FanPost

Community Top 20 Cardinals Prospects Summary

Well the community top 20 list is finally finished.  I'd like to thank everyone who voted and everyone who posted comments to help me know when to put people into the polls.  Here is the final list along with some info on them, comments about the player from me, my view on their expected spot when they reach the big leagues, and their appox. ETA for reaching the majors.  Some of my info might be wrong, but to the best of my knowledge it is correct.  My projections could be off or irrational (I tried to make them conservative).  Obviously with prospects anything (injury, etc.) can happen.

Rank. Name, Pos, Age, Level, Draft Pos, % of vote (runner up)
1. Colby Rasmus, OF, 19, High-A, 1st Round 28th Overall 2005, 83% of vote (Garcia 9%)
Easily the Cardinals best (only real) hitting prospect and their best overall prospect. 5-tool player.
Expected Positon: starting CF
ETA: 2009
2. Jamie Garcia, SP, 20, High-A, 22nd Round 680th Overall 2005, 41% of vote (Hawksworth 21%)
Probably the Cards best pitching prospect.  Has good stuff and good pitchability.
Expected Position: 3rd Starter
ETA: 2009
3. Blake Hawksworth, SP, 23, AA, 28th Round 854th Overall 2001, 49% of vote (Ottavino 27%)
Back after a couple of injury plagued years.  Pitched well at High-A and ok at AA so far.
Expected Positon: 4th Starter
ETA: mid-2008
4. Adam Ottavino, SP, 20, Low-A, 1st Round 30th Overall 2006, 52% of vote (Anderson 22%)
Probably has the 2nd highest potential in the organization next to Rasmus.  91-94 mph fastball.  Good slider.  Solid Curveball.
Expected Position: #2 Starter
ETA: 2010
5. Bryan Anderson, C, 19, Low-A, 4th Round 140th Overall 2005, 44% of vote (McCormick 20%)
Good hitter, needs to develop power to become a regular in the bigs.  Needs to work on blocking balls to stay at C.
Expected Pos: Backup C, 1B
ETA: 2010
6. Mark McCormick, SP, 22, Low-A, 1st Round 43rd Overall 2005, 38% of vote (Pomeranz 32%)
Electric fastball around 97mph.  No control at all.  Could be a top of the rotation starter if he finds some control, if not he could be a reliever.
Expected Pos: #3 Starter or set-up man
ETA: mid 2009
7. Stu Pomeranz, SP, 21, AA, 2nd Round 65th Overall 2003, 53% of vote (Hamilton 19%)
Not great stuff, but he gets the job done.  Fastball around 90 mph.
Expected Pos: 5th starter or long reliever
ETA: 2008
8. Cody Haerther, OF, 23, AA, 6th Round 192nd Overall 2002, 30% of vote (Hamilton 27%)
Has hit better recently after struggling early. Needs to develop power in order to start in big leagues.
Expected Pos: Backup OF
ETA: late-2007
9. Mark Hamilton, 1B, 21, Low-A, 2nd Round 76th Overall 2006, 34% of vote (Green 19%)
Probably the best power hitter in the Cards minor league system.  Blocked at 1B by Pujols.
Expected Pos: starting 1B or corner OF
ETA: 2010
10. Tyler Greene, SS, 22, Low-A, 1st Round 30th Overall 2005, 33% of vote (Jay 25%)
Struggled at High-A, now tearing up Low-A.  Needs to move quickly through the system now since 22 is old for Low-A.
Expected Pos: starting SS or utility IF
ETA: 2009
11. Jon Jay, OF, 21, Low-A, 2nd Round 74th Overall 2006, 30% of vote (Narveson 21%)
Speedy OF.  Hitting well at Low-A.
Expected Pos: backup OF
ETA: 2009
12. Chris Narveson, SP, 24, AAA, 2nd Round 53rd Overall 2000, 40% of vote (Perez 20%)
Back after being traded for Larry Walker. Stuggled with COL and BOS.  Pitchin well at AAA Memphis.
Expected Pos: 4th/5th Starter
ETA: 2008
13. Chris Perez, RP, 21, Low-A, 1st Round 42nd Overall 2006, 25% of vote (Marti 20%)
College closer shold move quickly through organization.
Expected Pos: Closer or Set-up
ETA: 2008
14. Mitchell Boggs, SP, 22, High-A, 5th Round 170th Overall 2005, 40% of vote (Worrel/Hearne 15%)
Has pitched well at Palm Beach after a rough start to the year.
Expected Pos: 5th Starter or long reliever
ETA: mid-2009
15. Chris Lambert, SP, 23, AAA, 1st Round 19th Overall 2004, 54% of vote (Marti 13%)
Former #1 pick has good stuff, but has yet to impress in minors.
Expected Pos: 2nd/3rd starter (if he gets it together) or middle reliever
ETA: 2008
16. Mark Worrell, RP, 23, AA, 12th Round 360th Overall 2004, 27% of vote (Hearne/Marti 18%)
No relation to Todd Worrell.  Nice arm in the bullpen.
Expected Pos: middle reliever
ETA: mid-2007
17. Trey Hearne, SP/RP, 22, Low-A, 28th Round 860th Overall 2005, 32% of vote (Marti 21%)
VEB fan favorite seemed to have a good head in interview.  90-92 mph fastball.  Decent curve.
Expected Pos: 5th starter or long reliever
ETA: late-2009
18. Amaury Marti, OF, 31, AA, 556th Overall 2006, 43% of vote (Stavinoha 23%)
Mystery man from Cuba.  Strongest player in Cards minor leagues.
Expected Pos: Backup corner OF
ETA: late-2007
19. Nick Stavinoha, OF, 24, AA, 7th Round 230th Overall 2005, 40% of vote (Webber 27%)
Decent OF prospect.  Needs to hit a little more to make it to big leagues
Expected Pos: Backup OF
ETA: 2008
20. Nick Webber, SP, 22, High-A, 2nd Round 78th Overall 2005, 36% of vote (Parisi 21%)
Will probably move to the bullpen, but is holding his own as a starter in AA
Expected Pos: Set-up man
ETA: mid-2008

Others to watch (no particular order): Mike Parisi, Eric Haberer, Tyler Norrick, Brad Furnish, Jose Martinez, Randy Roth, Cory Meacham, Jonathan Edwards, Tommy Pham, Eddie Degerman, A.J. Van Slyke, Brandon Yarbrough, Shaun Boyd, Andy Cavazos, Travis Hanson, Brendan Ryan, Daryl Jones, Shane Robinson, Matt North, Tyler Herron, Blake King, Elvis Hernandez, Nathan Southard

Links
Here is the link to the Cards minor league page
http://stlouis.cardinals.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mlb/minorleagues/team_index.jsp?c_id=stl
Here is the link to a minor league splits database
http://minorleaguesplits.com/cgi-bin/org.cgi?org=St.
Here is the link to a top 15 list at Cardsbaseball.net
http://www.cardsbaseball.net/Prospects.php?area=List&author=Lance
Here is the link to John Sickles Mid-Season review of the Preseason Top 20
http://www.minorleagueball.com/story/2006/7/3/20565/56191

Again thanks for voting.  Please feel free to comment if I missed anything or screwed something up.  Mention any others to watch or any info on players.  Or just vent about how messed up the list is or whatever.