A couple big sources dropped their Top 100 prospect rankings today. Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus lists Reds outfielder Jay Bruce at No. 1. He’ll compete with Norris Hopper and Ryan Freel for the starting center fielder job in Cincinnati. As someone who follows the Reds closely, I get the impression that at 20-years-old he’s still a little raw and not quite there. Dusty Baker isn’t big on young players anyway, plus Hopper was surprisingly great down the stretch last year.
Ah, but you didn’t come here to listen to me talk about prospects, did you? Bruce ranks No. 2 on Keith Law of Scout’s Inc’s Top 100 for ESPN. He has Evan Longoria at the top. Hard to argue with that, Longoria is a legit possibility for the .400 club. Not BA, but OBP.
The other names in the Top 10 are pretty interchangeable. One interesting difference in the two lists is that Law has the prospect the Mets didn’t give up for Johan Santana, outfielder Fernando Martinez, at #10, while Goldstein has him at #51.
Just for fun I checked out Goldstien’s list from 2007. Just as nearly everyone did, he had Alex Gordon at the top and Ryan Braun (who I think everyone can agree was the best “prospect” of 2007) was at #12. He also had Joba Chamberlain at #56, just to illustrate how out-of-nowhere these guys can come.
2 responses so far ↓
1 ken // Feb 1, 2008 at 10:43 pm
Strange, I’m also a big Reds fan. I’m not sure about Bruce starting immediately - I think he’s ready as a hitter but he’s really made for RF, not CF. With atrocious defense by our corners, it’s essential that we have a rangy CF. But there are serious concerns about Hopper and Freel - Hopper’s ‘07 really seems flukish, and Freel, given his age and the injuries, might not ever recover to his ‘04′-’06 level. It’s a tough situation.
2 Shinsano // Feb 2, 2008 at 12:08 am
Nice, ken, we can comisserate. I thought Hopper’s 2007 was out of nowhere too, but it doesn’t seem out of the realm for the Reds to have a great player sitting on the bench for two years. Freel and Hamilton were such fan favorites…I wonder if that held Hopper back as much as anything.
Hopper’s range must be a lot better than Bruce’s at this point, and you’re right on about them needing a rangy guy in center. I think they’ll be a lot of fan pressure to have Bruce start. That said, it doesn’t strike me as Dusty’s style to go with a 20 year old.
In either event I’m glad they dealt Hamilton. I think that guy will play about 120 games a year.
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