NationalsProspects.com

Vote For Your Favorite Bats


Well, it’s that’s time of the offseason where I turn to my readers to help generate pageviews fill the void of the offseason, which seems slower than usual this year.

For the folks who aren’t familiar – or have forgotten – here’s the deal: Send me your Top 10 list of minor-league position players (40-man guys are eligible as long as they have rookie status) to enfieldmass-top10bats[at]yahoo[dot]com (link will open your preferred email client) or submit them in comments.

I’ll compile the votes and weight them in reverse order (#1 = 10 points, #2 = 9 points… #9 = 2 points, #10 = 1 point). When it feels like I’ve got a sizable number of submissions, I’ll update this post to let people know I’ve ready to write the “Top 10” post.

This will create the sixth annual NationalsProspects.com Top 10 Bats list. A reminder: “Bat” is a term I use as shorthand for position player. This is not to diminish the meaning of defense, though I caution folks to infer too much from defensive stats.

Raudy Read, recently featured by Byron Kerr, is a good example. On virtual paper, his .993FA and 37% CS rate look good. After seeing him those five games at Potomac, I’m trying to figure out how he only had 22 passed balls (aside from bad official scoring, natch).

Anyway, please factor in defense, which I suspect many of you will be since offense was hard to find this past summer. The theory is that collectively we’ll put together a better list than any one of us can (or at least me).

But more importantly, I’m hoping to bide the time and reinforce this community until the Winter Meetings, which begin today in Nashville, get into gear.

UPDATE: I’m calling and will post the Top 10 shortly.

25 Commments

  2. My Maddux list did not do the trick , Luke
    You might have better FORCE when SW
    Film debuts lol
    I like Read who brings a nice bat to the middle
    Of any lineup .
    Still hoping Louisville slugger Jeff Gardner
    Breajs out more in 2016.

  3. This was probably the hardest year for me to come up with a list. After the top 3 its just a giant tie IMO. Here’s what I came up with

    Trea Turner
    Wilmer Difo
    Victor Robles
    Rafael Bautista
    Osvaldo Abreu
    Pedro Severino
    Drew Ward
    Anderson Franco
    Jackson Reetz
    Isaac Ballou

  4. The e-mail link was not working for me, so here goes:

    1. Victor Robles
    2. Trea Turner
    3. Wilmer Difo
    4. Chris Bostick
    5. Jose Marmolejos-Diaz
    6. Anderson Franco
    7. Osvaldo Abreu
    8. Pedro Severino
    9. Max Schrock
    10. Telmito Agustin

    I’m with Jeff–very tough year to go all the way to 10, though I would add Bostick to the Top 3 as one I like a lot. After him though there are just too many question marks.

    1. After him though there are just too many question marks.
      Agreed. Some of us may be crying 96 tears trying to decide.

  6. 1. Turner
    2. Robles
    3. Franco
    4. Difo
    5. Stevenson
    6. Ballou
    7. Bostick
    8. Agustin
    9. Mejia
    10. Marmolejos-Diaz

    Honorable mention: Medina, Ward, Abreu, Kieboom, Reetz, Perkins, Wiseman, Schrock, Keller

    I’m much bigger on the Latin youth coming up through the GCL and DSL (6/10 came were non-drafted IFAs), however given their extreme youth, there’s still a lot of volatility. However, I think 8-10 (+ Medina) have MUCH higher upsides than 5-7, who I don’t think to project to be anything more than AAAA players. The jury is still out on most of our 2014-15 draftees (Perkins, Wiseman, Schrock, Reetz, etc.). Any of them could easily leap frog into the top 5 after a good season, but I’m not optimistic.

  7. 1. Turner
    2. Robles
    3. Difo
    4. Severino
    5. Franco
    6. Stevenson
    7. Ward
    8. Reetz
    9. Kieboom
    10. OMD

    Honorable Mention: Bautista, Abreu, Lora, Bostick, Read, Mejia, Shrock, Agustin, Gutierrez

      1. It was either that or you’re a big fan of “Pretty In Pink” (that’s two obscure music references in two days, folks!)

        1. Orchestral Manoeuvers in the Dark – there’s a band from my youth 😉
          Good job, Luke…….

  9. Luke.
    How about a short list of relievers
    Rizzo might sign to stock Cuse shuttle ???
    Or does doug harris and gang go in
    House ??

