March, 2008

2008 BDBL Farm Report

You all know the drill by now, so let's get right to it.  This year's panel of experts includes Baseball Prospectus, MinorLeagueBaseball.com, Baseball HQ, Keith Law, John Sickels and Baseball America.  It does not -- I repeat, not -- include Anthony Peburn.

First, the totals; then, the snarky commentary:

#1 Marlboro Hammerheads
Ranked prospects: Franklin Morales (10), Andrew McCutchen (12), Joey Votto (23), Mike Moustakas (25), Jeff Clement (31), Eric Hurley (36), Carlos Triunfel (38), Jarrod Parker (42), Carlos Gomez (68), Jeremy Jeffress (85), Alcides Escobar (100), Felipe Paulino (118), Chorye Spoone (125)
Unranked prospects: Brandon Crawford, Aaron Crow, Tyson Ross, Yuki Saito, Kenta Suda

Sharky took all of last year off to build up his ballclub for some future championship run, and spent most of this winter hording prospects.  The result is his first appearance at the top of this list.  Not only do the Hammerheads top this list, but they top it by a wide margin, as the next team trails by a whopping 653 points.  That 22% difference is by no means a record for this annual survey (the '06 Undertakers led the #2 team by more than 36%), but it is impressive nonetheless.  Also impressive is the mixture of pitchers and hitters, and prospects with immediate potential impact versus long-term value.  Morales, Votto, McCutchen, Clement, Hurley and Gomez should all graduate to the big leagues this season, and several of that group could play major roles for the '09 Hammerheads.  And the next wave of youngsters (Moustakas, Triunfel and Parker) looks very promising as well.

#2 Los Altos Undertakers
Ranked prospects: Matt Wieters (11), Nick Adenhart (21), Adam Miller (28), Elvis Andrus (30), Chris Marrero (33), Jason Heyward (43), Chin-Lung Hu (56), Jordan Walden (78), Casey Weathers (89), Bryan Anderson (91), Jonathan Meloan (94)
Unranked prospects: Harold Martinez, Brandon Erbe, Matt Harvey, Brian Matusz, Juan Morillo

The Los Altos prospects factory just keeps cranking them out.  For the fourth year in a row, the Undertakers' farm system ranks among the top two, and it is the sixth time this organization has ranked among the top three in the nine years I've been doing this.  Los Altos ranked #1 here a year ago, and despite losing Alex Gordon, Justin Upton, Mike Pelfrey, Matt Garza and Hunter Pence to graduation, they've hardly skipped a beat.  That's because Paulson's focus on drafting amateur talent always replenishes the farm system with new blood.  Weiters and Heyward, for example, went from amateurs to top-50 prospects, all in one year.  And a year from now, Martinez and Matusz will undoubtedly do the same, keeping the Undertakers at the top of this list.  It has been such an effective and successful strategy for this organization for so many years, it makes one wonder why more teams don't do the same.

#3 Salem Cowtippers
Ranked prospects: Jay Bruce (1), Cameron Maybin (7), Rick Porcello (16), Josh Vitters (35), Taylor Teagarden (52), Luke Hochevar (62), Gorkys Hernandez (100)
Unranked prospects: Yonder Alonso, Pedro Alvarez, Chris Coghlan, Trevor Crowe, Jordan Danks, Eric Hosmer, Edward Salcedo, Dellin Betances, Gerrit Cole, Edward Mujica, Ross Ohlendorf, Edwar Ramirez, Cole St. Clair

Historically, the Cowtippers organization has been outshined in this survey by only the Undertakers.  And historically, they have done so by sporting a top-heavy farm system that includes one or two top-ten prospects, followed by a handful of top-100's.  This year is no different.  Bruce is the first Cowtipper to rank #1 in this study since Mark Teixeira in 2003.  And with Bruce and Maybin, this is the 11th and 12th time the Cowtippers have owned one of the top ten prospects in baseball.  Only Keith Law's #2 ranking kept Bruce from being the first consensus #1 prospect in baseball since Joe Mauer.  Despite all the naysayers, Maybin dropped only one spot in the overall ranking since last year, but Hochevar fell all the way to #62 from a ranking of #26 a year ago.  Next year, look for Alvarez to possibly become the 13th top-ten prospect in Salem history (if he can stay healthy), with Alonso and possibly Hosmer joining him in the top 50.

