Baseball America announced the Tigers top prospect list today. The top of the top 10 certainly looks promising, but the bottom half is full of question marks. Part of the thinning came from the promotions of Justin Verlander and Joel Zumaya while the Gary Sheffield trade pruned away 2 other top 10 prospects in Humberto Sanchez and Kevin Whelan.
Now most of this is premium content, but I will share the top 10. To get scouting reports and commentary you’ll need to subscribe.
1. Cameron Maybin, of
2. Andrew Miller, lhp
3. Brent Clevlen, of
4. Jair Jurrjens, rhp
5. Jordan Tata, rhp
6. Eulogio de la Cruz, rhp
7. Gorkys Hernandez, of
8. Dallas Trahern, rhp
9. Jeff Larish, 1b
10. Scott Sizemore, ss/2b
The problem with the list, and it isn’t so much the list but the players on it, is that there isn’t much in terms of immediate help. Only Jordan Tata, Jair Jurrjens, and Eulogio de la Cruz have had success above A ball. Brent Clevlen had a nice run of 39 at-bats at the Major League Level, but posted only a 670 OPS for Erie. He did show good on base skills drawing 18 walks in the AFL, but still fanned 35 times in 92 at-bats and only slugged 326.
I’d have ranked Larish higher, and de la Cruz lower (if at all) but otherwise the list is close to what I’d expect.
Gorkys Hernandez is a centerfielder who had a very strong season in the GCL at the age of 19. Scott Sizemore was a 2006 draftee who put together a nice season for Oneonta.
It sure would be nice to have a few more position player prospects.
If the tigers still had Sanchez and Whelan this would be a pretty strong list. I’d love to see a couple of trades to pick up solid hitting prospects (I’ve seen Maroth and Thames listed as possibilities for that kind of move). If Dombrowski can find some talented guys to be waiting in the wings, the Tigers might have the pitching depth to sustain a lengthy string of good seasons. I hope so, anyway.
I suspect DD will do some minor league prospect tinkering. We’ll see a move or two before the Spring. I’m sure of it.
I long for the day when Cam Maybin gets to the Tigers. They will be wise to work something out between he and Curtis, but wow, what a problem there! I saw enough of Andrew to know that he’s going to be as good-nearly as good, as Justin. And who did’nt enjoy watching Clevlen crack those long ones out. I think Jurrjens is a great possibility and with who we already have on the big team, 2007 is going to be really sweet. There is no reason not to be able to win 100 games. God, it feels so good to have our team back! (I also think Jeff Larish should be higher than #9 on the list – he’s good!)
While there is not much immediate help, there aren’t that many starting positions up for grabs right now. 1B is clearly the exception there and I think Larish is not all that far away from being figured out, MLB or bust, and should be higher on the list.
The real concern, I think, is the lack of a serious catcher prospect. The Pudge era is ending soon and we have nobody at any level that has shown promise. I have always thought that if we can’t secure someone soon, moving Inge back to C wouldn’t be too bad of an idea (as much as I like his D at 3B). His batting stats would compare much more favorably behind the plate and would immediately put him in the upper echelon of C, both offensively and defensively. Would also open up 3B for a serious slugger.
Not that I really like that idea, but if things don’t work out for Pudge’s replacement it might be the best option.
Chris Y, I totally agree with you on this point, but I don’t think Inge would take to well to the switch. He’s made pretty clear the past few seasons how much he disliked catching, and I think he’s been bounced around enough as is. Move him again and he’s liable to freak out like Milton in office space and burn Comerica down.
“The Pudge era is ending soon . . .”
How are are we of that? He’s still playing extremely well in the field. Don’t you think Illitch and DD may pony up to re-sign him–particularly in light of the fact that his signing is what got the ball rolling toward becoming a contender? And I’d think Pudge would be interested in finishing his career with a team that looks be a contender, playing for a manager he seems to have a good relationship with.
How SURE are we . . .
Pudge has set he hopes to finish his career a Tiger. Whether he was just saying that because it was the right thing to say…
But I don’t see Inge as an option at catcher. I think his hitting would drop back off. There’s no one in the organization right now, but I’m just going to have to put faith in Dombrowski that he’s made enough well-timed moves I’m not going to worry about the issue too much.
Best case scenerio, we move Neifi there 😉
Sorry guys, I guess I don’t see Ivan being much of a contributor on a 3-4 yr horizon. He may still have his gun working, but his bat is already in decline and injuries are a stif breeze away from being a problem.
He’s an old catcher, we need to be looking to the future.
I agree with Joey C. though, Inge wouldn’t like that idea a bit. And like I said, niether do I, but what options do we have right now? Shelton? It’s a ominous hole on the farm and we need to do something about it.
I am looking forward to see where the Tigers play Chris Carlson this year and to seeing what he can do at a higher level. I think he gets skipped on all the Tigers prospect lists because of his relative age in the level he played at last year in his rookie year.
But there is no denying that this guy can hit. He had the highest OPS of any player in the Tiger organization last year with over 150 ABs and as they say literally tore the cover off the ball in college when he played for the New Mexico Lobos in the Mountain West Conference where he was an All American.