Top 100 MLB Prospects Of 2012

[Hache Man]

Keith Law: Top 100 prospects of 2012

For the first time in list history the top two names return to the same spot

By Keith Law
ESPN Insider

Welcome to the 2012 ESPN Insider ranking of the top 100 prospects in baseball.

This is the fifth year I have done these rankings for ESPN, and for the first time I have the same player at No. 1 for the second straight year. Last year's Rule 4 draft was one of the deepest in recent memory, so there are plenty of new faces.

A more detailed explanation of the process in determining these rankings is found at the top of each of the four player capsule pages.

RANK	POSITION	PLAYER	TEAM	HEIGHT	WEIGHT	AGE
1	CF	Mike Trout	L.A. Angels	6-1	217	20
2	RF	Bryce Harper	Washington	6-2	245	19
3	LHP	Matt Moore	Tampa Bay	6-2	205	22
4	SS	Manny Machado	Baltimore	6-3	185	19
5	RHP	Shelby Miller	St. Louis	6-3	195	21
6	C	Travis d'Arnaud	Toronto	6-2	195	22
7	SS	Jurickson Profar	Texas	5-11	165	18
8	C	Devin Mesoraco	Cincinnati	6-1	220	23
9	DH/C	Jesus Montero	Seattle	6-3	235	22
10	RHP	Gerrit Cole	Pittsburgh	6-4	220	21
11	RHP	Dylan Bundy	Baltimore	6-1	200	19
12	SS	Hak-Ju Lee	Tampa Bay	6-2	170	21
13	OF	Wil Myers	Kansas City	6-3	205	21
14	RHP	Arodys Vizcaino	Atlanta	6-0	190	21
15	OF	Bubba Starling	Kansas City	6-4	180	19
16	RHP	Jameson Taillon	Pittsburgh	6-6	225	20
17	3B	Anthony Rendon	Washington	6-0	190	21
18	RHP	Julio Teheran	Atlanta	6-2	175	21
19	RHP	Archie Bradley	Arizona	6-4	225	19
20	LHP	Martin Perez	Texas	6-0	180	20
21	RHP	Trevor Bauer	Arizona	6-1	175	21
22	RHP	Carlos Martinez	St. Louis	6-0	165	20
23	LHP	Manny Banuelos	N.Y. Yankees	5-11	155	20
24	RHP	Taijuan Walker	Seattle	6-4	195	19
25	LHP	Tyler Skaggs	Arizona	6-4	195	20
26	3B	Nolan Arenado	Colorado	6-1	205	20
27	RHP	Zack Wheeler	N.Y. Mets	6-4	185	21
28	3B	Miguel Sano	Minnesota	6-3	195	18
29	RHP	Jacob Turner	Detroit	6-5	210	20
30	LHP	Danny Hultzen	Seattle	6-3	200	22
31	RHP	Jarrod Parker	Oakland	6-1	195	23
32	RHP	Casey Kelly	San Diego	6-3	195	22
33	RHP	A.J. Cole	Oakland	6-4	180	20
34	OF	Mason Williams	N.Y. Yankees	6-0	150	20
35	SS	Francisco Lindor	Cleveland	5-11	175	18
36	1B	Anthony Rizzo	Chicago Cubs	6-3	220	22
37	3B	Nick Castellanos	Detroit	6-4	195	19
38	RHP	Matt Harvey	N.Y. Mets	6-4	210	22
39	RHP	Wily Peralta	Milwaukee	6-4	240	22
40	OF	Rymer Liriano	San Diego	6-0	211	20
41	RHP	Zach Lee	L.A. Dodgers	6-4	190	20
42	RHP	Drew Hutchison	Toronto	6-2	165	21
