by Thomas Belmont on February 1, 2012
While we’re dropping Prospect Instinct articles on a daily basis to put out the most in-depth Scouting Reports available, I’m going to take a step back and take a broad look again. This time we’ll 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 1B and give you the List and the current thoughts.
In the Top 100
30°. Anthony Rizzo, 1B, Cubs, 8/8/1989 - Rizzo had an excellent season in Triple A. Hitting for an average of .331 and slugging .652, with 26 HR’s and 101 rbi’s, what is not to like? Unfortunately, that didn’t translate into the Major leagues where he turned into a strikeout machine. However, it is completely reasonable that he needs time to adjust to the major league caliber pitching. While playing a good glove and showing fine plate skills, there is every reason to believe that the best is yet to come for Rizzo. He came in at #46 on last years top 100 prospects and he has done nothing to invalidate that by his 2011 performance. With the move from the LH hitter graveyard to a park friendly to LH power hitter, Theo and Hoyer did Rizzo a huge favor. ETA 2012.
Instinct Update – With Rizzo’s move to the Friendly Confines he’s in a position to contribute right away. The Cubs front office may give him some time in Triple-A if he’s out played in Spring Training by Bryan LaHair. But LaHair is going to be 30 this year and despite raking outright in Triple-A, he’s probably not going to hold Rizzo down for too long. Consider him the bridge. [click to continue…]
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by George Utter on January 24, 2012
Welcome back to the 2011 draft “in-season” review. We started the series last fall, but took a break from it to present to you our top 10 lists and, of course, our Baseball Instinct 360° top prospects list for 2012. In this series we’re taking a look at players from the 2011 draft who signed and got into game play in 2011. We’ve separated the High School players from the College players and compiled which players had the best season statistically. This ranking if you will, isn’t based on tools or skill set, nor is it a projection into the career these players may have. It’s purely a spotlight on those players from the past draft that grabbed our eye statistically.
I love these types of articles. I get to get my stat geek on. I’ll take a look at a guy like Adam Eaton, OF Diamondbacks (2010 draft round 19 pick 571), who had a great 2010 debut, got on our radar like these players, we investigated him closer, and he followed up 2010 with a solid 2011 campaign. Or perhaps a kid like Brandon Drury, 3B Braves (2010 draft round 13 pick 404). He didn’t have a statistically impressive debut in the GCL, but in a short-supply class of high school players, coupled with the fact that he’s from my region in the Pacific Northwest, he made the “keep an eye on” list for me. As with Eaton, a fantastic 2011 campaign and now both players are on our top 360 list.
We jump back into things with a look at the First basemen. As with the other articles, there was no short supply of silky sweet statistical goodness from the college players, however, the high-school players were in short supply.
[click to continue…]
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by David Reiffer on January 17, 2012
Alex Santana, 3B, Los Angeles Dodgers
DOB: 8/21/1993
Height: 6’4″ Weight: 200
Taken in the second round (73rd overall) in the 2011 first year amateur draft as a prep shortstop, the 17-year-old slugger with big league blood lines hit pay dirt in the form of the $500,000 signing bonus provided by the Los Angeles Dodgers for his services now rendered at the hot corner. To start his career, Santana landed in the Arizona Rookie League where he carried a .238 batting average with 45 hits, 10 doubles, 3 triples, 1 homerun, and totaled 66 strikeouts against 10 walks in 50 games/189 at bats. So right away you know the strikeouts are ugly. 31.2% type ugly. And the walks? A stingy 4.9%.
Santana narrowly squeaked into the Baseball Instinct 360° this season at #359. Here’s what we said about him:
359°. Alex Santana, 3B Dodgers 8/21/1993 – Big kid, son of Rafael Santana (NYM). Profiles as a very different player than his father. Drafted as a SS, will move to 3B and has the stuff to make it there defensively. Size projects more power but has a long growth path to becoming a professional hitter. Will need to develop zone control with power to be a CI. ETA 2015.
Rafael Santana’s major league career lasted seven seasons (1983-1990) and he played shortstop for the 1986 World Series Champion New York Mets along with stints with the Yankees, Cardinals, and Cleveland. Currently, Rafael serves as head of scouting and player development for the Chicago White Sox in the Dominican Republic. Asked about his son’s major league potential, the elder Santana responded, ”I’ll put my fatherhood aside, and I think he has some pretty good talent — the talent to be a five-tool player. He’s 17 years old, so he has to work still on every aspect of his game. But he has the advantage of having worked with me. He’s been there, and the talent is there.” [click to continue…]
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by Mike Koepp on December 9, 2011
Let’s continue on with our journey from club to club as we take a look at each team’s top 10 prospects for 2012. We’ve been working closely with other sites this off-season to bring you a unique perspective from those who have a more focused view on particular clubs. As we have in some of the articles, we stay in-house with Baseball Instinct’s Mike Koepp, a SoCal native who hits up the Cal League from time to time, as well as the Padres, Angels, and today’s team of focus; the Los Angeles Dodgers [click to continue…]
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