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Top 10 outfield prospects
Posted: Sunday January 19, 2003 9:20 PM
BOSTON (Ticker) -- Concluding the list of the best prospects at each position, the outfield position is loaded with young, talented hitters that can be spread throughout the lineup.
Leading the way is SportsTicker's Minor League Player of the Year, Rocco Baldelli of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Baldelli blazed through three different levels during the 2002 season and has drawn enough attention that new Tampa Bay manager Lou Pinella is considering him for the starting center field position on Opening Day.
The Minnesota Twins continue in their long line of talented young prospects with the duo of Michael Cuddyer and Michael Restovich while the Seattle Mariners proudly display the young bats of Chris Snelling and Shin-Soo Choo.
The most impressive aspect about the outfield prospects from the 2002 season is that all 10 have a legitimate shot of making a big league roster at some point during the upcoming year.
Top 10 outfielders
(Note: Players with less than 200 major league at-bats were considered)
1. Rocco Baldelli, Devil Rays
After two sub-par seasons in the minors, Baldelli exploded in 2002, batting .331 with 19 homers, 71 RBI, 28 doubles and 26
stolen bases between the Class A California League and the Triple-A International League. During a 17-game stopover in Double-A Orlando, the sixth overall pick in the 2000 draft hit .371 with a .413 on-base percentage. The 21-year-old is a line-drive hitter with excellent bat speed, enabling him to hit for power as well. The biggest concern about Baldelli is his lack of plate discipline. In 96 at-bats at the Triple-A level, the right-handed hitting Baldelli did not draw a single walk.
2. Joe Borchard, White Sox
Borchard is slowly rounding into the player that the White Sox
thought he could be when they gave him a $5.3 million signing
bonus upon being the 12th overall pick in the 2000 draft. The
24-year-old has tremendous power, connecting for 49 homers in
279 minor league games. In 117 games at Triple-A Charlotte,
Borchard, who was named to SportsTicker's 2002 All-Prospect
Team, collected 119 hits, including 20 homers and 35 doubles,
and posted a .498 slugging percentage. The right-handed hitting
Borchard's high strikeout numbers remain a concern, however. He
has fanned 297 times over the last two years. A former
quarterback at Stanford University who once threw five
touchdowns in a game, Borchard has a strong arm that has been on
display in center field in each of the last two seasons.
3. Michael Cuddyer, Twins
Cuddyer has the potential to be an impact hitter in the middle
of the lineup with his ability to handle fastballs as well as
stay back on offspeed pitches. The 23-year-old Cuddyer belted
20 homers in 86 games at Triple-A Edmonton in 2002 with a .594
slugging percentage. The ninth overall selection in the 1997
draft, Cuddyer generates tremendous bat speed, allowing him to
drive the ball to all fields. Defensively, he has enough arm
strength for right field but needs to learn to make better reads
and develop better routes on flyballs.
4. Mike Restovich, Twins
Built like a linebacker, Restovich has the ability to launch
home runs into a different stratosphere. In 138 games with
Triple-A Edmonton during 2002, the 24-year-old finished fourth
in the Pacific Coast League with 29 homers, was second with 68
extra-base hits and was fourth with 281 total bases. Selected
by the Twins in the second round of the 1997 draft, the
Minnesota native has good bat speed and but his career-high 151
strikeouts in 518 at-bats, the fourth straight season with
100-plus strikeouts, could be cause for concern. His arm
strength and his speed are average, but after playing the
outfield for only five seasons, Restovich needs to polish the
finer points of the position.
5. Chris Snelling, Mariners
There is little doubt that when healthy, Snelling has the
potential to be a dangerous hitter. The left-handed hitter has
batted over .300 in each of his first four seasons, including
leading the Class A California League with a .336 mark in 2001
despite playing with a stress fracture in his right ankle. He
was named to SportsTicker's All-Prospect and All-Teen Teams that
season. Snelling broke his right thumb in spring training of
2002 and blew out his knee in his eighth big league game,
resulting in only 31 total games. Signed by the Mariners in
1999, he is not built like a power-hitting outfielder and will
not homer that frequently, but he does possess gap power. His
tremendous baseball instincts allow him to play center field,
despite his average speed.
