The BA Prospect Handbook, Part Two
Sure, I’ll open the kimono…
| 16. SS Jackson Cluff (16) | 21. LHP Mitchell Parker | 26. C Tres Barrera (15)* |
| 17. OF Donovan Casey | 22. LHP Evan Lee | 27. LHP Seth Romero (13) |
| 18. OF Daylen Lile | 23. C Israel Pineda (14) | 28. RHP Mason Denaburg (8) |
| 19. LHP Tim Cate (7) | 24. OF Daniel Marte (16) | 29. SS Jordy Barley |
| 20. SS Sammy Infante (12) | 25. OF Roismar Quintana (20) | 30. C Drew Millas |
* Exceeded MLB service-time limit for rookie status.
Perhaps not coincidentally, the number of IFAs is now 40% of the list (12) while pitchers are less than half the list (14). While this probably went to virtual press before Romero’s DUI, I doubt very much it would have made a difference.
I promise you I don’t have this as a snippet, but… behold the power of incumbency.
I’m also wondering, as many of you did yesterday, how much effort was actually expended in compiling this list. Mason Denaburg hasn’t both thrown a pitch in a game where stats were kept since 2019. But there he is, still in the Top 30 with a career ERA of 7.52 in a whopping 20⅓ innings.
Tres Barrera may be a nice guy, but he’s going to be 28 in September, and at best, he’ll be the starting catcher for Rochester by the end of the minor-league season, assuming neither Pineda nor Millas has a breakout season or that there’s not an injury in DC (don’t say I jinxed them; injuries and the Nats go together like clouds and sky).
A few other tidbits:
- Breakout prospects: Ramirez and Cluff
- Both hands on the keyboard: “There’s likely a place in the big leagues at some point for Cate just based on his durability, pitchability, moxie[,] and his ability to use his curveball as a weapon at will.” But does he have The Face?
- Quintana suffered a hamstring injury in early July
- Barley has played enough 2B and has the speed to convert to CF, both of which are probably options given his 110E in 208G at SS
Ordinarily, I’d finish up here… but this year (hey, that rhymes!) the Boys in Durham have seen fit not just to add a bonus pick, but ten of them.
That’s for the next post, so please no spoilers. We can then discuss how many of them should have been ranked higher!
Narrator: All of them is not just a snarky answer, it just might be THE answer
Tidbits indeed, considering that #26-30 are unrankable.
Whether Tim Cate, not on the 40 man but we don’t even know if there’s a Rule V draft or not.
Maybe that was the subliminal appeals with Barley – the athleticism
Which translates
Andry should have a good summer
I have a feeling that Mason Denaburg might surprise a lot of people and be much higher on this list this time next year.
Not that it would be a big surprise but I expect Quintana will be in the top ten.
Quintana had a total of 13 AB’s last year, so no telling what he is at this point. He turns 19 Sunday.
Denaberg, unlike Seth ‘knucklehead’ Romero, can’t be faulted for his lack of production. He just never been healthy. Good luck to him this year.
Bahahaha. Joan Adon was the only player to move up last year’s list.
This list is so, insanely bad. I don’t remember ever before seeing a system ranking and seeing so many flaws in it before, which is especially strange for BA, whose job is to know the minors. MLB.com and FanGraphs just add it onto their major league coverage, so I’d expect a higher quality from BA.
It’s so obvious that they just recycled 2020’s list and peppered in the new draftees/trade acquisitions but made absolutely no effort to scout the players already in the Nationals’ farm system. There’s genuinely no reason to include Daniel Marte in this list. I’ve said my piece on Antuna, but similar cases could be made about Cate, Denaburg, Romero and Barrera, as Luke has pointed out.
But if we’re going to unjustifiably rank guys like those above based on the draft position/bonus, what about Ricardo Mendez? He signed for $600k, which is twice as much as Marte, while putting up a nearly .800 OPS in Wilmington.
What’s really the difference between Donovan Casey and Jake Alu, except Casey benefitted from Dodgers hype? Casey is himself an unheralded 20th round pick from Boston College who at age 25 hit .269/.329/.430 at AA/AAA splitting his time between a premium position (CF) and non-premium (RF/LF). Jake Alu an unheralded 24th round pick from Boston College at age 24 hit .281/.332/.444 at A+/AA, while splitting his time between 2B and 3B.
Looking forward to FanGraph’s rankings, which I found have usually been very good. Can’t be much lower effort than this.