Baseball America's Top 100: Bruce No. 1
This just in from Baseball America:
Minor League POY Jay Bruce leads rankings of top minor league talent
DURHAM, N.C.--Baseball America has ranked Jay Bruce, an outfielder in the Cincinnati Reds organization, as the No. 1 prospect in baseball.
BA defines prospect as any player who has yet to cross Major League Baseball's rookie thresholds of 130 at-bats or 50 innings pitched, and BA does not take major league service time into account. Bruce, BA's 2007 Minor League Player of the Year, beat out Rays third baseman Evan Longoria, Yankees righthander Joba Chamberlain and Red Sox righty Clay Buchholz for the top honor.
Here's a link to Historical Top 100s, dating back to our first ranking in 1990.
Some facts and figures on the Top 100:
POSITION BREAKDOWN
34 RHP, 23 OF, 12 LHP, 9 3B, 8 1B, 7 C, 5 SS, 2 2B.
BY ORIGINAL ORGANIZATION
7 Rays, Red Sox
5 Braves, Reds, Rockies
4 Angels, Cardinals, Cubs, Diamondbacks, Dodgers, Mariners, Tigers, Yankees
3 Indians, Mets, Nationals, Orioles, Phillies, Pirates, Rangers, White Sox
2 Astros, Brewers, Giants, Marlins, Padres, Royals
1 Blue Jays, Chunichi (Japan), Twins
0 Athletics
BY NATION
79 United States
9 Dominican Republic
7 Venezuela
1 Canada, Curacao, Japan, Puerto Rico, Taiwan
BY HOW THEY WERE SIGNED
46 High school draft picks
25 College draft picks
19 International free agents
5 Junior college draft picks
4 Draft-and-follows
1 Independent league draft picks
BASEBALL AMERICA'S TOP 100 PROSPECTS
2008 Edition
1. Jay Bruce, of, Reds
2. Evan Longoria, 3b, Rays
3. Joba Chamberlain, rhp, Yankees
4. Clay Buchholz, rhp, Red Sox
5. Colby Rasmus, of, Cardinals
6. Cameron Maybin, of, Marlins
7. Clayton Kershaw, lhp, Dodgers
8. Franklin Morales, lhp, Rockies
9. Homer Bailey, rhp, Reds
10. David Price, lhp, Rays
11. Travis Snider, of, Blue Jays
12. Matt Wieters, c, Orioles
13. Jacoby Ellsbury, of, Red Sox
14. Andrew McCutchen, of, Pirates
15. Jake McGee, lhp, Rays
16. Brandon Wood, ss/3b, Angels
17. Wade Davis, rhp, Rays
18. Mike Moustakas, ss, Royals
19. Elvis Andrus, ss, Rangers
20. Fernando Martinez, of, Mets
21. Rick Porcello, rhp, Tigers
22. Carlos Gonzalez, of, Athletics
23. Matt LaPorta, of, Brewers
24. Nick Adenhart, rhp, Angels
25. Jordan Schafer, of, Braves
26. Gio Gonzalez, lhp, Athletics
27. Chris Marrero, 1b/of, Nationals
28. Jason Heyward, of, Braves
29. Adam Miller, rhp, Indians
30. Kosuke Fukudome, of, Cubs
31. Andy LaRoche, 3b, Dodgers
32. Chase Headley, 3b, Padres
33. Angel Villalona, 3b/1b, Giants
34. Johnny Cueto, rhp, Reds
35. Deolis Guerra, rhp, Twins
36. Brett Anderson, lhp, Athletics
37. Jose Tabata, of, Yankees
38. Ian Stewart, 3b, Rockies
39. Reid Brignac, ss, Rays
40. Lars Anderson, 1b, Red Sox
41. Austin Jackson, of, Yankees
42. Jeff Clement, c, Mariners
43. Josh Vitters, 3b, Cubs
44. Joey Votto, 1b/of, Reds
45. Ian Kennedy, rhp, Yankees
46. Jarrod Parker, rhp, Diamondbacks
47. Geovany Soto, c/1b, Cubs
48. Daric Barton, 1b, Athletics
49. Jair Jurrjens, rhp, Braves
50. Matt Antonelli, 2b, Padres
51. Ross Detwiler, lhp, Nationals