43	3B	Cheslor Cuthbert	Kansas City	6-1	190	19
44	SS	Jean Segura	L.A. Angels	5-11	160	21
45	LHP	Drew Pomeranz	Colorado	6-5	230	23
46	1B/LF	Jonathan Singleton	Houston	6-2	215	20
47	OF	Jake Marisnick	Toronto	6-4	200	20
48	OF	Christian Yelich	Miami	6-4	189	20
49	RHP	Joe Ross	San Diego	6-3	185	18
50	OF	Eddie Rosario	Minnesota	6-0	170	20
51	LHP	James Paxton	Seattle	6-4	220	23
52	LHP	Mike Montgomery	Kansas City	6-4	185	22
53	OF	Oscar Taveras	St. Louis	6-2	180	19
54	RHP	Daniel Corcino	Cincinnati	5-11	165	21
55	C	Gary Sanchez	N.Y. Yankees	6-2	220	19
56	3B	Jonathan Schoop	Baltimore	6-1	187	20
57	SS	Nick Franklin	Seattle	6-1	175	20
58	RHP	Taylor Jungmann	Milwaukee	6-6	220	22
59	OF	Anthony Gose	Toronto	6-1	190	21
60	OF	George Springer	Houston	6-3	205	22
61	RHP	Allen Webster	L.A. Dodgers	6-3	185	22
62	SS	Xander Bogaerts	Boston	6-3	185	19
63	RHP	Chris Archer	Tampa Bay	6-3	185	23
64	SS	Billy Hamilton	Cincinnati	6-1	160	21
65	C	Yasmani Grandal	San Diego	6-2	205	23
66	3B	Zack Cox	St. Louis	6-0	215	22
67	OF	Josh Bell	Pittsburgh	6-4	195	19
68	CF	Gary Brown	San Francisco	6-1	190	23
69	1B	Yonder Alonso	San Diego	6-2	240	24
70	RHP	Garrett Richards	L.A. Angels	6-3	215	23
71	RHP	Jake Odorizzi	Kansas City	6-2	175	21
72	OF	Starling Marte	Pittsburgh	6-1	170	23
73	RHP	Sonny Gray	Oakland	5-11	200	22
74	RHP	Tyrell Jenkins	St. Louis	6-4	180	19
75	3B	Mike Olt	Texas	6-2	210	23
76	RHP	Trevor May	Philadelphia	6-5	215	22
77	OF	Michael Choice	Oakland	6-0	215	22
78	RHP	Jarred Cosart	Houston	6-3	180	21
79	RHP	Nate Eovaldi	L.A. Dodgers	6-3	195	21
80	OF	Aaron Hicks	Minnesota	6-2	185	22
81	RHP	John Hellweg	L.A. Angels	6-9	210	23
82	3B	Matt Davidson	Arizona	6-3	225	20
83	RHP	Dellin Betances	N.Y. Yankees	6-8	260	23
84	LHP	Enny Romero	Tampa Bay	6-3	165	21
85	OF	Oswaldo Arcia	Minnesota	6-0	210	20
86	OF	Robbie Grossman	Pittsburgh	6-1	190	22
87	OF	Mikie Mahtook	Tampa Bay	6-1	200	22
88	RHP	Taylor Guerrieri	Tampa Bay	6-3	195	19
89	CF	Brett Jackson	Chicago Cubs	6-2	210	23
90	3B	Jedd Gyorko	San Diego	5-10	195	23
91	RHP	Chad Bettis	Colorado	6-1	195	22
92	RHP	Jordan Swagerty	St. Louis	6-2	175	22
93	C	Derek Norris	Oakland	6-0	210	22
94	C	Christian Bethancourt	Atlanta	6-2	190	20
95	SS	Javier Baez	Chicago Cubs	6-0	180	19
96	RHP	Aaron Sanchez	Toronto	6-4	190	19
97	RHP	Addison Reed	Chicago White Sox	6-4	215	23
98	RHP	Randall Delgado	Atlanta	6-3	200	22
99	RHP	Neil Ramirez	Texas	6-3	185	22
100	C	Blake Swihart	Boston	6-1	175	19

