BA's Eastern League Top 20

[alexei606]

I must once again reveal my Red Sox fandom () in pointing out that Boston actually placed two prospects in the EL Top 20 -- Tazawa (7) and Reddick (12), each of whom ranked ahead of Snyder (20) and Arrieta (17).

I agree with Hoosiers that if we include players that don't qualify, BAL would have a better showing...

Rats - don't know how I missed that one - though Tazawa was quite a controversial signing.

[Lucky Jim]

I must once again reveal my Red Sox fandom () in pointing out that Boston actually placed two prospects in the EL Top 20 -- Tazawa (7) and Reddick (12), each of whom ranked ahead of Snyder (20) and Arrieta (17).

I agree with Hoosiers that if we include players that don't qualify, BAL would have a better showing...

What's the thinking of having Reddick 8 spots above Snyder? I don't know enough about him - is he a serious five-tool guy? I know he's played some CF, but thought he was more a RF.

His post AA numbers don't exactly leap out:

POR EAS .277/.352/.520 (63 games)

PAW INT .127/.183/.373 (18 games)

Minors .245/.317/.446/.763 (81 games)

MLB .169/.210/.339 (27 games)

I see lots of Ks, a AA OPS that's .150 below Snyder's. And serious over-matching at every level above. He is three months younger than Snyder. I guess it's an OF/1B thing? (Though I was heartened by BA's thoughts that Snyder is legitimate at 1B now.)

[QBsILLEST1]

From chat (http://www.baseballamerica.com/online/chat/?1255099235)

I like all 3 of the answers to those questions. Snyder to Casey comp is good, hopefully Snyder runs better . The comp between Erbe and Arrieta is a good one, the thing is, is that Arrieta is 2 years older. I agree its tough to tell who will be better and either one could be better and it wouldnt be a huge surprise. I did like the sound of Arrieta having better fastball command, but I also think they are over doing Erbe's injury track record....Hes been on the DL once since hes been with the O's, this year.

Regardless, I like Jake and Erbe, but I think Erbe is in the midst of making leaps and bounds progress-wise while Jake IMO has less ways to go to reach his projection, but seems to be progressing less. IMO Erbe made some of the biggest steps forward this year out of any of our prospects.....

[Stotle]

I'll say that out of all the BA guys, Manuel is probably the guy I disagree with most often. I think, in particular, he tends to give some preference to teams he covers -- in particular the Yankees prospects. There are some issues I have with his ordering of players on this list, but I think for the most part it's defensible.

I think Arrieta should be higher (in my opinion), but Snyder in the 16-20 range seems right. Comparing him to Casey (which I agree with and have done) gives some insight into the sort of ceiling Manuel is assigning to Snyder.

[alexei606]

From chat (http://www.baseballamerica.com/online/chat/?1255099235)

Thanks for the quotes - but, McAllister over Erbe to me is not right, particularly, Manual states that some liked Erbe more than Arrieta (although I don't agree). I think that there is some bias on certain prospects, Snyder and Erbe being the two I recall. After his "bad" first time in Frederick, BA was pretty down on Erbe, though not as much as some here.

[QBsILLEST1]

What's the thinking of having Reddick 8 spots above Snyder? I don't know enough about him - is he a serious five-tool guy? I know he's played some CF, but thought he was more a RF.

His post AA numbers don't exactly leap out:

POR EAS .277/.352/.520 (63 games)

PAW INT .127/.183/.373 (18 games)

Minors .245/.317/.446/.763 (81 games)

MLB .169/.210/.339 (27 games)

I see lots of Ks, a AA OPS that's .150 below Snyder's. And serious over-matching at every level above. He is three months younger than Snyder. I guess it's an OF/1B thing? (Though I was heartened by BA's thoughts that Snyder is legitimate at 1B now.)

I personally would take Snyder over Reddick any day, but plain and simply, this may be a case of what many on here have been stating. And Im not gonna lie, I tend to look at someone slightly differently when playing on a low market team to a larger market team, it almost seems like everyone does. Jason Bay was never a superstar in my eyes until he went to the Sux. Same thing with Victor Martinez, suddenly he looks like a monster to me, and I always knew he was good, I think that its just when theyre on a bigger team, they get more focus.....Johnny Damon as a Royal was very good, suddenly he becomes a Red Suck and hes one of the faces of MLB baseball for a short period of time, looking like the Geico caveman....

Reddick is a better known prospect as far as IM concerned, not a better prospect than Snyder, but better known. Especially after he went up to Boston at the end of this season and got a ton more exposure.

[Stotle]

What's the thinking of having Reddick 8 spots above Snyder? I don't know enough about him - is he a serious five-tool guy? I know he's played some CF, but thought he was more a RF.

His post AA numbers don't exactly leap out:

POR EAS .277/.352/.520 (63 games)

PAW INT .127/.183/.373 (18 games)

Minors .245/.317/.446/.763 (81 games)

MLB .169/.210/.339 (27 games)

I see lots of Ks, a AA OPS that's .150 below Snyder's. And serious over-matching at every level above. He is three months younger than Snyder. I guess it's an OF/1B thing? (Though I was heartened by BA's thoughts that Snyder is legitimate at 1B now.)

RF is much more valuable than 1B, and Reddick has the raw footspeed to hold down CF were Ellsbury not already there. I've seen him a bit, and think there is solid 20-25 HR potential there (I look at Snyder as closer to 15-20).

