Widgets Magazine

2012 Bullpen Banter Mid-Season Top 100

Written By on 26th July, 2012

It’s prospect list time again!  Well, it was weeks ago when the list was complied, but we redesigned Bullpen Banter and decided to hold off publishing the list until the new-look launched. While there are still kinks to be worked out, we’re excited about our clean, clutterless look and the features yet to be released.

Before jumping into the parameters our writers had to follow for their individual lists, here are a few recent pieces you will want to check out:

In other news, we’ve promoted David Wiers, who will be the editor of Bullpen Banter’s fantasy content. Two new-comers have joined us, Michael Schwartze and Mike Schmidt. Schwartze will be scouting the Northwest and Schmidt will be joining David’s fantasy squad. Fantasy Friday will be back too, led by Alex who has recovered from traveling the country for Major League Baseball. Of course, you can expect frequent content from Pete who is currently working out on the Cape and JD too. Finally, we would like to welcome back co-founders Michael Herrick and Steve Kuperman back onto the team. Their presences have been missed. We’re excited about Bullpen Banter’s future due in large part to our roster of writers.

Ok, time for the list. Here are the rules: NO MAJOR LEAGUE EXPERIENCE OF ANY KIND. That’s it. Feel free to leave your comments in the discussion section below. Early next week we will post several round tables discussing the risers, fallers, and ineligible graduates.

Rank Name Team Position
1 Dylan Bundy BAL RHP
2 Jurickson Profar TEX SS
3 Wil Myers KCR OF
4 Taijuan Walker SEA RHP
5 Manny Machado BAL SS
6 Gerrit Cole PIT RHP
7 Danny Hultzen SEA LHP
8 Zack Wheeler NYM RHP
9 Travis d’Arnaud TOR C
10 Archie Bradley ARI RHP
11 Francisco Lindor CLE SS
12 Jameson Taillon PIT RHP
13 Oscar Taveras STL OF
14 Tyler Skaggs ARI LHP
15 Christian Yelich FLA OF
16 Xander Bogaerts BOS SS
17 Nick Castellanos DET 3B
18 Byron Buxton MIN OF
19 Kevin Gausman BAL RHP
20 Carlos Correa HOU SS
21 Matt Barnes BOS RHP
22 Mason Williams NYY OF
23 Kyle Zimmer KCR RHP
24 Miguel Sano MIN 3B
25 Anthony Rendon WAS 3B
26 Mike Zunino SEA C
27 Bubba Starling KCR OF
28 Aaron Sanchez TOR RHP
29 Nolan Arenado COL 3B
30 Jose Fernandez FLA RHP
31 Max Fried SDP LHP
32 Lucas Giolito WAS RHP
33 Mike Olt TEX 3B
34 Nick Franklin SEA SS
35 Kaleb Cowart LAA 3B
36 Javier Baez CHC SS
37 Jackie Bradley Jr. BOS OF
38 Jake Marisnick TOR OF
39 Jorge Soler CHC OF
40 George Springer HOU OF
41 Carlos Martinez STL RHP
42 Daniel Norris TOR LHP
43 Albert Almora CHC OF
44 Jake Odorizzi KCR RHP
45 Alen Hanson PIT SS
46 Shelby Miller STL RHP
47 Trevor Story COL SS
48 Billy Hamilton CIN SS
49 Jonathan Singleton HOU 1B
50 Jedd Gyorko SDP 2B/3B
51 James Paxton SEA LHP
52 Taylor Guerrieri TB RHP
53 Luis Heredia PIT RHP
54 Robert Stephenson CIN RHP
55 Austin Hedges SDP C
56 Oswaldo Arcia MIN OF
57 Eddie Rosario MIN 2B
58 Gary Sanchez NYY C
59 Kyle Crick SFG RHP
60 Justin Nicolino TOR LHP
61 Jose Campos NYY RHP
62 Manny Banuelos NYY LHP
63 Tyler Austin NYY OF
64 AJ Cole OAK RHP
65 Josh Bell PIT OF
66 Yordano Ventura KCR RHP
67 Gregory Polanco PIT OF
68 Jorge Alfaro TEX C
69 Dan Straily OAK RHP
70 Casey Kelly SDP RHP
71 Noah Syndergaard TOR RHP
72 Garin Cecchini BOS 3B
73 Joe Ross SDP RHP
74 Lance McCullers HOU RHP
75 Cody Buckel TEX RHP
76 Rougned Odor TEX 2B
77 Brian Goodwin WAS OF
78 Zach Lee LAD RHP
79 Kolten Wong STL 2B
80 Chris Stratton SFG RHP
81 Marcus Stroman TOR RHP
82 Matt Davidson ARI 3B
83 Tyrell Jenkins STL RHP
84 Brett Jackson CHC OF
85 Henry Owens BOS LHP
86 Jimmy Nelson MIL RHP
87 Daniel Corcino CIN RHP
88 Blake Swihart BOS C
89 Courtney Hawkins CWS OF
90 Cory Spangenberg SDP 2B
91 Michael Wacha STL RHP
92 Rymer Liriano SDP OF
93 Josh Sale TB OF
94 Michael Fulmer NYM RHP
95 Hak-Ju Lee TB SS
96 Wilmer Flores NYM 3B
97 Gary Brown SFG OF
98 Robbie Erlin SDP LHP
99 David Dahl COL OF
100 Alex Meyer WAS RHP

