Personal Top 15 Prospect Lists: White Sox, Indians, Tigers

by Satchel Price on Feb 28, 2011 4:30 PM EST in Prospect Perspective

And you thought that listing 45 prospects was enough for me today? Think again, my friends. I'm going to start getting through some AL Central teams today, as we look forward to releasing a duo of top-100 lists from me and fellow BtB contributor Dave Gershman. Also, don't forget that me and Dave will be doing side-by-side lists for a few of the top farm systems in the game- Kansas City, Toronto, Tampa Bay, Atlanta and the Yankees. So don't get too flustered we get through the AL East and you start thinking, "Where the hell are the other three teams, you knucklehead?"

Also, there are links to the other top-15 lists at the bottom of the page, and thanks for reading.

CHICAGO WHITE SOX

1) LHP Chris Sale

2) 3B Brent Morel

3) OF Jared Mitchell

4) SS Eduardo Escobar

5) RHP Jacob Petricka

6) 1B/3B Dayan Viciedo

7) RHP Addison Reed

8) C Miguel Gonzalez

9) OF Trayce Thompson

10) RHP Anthony Carter

11) OF Brandon Short

12) C Josh Phegley

13) RHP Gregory Infante

14) SS Tyler Saladino

15) C/1B Tyler Flowers

This is obviously a very weak system. Morel is a nice player and potentially solid long-term regular at third base, but there's minimal star power and that's just not what you want from your No. 2 prospect. Mitchell certainly brings some impact potential to the table, but we still have to see where he's at after missing 2010, particularly given how much of his game relied on speed and athleticism. Sale is a elite pitching prospect, so at least they have one guy that other teams can really salivate over, but generally speaking this is one of the worst farm systems in the game. White Sox fans are probably somewhat used to this by now, though; Chicago is routinely rated among the worst farm systems in the game.

CLEVELAND INDIANS

1) 3B Lonnie Chisenhall

2) LHP Drew Pomeranz

3) 2B Jason Kipnis

4) RHP Alex White

5) RHP Jason Knapp

6) OF Nick Weglarz

7) RHP Joe Gardner

8) OF LeVon Washington

9) RHP Bryce Stowell

10) SS Tony Wolters

11) LHP Nick Hagadone

12) 2B/OF Cord Phelps

13) C Chen-Hsui Chen

14) RHP Kyle Blair

15) C Alex Lavisky

Considering how bad the Indians are going to be this year, you'd expect fans to be able to turn to the farm system for some hope. And while they certainly can, this system is also somewhat underwhelming on some levels. They have a strong top five, but they also don't have any one elite can't-miss guy; there's nobody that really deserves an A-grade. Chisenhall, Kipnis and Weglarz are presumably expected to help anchor the next contending Indians lineup. Pomeranz, White and Knapp all have true impact potential as pitchers. But the list begins to dip pretty quickly after those six guys, and frankly I don't love their array of high-risk/high-reward guys at the lower levels. It's a decent system, but I'd be somewhat frustrated right now if I was a Cleveland sports fan. Notice how I did that without even mentioning Le-You-Know-Who.

DETROIT TIGERS

1) RHP Jacob Turner

2) 3B Nick Castellanos

3) OF Daniel Fields

4) LHP Andy Oliver

5) 3B Francisco Martinez

6) LHP Casey Crosby

7) LHP Daniel Schlereth

8) RHP Chance Ruffin

9) OF Avisail Garcia

10) LHP Drew Smyly

11) OF Danry Vasquez

12) RHP Brayan Villareal

13) RHP Jose Ortega

14) RHP Bruce Rondon

15) OF Casper Wells

Another system that's pretty top-heavy. Turner and Castellanos are excellent prospects, and I really like Fields, but in general this system dips pretty quickly. The team's 5-6-7 prospects all have clear question marks; scouts differ on Martinez's upside, Crosby's health track record is horrid, and Schlereth is a power reliever but may not necessarily be closer material. One thing you can't complain about is the club's ability to recognize and sign elite talent in the draft's early rounds; Castellanos, Ruffin, Turner and Oliver were all first- or second-round picks in the past two drafts.

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Wow

The White Sox and Tigers…

Dave Gershman - Beyond the Box Score
Penn League Report / Twitter: @Dave_Gershman

by Dave Gershman on Feb 28, 2011 4:31 PM EST reply actions

Yeah, things aren't looking great

Both of those teams are clearly committed to winning now.