So, my guess would be position and power potential have Reddick outdistancing Snyder by a bit for Manuel, but as I posted above I think he did a poor job in ordering the players on the whole. Should Reddick be 8 spots higher than Snyder? I don't know. But I look at Reddick as a solid-average ML RF and Snyder as a fringe-average ML 1B (mostly because of the lack of power). So I'd have Reddick ahead, personally.

[Lucky Jim]

RF is much more valuable than 1B, and Reddick has the raw footspeed to hold down CF were Ellsbury not already there. I've seen him a bit, and think there is solid 20-25 HR potential there (I look at Snyder as closer to 15-20).

So, my guess would be position and power potential have Reddick outdistancing Snyder by a bit for Manuel, but as I posted above I think he did a poor job in ordering the players on the whole. Should Reddick be 8 spots higher than Snyder? I don't know. But I look at Reddick as a solid-average ML RF and Snyder as a fringe-average ML 1B (mostly because of the lack of power). So I'd have Reddick ahead, personally.

Makes sense.

[Lucky Jim]

I personally would take Snyder over Reddick any day, but plain and simply, this may be a case of what many on here have been stating. And Im not gonna lie, I tend to look at someone slightly differently when playing on a low market team to a larger market team, it almost seems like everyone does. Jason Bay was never a superstar in my eyes until he went to the Sux. Same thing with Victor Martinez, suddenly he looks like a monster to me, and I always knew he was good, I think that its just when theyre on a bigger team, they get more focus.....Johnny Damon as a Royal was very good, suddenly he becomes a Red Suck and hes one of the faces of MLB baseball for a short period of time, looking like the Geico caveman....

Reddick is a better known prospect as far as IM concerned, not a better prospect than Snyder, but better known. Especially after he went up to Boston at the end of this season and got a ton more exposure.

Your loyalty is pure, that's for sure.

[Stotle]

Thanks for the quotes - but, McAllister over Erbe to me is not right, particularly, Manual states that some liked Erbe more than Arrieta (although I don't agree). I think that there is some bias on certain prospects, Snyder and Erbe being the two I recall. After his "bad" first time in Frederick, BA was pretty down on Erbe, though not as much as some here.

Completely agree. As I said above, Manuel can be pretty bad when it comes to leaning towards teams he covers. He almost ALWAYS has Yankees prospect rated higher than do his colleagues at BA and other media sources. Whatever -- as long as you know the bias is there you can take it into account with his rankings.

I probably would have had Arrieta 8-12, Erbe 14-18, Snyder 16-20.

[alexei606]

Completely agree. As I said above, Manuel can be pretty bad when it comes to leaning towards teams he covers. He almost ALWAYS has Yankees prospect rated higher than do his colleagues at BA and other media sources. Whatever -- as long as you know the bias is there you can take it into account with his rankings.

I probably would have had Arrieta 8-12, Erbe 14-18, Snyder 16-20.

Looks good to me and add Matusz at #1, and the Red Sox are soundly beaten in the Eastern League top 20.

[wickedwitch]

What would be the purpose of making lists by league based on overall performance? It would be easier to make a top 200 and then sort everybody into the leagues at the end. Are the coaches making the lists like last year?

ETA: I'm glad Snyder's defense is getting the recognition it deserves.

[crawdad]

I personally would take Snyder over Reddick any day, but plain and simply, this may be a case of what many on here have been stating. And Im not gonna lie, I tend to look at someone slightly differently when playing on a low market team to a larger market team, it almost seems like everyone does. Jason Bay was never a superstar in my eyes until he went to the Sux. Same thing with Victor Martinez, suddenly he looks like a monster to me, and I always knew he was good, I think that its just when theyre on a bigger team, they get more focus.....Johnny Damon as a Royal was very good, suddenly he becomes a Red Suck and hes one of the faces of MLB baseball for a short period of time, looking like the Geico caveman....

Reddick is a better known prospect as far as IM concerned, not a better prospect than Snyder, but better known. Especially after he went up to Boston at the end of this season and got a ton more exposure.

That is weird. It is the opposite with me and Bay. I kind of knew he was a pretty poor outfielder . . . seeing him so often with the Sox . . . man, he is awful. He should get on his knees and pray to Alfonso Soriano that there are worse left fielders.

[QBsILLEST1]

Thanks for the quotes - but, McAllister over Erbe to me is not right, particularly, Manual states that some liked Erbe more than Arrieta (although I don't agree). I think that there is some bias on certain prospects, Snyder and Erbe being the two I recall. After his "bad" first time in Frederick, BA was pretty down on Erbe, though not as much as some here.

Thats the way it goes, once a prospect falls outta the spot light, it takes quite a while to make it back to that status. If Erbe would have performed the way he did in 09 the entire time, hed probably be a top 50 or better prospect, which is where he was well on his way to. I know Allstar has said he doesnt expect Erbe's arm strength to come back to where it was, and Im not saying I expect it to or not, but it very well could come back like it did last year which would give me more confidence in his ability to end up better than Arrieta. One thing not mentioned is that Erbe has a better SP approach than Arrieta at this juncture.

[Stotle]

Looks good to me and add Matusz at #1, and the Red Sox are soundly beaten in the Eastern League top 20.

That's right. Not to mention Anderson fell off a cliff, so BAL could rub it in even more!