March 15,
2007
2007
Minor League Roster Strength
The
Thunder Bay Baseball League is about to begin their 4th full season of
operation and some teams have really stock piled young talent. We
will take a look at the best minor league rosters in the league.
|
2007 Best Minor
League Players |
| Alex Gordon, 3B |
1.40 |
|
Daisuke Matsuzaka, SP |
2.00 |
| Delmon Young, OF |
2.20 |
|
Phil Hughes, SP |
3.20 |
| Homer Bailey, SP |
5.00 |
|
Brandon Wood, 3B |
5.60 |
| Cameron Maybin, OF |
7.60 |
|
Jay Bruce, OF |
10.2 |
| Chris Young, OF |
12.8 |
|
Andrew McCutchen, OF |
13.0 |
Using Baseball
America's Top 100, Baseball Prospectus Top 100, John Sickells Top 100, Top
Prospect Alert Top 100 and Project Prospect Top 100 as our baseline, each
prospect was given their scores and summarized. It is important to note
that each list was different in many ways. For example, Daisuke Matsuzaka
appeared on just 2 of the 5 lists , but for this report was scored based on the
lists he appears.
The best
overall prospect wound up being 3B Alex
Gordon of the Beartooth Bitteroots.
Gordon
appeared on all five lists and totaled a
score of 7, an average of 1.4.
Matsuzaka finished second, with a score of 4
for an average of 2.0. The top ten is
in the table to the right. Interesting
to note, the only players who made their MLB
debut in 2006 were Delmon Young and Chris
Young, both outfielders.
|
2007 Best Minor
League Rosters (Top 12) |
| Team |
#
of Players |
Rank |
| Salem |
2 |
19.40 |
|
Mad City |
2 |
24.17 |
| California |
3 |
27.83 |
|
Ridgewood |
2 |
30.30 |
| Beartooth |
12 |
30.92 |
|
Newark |
13 |
35.23 |
| Michigan |
4 |
40.13 |
|
Osama |
7 |
41.87 |
| Fort Wayne |
3 |
42.47 |
|
Las Vegas |
4 |
45.18 |
| Florida |
7 |
45.68 |
|
Lincoln |
9 |
51.63 |
Of the
twenty-four Thunder Bay teams, the Salem Scythe have the lowest AVG
score for their prospects. Outfielder Justin Upton and
Pitcher Adam Miller combined for a 19.4 rating, five points ahead of the
2nd lowest team. The Mad City Paddlers only had two prospects
rated, but managed a 24.16 overall score (Mark Reynolds and Evan
Longoria). The California Gladiators wound up third overall, with
3 prospects averaging 27.83 (Andrew Miller, Mike Pelfry and Daniel
Bard).
Perhaps the best two
TBBL minor league rosters come from the Beartooth Bitteroots and Newark Eagles.
The Roots have a total of 12 prospects on their club averaging a score of 30.92.
Alex Gordon, the number one overall prospect is the jewel of this club.
Other members include Andrew McCutchen (#10 overall), Reid Brignac (#16
overall), Billy Butler (#17 overall), Yovanni Gallardo (# 18 overall) and Jose
Tabata (# 26 overall). The Eagles, a team which is building a very strong
team, averaged 35.22 for it's 13 ranked players. The top players include
Brandon Wood (#6 overall), Jay Bruce (#8 overall), Troy Tulowitski (#13
overall), Ryan Braun (#21 overall), Andy LaRoche (#22 overall) and Carlos
Gonzalez (#23 overall). The Midlothian Mashers were the only team who did
not have one prospect ranked in our report.