Baseball is my preferred sport. It should be yours, too.
I'm a columnist for Beyond the Box Score, an SB Nation blog.
Oh, I'm on Twitter, too.

by Satchel Price on Feb 28, 2011 4:51 PM EST up reply actions

regarding Tigers

Thanks for your take on the prospects Satchel. Glad to see you have Danry Vasquez ranked. He is young but has a wealth of upside. Tigers have him at Lakeland and will decide whether to put him at GulfCoast/WestMichigan or return to the VSL.
In another year or two, Javier Azcona might be included in your prospects. Lost years for Crosby and he will just need to stay healthy. He decided to ‘completely’ rest his elbow this past offseason, and has had no loss in velocity from what I have read is early ST. iirc, Turner will pitch one of the s/s games tuesday.
I do appreciate all your work.

by KalineCountry on Feb 28, 2011 4:44 PM EST reply actions

Thanks a lot, KalineCountry.

Detroit doesn’t have a system that’s loaded with toolsy position players, so someone like Vasquez really stands out. He’s got a nice lefty swing, and it’ll be interesting to see how he compares to Avi Garcia.

Baseball is my preferred sport. It should be yours, too.
I'm a columnist for Beyond the Box Score, an SB Nation blog.
Oh, I'm on Twitter, too.

by Satchel Price on Feb 28, 2011 4:48 PM EST up reply actions

the lack of Tigers' toolsy position players

Seems to be from a drafting philosphy the Tigers and Dave Dombrowski have. DD would rather draft the tall power arm pitcher and coup as many as he can. The position players and lack of them is the end means. The Tigers would rather trade from those (plethora?) of arms for the roster or sign a FA as a position player. At least it seems like that. Many Tigers fans, younger and older, like myself, would like to see a middle ground to that. But, they know alot more than this old Tigers fan. It does show, as many of the Tigers position players have taken a few years longer to develop and come up to the majors the last several years. and it also shows with many having less than desired plate discipline, as well as becoming utility or 4th outfielders. I was posting with Mark over at TigsTown recently, asking him what they might do this year without a 1st rounder and after all the supplemental picks. They will just go for bpa best player available.

by KalineCountry on Feb 28, 2011 5:08 PM EST up reply actions

I think they generally do a good job of targeting the BPA

But yeah, they’ve been targeting power pitching as a key asset for a while now. In 2007, five of their first six picks were pitchers. In 2008, nine of the first 11 picks were pitchers. In 2009, they spent big on Turner and Oliver with their first two picks before targeting some position players. And in 2010, four of their first six picks were pitchers.

They’ve landed a couple of nice position players in the past two drafts though, with Fields and Castellanos among the club’s best prospects.

Baseball is my preferred sport. It should be yours, too.
I'm a columnist for Beyond the Box Score, an SB Nation blog.
Oh, I'm on Twitter, too.

by Satchel Price on Feb 28, 2011 5:16 PM EST up reply actions

Did I miss something or did you skip the Braves?

by Braves24 on Feb 28, 2011 9:59 PM EST reply actions

I've been mentioning it in the opener to each portion

But we’ve decided to leave five elite systems- Kansas City, Atlanta, Tampa, Toronto and New York (AL)- for last. Me and Dave will be doing side-by-side lists for those teams, to give you multiple perspectives. We’re planning to release top-100 lists on Monday, one by me and one by Dave.

Baseball is my preferred sport. It should be yours, too.
I'm a columnist for Beyond the Box Score, an SB Nation blog.
Oh, I'm on Twitter, too.

by Satchel Price on Feb 28, 2011 10:09 PM EST up reply actions

I still haven't come to grips with my opinion on the Tigers drafting.

On the one hand, good lord would I like us to have a position player of value hit the majors before 25. On the other hand, knowing how pitchers bust, I love the “grab as many pitchers as possible, throw them against the wall and hope a good one pops out” philosophy.

Me Elsewhere:

Bless You Boys (Tigers Blog) / Beyond the Boxscore / My Michigan State (and Big Ten) Baseball Blog. / Western Michigan University Hoops / my Last.fm account.

by Mike Rogers on Mar 1, 2011 12:26 AM EST reply actions