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16. – Tink Hence – Loaded with potential. 2022 will tell lots about this kid.
17. Alec Willis – High school pitcher with projectability.
18. Ian Bedell – Bedell is something of a sleeper in that, other than a couple of games at the beginning of 2021, he hasn’t really pitched yet in professional baseball. He was drafted in 2020, then took the rest of the year off because of COVID. In 2021 he evidently showed up at camp with a bad elbow because he had Tommy John surgery after only two games. Likely a mid-rotation guy.
19. Edwin Nunez- High powered fastball. Needs to work on his control. I think this kid could either rise fast in this ranking, or drop just as fast.
20. Matt Koperniak – Moved all the way up to Springfield his first year in the system. Hits for average. But will he figure out how to hit for power? Koperniak will eventually get some major league AB’s.16 Hence- If reports where he was turning heads at the complex turn into spring reports of hitting upper digits and projecting as a full- season starter, Hence jumps into McGreevey territory.
17 Redmond-When Gorman makes the big jump, Redmond will become our top power-hitting prospect. Burleson might have the better over all bat, but Redmond has a sweet swing, too.
18 Thomas. He seems to be vying for a bullpen slot or a spot in the Memphis rotation. A mercurial ascent to the pen seems to help his case, but it greatly diminishes his value long term. Passi g Ryan and Waddell seems entirely possible, and one injury away from the MLB pen.
19 Perez- I’ve heard he has put on 117 pounds of Luken Baker by working out this fall. It places both players at 230 pounds of muscle.20 Baker The power is real, and he could really put up some Yepezian numbers next year in AAA. I would love to have Pete Alonso, but he is far more Alonzo Ingalls from Little House on the Prairie.
Romeri has passed Torres for me when you look at his age. If Torres breaks out at Springfield, everything changes again, but Patrick is gaining on Jhon, and really has all the same tools you dream on with outfielders.
16 Tink Hence – He’s young, only 19 years old for almost the entire 2022 season. He pitches with the determination of a front end starting pitcher. Also possible late inning reliever.
17. Ian Bedell – Chosen in the 4th Round of the 2020 draft. Might have gone a lot earlier, but was apparently injured. Spent the 2020 season hiding from COVID like so many others.
Showed up for spring baseball, but only pitched two games before heading off for Tommy John surgery. Bedell’s one year of recovery from TJ ends in June 2222. We’ll start to see what we really have after that.18. Alec Willis – Tall, 6’5″ high school pitcher. Lot’s of potential.
19. Ryan Holgate – Outfielder. Offensive weapon in college at U of Arizona.
20. Matt Koperniak – Very good hitter. Moved all the way up to Springfield in his first year of professional ball. Needs to find more power for today’s game.
If you measure war totals of relief pitchers and back up catchers to virtually any other group, it becomes hard to vote for guys who project into those categories.
Tommy Edman is an anomaly.
Tommy Lawless is the norm.
This makes me think guys like Romeri and Torres still hold greater value than guys like Prater or even Graceffo when talk of moving to relief becomes closer to reality despite relative draft position. It hurts Ali Sanchez despite his actual organizational value and high probability to contribute next year.
I have found every round perplexing.Whoops. I voted twice.
If we were in Chicago……. and now Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Milwaukee or Phoenix, voting multiple times would be encouraged, Mudville.
16. Tink Hence. Solid fastball, solid off speed stuff, doesn’t walk a lot. That’s a Jack Flaherty starter kit. I like him most of these 5 to make the big leagues and contribute one day.
17. Connor Thomas. The deceptive lefty was better at Memphis than any of his other stops, oddly. We will see how he progresses and if he’s getting a lot of starts next year with the pretty loaded Memphis rotation.
18. Ryan Holgate. I like the power bat and I think he’ll move along next year. I could see him moving up in the rankings with a Burlesonesque show of bombs and bloops.
19. Luken Baker. The mountain of a man may end up picked by Pittsburgh or Baltimore in the Rule 5 draft just because the power is there to dream on. He finished 2019 strong at Palm Beach and then put on a show at Springfield in between injuries. Word was that his first base defense was improving, but he still may be a DH type.
20. Edwin Nunez. The 100 mph arm gets the nod here. He’s the Alex Reyes type but he was very hittable this year. We will see how an off-season of development suits him.
16. Tink Hence – Would like to rank him higher but the organization keeping him in the FCL without letting him get his feet wet in a few games at PB is curious. Could be a good candidate to break out in 2022.
17. Edwin Nunez – Very different prospect from Hence, with an electric FB and working to harness the rest. Average CB that could improve and pair with triple digit heat. Screams reliever, but might develop into a starter if the CB/CU turn into weapons.
18. Delvin Perez – He’s made strides and still has the Gold Glove ability at SS. His DRC+ and wRC+ were 93 and 80 respectively so still remains a below average hitter, though he did show a few hot streaks. He’ll go as far as his glove will take him. If the bat picks up he could still live up to his first round pedigree. Bat is looking much less likely though.