    1. Not surprising Dodgers : Havana west gets
      Chapman. We have chapman lite lite in Rivero .
      Who is to say Lee Lee don’t surface in 2016??
      GG right ?? Gil. Having irish coffee now ??

  10. Turner, Robles, Difo, Stevenson, Schock, Perkins, Meija, Abreu, Franco, Augustin.
    And I keep thinking that Bautista or Bostick should be on my list.

  11. 1. Turner
    2. Robles
    3. Difo
    4. Bostick
    5. Severino
    6. Franco
    7. Stevenson
    8. Abreu
    9. Bautista
    10. Perkins

  12. Anybody hear what role Nats intend for Shawn
    Kelley ??? Stammen’s old role or Petit might be signed
    For that role ??

    1. All this Zobrist bidding inflation points to the
      Hinted tire kicking on Jimmy Rollins who
      Could be the Papelbon pacifier abd bridge
      To Turner.
      All the bidding inflation on Shawn Kelley may
      Diverge to G Petit to pitch Stammen’s old role with
      Several kids ??
      Could the real Christmas present from Santa Claus
      In 2016 be Brian Goodwin phoenixing out of his
      Career stall, exhibit a spot on March and make the
      Big club???

  13. A bit late to the party, but here we go:

    1. Turner
    2. Robles
    3. Difo
    4. Bostick
    5. Stevenson
    6. Kieboom
    7. Goodwin
    8. Franco
    9. Wiseman
    10. Schrock

    My general criteria is trying to choose guys who can sustain careers in the majors. Really, there’s only one sure thing here: Turner. Robles may have more of an upside long-term, but at 19 and never having played a full pro season, it’s hard to know. Difo and Bostick seem like reasonable bets to make and spend some time in the bigs. Beyond them, I could line up 15-20 guys and basically throw darts. This is not an inspiring group of promising major-leaguers. For that, we’ll have to wait for the Arms.

    I feel like I’m shorting the Latin players a bit. Mejia would have been my #11; it was a tough call between him and Schrock. I hope Severino starts making contact, but until he does, it’s hard not to see him as a Solano/Leon comp. At this point, I like Kieboom’s chances of making enough contact to stick better than Severino’s. As for “Orange,” he was a bit old for the league; to get on my radar, he’ll have to up the voltage through Potomac and Harrisburg in ’16.

    As for the kids, there’s no reason to give up hope on Ward, Reetz, and Perkins, but it’s also hard to rank them coming off struggling seasons.

    And yes, I did go along with some of the others and give Goodwin one more chance. He’s got the talent; he’s just got to figure out what to do with it.

    1. I think all you Goodwin fans are crazy. The guy got DEMOTED and played the worst season of his career during that demotion. And it wasn’t just an unlucky season, but an all around really bad year. His walk rate dropped massively, his power dropped and his defense isn’t good enough to make up for his offensive shortcomings (like Taylor when he was struggling).

      Goodwin is one of those players who was always more potential than results. If you look at his numbers, he had exactly 3 good months in 2012 with Hagerstown. Since then he’s been living off potential that’s never been fulfilled. And now he’s 25.

      I’d challenge everyone to compare Goodwin to “non-prospect” Isaac Ballou. Ballou is only 7 months older, and has almost the exact same skillset as Goodwin (fringe power, good plate discipline, good speed/baserunning, decent defense in CF). The difference is Ballou doesn’t have the prospect hype. But he does have the results.

      2015 AA:
      Goodwin: .226/.290/.340
      vs.
      Ballou: .304/.383/.494

      The choice is pretty obvious to me….

      But let’s look farther back:

      Career:
      Goodwin: .246/.343/.390
      vs.
      Ballou: .270/.358/.403

      1. Good points on Ballou. And I’ve made some of the same points about Goodwin’s demotion and lack of actual production, so I’m not a “fan” at all. I guess I cut him a little slack because of his winter league production. But truth be told, next season is pretty much his last chance for things to kick in and him to make a move. If he had posted Ballou-like numbers, though, he probably would have gotten a Sept. call-up.

        1. Most of the bandwagon cat Ballou fans
          Did not even chime into the nickname
          When he was @ hags.
          Time will tell …,

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