52. Carlos Gomez, of, Twins
53. J.R. Towles, c, Astros
54. Carlos Carrasco, rhp, Phillies
55. Chin-Lung Hu, ss, Dodgers
56. Nick Blackburn, rhp, Twins
57. Daniel Cortes, rhp, Royals
58. Chris Volstad, rhp, Marlins
59. Desmond Jennings, of, Rays
60. Fautino de los Santos, rhp, Athletics
61. Neil Walker, 3b, Pirates
62. Carlos Triunfel, ss, Mariners
63. Luke Hochevar, rhp, Royals
64. Justin Masterson, rhp, Red Sox
65. Chris Davis, 3b, Rangers
66. Max Scherzer, rhp, Diamondbacks
67. Chris Tillman, rhp, Orioles
68. Brett Sinkbeil, rhp, Marlins
69. Radhames Liz, rhp, Orioles
70. Brandon Jones, of, Braves
71. Chuck Lofgren, lhp, Indians
72. Manny Parra, lhp, Brewers
73. Jed Lowrie, ss, Red Sox
74. Dexter Fowler, of, Rockies
75. Tyler Colvin, of, Cubs
76. Adrian Cardenas, 2b, Phillies
77. Eric Hurley, rhp, Rangers
78. Troy Patton, lhp, Orioles
79. Hank Conger, c, Angels
80. Taylor Teagarden, c, Rangers
81. Jordan Walden, rhp, Angels
82. Sean Gallagher, rhp, Cubs
83. Phillippe Aumont, rhp, Mariners
84. Tim Alderson, rhp, Giants
85. Bryan Anderson, c, Cardinals
86. Collin Balester, rhp, Nationals
87. Beau Mills, 3b/1b, Indians
88. Scott Elbert, lhp, Dodgers
89. Steve Pearce, 1b/of, Pirates
90. Joe Savery, lhp, Phillies
91. Nolan Reimold, of, Orioles
92. Gorkys Hernandez, of, Braves
93. Neftali Feliz, rhp, Rangers
94. Michael Bowden, rhp, Red Sox
95. Hector Gomez, ss, Rockies
96. Ryan Kalish, of, Red Sox
97. Chris Perez, rhp, Cardinals
98. Greg Reynolds, rhp, Rockies
99. Jeff Niemann, rhp, Rays
100. Drew Stubbs, of, Reds
posted by John Fay at 12:32 PM
18 Comments:
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Post a Comment*Yet Wayne Krivsky did not call him up last September. I know as it turned out, it didn't matter but he should have been in RF when Griffey ended his season if possible.
Hopefully Dunn and Griffey's lazy work ethic and play in the outfield does not rub off on Jay Bruce.
I think Votto is a better player than Bailey. If Homer ever does develop and use a curveball he will be very good. Hey Cheviot..I agree Bruce could have benefitted
Speaking of Griffey, good article published about him today in Denver. http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_8372606
Check out those lists going back to 1996 and before...Baseball America doesn't miss very often...especially in the top 10 and even top 50. Some REALLY heady names there, very elite. This confirms my personal and shared sentiment that we need to keep these young guys. They are likely to contribute, if not excel!!! I love it!!!
Does anyone else find it interesting that Joe Mauer was in the top 10 for 4-years straight? If my history is correct, this is likely during the time that Wayne was with the Twins. Should we expect the same slow development of Bruce? If so, he likely won't be on the major league team this year.
Great to see so many Reds on there.
Also great to see someone from my hometown (Beavercreek, OH) on there - Justin Masterson @ #64. Great guy, great baseball player. I'd love to see him in a Reds' uni!
