The BA Prospect Handbook, Part One
Yesterday, the BA Prospect Book arrived, earlier than when I expected when I placed the order, but thanks to modern e-commerce, on time according to the notifications. Alas, I did not order early enough to find out the #31 guy.
No doubt in large part because Victor Robles’s departure was delayed, combined with the ascents of Carter Kieboom and Luis Garcia, the Nats dropped just one spot in the overall organization ranking to #16 from #15. Robles was ranked as the #1 CF prospect while Kieboom and Garcia were nos. 9 and 10 respectively.
Perhaps unsurprising to everyone but commenters to MASN and WaPo (and F.P. Santangelo, natch), the Nats had no pitchers among the Top 40 for RHPS, 15 for LHPs.
As we typically do, a look at how last year’s Top 30 did:
| GRADUATED | Juan Soto, Erick Fedde, Andrew Stevenson, Pedro Severino, Jefry Rodriguez |
| TRADED | Daniel Johnson, Blake Perkins, Kelvin Gutierrez |
| DROPPED OUT | Rafael Bautista, Jose Marmolejos, Taylor Gushue, Austin Voth, Joan Baez, Anderson Franco, Jakson Reetz, Osvaldo Abreu |
That’s a churn of 16 names, which is more than usual (about 9-11). The boys in Durham are still high on recently drafted pitchers, with 11 of the 19 pitchers on the list being 2017 or 2018 picks. The list still skews old with eight players (same as last year) who are or will be 25 or older by the end of 2019, including one who turns 28 in September.
Finally, here’s the top 15 for 2018, with last year’s ranking (if applicable) in parentheses:
| 1. Victor Robles (1) | 6. Tim Cate | 11. Reid Schaller |
| 2. Carter Kieboom (4) | 7. Seth Romero (5) | 12. Gage Canning |
| 3. Luis Garcia (6) | 8. Sterling Sharp | 13. Raudy Read (9) |
| 4. Mason Denaburg | 9. Yasel Antuna (10) | 14. Telmito Agustin (25) |
| 5. Wil Crowe (7) | 10. Jake Irvin | 15. Israel Pineda |
Next post, nos. 16 to 30.
No surprises here. Denaburg, Cate, Irvin, Schaller and Canning were considered the best Nats draft picks, so a few dozen innings one way or another shouldn’t have too great of an impact on their outlook, even if Schaller, for example, was less than impressive.
I am glad that Pineda got some recognition. He’s been overlooked a lot.
Need to get Romero and Read out of that list.
Denaburg hasn’t done anything yet.
The same could be said for most of the other pitchers on that list!
No he hasn’t … but guys like Kiley McDaniel are on record basically saying that he’s got so much potential that just a couple of months of demonstrated production in 2019 will vault him into the top 100 of all of the minors.
I’ve always been on record of liking this stuff; still can’t understand why knucklehead is at #7 after doing nothing so far AND won’t until 2020 at the earlest.
Rehabbing from Tommy John is hard, and it’s not unfair to wonder whether Seth is even prepared to put in that kind of work to continue with a career about his actions suggest he’s diffident at best.
Rehabbing from Tommy John is hard – It requires a lot of hard work, dedication, and physical conditioning. Romero has yet to demonstrate any of those three qualities consistently. Sure, I’d love for him to grow up and figure it out, but if I were to bet, I’d put my money on his being the next Todd Van Poppel or Brien Taylor.
Because said knucklehead has more talent than any other pitching prospect in the organization with the possible exception of Denaburg. TJ surgery is no longer considered an impediment to future to success (particularly in this organization). FWIW, was unaware of any incidents with Romero between the time he returned this past year until he was injured.
IMO, Romero will be a big league pitcher.
The time between his return (a.k.a. starting the season halfway through because he broke camp rules and apparently didn’t show enough sincerity for the Nats to reinstate him sooner) and him getting hurt was like one month. During which he didn’t pitch particularly well.
Maybe he pans out, but I wouldn’t place any bets he ever contributes much of anything.
I think he is considered above Denaburg in terms of talent?
Seems like brass will hold with their hand @ Fresno after adding Snyder Goeddel and Sardinas . Luke you might be correct about Converse Taylor
Between Fresno and Burg depending upon camp activity and additions once other clubs ♣️ cut their numbers
BP not really a fan of Luis Garcia after watching him. It’s surprising to see him at #3. They seem to think he’s lost his plus-plus speed for starters. They seem to think he’s more flash than substance?