I’ve been watching top prospect lists all winter and am ready to reveal the Tailgate Crashers Top 10 Prospects by Team. I’ve looked at other rankings and have arranged guys by those score and my own feelings on them. I’m releasing these by division; each team will have a top 10 with a quick note about the system and a sleeper. After all the division lists have been released, I’ll rank the organizations and give my top 100 prospects.
First up, the…
NL East
Braves
1. Jason Heyward
2. Tommy Hanson
3. Jordan Schafer
4. Freddie Freeman
5. Gorkys Hernandez
6. Cole Rohrbough
7. Julio Teheran
8. Jeff Locke
9. Kris Medlin
10. Randall Delgado
The Braves system is strong as always. They have a lot of projectable pitchers. I think they could have pulled off a deal for Jake Peavy and not killed the depth in the system. I’d say the top 5 guys right now will be regulars in the majors. My sleeper here is Gorkys Hernandez; he’s not as big named as Heyward or Schafer, but he’ll probably be the best bet to stick at centerfield.
Marlins
1. Cameron Maybin
2. Logan Morrison
3. Michael Stanton
4. Matt Dominguez
5. Kyle Skipworth
6. Sean West
7. Ryan Tucker
8. Jose Ceda
9. Chris Coghlan
10. John Raynor
The Marlins are another deep system; instead of just using the draft (like the Braves), the Marlins also have made some good trades. A few of these guys will be up soon – Maybin could be starting on opening day. My sleeper here is Jose Ceda; he could be closing by the end of 2010.
Mets
1. Fernando Martinez
2. Wilmer Flores
3. Jon Niese
4. Dan Murphy
5. Brad Holt
6. Jefry Marte
7. Reese Havens
8. Jenrry Mejia
9. Bobby Parnell
10. Nick Evans
The Mets system has 2 strong players at the top, then a lot of interchangable ones. Martinez will be a regular before the end of the season, while Flores will take a little more time. My sleeper pick here is Jon Niese; he’ll be a solid back end starter that could be a regular this season if there is an injury.
Nationals
1. Jordan Zimmerman
2. Ross Detwiler
3. Michael Burgess
4. Chris Marrero
5. Graham Hicks
6. Jack McGeary
7. Stephen King
8. Derek Norris
9. Esmailyn Gonzalez
10. Danny Espinosa
This system is pretty barren, but getting better than it was. Zimmerman is probably the only lock to be a regular; the next few guys are on the fence and could end up bench/bullpen guys if they can’t player everyday or start. Esmailyn Gonzalez takes a hit by being a few years older than he was saying. My sleeper here is Ross Detwiler – he’s probably going to be in the bullpen, but he’ll be a quality arm there.
Phillies
1. Carlos Carrasco
2. Jason Donald
3. Michael Taylor
4. Dominic Brown
5. Lou Marson
6. Travis D’Arnaud
7. Kyle Drabek
8. JA Happ
9. Zach Collier
10. Joe Savery
I really like the guys the Phillies have. Carrasco is a top of the rotation starter, if healthy. I’d expect to see him get a few starts this season. The rest of the top 10 can be anything from bench players to every day guys, with an All Star or 2 mixed in. The sleeper here is Kyle Drabek. He’s going to be in his first full season since Tommy John surgery; if he can prove he’s healthy, he could be the #2 guy next year.
I’ll be back later with the AL East Top 10.
