Top Prospect Fan Poll - Results on homepage

[1ballboy11]

Just wondering about the size of Gindl, all stats and player information I have read say that he is 5'9 to 5'11. It seems that most compare him to Brain Giles.

[twobrewers]

Seeing that LaPorta is going to be seeing action at both corner outfield slots - and then seeing how tall Gamel is compared to LaPorta, I had one thought after that interview...

 

One of them looks like he might be our first baseman of the future - and it wasn't LaPorta.

 

Gamel has trouble throwing the ball to 1st, but is a decent fielder. He is really tall. And likely needs to move off of 3B in the future. Sounds like a 1B to me.

[colbyjack]

The results are now up on the homepage:

 

http://www.brewerfan.net/ViewArticle.do?articleId=272

 

Thanks to everyone that participated. I hope you enjoy the results.

 

EDIT: Special thanks to my brother and John Blackwell for supplying the pictures for this feature.

 

EDIT #2: cubsdie was the first poster to correctly guess the order of the top three prospects (Parra-LaPorta-Gamel). So cubsdie, send me your address either via email or as a PM and I'll get that picture of LaPorta out to you as soon as I can.

 

And I thought Gallardo and Braun finished extremely close a year ago. Congrats to the fans as well for getting Luis Pena in the top 20 since he's currently missing from the P50.

[And That]

I was the only person who gave Rafael Lluberes a vote? That makes me the captain of this bandwagon, baby.

[chowyo123]

Great poll for me to read in between classes. Just a heads up, but Gindl is spelled wrong in his paragraph. "Ginl is the latest prospect to make an impression early in his professional career that coincided with a lofty placement in the prospect poll after his inaugural season."

[TooLiveBrew]

Thanks for all the work you did slogging through the 50 lists, Patrick. I especially appreciate you not calling out a knucklehead like me - who had Callix Crabbe at #15, when he's actually been snagged by SD. It was fun to put together for us, so I hope you got some enjoyment out of it, too. The article's informative & well-written without being too verbose.

[wvpowerblkwel]

I was wondering what the hell was taking so long, but now I see! Fantastic Article, great analysis and insight. I have only been following the Brewers minor league system for three years and consider myself to be a very novice judge of talent, but things like this help me to understand where my thoughts are a little off in places, and right on the money in others. Thanks for all your hard work pulling this together....first thing I've actually printed off and read here in a while!

[colbyjack]

I just want to point out that the insight I included is partially mine but a lot of it comes from the people that submitted a top 20 list. I tried my best to grab some of the more interesting comments, as a few people added various notes in addition to just listing 20 guys in order.

 

It was a lot of fun to read these comments as they came in, and while I couldn't reply to each and every email, I assure you I read every one from top to bottom.

 

So, pat yourself on the back http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif.

[DrWood]

not too many surprises on the list. I'm surprised that no one (including myself) listed cody, farris, robinson or bramhall. I don't know why brantley gets so little love, but that was foreshadowed by discussions on the forum. Don't know why Gamel gets so much love; do people put that much credence on his work in Hawaii? The guy doesn't have a position yet. Same with Salome, and if he can't catch, where do you put a 5'7" heavily muscled guy? I had them both in the top 10, but not 3 and 5.

[lexi881]

Well Dr., you are certainly entitled to your opinion, but I do not think that people put that much credence solely on Gamel's work in Hawaii, but more so his work in general. Everyone is more than aware of his defensive woes, which he has been working on all off-season, but his bat has been solid for his entire minor league career. And with accolades that include things such as: MVP of the SAL All Star Game, SAL mid and post season All Star, FSL Player of the week, Topps Player of the Month, and a 30+ game hit streak in the pitcher friendly FSL in 2007 (which has nothing to do with HI) I just do not understand how you can state that people base their value of him on the Hawaiian performance alone.

[heresrobin]

Guys I feel like I may have slighted because they did not completely fall into my definition of prospect because of age and level (which I admit may be silly, but I had to draw the line somewhere):

Steve Bray

Luis Pena

Mitch Stetter

Derek Miller

Odds are that a few of these guys will have a much bigger impact on the parent club than at least half of the top 20 will ever have. Sometimes it's hard for me to consider middle relief pitchers as top prospects though. It sure would be nice though to develop some solid, cheap bullpen help from within the system at some point.

 

Thanks for the list. It made for good reading and perhaps opened my eyes to some players I may not have been paying enough attention to over the years.

[colbyjack]

Don't know why Gamel gets so much love; do people put that much credence on his work in Hawaii? The guy doesn't have a position yet.

 

If you feel Gamel doesn't have a position, you could argue that Matt LaPorta doesn't have a position either. Ryan Braun has since moved off of 3B while both Rickie Weeks and Prince Fielder has had their problems defensively at 2B and 1B respectively.

 

What they all have in common with Gamel is that they can hit, the one tool you really can't teach and the one tool that is going to continue to be the reason why all of them get paid handsomely. Gamel also holds the distinction of being one of the organization's few impact prospects that bats left-handed, and given the arguments about the projected big-league lineup being right-handed heavy, I do think this is something that plays to his favor.

 

Gamel made me a huge believer when he improved in the one area that many consider to be a future predictor of success from his first professional season to his second: Plate discipline. After his 2005 debut I was really concerned about his 17:58 BB:K ratio over 222 AB. That went to 52:81 in 493 AB in 2006 and 58:98 in 466 AB last year. He increased his walk totals while cutting down in his strikeouts very quickly, to me a sign of a very good, disciplined hitter.

 

And here's his career line:

 

.296/.367/.471

 

He didn't hit as many home runs last year, but power definitely is surpressed at Brevard County and in the Florida State League in general (look at Braun's numbers when he played there). And he still hit more doubles (37 vs. 28 in '06) and triples (8 vs. 5), and the triples are particularly encouraging because it shows the guy has some wheels to go with his left-handed stroke. As lexi already noted, he also had a 30+ game hitting streak to go along with several other career accomplishments and honors. What he did in the Hawaii League is icing on the cake to me, and didn't really effect how I view him (just like how I didn't hold Cain's struggles in the HWB in 2006 against him when ranking prospects a year ago).

 

I don't mean to argue this point too much, because everyone is entitled to their opinion, but I had Gamel at #10 on this list a year ago when he was rated collectively as the organization's 20th best prospect, which even at the time I expressed was an error in judgement by the voters. I was impressed by the final results of the poll because the top 3 (Parra-LaPorta-Gamel) finished exactly how I had it.

 

I'll let someone else go to bat for Salome, but much is the same is true for him. However, I do think Salome sticking at catcher is more crucial than Gamel sticking at 3B.

[DrWood]

I wasn't arguing that Gamel wasn't a prospect. I think I had him 6th. But when I look at his accomplishments, I think of him as a corner OF and thus is less impressive. The Hawaii League is clearly 2nd banana to AZ. Someone like Jeffress projects as an ace, closer..., or rastafarian. I'm willing to eat crow next season.

[TooLiveBrew]

power definitely is surpressed at Brevard County and in the Florida State League in general (look at Braun's numbers when he played there).

 

I've started using Braun's line from BC as a way to put other guys' numbers in perspective. If he posts roughly a .780 OPS there, I can't really hold it against any player that can't get to .750.