:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/52556443/598859376.0.jpeg)
It’s over now. Well, while technically today is a holiday, I’ve got to work, so as far as I’m concerned, the festive season is officially over. After a spell going back to before Thanksgiving, where I rarely had to work a full five-day week [the joys of having limits on the vacation time you can carry over], I don’t have any scheduled vacation on the books, Pitchers and catchers will probably report before my next holiday. On the other hand, my waistline will probably benefit from a return to normal life. Between Thanksgiving, the trip to Scotland, Christmas and New Year, it has been a rough six weeks. Time to get back on the treadmill, in more ways than one!
Day #11. Despite a shameless attempt as ass-kissing from one quarter (who will remain anonymous, but it was truly a capitol [sic] effort...], we have a relatively optimistic - I think - line for today. It comes to us courtesy of Makakilo, who suggested:
Ten Leaps of Faith in Prospects
We haven’t posted our prospect list as yet: I know Michael made a start on it, but I think that was just before we traded Jean Segura, and other things came to the fore. Sure we’ll get to it in the next few weeks. [Damn, just realized it’s only about six weeks left until pitchers and catchers report. This off-season has seemed particularly short...] I don’t think Minor League Ball have given their list either, so let’s go from the list produced by Fangraphs using their KATOH projections. [Worth reading the full article for an in-depth discussion of the top names.] I’ve removed Mitch Haniger, since he was traded since it was written - he originally came in at #3, and neither Taijuan Walker nor Ketel Marte are rookie-eligible, so need not concern us here.
10 Top D-backs prospects
| Rk | Name | Age | Highest Level | Position | ETA | FV |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rk | Name | Age | Highest Level | Position | ETA | FV |
| 1 | Anthony Banda | 23 | AAA | LHP | 2017 | 50 |
| 2 | Socrates Brito | 24 | MLB | OF | 2016 | 45 |
| 3 | Jasrado Chisholm | 18 | R | SS | 2020 | 45 |
| 4 | Domingo Leyba | 21 | AA | 2B | 2018 | 40 |
| 5 | Anfernee Grier | 21 | A- | CF | 2019 | 40 |
| 6 | Taylor Clarke | 23 | AA | RHP | 2018 | 40 |
| 7 | Alex Young | 23 | A+ | LHP | 2018 | 40 |
| 8 | Wei-Chieh Huang | 23 | A+ | RHP | 2019 | 40 |
| 9 | Dawel Lugo | 21 | AA | 3B | 2018 | 40 |
| 10 | Jon Duplantier | 22 | A- | RHP | 2019 | 40 |
It doesn’t appear the D-backs will be spending any more money in the near future, and so if there’s to be contention in the next few years, the names above are likely going to need to be significant contributors. The problem is, Brito and Banda are the only two projected to be here before 2018, so this season at least, it doesn’t appear as if the top tier of our prospects is going to offer much help. I suspect we will really need rebounds from the likes of Zack Greinke and Shelby Miller, plus improvement from young players such as Walker, Brandon Drury and Jake Lamb, if we’re simply to achieve respectability, never mind contention.
And on to the penultimate verse we go!
On the eleventh day of Xmas, Ken Kendrick gave to me...
- ___________________________ [Eleven Pipers Piping]
- Ten Leaps of Faith in Prospects
- Nine Ladies Dancing
- Eight bad relievers
- Seven fans a'sitting
- Six months of torture
- Five division rings
- Four robot umps
- Three Miller wins
- Two Cuban projects
- And a catcher you can have for free!
As usual, throw your suggestions into the comments and/or rec the ideas you feel most deserving of praise. The winner will be announced tomorrow.