A few years ago, Jeff wrote two epic paragraphs that illustrate Bullpen Banter’s philosophy on rankings and we’ve been reproducing it ever since. Enjoy:

“Assembling a top prospect list is a quixotic venture. Every prospector has his own subjective preferences and biases; some use various formulae to try to simplify the task, but the goal is always the same. We are attempting to project the top XXX (fill in your own number) future major league players out of a vast pool of incomplete players whose skill level is always in flux. A player’s “stock” can go through wild fluctuations throughout a season, and I would venture to say that it’s rare to find a legitimate prospect that doesn’t go through such an ebb and flow. This is the primary reason why I find little utility in statistical evaluations that I endorse when applied to major league players. Comparatively, major league players’ talent and, more importantly, skill level is a constant. Similar to Spring Training statistics, a minor league player may be working on certain aspects of his game rather than doing everything in his power to help his team succeed, making the raw statistics nothing more than noise.

Any attempt at assembling the best among this group is going to be nothing more than a photograph of the current state of things at an arbitrary moment in time. The brief time between the end of winter leagues and the start of camp gives us a window to coalesce our thoughts, but we must not lose sight of that fact that a list is still only a view of things as they are at that given moment, nor may we write anyone that doesn’t appear on such a list off as a “non-prospect.”

This list was complied using Michael Herrick’s weighting system. Due to several circumstances including, but not limited to, the redesign not all of our writers could submit lists.  The writers who submitted lists were Al, Jeff, Conor, and Chris.

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About Bullpen Banter

Bullpen Banter is a conglomeration of writers from across the country, offering its readers scouting content and video of baseball prospects at the professional and amateur levels.

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17 Comments on "2012 Bullpen Banter Mid-Season Top 100"

  1. Profile Photo
    Kape Crusader July 31, 2012 at 8:25 am -

    Taijuan Walker over Danny Hultzen is an interesting decision. Again, I understand that the difference between fourth and seventh is pretty trivial but Hultzen seems far more complete and still has been dominating hitters while Walker still has quite a bit of work to do.

    • Profile Photo
      Jeff Reese July 31, 2012 at 10:57 am -

      It is an interesting question. With Hultzen it’s pretty easy to see a future #2 starter, and that makes him an elite prospect for me. However, with Taijuan Walker you’re talking about someone with true ace upside. He’s still a ways away from being polished, but the amount of progress he’s made since entering pro ball is remarkable.

      • Profile Photo
        Kape Crusader August 3, 2012 at 1:47 pm -

        Thanks for the response. That sounds like good reasoning. But as a follow-up do you think Hultzen doesn’t have ace potential and his upside is basically a very good Number Two starter? Thanks again. Love the site.

        • Profile Photo
          Jeff Reese August 3, 2012 at 7:22 pm -

          I am about as high on Danny Hultzen as anyone, yet I still don’t see a potential ace. Either his stuff would have to tick up or his command would have to turn into an elite tool. It’s much easier to see him turning into a #2.

          Thanks! We appreciate every one of our readers.

  2. Profile Photo
    Kape Crusader July 31, 2012 at 8:28 am -

    Also Mike Olt seems pretty low

    • Profile Photo
      JD Sussman July 31, 2012 at 8:45 am -

      I agree. I had him at 21 and thought that may have been light. His package – strong defense, power, plate discipline – is impressive. The only knock on him is his age as I don’t buy his strikeouts as a concern. They are product of working than the count than being a free swinger.

      • Profile Photo
        Kape Crusader August 3, 2012 at 1:51 pm -

        Thanks for the quick reply JD. Yeah, I think a guy who can hit .240ish with 25 homers and above-average defense at third base sounds like a fantastic prospect. You never know sometimes if guys get overhyped when they are in trade rumors, but I have really only heard gushing reports. I’m a Red Sox fan, and I was just wondering if you would take Olt over Middlebrooks?

  3. Profile Photo
    airweino August 4, 2012 at 1:58 pm -

    Thoughts on Tony Cingrani and Adam Eaton?

    • Profile Photo
      Steve Fiorindo August 4, 2012 at 3:10 pm -

      I think the main thing with Cingrani is that he relies on the fastball so much. I didn’t do a mid season, Cingrani might have been a back end guy for me, but he seems like a pen candidate. Relied heavily on the fastball when I saw him, showed a breaking ball, but like 19 of the first 20 pitches were FB’s and relied heavily on that pitch in the outing. Yes, he may be working on FB command, but I didn’t see much of the secondaries even while warming up.

      Saw Eaton last year, not a real huge carrying tool, and he’ll have to overcome the size issue. He’s hit at every level, so he’ll get a shot, but don’t know if the power or speed is enough to maintain an everyday gig. He’s put up very big numbers in the minors though.