MLB.com Names Matt Moore # 1 Prospect In Baseball
This was slightly surprising to see, given that prospectors generally seem to favor Harper or Trout, but there's no question Matt's deserving. Also on the list: Hak-Ju Lee at 46, Chris Archer at 74, Tim Beckham at 92, Mikie Mahtook at 96, and Taylor Guerrieri at 99.
4 months ago
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wow really on all aspects except Lee
by Dbullsfan on Jan 25, 2012 10:52 PM EST via mobile reply actions
It's surprising that Guerrieri is in the top 100 given how conservative they were with 2012 picks
by benderbrodriguez on Jan 25, 2012 10:55 PM EST up reply actions
Conservative?
Bauer and Bundy are #9 and #10
by Cory Alexander on Jan 25, 2012 11:04 PM EST up reply actions
Guerrieri fell from potential top 10 and was right behing Bundy and Bradley.
He belongs in the top 100
by Peter Piontek on Jan 25, 2012 11:06 PM EST up reply actions
What jumps out at me: The absolute lack of good catching prospects
by benderbrodriguez on Jan 25, 2012 10:58 PM EST reply actions
I think along with the link should be Moore's new contract details
In case during the keppinger fiasco people forgot how freaking awesome Andrew Friedman is
by Dbullsfan on Jan 25, 2012 11:00 PM EST via mobile reply actions
That was an awesome move
Moore is just nasty and that contract could be a steal if he stay healthy. Great deal by Friedman.
Big Sexy
Follow KBR and Dewey on Twitter! @KBRandDewey
by King Billy Royal on Jan 26, 2012 12:00 AM EST up reply actions
Not bad getting 6 guys in the top 100
Mahtook was #96
I'm no Beckham hater.
But no way he is Top 100 prospect anymore. In fact I have a hard time even putting him in the Rays’ Top 10.
"I don't believe in just being out there and just grinding away. Let's do it intelligently, let's do it quickly, let's get it done. And then move on." ----Joe Maddon
Let's give him a year of AAA before kicking him out of the top 10
He may never live up to the #1 status, but that doesn’t mean he still can’t be a above average player at a very demanding and scarce quality position. This year should go a long ways in telling us whether to keep any hope in him at all.
by raysfaninminnesota on Jan 25, 2012 11:50 PM EST up reply actions
That's exactly it.
I just don’t see Beckham ever playing much SS for the Rays. With Lee the far superior defender nipping at his heels, I don’t think Beckham has a future at SS (with the Rays anyways).
I agree that it is way too early to give up on Beckham, in fact I’ve preached that many times in articles I’ve written on Rays Digest.
Personally I like Moore, Lee, Torres, Guerrerri, Mahtook, Vettleson, Colome, Archer, Guyer and possibly even a few more guys better than Beckham in the system. So it isn’t so much a case of me being sour on him as it is me being higher on other guys.
"I don't believe in just being out there and just grinding away. Let's do it intelligently, let's do it quickly, let's get it done. And then move on." ----Joe Maddon
Moving off short to second because Hak-Ju Lee arrives
Is different than moving because he can’t play shortstop. If he’s pushed by another player, he would theoretically give his lost value in positional adjustment back to the team in terms of plus defense. It doesn’t actually lessen his prospect star for me so much.
Thats' a good point.
I’ve heard it opined that Beckham’s future could be as a super-sub ala Ben Zobrist. I also wonder if he couldn’t make a B.J. Upton-like move to the outfield.
"I don't believe in just being out there and just grinding away. Let's do it intelligently, let's do it quickly, let's get it done. And then move on." ----Joe Maddon
Who are the 100 guys you have in front of him?
†††If you love Jesus Chris and are 100% proud of it, copy this and make it your signature!†††
by Sandy Kazmir on Jan 25, 2012 11:50 PM EST up reply actions
Good question.
Maybe I should put one together.
"I don't believe in just being out there and just grinding away. Let's do it intelligently, let's do it quickly, let's get it done. And then move on." ----Joe Maddon
You don't really have to bother. DaveH said he's going to be finalizing his soon and it's pretty much best in class.
†††If you love Jesus Chris and are 100% proud of it, copy this and make it your signature!†††
by Sandy Kazmir on Jan 26, 2012 9:06 AM EST up reply actions
Look forward to it.
"I don't believe in just being out there and just grinding away. Let's do it intelligently, let's do it quickly, let's get it done. And then move on." ----Joe Maddon
Dude's got an eye for young talent, there's no debating it.
by firemangreg on Jan 26, 2012 10:00 AM EST up reply actions 5 recs
It's nice to step outside of the echo chamber once in a while
†††If you love Jesus Chris and are 100% proud of it, copy this and make it your signature!†††
by Sandy Kazmir on Jan 26, 2012 10:12 AM EST up reply actions
Isn't he 21 in AAA?
