Up coming Prospects

Tim Williams - AccuScore Analyst
Prospect Watch

1. Jay Bruce – I was willing to offer Carlos Beltran for Jay Bruce in my NL only league when he got the call, and the owner of Bruce actually declined. Smart move on his part, as Bruce has been on fire, hitting .577 with a homer in his last three games. I predicted a 20/20/.300 season for Bruce when he first got the call. Current AccuScore forecasts have him going 21/20/.340 for the remainder of the season. Bruce is this year’s Ryan Braun.

2. Chase Headley – You may be surprised to see that I’m ranking a guy who has yet to get the call at number two. Headley has been tearing up AAA, with a .306 average and 10 homers. Scott Hairston and Jody Gerut aren’t cutting it in the outfield, and I think Headley gets the call very soon. I can see Headley batting .300 with 20 homers for the remainder of the season.

3. Carlos Gonzalez – He’s the consolation prize if you missed out on Jay Bruce. Gonzalez has shown some potential in his first weekend, with two multi-hit games. He showed 20 home run potential in the minors, and a decent amount of speed. I said in my blog that I expected a 15/15/.280 line for him for the remainder of the season.

4. Clayton Kershaw – I rank rookie pitchers lower than the hitters because of the struggles they can go through. Based on his start against the Mets, Kershaw is not immune to those struggles. I expect numbers similar to Tim Lincecum from last season: 4.00 ERA, six wins, and a 9.0 K/9 ratio.

5. Evan Longoria – The killer for Longoria this year has been his average, which at the time doesn’t make him any more valuable than a guy like Adrian Beltre, unless you are in a keeper league. AccuScore forecasts have Longoria going 15/7/.238 for the remainder of the season, which is far from the hype he came up with to start the year.

6. Max Scherzer – He’s in the bullpen, but I still stand by my prediction that he gets the call back to the rotation at some point, either due to injury or poor performance to either Doug Davis or Randy Johnson. I actually like Scherzer better than Kershaw, because Scherzer doesn’t come with limitations. However, I rank Scherzer lower due to his current relief status.

7. Johnny Cueto – I’m throwing Cueto on this list because he hasn’t exactly been Mr. Consistency, and sports a 5.11 ERA. Despite the high ERA, Cueto has a 1.29 WHIP, an 8.13 K/9 ratio, and a 2.62 BB/9 ratio, showing that his control is no issue. The problem with Cueto is the amount of home runs he allows, currently 14 in 12 starts. Cueto can give you solid strikeout numbers, and he will keep your WHIP low, but until he gets the home run issue fixed, he will be a 4.50 ERA pitcher.

8. Ian Stewart – Stewart is the top hitting prospect for the Rockies, and with all of the current injuries to the team, will see plenty of playing time. He is currently gaining eligibility at second base, which would expand his value even more. There is talk that Colorado may trade Matt Holliday, which would keep Stewart up for the remainder of the season, and give him more eligibility, this time in the outfield. Before getting the call, Stewart hit 12 homers in 171 at bats at AAA.

9. Andrew McCutchen – The top prospect for the Pirates is batting .287 with seven homers and 17 steals at AAA. I actually rank him up there with Bruce and Gonzalez, but his situation will see limited playing time. I think either Jason Bay or Xavier Nady will get traded by the deadline, which will open up a hole for McCutchen. If this article was written at the end of July, I’d have McCutchen in my top three, simply because of his power/speed combo.

10. Brandon Wood – Wood has been absolutely horrible in his call up, although you can’t blame the top power hitter in the Angels’ farm system. He’s not getting regular playing time, having just 50 at bats since April 28th. Due to his power potential, I am keeping an eye on him, just incase he starts to turn it around in the power department. ”>Technorati”>Digg&title=”>Del.icio.us&title=” >reddit