Zach Britton gets some love

[QBsILLEST1]

Over at the infamous projectprospect.com, they came up with a list of top 25 pitching prospects. He after the top 25, made a list of the next 5 honorable mentions including Britton as one of them, so atleast hes getting some love there. Matusz is #2 pitching prospect behind no other than Strasburg. Jake Arrieta is also in there. The write up on Jake though I specifically dont agree with and makes me wonder how much info they really have on him there. It says he sits 90-93, which from every indicationi have heard, he sits 93-95 touching 97 at times(They even had a pitch FX spread sheet a few months ago on Jake and it also said he sat 93-95) But that I guess is moot, I do like where it says that he has promising secondaries which hopefully isnt fluff and they heard that hes improved his off speed stuff.

Regardless, nice showing by O's pitchers...

https://www.vtunnel.com/index.php/1110110A/b66ec05beade315263f0cd0d6d1fc7f7b829e64ee1aa62880243e22687937f71f89b0f971818bb35313c13d16de275e9a19f432100bf69da53f0566ab727accbaf3657922520022

[hoosiers]

Someone go tell those guys to put more Boston prospects on there so the guys at OH can complain about something. No NYY guys - that list is a disgrace - how can the Os system possibly be ahead of those free spending, international prospect hounding franchises?

Never mind - three Tampa pitchers in the top 25. Let's change the bar then and compare the Os to the Rays to show we are lacking.

As Yoda would say, "Lacking, we are"!

Not.

[Sports Guy]

Someone go tell those guys to put more Boston prospects on there so the guys at OH can complain about something. No NYY guys - that list is a disgrace - how can the Os system possibly be ahead of those free spending, international prospect hounding franchises?

Never mind - three Tampa pitchers in the top 25. Let's change the bar then and compare the Os to the Rays to show we are lacking.

As Yoda would say, "Lacking, we are"!

Not.

Boy, you are one bitter person lately.

[Stotle]

Boy, you are one bitter person lately.

Just make sure whatever you say can't be construed as questioning Jordan or the BAL system and you'll be fine.

[Sports Guy]

Just make sure whatever you say can't be construed as questioning Jordan or the BAL system and you'll be fine.

Yea I forgot...Everything is great in Orioles land and Boston, NY and Tampa don't know what they are doing.

[Frobby]

I'm not getting to the article when I click on this link - just something about vtunnel.

Glad to see Zach B. get some recognition.

[Alphonse]

Over at the infamous projectprospect.com, they came up with a list of top 25 pitching prospects. He after the top 25, made a list of the next 5 honorable mentions including Britton as one of them, so atleast hes getting some love there. Matusz is #2 pitching prospect behind no other than Strasburg. Jake Arrieta is also in there. The write up on Jake though I specifically dont agree with and makes me wonder how much info they really have on him there. It says he sits 90-93, which from every indicationi have heard, he sits 93-95 touching 97 at times(They even had a pitch FX spread sheet a few months ago on Jake and it also said he sat 93-95) But that I guess is moot, I do like where it says that he has promising secondaries which hopefully isnt fluff and they heard that hes improved his off speed stuff.

Regardless, nice showing by O's pitchers...

https://www.vtunnel.com/index.php/1110110A/b66ec05beade315263f0cd0d6d1fc7f7b829e64ee1aa62880243e22687937f71f89b0f971818bb35313c13d16de275e9a19f432100bf69da53f0566ab727accbaf3657922520022

I happen to like what goes on over at Project Prospect. Their rankings seem to ruffle some feathers, but they also seem grounded in their methodology, so it doesn't seem like they're making arbitrary rankings just to get attention. Whether they've hit something with their thoughts remains to be seen, though. I remember Adam Foster writing something a couple of years back stating that Rowell's 2007 season was just a hiccup and that he saw something in his peripherals (or maybe it was his age at the time) that led him to believe he'd be able to turn it around. We've seen how that went.

Also, I think Adam either worked at or interned for quite a while at BA, and from what I've read he either attends a lot of games or has reliable contact with scouts, or both. With Arrieta, perhaps the writer saw him when his velocity was down. (However, as I'm sure you know, disparities in velocity reports are nothing new, so, eh).

