since john sickels' list of the top 20 cardinal prospects will be up sometime today (saturday), let's make that the weekend yak thread: which stl farmhand intrigues you the most?
we can include reyes and wainwright in the discussion; ankiel too, i guess. but i'm really more interested in who you like from among the rest of the field -- duncan, gall, lambert, mccormick, rasmus, greene, haerther, hanson, worrell, stavinoha, et alia. also what you like about them -- plate discipline, pitch velocity, speed on the bases, whatever. bonus points if you have seen the guy play in person -- and if you have, give us some visuals.
i haven't seen any of these guys, so i form my impressions strictly by the stat sheet. and on that basis i'm partial to outfielder cody haerther, a 6th-round pick from the 2002 draft. what do i like about him? his numbers suggest a broad, fertile skill foundation -- makes good contact, knows the strike zone, is rapidly improving his power. his top comparables at baseball prospectus include some pretty good young players with bright futures: the tigers' curtis granderson (#1 comp), texas' laynce nix (#2), former chisox centerfielder aaron rowand (#7), and the guy who will be replacing rowand, brian anderson (#6). all of these guys appeared on one of baseball america's top-100 prospect lists and got to the majors by age 24; at least three of them will be everyday players this year.
do i see haerther as a star? not likely -- but at his upper boundary he could be andy van slyke. i do think, though, he has a good chance to become the type of player st louis used to produce in abundance during the 1970s and 1980s: a bread-n-butter regular with all-around skills. verrry corny of me, i realize. i'm rooting for him anyway.
there's a poll up about this on the right-hand sidebar.
Update [2006-2-26 0:21:4 by lboros]: here's the link to sickels' post on the stl farm system. and here are the 20 prospects:
- Anthony Reyes, RHP, Grade B+
- Colby Rasmus, OF, B+
- Cody Haerther, OF, B+
- Tyler Greene, SS, B-
- Adam Wainwright, RHP, B-
- Mark McCormick, RHP, B-
- Nick Stavinoha, OF, B-
- Bryan Anderson, C, B-
- Travis Hanson, 3B, C+
- Chris Lambert, RHP, C+
- Juan Mateo, RHP, C+
- Stuart Pomeranz, RHP, C+
- Eric Haberer, LHP, C+
- Tyler Herron, RHP, C+
- Nick Webber, RHP, C+
- Mark Worrell, RHP, C+
- A.J. Van Slyke, OF, C+
- Mike Parisi, RHP, C+
- Tyler Johnson, LHP, C
- Rick Ankiel, OF, C
if that's the class haerther is in, then he's a pretty good-looking prospect.