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