Tampabay.com

DECEMBER 21, 2011

Baseball America's top prospects: Moore, Lee, Archer, Guerrieri

Baseball America's ranking of the Rays top 10 prospects is out today, and with a few surprises.

For example, the the high slotting of 2011 draft picks RHP Taylor Guerrieri (4th) and OF Mikie Mahtook (10th), the re-emergence of SS Tim Beckham (7th) and the disappearance of 2010 first-rounder Josh Sale (who was 5th last year).

Here is the BA Top Ten:
1. LHP Matt Moore
2. SS Hak-Ju Lee
3. RHP Chris Archer
4. RHP Taylor Guerrieri
5. RHP Alex Colome
6. LHP Alex Torres
7. SS Tim Beckham
8. LHP Enny Romero
9. OF Drew Vettleson
10. OF Mikie Mahtook

For BA subscribers, there are also in-depth scouting reports on their site (and in the magazine), and a 3 p.m. chat today with writer Bill Ballew, who did the rankings.

For comparison sake, here is the BA Top 10 from last year:

1. RHP Jeremy Hellickson
2. LHP Matt Moore
3. OF Desmond Jennings
4. LHP Jake McGee
5. OF Josh Sale
6. LHP Alex Torres
7. RHP Alex Colome
8. C Justin O'Conner
9. OF Drew Vettleson
10. RHP Jake Thompson

There are other interesting parts of the annual BA package, such as the list of best tools among the prospects:

Best Hitter for Average: Drew Vettleson
Best Power Hitter: Derek Dietrich
Best Strike Zone Discipline: Tyler Bortnick
Fastest Baserunner: Hak-Ju Lee
Best Athlete: Ty Morrison
Best Fastball: Matt Moore
Best Curveball: Matt Moore
Best Slider: Chris Archer
Best Changeup: Marquis Fleming
Best Control: Matt Moore
Best Defensive Catcher: Mark Thomas
Best Defensive Infielder: Hak-Ju Lee
Best Infield Arm: Tim Beckham
Best Defensive OF: Kevin Kiermaier
Best Outfield Arm: Brandon Guyer

And the team's projected lineup four years into the future, so thus for 2015:

C  Luke Bailey
1B Ben Zobrist
2B Jake Hager
3B Evan Longoria
SS Hak-Ju Lee
LF Matt Joyce
CF Desmond Jennings
RF B.J. Upton
DH Tim Beckham
No. 1 Starter Matt Moore
No. 2 Starter David Price
No. 3 Starter James Shields
No. 4 Starter Jeremy Hellickson
No. 5 Starter Jeff Niemann
Closer Chris Archer

 

 

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