A sports blog by and for Midwest Sports Fans
Looking to become a staple for Thursday evenings BEFORE Baseball America puts out their Friday Hot Sheet.
Why wait until Friday when all the other owners in your leagues are waiting on the Hot Sheet to make their pickups in dynasty leagues? Jump in here on Thursday nights and beat the competition.
This is the April 22, 2010 installment of the Cooler Guy’s Minor League Player Tracker.
This is the first installment of the Cooler Guy’s Minor League Player Tracker.
I plan on doing a weekly column focusing on the top minor league prospects that are fantasy relevant. AAA and AA players could have a fantasy impact this season for redraft leagues. Players in AA and A are strictly dynasty league material, but redraft owners do need to take note because 2011/2012 drafts will have these names in the mix.
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Today’s Link of the Day comes to us from the good folks over at Baseball America who, for as long as I have been following baseball, have been churning out annual lists of the best prospects in the game. Earlier today, Baseball America posted their Top 100 Prospects, and much to my excitement the Chicago White Sox made the Top 20.
As you can see in the list broken down below, White Sox 2009 1st Round draft pick Gordon Beckham, a shortstop, came in at #20. Baseball America lists Beckham’s ETA as 2009, which makes sense considering that he is a 22-year old former college player. However, with Alexei Ramirez sliding over to the shortstop for the White Sox this year I wonder where they are expecting Beckham to play.
With 2B still up in the air between Chris Getz and Brett Lillibridge, two solid prospects but who are not on Beckham’s level, I wonder if we could see Alexei slide right back over to 2B to make room for Gordon Beckham this season. I guess we can wait and see how Beckham does the Spring, and how Getz and Lillibridge do, before we promote him to the big league club.
For you other White Sox junkies like me, here are the other White Sox prospects to make the Top 100:
For those of you wanting to know the Twins players who made the cut, I’m sure Tyler will break it down for you in a future post (hint, hint Tyler).
And here is the complete list of Baseball America’s Top 20 Prospects in baseball:
| # | Player | Position | Organization | Age* | ETA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Matt Wieters | C | Orioles | 22 | 2009 |
| 2 | David Price | LHP | Rays | 23 | 2009 |
| 3 | Colby Rasmus | OF | Cardinals | 22 | 2009 |
| 4 | Tommy Hanson | RHP | Braves | 22 | 2009 |
| 5 | Jason Heyward | OF | Braves | 19 | 2010 |
| 6 | Travis Snider | OF | Blue Jays | 21 | 2009 |
| 7 | Brett Anderson | LHP | Athletics | 21 | 2009 |
| 8 | Cameron Maybin | OF | Marlins | 22 | 2009 |
| 9 | Madison Bumgarner | LHP | Giants | 19 | 2010 |
| 10 | Neftali Feliz | RHP | Rangers | 20 | 2009 |
| 11 | Trevor Cahill | RHP | Athletics | 21 | 2009 |
| 12 | Pedro Alvarez | 3B | Pirates | 22 | 2009 |
| 13 | Mike Moustakas | 3B | Royals | 20 | 2010 |
| 14 | Buster Posey | C | Giants | 22 | 2010 |
| 15 | Dexter Fowler | OF | Rockies | 23 | 2009 |
| 16 | Mike Stanton | OF | Marlins | 19 | 2010 |
| 17 | Lars Anderson | 1B | Red Sox | 22 | 2009 |
| 18 | Logan Morrison | 1B | Marlins | 21 | 2010 |
| 19 | Alcides Escober | SS | Brewers | 22 | 2009 |
| 20 | Gordon Beckham | SS | White Sox | 22 | 2009 |
*-Age is how old they will be on Opening Day, 2009
Here are the links to the rest of the Baseball America List:
———-
And now some other links for you on this bright, fine Tuesday afternoon:
Nate Robinson has a man crush on Will Ferrell — (Total Pro Sports)
Boom Goes the Dynamite makes it all the way to the Oscars — (Awful Announcing)
Joba Chamberlain is a pimp — (Busted Coverage)
The Week that was in College Basketball — (Sparty and Friends)
Devin Harris incredible buzzer-beater — (Black Sports Online)
Tennessee Fans should pay attention to change in presidents — (Mr. SEC)
Chicago Cubs Prospect Cliff Andersen
Physical Description: Good athletic body, well proportioned, rangy and strong.
Strengths: Extremely athletic, plus runner (6.6 60), average arm strength for a RF’er. Quick hands at the plate, and should generate power in the future.
Weaknesses: Very raw, has not developed accordingly to plan, applauded for his approach at the plate in pre-draft workouts & has struck-out 238 times in 704 ABs. Despite the 238 strikeouts, indicative of a struggling power hitter, he has only 4 HRs in those 704 ABs as he has not been able to translate impressive rounds in the cages into game action. This is caused by a poor approach with two strikes. He pulls off the ball and seldom goes gap to gap, and struggles with the breaking ball.
Likely Destination: Should repeat at Peoria to improve on his .221/.306/.298 numbers last year. Most optimistic scenario is that he does well t Peoria and shows enough progression with his approach at the plate to possibly end up at Daytona. Most pessimistic scenario is that he struggles early at Peoria, ends up at Instructional ball until Boise begins, and finishes the year at Boise.
Major League comparison: N/A
Likely career path: It’s hard to say at this point given how far he needs to go just to project as a starting RF’er, but he has the tools to do so. The Cubs certainly won’t give up on him as they highly value his tools and spent $155,000 to sign him (well above the norm for a 9th rd. pick). There isn’t a log-jam of OF’ers coming up the pipeline, so the Cubs can and will be extremely patient with Andersen waiting for him to become the prospect that they believe he can be,
Every Monday and Thursday, I will be highlighting a minor leaguer in the Cubs’ farm system. Many of the guys are not guys that you’ll find in the Cubs top 30 according to Baseball America.
Chicago Cubs Prospect Corner – Ty Wright
Ty Wright was drafted by the Cubs in the 7th round out of Oklahoma St. in the 2007 amateur draft.
Physical Description: Medium frame and well proportioned with a live body.
Strengths:
Weaknesses:
Major League comparison: Reed Johnson
Likely destination: AA (Tennessee) where he will likely play LF.
Likely career path: Most likely will end up as a 4th OF’er as well as a serviceable RH’ed bat off the bench.