#4 Atlanta Fire Ants
Ranked prospects: Clay Buchholz (3), Wade Davis (14), Ross Detwiler (34), Ian Stewart (58), Jair Jurrjens (74), Jeremy Hellickson (83), Ryan Kalish (107), Jeff Niemann (125), Gaby Hernandez (130)
Unranked prospects: Tim Beckham, Lorenzo Cain, Blake DeWitt, Will Middlebrooks, Xavier Paul, Danny Richar, Delwyn Young, Joey Devine, Jeffrey Locke, Jon Niese, Oswaldo Sosa, Sean West

This is the highest ranking the Atlanta franchise has ever achieved in this survey.  Does this mean good times are ahead for Fire Ants fans?  Well, according to my little study two years ago, possibly.  However, according to this other study I did, possibly not.  The problem is that all three of the Atlanta prospects ranked among the top 50 -- and seven out of their nine ranked prospects in total -- all make a living throwing the baseball rather than hitting it.  And those throwing guys tend to be awfully fickle.  Sometimes they work out well and save their teams millions of dollars.  But most of the time...not so much.  While Buchholz appears to be about as much of a "sure thing" as a pitching prospect could be, remember that Jesse Foppert, Edwin Jackson and Jon Rauch were all recent top-four overall prospects in this survey.  From the hitting side, while Stewart continues to slip in this ranking (from #4 to #15 to #39 to #58), he is still just 23 years old, and has plenty of potential to be an impact hitter.  And this year's #1 farm pick, Beckham, may become the best hitting prospect this franchise has ever seen.

#5 St. Louis Apostles
Ranked prospects: Joba Chamberlain (4), Colby Rasmus (6), Jose Tabata (40), Desmond Jennings (48), Deolis Guerra (59)
Unranked prospects: Michael Almanzar, Kelvin DeLeon, Luis Hernandez, Joe Koshansky, Jesus Montero, Oscar Tejeda, Billy Buckner, Charlie Haeger, Jim Johnson, Hiroki Kuroda, Wes Reomer, Dennis Sarfate, Julio Teheran, Dallas Trahern

This is also an all-time high ranking for this organization.  The two top-ten prospects on the Apostles farm account for roughly 60% of St. Louis' total points in this survey.  Unless something catastrophic happens, both Chamberlain and Rasmus will no longer be eligible for this survey next year.  And given that Bobby focused almost completely on 16-year-old foreigners in the draft this year, it may be a while before St. Louis ranks this highly again.  But with Chamberlain possibly heading the rotation, and Rasmus potentially hitting in the middle of the lineup, for many years to come, I'm sure his team's ranking in this survey won't bother Bobby much.

#6 South Carolina Sea Cats
Ranked prospects: Fernando Martinez (22), Reid Brignac (24), Ian Kennedy (29), Radhames Liz (64), Chris Tillman (65), Brandon Jones (66), Sean Gallagher (91), Alan Horne (96), Kevin Mulvey (117), Adrian Cardenas (123), Will Inman (149)
Unranked prospects: Greg Halman, Jonathan Herrera, Cedric Hunter, Chris Lubanski, Alexei Ramirez, Justin Smoak, Chad Tracy, Tony Butler

While there may not be any "Grade A" prospects on the Sea Cats' farm, there are plenty of "B's."  And oftentimes in the prospect world, it is better to have quantity than quality.  This franchise gained six spots in this ranking, despite the fact that their #1 prospect from last year, Brignac, dropped five spots in the overall ranking, and their #2 prospect (Adam Lind) graduated to the big leagues.  The reason for the jump in the rankings is that GM Tony DeCastro was able to add Martinez, Kennedy, Gallagher and Horne through trade.  Smoak should give this team another top-50 prospect next year, and Ramirez may be a valuable member of the '09 team despite being ineligible for this ranking this season (by most publications, at least.)