No, he hasn’t been great but i still think he can play.
by Peter Piontek on Jan 25, 2012 11:16 PM EST up reply actions
I think it has to do with scarcity at his position also.
I personally think he will stick at Short and i see him continuing to improve.
by Peter Piontek on Jan 25, 2012 11:27 PM EST up reply actions
Two scouts I talked to last year had high praise for Beckham.
They told me that they had noticed some changes in his approach during the Arizona Fall League. If I remember correctly, he was raking the first few weeks of the season, but really tapered off in the end. He also has improved defensively.
As I said earlier, I don’t dislike Beckham and he still has tools, but at some point those tools need to translate into performance and (at least to this point) they haven’t.
"I don't believe in just being out there and just grinding away. Let's do it intelligently, let's do it quickly, let's get it done. And then move on." ----Joe Maddon
At some point those tools need to translate into performance...
… like improving his defense every year, cutting down errors, getting better on the basepaths and starting to hit for power while being a 21 year old SS in AAA-IL?
Offensively, Tim Beckham really has not been getting better.
Sure, he has gone up a level each year, but his hitting has been league average.
trending upward against improved competition.
"Please break your typewriter and computer and never come out of your ass cave again"
Trending downward actually.
Fangraphs has him from (for wRC+) at 103 in BG, 105 in PC, 102 in AA, and 98 in AAA. Firstinning has similar numbers.
are you really citing his 111 appearances at AAA? I'll take his 468 in AA over that.
i don’t think you should go with results but rather rate stats. his power and average are trending up, K% trending down, and hopefully just an aberration in BB% but I know there were some concerns about his patience last season. You can’t definitively say a wRC+ of 102 is worse/better than the 105 in 2010 because of the margin of error.
"Please break your typewriter and computer and never come out of your ass cave again"
Fair enough.
But you can’t really say he was trending upwards either. Hopefully he will perform better this year, since it is his first repeat of a level.
no you can't. so it really comes down to the facts.
he has performed at or near league average offensively at every level while improving his defense and remaining young relative to league. he will probably never fulfill the expectations that come with being 1/1 but he is a legit prospect who at this point looks like he will play SS for the rays at some point in late 2012.
"Please break your typewriter and computer and never come out of your ass cave again"
I hope he can play SS.
Most of the reports say he won’t stick at SS, but I personally think he will.
Most of the reports are from when he looked like this:
He now looks like this:
He works really hard and always has a smile on his face. The league average bat and glove don’t hurt either.
†††If you love Jesus Chris and are 100% proud of it, copy this and make it your signature!†††
by Sandy Kazmir on Jan 26, 2012 12:32 PM EST up reply actions
Granted he isn't going to bad-mouth a teammate...
…but here is a quote from Mikie Mahtook when I talked to him during the AFL that speaks to this:
“Tim is a great, great player, and he is a great, great teammate. He loves the game of baseball, and he plays the game hard. He works his butt off. He is always in the cage, and he is always trying to get better. He is always working to be the best he can be. I think that he is a great player. He’s played really well for us out here. I think he’s a great investment by the Rays to be honest with you. He’s a good player, and he’s impressed me. In the short time that I’ve been with him, I’ve been impressed by him. He’s a great guy, and I’ve enjoyed my time with him.”
"I don't believe in just being out there and just grinding away. Let's do it intelligently, let's do it quickly, let's get it done. And then move on." ----Joe Maddon
Nice to see Mahtook has already been taken under Crash Davis's wing
The kid gets a lot of guff based on obsolete scouting reports and the fact that he was a 1.1 Every team wishes they had a guy like this especially as it’s becoming harder and harder to find SSs that can hit their weight. Outside of the Machado/Profar class I don’t think there’s a ton of SSs coming up that profile as average starting players. Perhaps you could speak better to that as I’m hardly a prospect hound, but there’s a reason that teams are willing to live with Alcides (no bat) or Starlin (no glove) and it’s because there’s so few guys that can play the position both ways.
Maybe Beckham ends up doing neither well, but right now he looks like a guy that will hit enough and won’t kill you in the field. Not sure how much positional scarcity goes into these things, but he should be getting a bump based on this.
†††If you love Jesus Chris and are 100% proud of it, copy this and make it your signature!†††
by Sandy Kazmir on Jan 26, 2012 12:58 PM EST up reply actions
I like Beckham and I want him to succeed.