[KDawgg]

6 Rays
5 Royals
5 A's
4 D Backs including 3 high end guys
4 Braves

[5teamparlay]

62

SS

Xander Bogaerts

Boston

6-3

185

19

http://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/20...0zN/story.html

Dan Shaughnessy
Xander Bogaerts on fast track to stardom

By Dan Shaughnessy

| Globe Columnist February 23, 2014

Jim Davis/Globe Staff
Rookie shortstop Xander Bogaerts (left) and veteran outfielder Grady Sizemore laugh during a popup drill.

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FORT MYERS, Fla. — He’s already won a World Series, now he gets to be Rookie of the Year. There is no slowing down for Xander Bogaerts, no warning track. Only the fast track.
It’s hard to know where to start. The Red Sox have brought a lot of great players to the big leagues through the years. Few players had better career starts than Fred Lynn or Nomar Garciaparra, and we won’t insult anyone by bringing Ted Williams into this conversation. Ted forever will be the all-time greatest Red Sox and there was no shortage of hype when he burst into the big leagues in the spring of 1939.
It’s always a mistake to expect too much. Bogaerts is only 21 years old and is bound to have slumps and struggles as he makes his way in his first full big league season. He is not a potential triple crown winner (Hanley Ramirez was) and we don’t know how he’ll fare as an everyday big league shortstop.


But Bogaerts is as close to a sure thing as you are going to get in big league baseball. If he doesn’t blossom into an All-Star, it means that all scouting, all analysis, and Bill James-ian projection mean nothing. ESPN has declared Bogaerts the second-best prospect in all of baseball (Twins outfielder Byron Buxton got the top nod). The last Sox player who came to the big leagues with this much expectation was Roger Clemens, and Clemens wound up winning 192 games for Boston.
Oh, we should mention that Bogaerts is also polite and mature beyond his years. After an interview with Bogaerts Saturday morning, one of my press box brothers said, “Off the field and in the clubhouse, I think this kid is going to be the next Pedro Martinez.’’
Wow. Maybe somebody should name a field after Bogaerts.
Jim Davis/Globe Staff
He may not be ready to hang on the wall with the Red Sox legends yet, but big things are expected for rookie shortstop Xander Bogaerts this season, and for many seasons to come.


Oops. They’ve already done that near his home in Aruba.
One of the elements that makes it easy to project stardom is the fact that we already have a real sample. Bogaerts came to the big leagues last August, the Sox’ first 20-year-old position player since Dwight Evans was rushed into the 1972 pennant race. Bogaerts hit .250 in 18 games. His only homer was one of the longest homers hit at Yankee Stadium in 2013.
It got even better in the postseason. Playing third and a little short, he scored nine runs in 12 postseason games, compiling a .412 on-base percentage. He didn’t blink against the aces of Detroit and St. Louis and he demonstrated uncommon plate discipline for a youngster with limited professional experience.
He hit a booming triple in St. Louis in Game 3, becoming the third-youngest player to hit a triple in a World Series game. The two who did it at a younger age were Ty Cobb and Mickey Mantle. Bogaerts’s seventh-inning single in Game 5 helped the Sox to a 3-1 victory. Bogaerts was creeping toward the middle of the batting order when the World Series ended.
All he’s got to do now is take over as the everyday shortstop of the defending world champs. In his official rookie year (Bogaerts retains his rookie status because of his limited big league play in 2013).
There’s been considerable noise about the Sox bringing back Stephen Drew and moving Bogaerts to third, but management backed away from Drew this past week and Bogaerts has been told to work at shortstop only.
“I’m definitely the shortstop right now,’’ he said. “I think Drew is still a free agent. I don’t know what’s going to happen with him or what’s going to happen with me, but for now I’m working out at shortstop only. It’s good. You can focus on one position. It’s not like in the World Series and playoffs where I had to focus on short and third.’’
Bogaerts has been spared the playful abuse of Dustin Pedroia. The second baseman was tough on Jose Iglesias but has taken the kinder/gentler approach with Bogaerts.
“Maybe Iglesias did stuff different ways,’’ Bogaerts said, smiling. “I’m really quiet, so I haven’t heard anything yet. He’s been helpful and I’m very thankful to have him on my team.’’
The degree of difficulty at shortstop is obvious, but Bogaerts has the additional “burden” of perhaps being “too big” for short. The Sox list him at 6 feet 3 inches and 185 pounds, but he says his height has been exaggerated.
“Why not, man, I love shortstop,’’ Bogaerts said. “Look at [Derek] Jeter. He’s really tall and he’s one of the best shortstops in the game. I wish I could stop growing. But I’m 6-1. I had the physical the other day and I was 6-1, 210. I have no idea where this 6-3 is coming from.’’
He sounds capable of dealing with ridiculous expectations.
“I’m just going to go out and play like I play and hopefully good things happen,” he said. “Hopefully, I’m here to stay and I’m here for a long time.’’
Dan Shaughnessy is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at dshaughnessy@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @Dan_Shaughnessy

[5teamparlay]

#48 Yelich


... Miami's Christian Yelich has a 17-game hitting streak

[5teamparlay]

Happy 27th Christian


nice list

BIRTHDAY

December 5, 1991 (age 27)

BIRTHPLACE

Thousand Oaks, CA