#7 New Milford Blazers
Ranked prospects: Clayton Kershaw (5), Homer Bailey (8), Matt LaPorta (44), Brett Anderson (63), Troy Patton (84), Michael Burgess (110), Nick Weglarz (115), Justin Maxwell (143), Brad Lincoln (152)
Unranked prospects: Eric Patterson, Dana Eveland, Michael Gardner, Carlos Guevara, Josh Outman, Humberto Sanchez, Aaron Thompson, Travis Wood

Last year, Anthony Peburn boldly proclaimed 18-year-old snot-nosed high school punk Clayton Kershaw to be among the top ten prospects in the game of baseball, based on 37 innings of professional pitching.  This year, every one of our panel of experts agrees with him.  You know what they say about broken clocks, right?  Out of our panel of six experts, Kershaw ranked no higher than #3 (on Sickels' top-50 pitchers list) and no lower than #7 (Baseball America.)  And thanks to Kershaw, and the winter trade that netted Bailey, the Blazers rank among the top ten for the first time since 2002.  Let's all hope that Kershaw doesn't blow out an elbow or a shoulder like most 19-year-old flamethrowers, as that would be a genuine tragedy.  Peburn now believes that LaPorta is a top-15 prospect, and Anderson, Burgess and Weglarz are top-50 material.  We'll see how prescient he is a year from now.

#8 Akron R�che
Ranked prospects: Johnny Cueto (26), Daric Barton (37), Manny Parra (49), Fautino de los Santos (50), Tommy Hanson (80), Gerardo Parra (103), Cole Rohrbough (131)
Unranked prospects: Dustin Ackley, Jordan Brown, James Darnell, Taylor Green, Angel Salome, Seth Smith, Matt Whitney, Jose Ascanio, Jerry Blevins, Danny Duffy, Brent Fisher, Matthew Shepard, Alexander Smit

No farm club made more of an improvement this year than the Ryche.  Akron ranked #23 last season, with only one ranked prospect: Jonathan Meloan at #99.  This year, Meloan is no longer on the team, yet Akron has jumped 15 places in this ranking.  The main reason for that improvement is the sudden emergence of Cueto, from relatively obscure A-ball hurler to the #26 prospect in baseball.  At 21 years old, Cueto (a mid-season free agent pick-up by Akron in 2006) jumped all the way from A-ball to Triple-A, and didn't suffer any of the usual growing pains in the process.  He now has a good chance of seeing significant big league time this season.  Another factor were the acquisitions of Barton and Manny Parra from the Salem Cowtippers organization.  Just another happy customer of Appleseed, Inc..

#9 Kansas Law Dogs
Ranked prospects: Andy LaRoche (18), Carlos Gonzalez (20), Kosuke Fukudome (69), James McDonald (72), Neil Walker (77), Daniel Cortes (113)
Unranked prospects: Esmailyn Gonzalez, Chris Pettit, Hitoki Iwase, Scott Lewis, Michael McCardell, Greg Miller, Edward Reynoso, Graham Taylor, Koji Uehara

For the fifth year in a row, the Kansas farm system ranks among the top ten.  More than likely, that streak will be broken next year, as LaRoche and Gonzalez should both graduate to the big leagues, leaving this farm system with several prospects who are unlikely to crack the top 30.  While LaRoche should be a useful BDBL player in 2009, he is blocked on the Law Dogs by some guy named Wright.  Of course, this means he'll be prime trade bait at some point over the next ten months.  If everyone were playing by the same rules, Fukudome would undoubtedly rank much higher than 69th overall, but most publications still don't consider Japanese rookies to be rookies.  Fuku could make more of an impact in 2009 than any other player on this page, yet he was ranked by only two of our panel of experts (#24 by HQ and #30 by BA.)

#10 Las Vegas Flamingos
Ranked prospects: Chase Headley (27), Gio Gonzalez (38), J.R. Towles (60), Michael Main (75), Neftali Feliz (88), Wladimir Balentien (105), Nick Blackburn (111), Greg Reynolds (127)
Unranked prospects: Corey Brown, Jeff Larish, Lance Broadway, Nick Hagadone, Bryan Henry, Bud Norris, James Simmons, Matt Smith, Ryan Tucker

For a franchise whose farm system has included the likes of Delmon Young, Chase Utley, Chien-Ming Wang, Erik Bedard and Hideki Matsui, it's hard to believe this is the highest ranking they have ever achieved.  The big club will soon welcome a second "Chase" to the mix in Headley, who fits the profile of the type of player who will hit the ground running once he's given a shot.  Gonzalez is a power-pitching lefty who is highly-regarded by everyone, it seems, except Keith Law (who omitted Gonzalez entirely from his top 100.)  Those two are about as close to "sure things" as prospects can get, and once they've graduated to the big leagues (probably this season), the Flamingos won't have much left to get excited about.  But if you can churn out two impact prospects every two years, that's a phenomenal accomplishment.

