C. Prediction: Rossmel Perez. Likely: Miguel Montero
"I think he will end up as a serviceable backstop come Montero's free agency years. It's probably true that he won't show as much pop as Montero, but he has good enough offensive tools to be a solid regular for few years." Perez is still young, at 24, but he this is now his third season in Double-A, and he's no longer young for the level. Nor is he playing for the D-backs, having been let go before this year. He's now with the Reds, and is hitting startlingly well, batting .329 with an .845 OPS this year in their farm system. Grade: D+
1B. Prediction: Matt Davidson. Likely: Paul Goldschmidt
"I was going to put Paul Goldschmidt here, but I think the two thirdbaseman (by name at least) in Davidson and Bobby Borchering will surpass him in the depth chart by the time 2015 rolls around. Davidson had a breakout season and his power is legitimate. His defense, however, will ultimately move him across the diamond." Missed it by that much... So, guess it's not just Leith Kaw who under-estimated Goldie. Davidson almost was a starter, albeit on the other corner of the infield and for the White Sox, but it looks like that won't be this season. Only 23 though, so this one is probably more premature, rather than inaccurate. Grade: B-
2B. Prediction: Mike Freeman. Likely: Aaron Hill
"I think he has what it takes to be a legitimate second baseman for this club. Granted, our depth in this position ain't great, but I think at least he is better than David Nick." Ah, remember the days when middle-infield was an area of scarcity around our system? A happier, more innocent era before "ALL THE SHORTSTOPZ!!" jokes were pounded into the ground. Also, an era before we traded for Aaron Hill, and signed him to a long-term extension which is currently looking problematic. As for Freeman, he's with the Aces, but hasn't really been in the discussion in terms of any promotion to the bigs. Grade: C
SS. Prediction: Chris Owings. Likely: Chris Owings
"One of the more exciting players in our system to me. He has a good pop and a swing that can generate many hits. His glove is legit and improving. The only knock would be his strikeout to walk ratio but he just swings at every good fastball." Very impressive, considering Owings had barely turned 19 when the above was written and had just finished his first full season of professional baseball. Of course, he was a first-round draft pick, so it's not like Chris came out of nowhere. But there are many #41's who don't reach the majors or become Rookie of the Year contenders. Grade: A
3B. Prediction: Bobby Borchering. Likely: Martin Prado
"[Generates] a lot of opposite field power from both sides and has a nice compact swing. He still needs to improve his pitch selection and defense, but I believe he can be a superstar if all goes right." Oh, dear... Superstardom has, so far, eluded Borchering. Indeed, almost four years later, playing above Double-A (where has has a .163 average in 51 games) has also eluded Borchering, and he's currently a 23-year-old in High-A ball with Houston. He hasn't given them even a .700 OPS anywhere, since being part of the Chris Johnson trade in July 2012, so currently looks unlikely to amount to anything. Grade: F
LF. Prediction: Marc Krauss. Likely: Mark Trumbo
"Very typical Adam Dunn like player in my opinion with a little less pop. I think he can hit anywhere from .260 to .280 with 25+ homeruns a season. He has a below average defense but I think his offense will keep him a regular for a while." Coincidentally, traded with Borchering to Houston, and he is now a semi-regular in their starting line-up, with 32 starts, though much more this season at first. However, Krauss is not exactly hitting like Adam Dunn to date: in 91 MLB games, he has batted .193 with eight home-runs, and since he'll turn 27 in October, is a bit long in the tooth to be considered a prospect. Grade: C+
CF. Prediction: A.J. Pollock. Likely: A.J. Pollock
"Solid contact hitter who can hit balls deep into gaps, good baserunner, and a solid defender. Not superstar material, but will make one of those love to have on your ball club guys." That's two sentences which might have been written about Pollock last week, rather than close on four years ago. Adding to the Nostradamus-like nature of the prediction, it came at the end of a season which A.J. missed in its regular entirely, due to a fractured right elbow, only getting into action during the AFL. He recovered from that, blew through Mobile and Reno in 2011 and 2012, hitting over .300 at both, and has been a 3+ bWAR player in each season since. Grade: A
RF: Prediction: Justin Upton. Likely: Gerardo Parra
"Hopefully by this time he will be considered a superstar and we will be looking to extend him." Ah, the naive hopes of innocent young fandom. Upton certainly performed like a superstar the following season, putting up 6.1 bWAR in 2011 and making the All-Star roster. But he has yet to reach even half that figure since, though has still been worth his increasing salary. Of course, he hasn't been doing it for the Diamondbacks either, with the trade that will probably end up defining the Towers' era, taking him to Atlanta. Grade: B+
The author concludes his piece by saying, "I also think by this time, Wagner Mateo and Ty Linton will be knocking on the doors to the majors," so best if we rapidly move on, I think Almost as entertaining are the comments on the original story, starting with Dan Strittmatter pointing out that "These types of experiments typically end with maybe a 20-30% success rate, because that’s the nature of prospects" - and, boom, we see two out of eight right here, for a 25% success rate! There's also discussion on who might form our rotation next year: not an enormous hit-rate there, for one reason or another...
Anyone fancy their chances, and taking a stab at what our 2019 line-up might be like, for review round about this time in 2018?