otherwise, he would likely be in the top 2.

Sure you can learn the moves but the key to being good or not is in your ability to not THINK about your doing you simply practice enough to be able to react instinctivly without any pause to decide the right course of action.

This is true for fielding and batting. Pitching may be the only exception here and only in regard to pitch selection. Making the pitch is still a matter of instincts to be able to repeat the motion needed to be consistent.

If your a fielder and have to think about how to approach a fielding play that ball is going to get by you or if not your going to boot it! And even when you don’t boot it you then have to think about where to go with it! If this act is not instinctive then you will screw the pooch a lot!

Batting is similar, you can anticipate a pitch just as you can anticipate where a Ground ball will go but in the end the instinct will actually determine ho well you hit a pitch coming at you!

This is why I predicted long ago that Murphy would never win the 2B job. Sure he will hit but his head will be so filled with thinking about what to do that while the brain is pausing to decide the ball will go right past him. In time the field will come with him to the batter’s box and then he won’t hit either!

We seem to have a glut of 1B’s and 3B’s and a glut of OF depth.
Short on Pitching, Short on Middle IF and unless Bay recognizes himself soon a lack of power hitters.

The reason I see for that was left over from the signing of Delgado.
With all the problems filling 1B we went and got a bunch of good bats that we could convert to 1B which is one of the most teachable positions in the MLB.

Murphy, Duda, are now out of options due to Davis filling that hole.

So either we need to start trading those guys for something else we need or we will have spent all that time and money on producing nothing but depth.
And that is a bad thing to do.
Your farm should be full of potential starters not depth. You can buy plenty of depth 10 cents on the dollar! Starters cost much much more.

So while everyone wants to keep Duda and Murphy as bench depth it really would be smarter to try and turn those into players that can fill the holes that exist. If we don’t then we will have wasted all that development put to those players and those bats we like will soon turn to cardboard due to lack of use!

If that happens then they will TRULY be wasted youth!

When rating a prospect the stats are used only as an indicator of how good the scouting is.

F-Mart has NEVER had good numbers but he was a top prospect for years merely based on his TOOLS.

And by tools we are basically talking about mechanics of the skills needed to do certain things.

Arm – Strong arm mechanics means a strong arm. (Important for Pitchers, OFs and 3Bs less important for other positions hence the least important tool) Can be taught to a degree but the Arm is the arm. There are no cyborgs in baseball that we know of!

Batting (two tools in one here, Average and Power) – Strong and sound batting mechanics leads to less wasted movement in the swing, good bat speed = good power, good timing and as a result good average!

Running – Speed you either have it or you don’t. can’t really be taught. If you have it you can probably be coached into a 5 tool player but if you don’t well never going to happen.

Fielding – Again really a tool of mechanics, Do you have the footwork, do you get in front of the ball well, do you have a good transfer to come up throwing really well.

All of these things are not stats they are mechanical evaluations usually based on how much coaching is required to perfect those aspects of the player.

In the case of say a pitcher, He will be a top prospect if he can throw in the high 90′s despite the fact he has no other pitch. Thats because his throwing mechanics are sound enough to generate that kind of power then the rest can be taught! This is similar to where Mejia is right now.

having lots of strikeouts in the minors does not mean the guy is a bust it merely means that he needs to be taught better pitch selection and better bat control but he might have the Hitting mechanics to be good if he just figures out how to handle a pitch in a certain location. Again his prospect status is based on his mechanics which are sound, it is other aspects not related to mechanics that is causing those Ks.

If he didn’t have those strikeout he would likely BE ON the MLB roster!
So looking at the stats of a kid is only relevant if the kid HAS good numbers which is an indicator that his mechanics are not being held back from doing what is expected of them.

Beato is a classic example of a guy who really hasn’t put up great numbers but because he has that fastball was a prospect worthy of drafting.
Mejia is a prospect for the very same reasons.

Being a prospect (and being a top prospect) has NOTHING to do with your numbers!
But has everything to do with what your numbers COULD BE if you follow the coaching staff and use your tools to their best advantage and ability!

And as time goes on and the prospect does not translate those tools into numbers the assumption for dropping him off or down on the list is that he may not be coachable and despite the tools will not listen to the coach in how to get the result those mechanical tools should bring!

Hey Craig: REVEALS the top 10? Sort of like making a truth or something hidden known? Puhleeze.

It’s just a set of opinions. Truth be told, I really enjoyed the opinions. Thanks.

As far as the list goes, i think that i would agree with Wilmer Flores, and Matt Harvey as the list’s 1/2 punch. Flores’ best tool is his bat, which i do agree with Mayo. For Matt Harvey, his stuff is legit indeed. But the inconsistences is something that will have to be the one thing people in PSL will have to watch. But overall, great list. Just wondering why Mejia and Tejeada aren’t on this list?.

It concerns me that we always have so many prospects that don’t project (in everyone else’s opinion) to play where we’re playing them. Rarely, if ever, are we right and everyone else wrong.

I can’t even begin to imagine how difficult it must be to come up to the Majors, try to hit enough to stick, and have to learn a new position at the same time.

A big part of playing well is about being confident and comfortable on the field. How confident do you think Murphy was AB after one of his errors in 2009?

Some guys can do this but most cannot. No other organization in baseball religiously does this to their best prospects, only us. We never pave the way, bring a guy up WHEN he’s ready, make sure he’s prepared ahead of time. We always make it as difficult as possible and just hope everything is going to work out. Sometimes it does but more often than not….

His best chance by far though is going to be in CF. He has great speed and this is where his value would be the highest.

He’s on the list for his individual abilities that have yet to come together as well as so many questions about everyone else. Face it, we haven’t had an IFA come up here and play really well since Reyes and he was signed in 1999.

I know a catcher needs quick feet but maybe not in the same way a third basemen or OFer does and it makes me think that if he were given a shot at catcher, being in low A right now that might be his best shot, and ours. Not sure if this is possible, more like just an idea.

Puello is also a RFer…and yet, he is ranked higher than Duda, Vaughn, and Nieuwenhuis (2010 Mets minor P.O.Y.).

I also noticed that Mejia and Tejada (who I think stinks anyway) are not on this list…are they no longer prospects, because they are certainly not major leaguers yet.