Archive for the “Organizational Rankings” Category

The Cardinals Best Tools list came out this month on Baseball America and it was penned by St. Louis Post Dispatch’s own Derrick Goold. Goold, if you are not familiar is a “must read” whenever he pens an article for his insight into the Cardinal organization.  He leads Baseball America’s Cardinal coverage and the one name that stuck out in the “Best Tools” list was Reggie Williams, Jr as the Cardinals minor league’s “Fastest Baserunner”.

All the other names on the list are very familiar to Cardinal Prospect watchers, but who is Reggie Williams, Jr?  Williams was drafted in the 10th round of the 2010 MLB draft.  First, here’s the video of Williams hitting a home run before he was drafted. AZ called him a “Reggie Williams Jr. was an OF with some speed who doesn’t have good baseball instincts and lacks standout tools elsewhere.” in a sum up about the draft as a whole.

Williams had a Speed Score of 6.4 for his first season with Johnson City according to Fangraphs.  Another Cardinals farm hand, who I thought would be a shoo-in for the “Fastest” ranking was Adron Chambers who had a 7.3 Speed Score in his time in Springfield last season.  Speed score is not perfect, but attempts to put together an idea of how fast a player is based on triples, stolen bases and caught stealing.

Either way, Williams looks like a skinny and speedy outfielder who will take some time to grow into his skills and become an all around baseball player.  In his short season with Johnson City, he struck out an astonishing 41% of his plate appearances.  That has to come down (way down) if williams is going to turn his “Best Tools in 2010″ award into a major league career.

Wrapping up my series on farm system surplus values at Beyond the Boxscore, the Cardinals come out 12th overall in the majors.

Brewers came in 10th, Reds came in 19th, Pirates 20th and the Cubs and Astros are near the bottom, at 28th and 29th respectively to be exact.

Cards ranked #9.

Why They Might Be Better Than This: Despite an overall disappointing season, scouts still love Colby Rasmus; 2008 first-round pick Brett Wallace mashed at Double-A just weeks after signing and looks like a future mid-order lineup force who doesn’t need much more time in the minors; Daryl Jones is just beginning to tap into his athleticism.
Why They Might Be Worse: Rasmus looks as if he’s pressing once again this spring; Wallace isn’t really a third baseman in the end; they have some solid pitching prospects, but none of them look like stud big-league starters.