19. Luken Baker – Has never had a wRC+ less than 115 (121 in AA in 2021). Power showed up with 26 HRs in AA. His picture comes up if you Google prototype DH. Hopefully that becomes a thing in the NL or else he probably doesn’t spend any time on the STL MLB roster.
20. Jhon Torres – Still young and making strides. Has all the tools and I still think he puts them together. He had a terrible first go in Peoria in 2019 when he was challenged with a tough assignment (36 wRC+) and then killed it in the Appy League. Spent the whole year in Peoria with an 86 wRC+ to show for it. Maybe it’s just Peoria.
Let’s see who can ace the Edwin Nunez Quiz.
Which number among these is his 2021 innings total, which is earned runs, which is walks, which is strikeouts, and which is wild pitches plus hit batters?
52, 59, 56, 65, 54
The sad answer of course is that it doesn’t matter which specifically is which, when the numbers are that nightmarish. I know, he’s very young, but to me Edwin Dalkowski Nunez is not currently a baseball prospect. What he is, is a human being who can throw stuff hard while wearing a baseball uniform.
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This isn’t a guy who merely needs to improve. To have any professional future at all, he needs to be completely taken apart and put back together again. And that is so, so difficult.
Much like Josh Baez and his .158 batting average, or Tre Fletcher and his 40% strikeout rate, I don’t think it’s possible to find an MLB player, past or present, with a minor league season as bad as those guys in his past. I hate being such a fatalist, but we have to take the bad with the good. The reason Jordan Walker should be universally lauded as one of the top 3-5 prospects in the entire sport, is the same as the reason the aforementioned trio are in a lot of trouble. Precedent.
I hear you about the guys that had a truly bad year, Bob. The one caveat I’d note for Baez and Nunez for this year specifically is that we don’t have a great bead on just how the lost 2020 affected these guys’ development. I know it was the “same” for everyone, but the overseas and cold weather high school crowd were subject to a particularly odd go of it.
So while the odds remain stacked against to these guys, I give them a little grace for this year only. Next year, we’d better see them start to improve.
#16 – Delvin Perez, SS
#17 – Alec Wills, RHP
#18 – Tink Hence, RHP
#19 – Austin Love, RHP
#20 – Gordon Graceffo, RHPSurprised that no one has mentioned Dionys Rodriguez yet. Jack Ralston (6’6) also is an intriguing arm even if he is older.
Bob Reed
Much like Josh Baez and his .158 batting average, or Tre Fletcher and his 40% strikeout rate, I don’t think it’s possible to find an MLB player, past or present, with a minor league season as bad as those guys in his past.
Baez only had 95 PAs. He did have a strong BB-rate of 14.7% and a projected SB total of 30+ for a full season. I didn’t have him in my top ten, but I had him in the mid-teens. I think that’s fair.
Bob Reed
Much like Josh Baez and his .158 batting average, or Tre Fletcher and his 40% strikeout rate, I don’t think it’s possible to find an MLB player, past or present, with a minor league season as bad as those guys in his past.
That’s a logical sentiment and I understand wanting more production before you go all in. My argument is stats in Rookie League don’t paint the whole picture. I looked at a few names that came to mind for high schoolers drafted at the top in the past few years and frankly most if not all of them did better than Baez (and Fletcher for that matter) in Rookie ball. Having said that, the complex leagues are a bit different now than the past. The average pitcher age has increased along with the average hitters age just due to the loss of the SS A Ball (JC and SC). It seems a few of the HS hitters got many fewer at bats than they normally would have (also due to the draft getting pushed back and fewer games). All to say while your point is valid, it’s not necessarily apples to apples just due to all of the change. It will be interesting to see how this changes things. Will slower developing prospects (Plummer/Perez types) get the runway to develop or just flame out sooner?
I’m just betting on talent, but also acknowledging there is greater risk with HS bats from northern states. Seems to take them longer to adjust, like that Nick Plummer guy (with some added injuries as well). That’s what makes this such a good debate.
16. Sidney Connor Thomas
17. Markevian “Tink” Hence
18. Andre Anthony “Granny” Granillo
19. Jhon Hansser “The Table Setter” Torres
20. Edwin Manuel Nunez
We had more voters this round than any previous round, by my count. Hopefully we keep the momentum. The results are in!!
16. Tink Hence
17. Luken Baker
18. Connor Thomas
19. Delvin Perez
20. Alec WillisVoting for #21-25 is now OPEN. Voting will end at 8 PM EST/7 PM CST on December 2nd.
21 Walsh power pitcher,possible closer
22 Ralston lots of strikeouts, hard to square
23 Pacheco another power reliever, improved control late
24 Antico nice power/speed combo, leadoff man
25 Graceffo, best 2021 draftee pitcher debut
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