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April 3, 2006 (BNN)
Subject: Baseball America Top 100 Prospects
The season is about to start, so it's time to publish the annual Top 100 Prospects list. This year 22-year-old starting pitcher Jesús Águila of the Charleston Generals is the #1 prospect overall. Aguila was taken in the fourth round of the 2005 draft out of Cal State-Fullerton.
Here is the top 10:
1) SP Jesús Águila, 22, Charleston Generals
2) CF Ed Marks, 20, Orlando Sharks
3) CF Rafael Valdéz, 19, Louisville Colonels
4) SP Carlos Torres, 19, San Francisco Seals
5) SP Martin Hampton, 20, Orlando Sharks
6) CF José Cruz, 19, Cleveland Rockers
7) 2B Roberto García, 20, Charleston Generals
8) 1B John Wright, 22, Boston Bombers
9) LF Ramón Reyna, 19, Chicago Cougars
10) SP Wallace Trauttmann, 20, Pittsburgh Warriors
Orlando, San Francisco, and Charleston have the top-rated farm systems.
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A word about scouting: Aguila was taken in the FOURTH round last year! Does that tell you about how inaccurate pre-draft scouting is? By the way, Candelaria rated him 7/8/6 potential (4 stars) last May. He is rated 10/8/9 (5 stars) right now by my scout and OSA.
Our farm system has rocketed up to #6 with three Top 100 prospects. Valdez jumped from #33 all the way to #3. Juan Hernandez dropped from #25 to #31. Jorge Merced, third round pick in 2003, debuted on the list at #99. I credit our player development and minor league coaching with this success.
The second tier of prospects includes Juan Moran (#133), CF Gerald Blair in AA (#160), CF Manny Bueno in Rookie ball (#178), and SS Cristo Rodriguez. The latter two are products of that international discovery pipeline that Gordon mentioned. I am worried about that also.
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