHP
14. Max Rajcic, RHP
15. Ian Bedell, RHP
16. Matt Svanson, RHP
17. Matt Koperniak, OF
18. Zack Showalter, RHP
19. Cesar Prieto, IF
20. Darlin Saladin, RHP
21. Brian Holiday, RHP
22. Luis Gastelum, RHP
23. Won Bin Cho, OF
24. Jonathan Mejia, IF
25. Sammy Hernandez, C
26. Travis Honeyman, OF
27. Ixan Henderson, LHP
28. Gerardo (Juan) Salas, RHP
29. Yairo Padilla, IF
30. Andre Granillo, RHP
31. Raniel Rodriguez, C
32. Zach Levenson, OF
33. Pete Hansen, LHP
34. Ian Petrutz, OF
35. Ryan Loutos, RHP
36. Andrew Dutkanych IV, RHP
37. Brycen Mautz, LHP
38. Keiverson Ramirez, RHP
39. Ryan Campos, C
40. Hancel Rincon, RHP
41. Jeremy Rivas, IF
42. Nathan Church, OF
43. Joshua Baez, OF
44. Mike Antico, OF
45. Alex Cornwell, LHP
46. Braden Davis, LHP
47. Nelfry Ynfante, RHP
48. Jack Ralston, RHP
49. Edwin Nunez, RHP
50. Leonel Sequera, RHP
51. Michael Watson, LHP
52. Inohan Paniagua, RHP
53. Dakota Harris, IF
54. Bryan Torres, IF/OF
55. Jack Findlay, LHP
56. Jose Davila, RHP
57. Jon Jon Gazdar, IF
58. Adari Grant, IF
59. Drew Rom, LHP
60. Josh Kross, C
61. Branneli Franco, RHP
62. Tre Richardson, IF
63. Angel Cuenca, RHP
64. Alec Willis, RHP
65. Yordelin Pena, OF
66. Trey Paige, IF
67. Facundo Velasquez, OF
68. Jose Suarez, OF
69. Johnfrank Salazar, IF
70. Nolan Sparks, RHP
71. Osvaldo Berrios, RHP
72. Mason Burns, RHPI believe the Burns that Pugs was referring to was Pitcher Mason Burns the 14th round 2024 pick from Western Kentucky. Catcher Jake Burns was released in 2023 and is back in Australia catching.
My personal list (I think Albert suggested we share):
Mathews
Wetherholt
Saggese
Crooks
McGreevey
Hjerpe
Hence
Bernal
C Davis
RobyLin
Graceffo
Rajcic
Showalter
Robberse
Bedell
Granillo
Svanson
Won Bin Cho
SaladinGastellum
Henderson
Padilla
Honeyman
Ynfante
Koperniak
Holiday
Campos
Levenson
SalasPrieto
Mejia
Loutos
Petrutz
Raniel Rodriguez
Sammy Hernandez
Rincon
Baez
Braden Davis
TorresChurch
Watson
Mautz
Rivas
Hansen
Sequera
Findlay
Ralston
Iadisernia
SparksHere are my personal rankings:
1 – Quinn Mathews
2 – J.J. Wetherholt
3 – Tink Hence
4 – Thomas Saggese
5 – Jimmy Crooks
6 – Cooper Hjerpe
7 – Michael McGreevy
8 – Chase Davis
9 – Gordan Graceffo
10 – Leonardo Bernal
11 – Tekoah Roby
12 – Sem Robberse
13 – Chen-Wei Lin
14 – Matt Svanson
15 – Darlin Saladin
16 – Max Rajcic
17 – Zack Showalter
18 – Luis Gastelum
19 – Matt Koperniak
20 – Cesar Prieto
21 – Ixan Henderson
22 – Ian Bedell
23 – Won-Bin Cho
24 – Yario Padilla
25 – Geraldo (Juan) Salas
26 – Brian Holiday
27 – Rainiel Rodriguez
28 – Andrew Dukanych
29 – Travis Honeyman
30 – Sammy Hernandez
31 – Zach Levenson
32 – Jonathan Mejia
33 – Ryan Loutos
34 – Pete Hansen
35 – Keiverson Ramirez
36 – Mike Antico
37 – Andre Granillo
38 – Nathan Church
39 – Alex Cornwall
40 – Ryan Campos
41 – Brycan Mautz
42 – Ian Petrutz
43 – Drew Rom
44 – Edwin Nunez
45 – Leonel Sequera
46 – Jeremy Rivas
47 – Josh Kross
48 – Dakota Harris
49 – Joshua Baez
50 – Alec WillisSorry, it should have been Mason Burns. That’s why I prefer people to list first and last names in totality, as I went to Google. First result for “Burns Cardinals” was Jake, so I threw that in there. My mistake. Last post of the thread I’ll fix the list.
