by Mike Koepp on February 13, 2012
Will Middlebrooks, 3B Boston Red Sox
9/9/1988
Height: 6-4, Weight: 200
Will Middlebrooks was the Boston Red Sox 5th round pick of the 2007 MLB June Amateur Draft out of Liberty-Eylau High School in Texarkana, Texas. In his senior year he hit Hit .555 with 5 HR, 22 Doubles, 48 RBIs and 22 stolen bases in 38 games. These impressive stats won him the honor of being selected as short stop on the Texas High School Baseball Northern All Star team. Since his signing Middlebrooks has added enough weight to be forced off of SS but just enough not to negatively effect his range as a third baseman. Middlebrooks is young and has great power potential especially at Fenway Park, he hits the ball hard to all fields. One of many reasons he ranked 58° in Baseball Instinct’s 360° list.
Here’s a little bit of what we had to say about him:
58°. Will Middlebrooks, 3B, Red Sox, 9/9/1988 – Middlebrooks’ best tools are his power and arm, both of which rate a plus. His hitting ability isn’t too bad either judging by his triple slash line he put up in AA/AAA this year of .285/.328/.506. However of concern is his strikeouts (114k in 439ab, 465pa) and low bb:k ratio (26:114). But to give him credit he has improved his strikeout rate over the past four years from around 30% to 25%.
Not much has changed to changed in the past month to change those opinions. Instead, lets give you a little be more of a scouting report one of the top prospects in Boston’s farm system and the closest in the system to making a 3B debut for the Sawks. [click to continue…]
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by Thomas Belmont on February 6, 2012
Continuing our run through the Top 10 Lists for prospects and we find ourselves here with the 2B. It leads off with a rumored position switch with Rosario and includes some high probability 2B in Wong and Spangenberg. After that the position really thins on surefire major league talent. But there are some players here who change the public opinion in 2012. So once again, let’s take a step back and take a broad look at the minor leagues as we go position by position and bring to you the Top Position Lists with some additional players and information.
Because as we said, we’ll be analyzing the Baseball Instinct 360° not only full circle, but 365 days a year. The deeper we get into the video and our customized Instinctools Stat System the more the view changes from the top.
So let’s get into the catchers position and give you the list and some of the current thoughts.
In the Top 100
23°. Eddie Rosario, OF/2B, Twins, 9/28/1991 - Rosario had an impressive debut in 2010 as an 18-year-old in the Gulf Coast League. He hit .294 with 5 HRs and 22 SB in 194 at bats in 2010. He followed up that impressive season by displaying an awesome power/speed combination in the Appalachian League by posting a triple slash of .337/.397/.670. It was one of, if not the, best minor league performances in 2011. He still has to prove he do it against advanced pitchers and the FSL will be his first true test. He may start 2011 in Fort Myers. ETA 2014.
Update Instinct – Rumor still has it that, Rosario, an OF in 2011 will be making a transition to 2B. I guess the Twins think that Levi Michael will stick at SS or that they already have their SS in Brian Dozier. Either way, Rosario, seems to be in line for a shot at being a 2B. If this pans out, you have one the top bats as far as potential goes, taking on a premium position. It’s not an easy transition, and Levi Michael will be in line to slip right into the 2B of the future role if Rosario falters defensively. [click to continue…]
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by Bart Klett on January 21, 2012
Ryan Lavarnway, C Boston Red Sox
8/7/1987
Height:6’4” Weight:225
The Boston Red Sox are consistently in the higher echelon of organizational farm depth within all of major league baseball. They consistently identify and draft players that can be developed into productive major leaguers. One of those home-grown prospects is Ryan Lavarnway. He was drafted in the 6th round as the 202nd overall pick in the 2008 mlb draft. He had played college ball at Yale University where he had set the school record for career home runs. He was known as a bat-first, power-hitting catcher that struggled defensively.
It didn’t take long to see why the Red Sox had picked him. In his first full season of professional ball he put together a slash line of .285/.367/.540 with 21 Hr’s and 87 rbi’s. Lavarnway has repeated a fairly consistent slash line throughout his 3 seasons of professional ball. In 2011 he increased his output even more with a .290/.376/.563 line. This was combined with winsome power numbers, highlighted by 32 hr’s and 93 rbi’s in only 435 at-bats. Needless to say, his bat is extremely productive. Based on this performance he logged in on our Baseball Instinct 360° at #87. Since being drafted, he has done a fine job of answering the questions that scouts have voiced about him. This includes maintaining contact rates against higher levels of competition and improving his receiving skills behind the plate. He is without a doubt a prospect on the rise. He got a brief cup of coffee in 2011, and one has to assume that the Red Sox organization wanted him to have a taste of the show in preparation for the 2012 season. Coming into spring training he is likely to compete with Jarrod Saltalmacchia for time behind the plate. Let’s take a closer look at the hot hitting Red Sox prospect who rated as the #5 prospect in our Red Sox top 10 list . [click to continue…]
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by George Utter on December 21, 2011
Welcome back to another edition of Baseball Instinct’s top 10 prospects. We’ve been jumping from club to club and nearing the end of our journey with just four more teams for us to bring you. One of those teams is the Tampa Bay Rays, which will be brought to you by our own Brandon Kung and Thomas Chu. The guys will bring you 10 guys from a very deep organization, and provide with you a bonus look at a couple of players who will appear later this winter in our Tampa Bay Rays top 21 list. [click to continue…]
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