6. Juan Rivera, Yankees
Even with the Yankees signing Japanese slugger Hideki Matsui,
there is a chance Rivera could find himself in the Yankees' outfield
on Opening Day. The right-handed hitting
Rivera can be a deadly fastball hitter and has the ability to
cover the outer half of the plate. Signed by the Yankees in
1996, the down side for Rivera is that he can become impatient
and needs to learn to stay away from the pitches off the plate.
Despite missing time last season with a broken right kneecap,
Rivera collected 86 hits at the Triple-A level and posted a
.502 slugging percentage in 65 games. Defensively, the
24-year-old has above average arm strength and makes good reads
on balls off the bat as a corner outfielder.
7. Alexis Gomez, Royals
Gomez is coming off his finest season since being signed by the
Royals in 1997. The 22-year-old Gomez batted .295 with a
career-high 14 homers and 75 RBI while learning how to use the
entire field as well as working counts better in the
hitter-friendly Double-A Texas League. The Dominican Republic
native still needs to work on his pitch recognition, but he made
big strides this past season as he began to handle breaking
pitches better than he had been. Between 2000 and 2001, Gomez
walked only 83 times while posting 234 strikeouts. With Wichita
in 2002, he drew 45 walks and struck out 84 times. The
lefthanded-hitting Gomez can generate plenty of bat speed and
once on base, has the ability to steal with his plus speed,
swiping 36 in 60 chances in 2002. Gomez is athletic but his
work in center field needs some refining.
8. Ryan Ludwick, Rangers
The 24-year-old Ludwick appeared in only 101 total games between
Triple-A and the majors last season after having a screw
inserted into his left hip to repair a stress fracture. The
right-handed hitting Ludwick has quick hands and can generate
power, evidenced by his .548 slugging percentage and 15 homers
in 305 at-bats with Oklahoma last season. He had 87 hits in 78
games and was considered the team's best prospect by Redhawks
manager Bobby Jones. Ludwick, originally a second-round pick by
Oakland in 1999, is a bit of a free swinger and needs to develop
a better two-strike approach at the plate. Defensively, Ludwick
has a strong arm and average speed and will translate into a
good corner outfielder.
9. Shin-Soo Choo, Mariners
Choo is a natural line-drive hitter with tremendous bat speed,
solid tools and superb instincts. The 20-year-old Choo batted a
combined .303 between two Class A levels in 2002 and was named
to SportsTicker's All-Teen Team. At just 5-11, 178 pounds, Choo
does not offer a great deal of power. After being signed by the
Mariners in August of 2000, the left-handed-hitting native of
South Korea has hit only 11 career home runs. He has a good eye
at the plate but can be too passive, a trait that will get
better as he matures. Defensively, Choo's arm is his best tool.
He was clocked at throwing 95 mph at the World Junior
Championships in 2000.
10. Jason Lane, Astros
Since being selected by the Astros in the sixth round of the
1999 draft, Lane has been an RBI machine at the minor league
level. After back-to-back 100-plus RBI seasons in 2000-01, Lane
had 83 RBI in 111 games with Triple-A New Orleans in 2002. His
averaged dipped a little, falling to .272, and his home run
production was down as well with only 15 in 426 at-bats.
Nonetheless, his performance earned him team MVP honors in New
Orleans, the fourth straight season he was named the MVP of his
team. The 26-year-old right-handed hitter has posted a very good
strikeout to walk ratio in previous seasons, although he drew
just 31 walks and struck out 90 times in 2002. He has a strong
arm and has adapted well to his left field position.
© 2003 SportsTicker Enterprises, LP
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