No sense wasting any time…
| 16. Tres Barrera | 21. Jackson Tetreault (16) | 26. Tomas Alastre |
| 17. Jose Sanchez (23) | 22. Kyle Johnston (22) | 27. Gabe Klobosits (31) |
| 18. James Bourque | 23. Brigham Hill (17) | 28. Malvin Peña |
| 19. Nick Raquet (21) | 24. Tanner Rainey | 29. Ronald Peña |
| 20. Ben Braymer | 25. Joan Adon | 30. Drew Ward (19) |
IFAs still make up a third of the list, but as mentioned yesterday, pitching is almost two-thirds. The question is, how much of that is BA’s “girl-watching” bias (the prettiest one is the last one that walked by).
I’m sure many of you are also confused by some of the inclusions:
• Ronald Peña. Allegedly, he can throw high-90s heat, which, even if true, is not that big a deal anymore. While his time in AA was brief, it was the first 25 innings of his seven-year career and five HRs and 13BBs is pretty typical for “AA-” pitcher.
• Alastre was a watchlister last year, he gave up a ton of hits (135 in 118⅓ IP) and got strikeouts like Brad Pitt at a singles bar at a subpar rate, averaging 6.1 per 9IP in a league where batters struck out at 8.9 per 9IP.
• Adon, also a 2018 watchlister, did pile up the whiffs (40 in 30⅓ IP) but also gave up walks like they were coupons (22) and more than a hit per IP (33).
• Klobosits was effective when he was healthy, but it’s questionable that he should still be ranked when he’s coming off surgery, never mind move up in the rankings. This is, of course, why I brought back the M*A*S*H category for 2019.
Lastly, instead of mocking BA for their projection for the Nats’ 2019 lineup they projected in 2016, we can instead mock them for their 2022 lineup:
C – Yan Gomes
1B – Anthony Rendon
2B – Luis Garcia
SS – Trea Turner
3B – Carter Kieboom
LF – Juan Soto
CF – Victor Robles
RF – Adam Eaton
#1SP – Max Scherzer
#2SP – Stephen Strasburg
#3SP – Patrick Corbin
#4SP – Mason Denaburg
#5SP – Wil Crowe
CL – Erick Fedde
I’m not sure why they even bother with this. Prospect followers and fantasy-league owners alike know that free agency, injuries, and skill declines make it hard to predict 2019’s lineup in 2019, never mind three years from now. That’s part of what fuels the interest of “Who’s next?” for both.