Project Prospect : Top 15 First Base Prospects
It's a good year to be an up-and-coming first baseman. Four of our top eight first base prospects were 2008 first rounders -- including three of the top four. Lars Anderson tops this list, thanks to the way he took care of both the California and Eastern Leagues, with Justin Smoak burning not too far behind
I am only going to give you the top five, you need to visit project prospect to see the rest
Project Prospect Early College Top 20
| No. | Player | Pos | Notes | YR | TM |
| 1 | Steven Strasburg | RHP | Clear #1, 37.4 K% 4.53 BB%, FB touches 100mph, SL maybe be best pitch |
Jr. | SDSU |
| 2 | Alex White | RHP | Mid 90's FB with sink and plus SL, developing CH, 27.6 K% 10.2 BB% |
Jr. | UNC |
| 3 | Duskin Ackley | CF | .417/.503/.597, .478 wOBA*, 15.7 BB% 8 K%, + speed, young Tony Gwynn? |
Jr. | UNC |
| 4 | Kyle Gibson | RHP | Plus FB, SL, & command, clean mechanics, projectable, 96/23 K/BB |
Jr. | MIZZ |
| 5 | Grant Green | SS | True SS with power (.254 IsoP), .478 wOBA*, good athlete, 35/15 K/BB |
Jr. | USC |
Atlanta Braves General Manager Frank Wren, has confirmed a multi-year offer was made to Tazawa. The Braves expect him to make a decision within a couple of weeks. Wren apparently saw him pitch a few times when he was over in Japan scouting.
Seattle Press Interprise Mariners targeting Tazawa
American baseball teams continue to search for gold in Japan, and the latest nugget may be a 22-year-old right-hander who has never pitched professionally.
Junichi Tazawa throws a 97 mph fastball and spent last year pitching for the Nippon Oil team in Japan's Industrial League. The Industrial League is not a professional league, but scouts think highly enough of Tazawa that he likely will be under contract with a major league team by the end of the year
I love the team names. Waikiki BeachBoys, North Shore Honu, Honolulu Sharks ..
Project Prospect Hawaii Winter Baseball Update
Richard Justice has good piece up about how horrible the Houston Astros minor league system has become. I don't care so much about their system, but Justice did publish Bill James rankings of each teams younger stars. Kind of interesting.
The Hardball Times It has been a while since the previous installment of this series, but I was waiting to see who signed by the August 15 draft deadline.
Leading up to the 2007 MLB amateur draft, there were three Puerto Rican players considered to be head-and-shoulders above their fellow country men in terms of potential: Reynaldo Navarro, Neftali Soto, and Angel Morales.
new poll up over at MiLB.com
Just a little Chatter today, simply because the last few times out, I sorta went on a bit of a vent, and I don't want this column to be that type of thing. Unless warranted of course. I realize that not a lot of people are actually reading this yet, but one day when I am King of California, my daily Chatter will be forced reading. Much in the way Los Dodger fans must read Bill Plaschke.
Torture?
call it what you will ..
