Giolito, Cole Make Mayo’s Top 100 Prospects List
Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com has released the 2014 edition of his Top 100 prospects with two Nationals making the cut.
Coming in at #44, it’s a kid from Southern California, and the Nats’ #1 pick in the 2012 Draft, Lucas Giolito(sorry for the Casey Kasem lead-in; kids have been watching Scooby Doo a lot lately)
He was ranked #74 last year despite having thrown just two innings and was in recovery from Tommy John surgery. As reported by MASN’s Byron Kerr earlier this month, Giolito is expected to begin 2014 in Hagerstown, though it’s less clear that he’ll pitch immediately. Previous HS picks Robbie Ray and the next guy were held back until May at the same age/stage without having had surgery. Taylor Jordan did start his second season after TJ surgery in April 2013 though he was much older (24 vs. 19) and much more experienced (248⅔ IP vs. 38⅔ IP).
A.J. Cole moved up 22 spots from #91 to #69 after the Nationals re-acquired him a year ago in the Michael Morse trade. Cole had gotten lit like a sailor on leave (7.82/4.99/1.84) in the High-A California League the previous summer, forcing a demotion to Low-A Burlington (IA) where he rebounded to a 2.07/2.74/1.01 line and a 6-3 record. Cole fulfilled Washington GM Mike Rizzo’s assertion that the Nats “pitching people will straighten out his delivery” as the 22-y.o. made 18 starts for Potomac and seven for Harrisburg for a combined record of 10-5 with a line of 3.60/2.91/1.12 and peripherals of 2.1 BB/9 and 9.5 K/9. Cole will most likely return to Harrisburg for more seasoning, as scouts believe his secondary offerings (CH, CV) still need further development.
Last year, four Nationals were ranked. Anthony Rendon (#28) graduated to the parent club while Brian Goodwin (#52) fell from the list, which saw 35 new names thanks to injuries, underperformance, and of course, the next wave of draftees.
Both of these ranking seem just about right. If A.J pitches again this year like he did last year, look for him to move up a good 50-60 spots. Don’t blame everyone for wanting to see if he can do it 2 years in a row.
Big time drop for Goodwin. Could some of be that he’s now looking more as a corner outfielder than a C.F? If he moves to the corner, that would open things up for Taylor in centerfield.
Both Goodwin and Michael Taylor will be at big league camp this spring, so it’ll be interesting to see how playing time is split between the two of them. Nice to see Cole’s been invited too.
Meanwhile, it’s a bit odd to see Robbie Ray in the top 100 when no one considered him to be above Goodwin in the Nats organizational rankings. Ray was usually considered in the 5-6 range and that was after his bounce back season in 2013. Some sort of bias due to his involvement in a trade?
Ray is relatively young, left-handed and a pitcher. Those are three built-in biases to begin with.
Luke, you photoshopped that picture off a Disney film..that guy was in 19999999999960 Disney films.
the eights and nines buttons are askew on my keyboard.
So Goodwin and Taylor should begin Harrisburg while Souza bumps up to SYR???
Dunigan should get 350 ABs in SYR.
Nope. That’s an Airplane! movie reference.
Robbie Ray made the list at #97. I have to wonder if he would have made the list if Dave Dombrowski hadn’t given him a big endorsement.