Corrected. Great job, everyone! I am pinning this thread to the top of the board for easy reference.
Thanks to others for sharing their lists. It is interesting to see how various people voted. I would revise my list further after digging into a little more data as I probably am too high on some guys and too low on others, but I am ok with the way my rankings turned out.
1. JJ Wetherholt
2. Quinn Mathews
3. Tink Hence
4. Michael McGreevy
5. Jimmy Crooks
6. Cooper Hjerpe
7. Chase Davis
8. Leonardo Bernal
9. Chen-Wei Lin
10. Tekoah Roby
11. Thomas Saggase
12. Yairo Padilla
13. Rainiel Rodriquez
14. Sem Robberse
15. Zack Showalter
16. Matt Koperniak
17. Gordon Graceffo
18. Max Rajcic
19. Matt Svanson
20. Jonathan Mejia
21. Sammy Hernandez
22. Darlin Saladin
23. Ian Bedell
24. Cesar Prieto
25. Brian Holliday
26. Ixan Henderson
27. Ryan Loutos
28. Travis Honeyman
29. Zach Levenson
30. Won Bin-Cho
31. Andrew Dutkanych IV
32. Luis Gastelum
33. Andre Granillo
34. Ian Petrutz
35. Pete Hansen
36. Ryan Campos
37. Brycen Mautz
38. Keiverson Ramirez
39. Braden Davis
40. Inohan Paniagua
41. Mike Antico
42. Nathan Church
43. Osvaldo Berrios
44. Jeremy Rivas
45. Bryan Torres
46. Jose Davila
47. Branelli Franco
48. Josh Kross
49. Josh Baez
50. Edwin NunezFor some after New Years information, let’s answer a few questions…maybe do 3 at a time? Starting today, Jan 2nd.
1. Name the prospect you are most confident in putting up a 2 WAR season (MLB average) sometime in the next three years.
2. Name the prospect you are most confident in putting up a 5 WAR season (All Star-MVP vote) in the next three years.
3. If you were to trade one of these prospects today for help with the MLB team for 2025 (ie not a future trade), who would it be?
I’ll check in with some more questions when folks have a chance to answer a little bit. In the meantime, feel free to share your overall top 50.
1. Crooks. I’d be surprised if it didn’t get there. I’m just not 100% sure it will be as a Cardinal. Mathews and Wetherholt also seem like really good bets here with McGreevey just behind them.
2. That is a really high bar. Probably no one. But I guess Wetherholt has the best odds. Roby might be the only other player with any kind of reasonable chance.
3. I’ve consistently said I’d trade Hence for about the last year and a half. But now he’s somewhat tarnished with multiple injuries. I guess it would still be him because none of the others I can come up with will bring much back. Sammy Hernandez or Bedell would be next I think, but neither gives much return.
1. Quinn Mathews. I think Mathews could potentially even put up 2 WAR next year if he is called up around May. I expect multiple years of 3+ WAR out of Mathews and think he does have top of the rotation ability. I also feel really good in his floor and at worst I think he will be a serviceable workhorse starter.
2. JJ Wetherholt. JJ by far has the highest upside of any player in our system and I look for to TCN falling in love with him. Good defense at 2B with very high OBP and I think he will have years of 20+ HRs with a lot of doubles. Add it all together and he has a good chance to put up some really good seasons. I expect multiple All Stars out of Wetherholt.
3. Tink Hence or Jimmy Crooks. I like both a lot, but we have the most depth at SP and C in the upper minors. I wouldn’t want to trade either, but if someone offered a young cost controlled corner OF’er with good power, I would take it.
I’ll go with…
1. Michael McGreevy. In fact, I think he puts up 2 WAR this year. He’ll get the innings and average-ish results to get there.
2. Quinn Mathews. I’m seeing a Cole Hamels sort of career for him, as he’s durable, above average in a lot of ways, and will play for a winner.
3. Crooks would probably be the one for me. Maybe Bernal. Catchers never seem to work out for us. I’m holding on to Hence, on the off chance he becomes the true #1 we need. Small chance, sure…but he’s got the best shot at it.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.