[crowmst3k!]

Britton is a great prospect, he deserves the honorable mention.

He is going to be a force in the Baltimore rotation for years after he is called up.

[stef]

I'm not getting to the article when I click on this link - just something about vtunnel.

Glad to see Zach B. get some recognition.

Try this:

http://projectprospect.com/article/2009/10/01/top-25-pitching-prospects

[hoosiers]

Boy, you are one bitter person lately.

My post was meant entirely as a joke.

It's telling that a site that claims we have three of the best 30 pitching prospects is met with crickets around here while people are up-in-arms about the lack of Os higher rated prospects in the lower minors relative to the BoSox.

The constant shifting of the bar in terms of what organization we should emulate may be standard for an internet message board, but I thought many posters here were above that. So much jealousy over the years at Ricciardi in Toronto and he's not out of a job, for Shapiro and he's wasted more talent in MLB than any GM in the game and should also be out of a job, for Tampa for their ability to make the playoffs in place of the NYY. Yet, strictly my opinion, we find ourselves today in better shape than all of those organizations. Our overall minor league talent, our 40 man roster, our international efforts - all are leaps and bounds improved from three years ago.

That improvement does not mean our FO including the GM and scoutig director should be immune for criticism - I just grow tired of criticisms that hint that our organization operates in a vacuum. People should be more appreciative of what we have.

[crawdad]

My post was meant entirely as a joke.

It's telling that a site that claims we have three of the best 30 pitching prospects is met with crickets around here while people are up-in-arms about the lack of Os higher rated prospects in the lower minors relative to the BoSox.

The constant shifting of the bar in terms of what organization we should emulate may be standard for an internet message board, but I thought many posters here were above that. So much jealousy over the years at Ricciardi in Toronto and he's not out of a job, for Shapiro and he's wasted more talent in MLB than any GM in the game and should also be out of a job, for Tampa for their ability to make the playoffs in place of the NYY. Yet, strictly my opinion, we find ourselves today in better shape than all of those organizations. Our overall minor league talent, our 40 man roster, our international efforts - all are leaps and bounds improved from three years ago.

That improvement does not mean our FO including the GM and scoutig director should be immune for criticism - I just grow tired of criticisms that hint that our organization operates in a vacuum. People should be more appreciative of what we have.

So you think Project Prospect is equivalent to Baseball America?

Those are some mighty big blinders you are wearing.

I'm not sure why you are being overly sensitive about this.

[hoosiers]

So you think Project Prospect is equivalent to Baseball America?

Those are some mighty big blinders you are wearing.

I'm not sure why you are being overly sensitive about this.

Where did I say Project Prospect was equivalent to Baseball America?

What am I being sensitive about?

[McLovin]

I just grow tired of criticisms that hint that our organization operates in a vacuum. People should be more appreciative of what we have.

I grow tired of being scolded and informed as to how I should feel. It's OK to see things differently. Really.

[crawdad]

Where did I say Project Prospect was equivalent to Baseball America?

What am I being sensitive about?

The last two days you have gone completely nuts about anyone critically thinking about how our low minors talent stacks up to others in our division. Instead of constructively entering into the conversation, you whine and moan about how people are being pointlessly mean to Joe Jordan and the front office. That whining is not constructive. What would actually work would be if you tried at all to articulate your point without making insincere claims about how the only way people think differently is if they are mindless sheep worshiping at the altar of the Yanks and BoSox.

[Frobby]

Alright boys, we can stop the bickering.

I have to say, that while BA is not the gospel by any stretch, the fact that we have only 2 top 20 prospects on the list from Frederick and below (one of whom is essentially now in the majors, not in the pipeline) really does concern me. It's great that we had so much talent bubbling up to the majors last year, but it is worrisome that there now appears to be a gap developing. At the two remaining levels we have Arrieta, Snyder, Bell, Erbe and Johnson. I'd assume Arrieta and Bell will make the lists, not sure about the others. I think we're in reasonable shape so far as major league-ready talent for the next 2 years, but it may get shaky after that.