I only count 3 cards on the list (not 4). Good for us.
wanderinredsfan, Mauer came from HS and spent exactly 3 years in the minors before heading north with the Twins in his 4 season as a pro. Bruce came from HS and has spent exactly 3 years in the minors. If pattern holds he will come north with the Reds in March.
Back in 1972 Fred Lynn and Jim Rice (both of the Red Sox)finished 1-2 in rookie of the year. Has any team ever had teammates finish 1-2-3? What do you think of the Reds chances in 2008?
Here is a list of the top 10 NL prospects per The Sporting News and their rankings (gaps are AL players)
1. Jay Bruce
3. Cameron Maybin
7. Homer Bailey
8. Andrew McCutchen
10. Andy LaRoche
12. Joey Votto
15. Franklin Morales
17. Colby Rasmus
23. Clayton Kershaw
25. Johnny Cueto
4 of the top 10 are Reds. Of the remaining 6 Maybin and LaRoche were ineffective with limited opportunities last year. Rasmus only played AA ball last year so it may be too much to expect him to compete for ROY. Kershaw will not spend enough time (if any) to merit consideration.
Opportunity is a major factor here but I could see the Reds finishing 1-2-3-4 if everthing fell into place.
Not only was Mauer listed in the top 10 for 4 consecutive years, he was Numero Uno in both 2004 and 2005...there are many other examples of players listed in the top 10 for 2 or more years (eg Homer)...and back in 1996-97, Andruw Jones was also listed as #1 for consecutive years...point being, that while most of the players listed in the top 10 eventually do well in the BIGS, there is NO guarantee that they will even be in the big leagues the year after their top 10 ranking...so while we may all want/wish/hope to see Mr Bruce in Cincy this year, he will have to impress Wayne...otherwise, he may join Mauer and Jones as consecutive Number 1s
Maus-Those numbers were for their original organizations, not current. Thus Oakland's 0 and the Cardinals 4. The A's actually have 5 guys on the list, due to their continuous retooling they just add other teams prospects by trading away their established guys. Says something about their developmental and scouting systems in that they don't have a single guy that started in their organization in the top 100. Maybe Billy spends too much time thinking about moneyball to spend money on scouts.
A lot of times it isn't neccesarily the top 10 prospects that you need to worry about, 8 out of 10 seem to pan out (although pitchers seem to be more shaky).
But really, it is the diamonds in the rough that go from being 40th or 50th and develop. Like Albert Pujols or Johan Santana
Remember when we drafted Bruce and all the fans were ripping the reds because we had too many outfielders
Bruce wasn't called up because it would have started his "arbitration clock" so the way we did it they have bruce guaranteed to be under the teams control for longer.
I was disappointed because a few games after grif went down I was going to san fran to see the team and was stoked bruce might be there (did get to see BPhil swipe 2 bases at once to help win the game, and hopper get called out for leaving the box, when he didnt!), then was mad just like the 1st poster but marty mentioned it on one of the radio programs and the reason made sense
The Reds need a leadoff guy in CF and Bruce is another lefty. I fully expect him to spend another year at Louisville until a left handed hitter is gone in 2009 (Griffey) and he will step into RF. For 2008, Freel and Hopper are going to man CF and leadoff.
jack -
I posted this once, bailey has a good curve! he needs to work on his change his grip was stupid and very unorthodox, when they showed it I was surprised no one had worked with him in the minors proably because he was dominating w/o it. he could probably use his curve better, but its pretty damn good I've seen it, it has more break than harangs (and rang-ers is a good one) he's rated highly because of his plus-curve, thats why everyone put him as the #1 pitching prospect (his plus FB and plus CB)
Id like to see us bulk up that 51-100....
Does anyone else see a problem with the Red's and the media encouraging Dunn to "mentor" Bruce???!!! My gosh, Bruce will come to spring training 250 pounds and try to hit a homerun with ever swing next year if the Reds do not step in. While Dunn is good, he has not even come close to reaching his potential. Keep him away from the young guys!!! He needs to worry more about Adam Dunn and pushing himself away from the buffett and less about "keeping Jay and Joey grounded".
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