Death by plunking averted. Adam Reifer won out as the #16 prospect. Lance Lynn was not far behind, close enough to put him at #17. With only two more spots to go I notice that Francisco Samuel hasn’t got a lot of love so far. Pardon me if I stump for him a bit here. For one thing, his name comes up frequently when other clubs are looking to deal with the Cardinals. Then also, for what it’s worth, he made Keith Law’s top ten Cardinals and KLaw believes he’s a potential Top 100 prospect for 2010. Says the KLaw:
Francisco Samuel (A+) signed for $1,000 in 2006, a massive bargain considering the stuff he showed in the Florida State League this year, sitting at 94-98 with a hard slider in the upper 80s. His command and control are well below average — 88 walks in 97.2 career innings might have tipped you off — but they improved this year, and that kind of arm strength is rare.
Kevin Goldstein called him his sleeper going into the season. Other clubs love him. Prospect-niks love him. No one around here seems to. I know the walk rate is atrocious, but we’re talking about a 150 lb. kid without a whole ton of pro experience here.
I also just realized I left off Tyler Henley, who came in #16 on the FR Top 20. That’s my mistake, Henley more than has deserved to be on the poll earlier. Also added are Tyler Greene, who had a strong showing in the AFL, and Tyler Herron, who was in our top ten last year. That’s three Tylers to choose from, and a reminder for me not to go with a trendy name when naming my 2nd born.
1. Rasmus
2. Wallace
3. Perez
4. Jones
5. Anderson
6. Motte
7. Garcia
8. Todd
9. Freese
10. Jay
11. Boggs
12. Mortensen
13. Kozma
14. Craig
15. Vasquez
16. Reifer
17. Lynn
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My write-in vote is for Deryk Hooker. I love the strikeout rate, even if it dropped off a bit at QC. I know he has some kinks in his delivery but he has been very impressive at every stop. I think that he and Castillo will end up pitching together at PB this year forming a really nice 1-2 punch for that team.
silly question maybe – what is the difference between ‘command’ and ‘control’ – as Law uses the terms??
My write-in vote is for Tony Cruz.
Like a follower, I voted for Samuel. You make good points. Part of the reason he hasn’t done better with me in the poll is because I get him confused with Fernando Salas…all I know is I want to vote for the one with the big arm ahead of the one who is a good pitcher.
I voted Castillo. I’m sorry but with those walk rates I have no fear of being plunked by a Samuel fastball.
I just can’t vote for Samuel until he gets much better control. 48 BB in 56 IP, come on. I gotta go with Salas, who has great control. K/BB ratio of 6.25. Although, one negative is Salas’ FB and HR ratio.
cdb,
The difference between command and control is akin to the difference between accuracy and precision. Having good control means that you can throw strikes consistently and not walk very many batters. Having good command means you can throw the ball exactly where you want – which may be intentionally throwing the ball out of the strike zone to get a hitter to chance.
Accuracy and precision is the same argument – accuracy means that you can consistently put the object in question in the general targeted area. Precision means you can nail any particular spot in that area that you want.
Does that answer your question?
I think you are about right…I always associated command with a single pitch, “He has good command of his fastball.” This meaning that he can do anything he wants with a fastball. Command of breaking pitches and offspeed stuff I consider the most important skill a pitcher has. Control means that you can throw anything pitch to any general area of the k-zone.
erik stop stumping…
De La Cruz needs to be metnioned somewhere in the top 20.
De La Cruz was my choice!