I just don’t think he should be in the top 100. And that is not a knock on him.
16 HR, 20 SB, 6 CS in 2011
So his power and SB results have improved. His wOBA has also gone up every year.
So he has been getting better offensively. He certainly needs to improve his BB% and K%, good thing he’ll have a full season of AAA at 22 to do just that.
No, no he isn't.
He league adjust numbers have not gone up. And while his power has gone up, his OBP has gone down. And while his success rate for SBs has gone up, the amount has gone down.
League adjust numbers account for age and position?
His OBP isn’t great compared to a 25 year old OF in AAA, but I’d bet it’s pretty good compared to other 21 year old SS in the IL batting in the 2 hole.
Guyer was putting up crappy numbers in rookie ball when he was 21.
I'm not arguing that he isn't young for his league.
You said he offense was getting better. I showed why it wasn’t.
Quote from one of the scouts I was referencing.
“but I can say now I still have a lot of faith in this guy. Shows some big things in BP and his athleticism stands out among a lot of plus athletes in the fall league. I hadn’t seen him live since ‘09 and he’s made a ton of progress IMO. Sometimes when you have a layoff from seeing a guy his improvements stand out.”
"I don't believe in just being out there and just grinding away. Let's do it intelligently, let's do it quickly, let's get it done. And then move on." ----Joe Maddon
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM... this is awesome.
Where are the HATERS? “Shows some big things in BP and his athleticism stands out among a lot of plus athletes in the fall league.” So the tools are still there? I LOVE this quote!
replacement-level posting
"Please break your typewriter and computer and never come out of your ass cave again"
Me neither
I don’t hate Beckham (I own him in a deep league) but he hasn’t shown nearly enough to make a top 100 list.
Big Sexy
Follow KBR and Dewey on Twitter! @KBRandDewey
by King Billy Royal on Jan 25, 2012 11:58 PM EST up reply actions
It annoys me how people consistently say that Moore's changeup is his third best pitch.
It is really his best.
It's really nasty if you've watched him up close
†††If you love Jesus Chris and are 100% proud of it, copy this and make it your signature!†††
by Sandy Kazmir on Jan 25, 2012 11:50 PM EST up reply actions
that's not the only nasty thing about watching him up close.
"Please break your typewriter and computer and never come out of your ass cave again"
"Matt Moore sent down to AAA to work on acne"
by benderbrodriguez on Jan 26, 2012 12:01 AM EST up reply actions
From his interview on the top 50 show , it looks like he struck a deal with proactive.
by Peter Piontek on Jan 26, 2012 12:16 AM EST up reply actions
Good
You don’t want the Rays sending him to Dr James Andrews for cystic acne surgery, or maybe you do. I’m not sure.
by Ben Tumbling on Jan 26, 2012 4:29 AM EST up reply actions
Matt "Dirty Pore" Moore?
by BossmanJunior333 on Jan 26, 2012 12:30 AM EST via mobile up reply actions
Kinda of off-topic, but since we are talking about ranking prospects
There was an interesting Twitter exchange between the Garfoose and Baseball America’s John Manuel about the validity of ranking players.
Hayhurst maintains that while ranking players is certainly something that the general public wants or even demands, that it is not beneficial to players. He even went so far as to say, that not being included on a list can sometimes get into a prospect’s head. He also said that lists such as these are “de-humanizing” and serve no greater purpose then to feed the public’s obsession with lists.
Not sure I completely agree, but I though it was an interesting take.
"I don't believe in just being out there and just grinding away. Let's do it intelligently, let's do it quickly, let's get it done. And then move on." ----Joe Maddon
*lifetime minor league pitcher with lackluster stuff complains about scouting and lists*
Really quite the shocker.
by firemangreg on Jan 26, 2012 10:03 AM EST up reply actions 2 recs
this is exactly what i was thinking. probably just trying to get himself noticed.
"Please break your typewriter and computer and never come out of your ass cave again"
It also seems that getting butthurt over something like that is a sign of someone who is mentally weak.
Use it as motivation. Get results and prove the lists wrong. I don’t hear Alex Cobb complaining about not being on anyone’s lists until the last couple of years.
by firemangreg on Jan 26, 2012 10:39 AM EST up reply actions
This is also pretty much what law firms say about Vault and AmLaw rankings
Bad Left Hook - The SB Nation boxing blog
"Baseball is played on the field, not on a calculator."
Right that was my initial impression too.
He is a little prickly sometimes. It very well may have been him having some sort of hissy fit.
"I don't believe in just being out there and just grinding away. Let's do it intelligently, let's do it quickly, let's get it done. And then move on." ----Joe Maddon
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