Phillies top 10 prospects, circa 2000

by wildcatlh on Dec 17, 2009 11:19 AM EST

This really isn't in response to all the prospects traded lately, since I'd been planning to post this sometime soon anyways when I had the time. I have (still) a copy of the 2000 STATS, Inc. Minor League Scouting Notebook. Rather than ranking prospects by team, they gave each prospect a grade, from A to C-. These were the top 10 players listed, by grade:

1. Pat Burrell, 1B-OF (A)

2. Brad Baisley, RHP (B)

3. Eric Valent, OF (B)

4. Brett Myers, RHP (B-)

5. Jimmy Rollins, SS (B-)

6. Marlon Byrd, OF (C+)

7. Jason Michaels, OF (C+)

8. Franklin Nunez, OF (C+)

9. Carlos Silva, RHP (C+)

10. Reggie Taylor, RHP (C+)

Of that, we had 3 pan out very well for us, including one of our all-time greats. As for the rest, there's a mixture of a little bit and nothing.

Geoff Geary is the onle other one of our prospects at the time that became relevant. He was given a C- grade. Rollins was called a "utility infielder" who could start if he learned to hit. Burrell was rated as the #3 prospect in baseball (behind Corey Patterson and Rick Ankiel).

A look at the top 50 overall prospects (lengthy for this post, will put in the comments if someone asks) shows you more failures than there were successes.

Like I said, this isn't in response to the prospects changing hands recently; I was going to post this anyways at some point. It's interesting to look at though. Or at least I think so.

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thanks

Dunno if I’ll actually do it or not, but I have this whole idea in my head about how the Phils have evolved—improved, though that’s a huge understatement—over the course of this decade. This list captures a lot of what happened pretty neatly: Rollins tremendously exceeded expectations, Burrell more or less met them, a few other guys had decent careers (Myers, Silva, Byrd, etc). Wasn’t Madson in the organization by then too? I think he was drafted in ’98, around the 11th or 12th round.

Also, the fact that Corey Patterson was the best prospect in the game should give us all a reminder about how inherently uncertain prospects are. A guy named Pujols was in the minors at that time; how’d he turn out?

by dajafi on Dec 17, 2009 11:28 AM EST reply actions

Madson

Was listed. Missed him somehow. This is what the guide had to say:

“Pitchers with 4.72 ERAs in the short-season New York-Penn League seldom merit attention. Madson, who may be an exception, is a good example of why I increased the number of players in the book this year. A California high school player, Madson was drafted in the ninth round in 1998. He was expected to attend the University of Southern California, which hurt his draft stock. Madson throws hard and, while he’s still learning how to pitch, he’s the kind of guy who could get his control in gear and move quickly up the ladder. Or he could keep posting 4.72 ERAs. You never know. Grade C”

by wildcatlh on Dec 17, 2009 1:21 PM EST up reply actions

I wonder...

…what ever became of young James Calvin Rollins. Perhaps history did not record it.

P.S. It’s funny because if Jimmy could “learn to hit” in 2010 that would help us yet again ;-)

by ajay on Dec 17, 2009 11:38 AM EST reply actions

Just out of curiosity – does the STATS book rank the quality of overall farm systems, curios to know where the phillies ranked in 2000.

by jemagee on Dec 17, 2009 11:47 AM EST reply actions

I would say that 3 out of 10 becoming star level players is a pretty nice payoff.

http://www.thegoodphight.com

by WholeCamels on Dec 17, 2009 12:22 PM EST reply actions

So the odds are that if you trade away three of your top ten players, you’ll give away one star.

How much did we give away for seven (four, net) in the past five months?

I know it doesn’t quite work this way, but…

by taco pal on Dec 17, 2009 5:18 PM EST up reply actions

It’s just a typo right – they didn’t list Rollins as a RHP?

by jemagee on Dec 17, 2009 12:26 PM EST reply actions

That was a typo

Sorry about that.

by wildcatlh on Dec 17, 2009 1:18 PM EST up reply actions

Just being sure, I know some guys who are drafted at one position often switch to another one (seems to happen to catching prsopects a lot) and I never really paid that much attention to the miniors until recently

by jemagee on Dec 17, 2009 1:23 PM EST up reply actions

great post.

Bleed green, or don't bleed at all!

by yophillybro on Dec 17, 2009 3:23 PM EST reply actions

Corey Patterson #1… hahaha sooo funny.

Not bad… 6 of them make the majors in one way or another.

by Ant on Dec 18, 2009 11:35 AM EST reply actions

Technically, 9 made the Majors, 6 stuck and 3 of those 6 became major contributors to their teams.

by Cormican on Dec 22, 2009 1:41 PM EST up reply actions

Marlon Byrd’s become a pretty good player with the Rangers. I don’t know if he’s a “major” contributor, but he’s more than a minor one.

by taco pal on Dec 22, 2009 2:06 PM EST up reply actions

I don’t remember this Franklin Nunez at all.

by taco pal on Dec 22, 2009 2:07 PM EST reply actions

I do, vaguely.

by Cormican on Dec 22, 2009 2:38 PM EST up reply actions

I thought Nunez was a pitcher though.

by Cormican on Dec 22, 2009 2:44 PM EST up reply actions

Yeah, he is

We waived him back in ’02, the Mets grabbed him, let him go to free agency, and then the Devil Rays picked him up. He played two seasons with the Devil Rays, and was with the AAA Sky Sox last year.

"When you make your final stand
I'll be right there
I'll never leave
And all I ask of you is
Believe"

by The Dark on Dec 22, 2009 4:12 PM EST up reply actions