#11 Corona Confederates
Ranked prospects: Brandon Wood (19), Matt Antonelli (45), Max Scherzer (51), Hank Conger (79), Matt Latos (91), Joe Savery (139)
Unranked prospects: Brian Barton, John Bowker, Shin-Soo Choo, Vince Sinisi, Brandon Snyder, Matt Sweeney, Abe Alvarez, Josh Banks, Christian Friedrich, Tyler Lumsden

The last-ranked franchise in this study a year ago, the Confederates made a significant leap up the rankings this year thanks to the acquisition of one player: Wood.  Of course, that one player came with a hefty price tag, as he was traded, in effect, for $21 million last winter.  Over the past three years, Corona has traded several top-ten prospects, including Jay Bruce, Cameron Maybin and Ryan Braun.  So it's not like this franchise's farm system isn't producing top talent.  They just can't seem to hold onto it (nor get anything substantial from it!)  Recently, GM Ed McGowan has focused much of his efforts on pitching (no doubt in an effort to avoid having to pay $21 million for another pitcher down the road.)  This has led to the acquisitions of Scherzer, Latos, Savery and Friedrich.  But it's the hitters -- Wood, Antonelli, Conger and Barton -- who are more likely to produce for this franchise.

#12 Chicago Black Sox
Ranked prospects: Evan Longoria (2), Travis Snider (15), Brent Lillibridge (96), Michael Bowden (131), Drew Stubbs (153)
Unranked prospects: Kevin Ahrens, Joaquin Arias, Joe Benson, Nick Hundley, Nick Noonan, Josh Reddick, Craig Hansen, Jack McGeary, Jeff Samardzija, Donald Veal

The last time the Black Sox had a prospect ranked as highly as Longoria, it was 2002, when Josh Beckett ranked #1 overall.  Chicago has had a history of top-ten picks, including Prince Fielder, Mark Prior, Josh Hamilton and Victor Martinez.  If past history is any indication, Longoria will become a minimum-wage, high-impact franchise player at some point very soon.  Snider is close behind Longoria in the rankings, but is several years behind in terms of development.  If he continues progressing, he could very easily rank among the top ten next year.  Of the unranked group, Ahrens, Noonan and McGeary were all highly-coveted prep players from the '07 MLB amateur draft, and each has the ability to leap into the ranked list a year from now.

#13 Manchester Irish Rebels
Ranked prospects: Angel Villalona (41), Austin Jackson (47), Scott Elbert (61), Brett Cecil (86), Matt Dominguez (109), Phillippe Aumont (137), Josh Smoker (146)
Unranked prospects: J.P. Arencibia, Julio Borbon, John Drennan, Sam Fuld, C.J. Henry, Pete Kozma, Chris Carpenter, Dan Moskos, Nick Schmidt

In 2002, Jim Doyle had the third overall pick in the farm draft.  And with that pick, he selected a skinny 18-year-old kid who had posted a 709 OPS (.268/.327/.382) in the Midwest League the previous year.  And that kid was named Miguel Cabrera.  Often, it is better to be lucky than good.  Doyle hoped to catch the same lightning in the same bottle when he selected the 16-year-old Villalona with the first pick of 2007 farm draft (just two picks before I was poised to select him myself.)  And after just 57 professional games -- all in rookie/short-season ball -- Villalona (whose name his GM still can't pronounce correctly) is already ranked the #41 prospect in baseball.  After taking a few years off to try out a new strategy, Doyle is back to his tried-and-true farm strategy of selecting only first-round draft picks.  Of the 16 players listed above, only two (Villalona and Carpenter) were not first-round draft picks.

#14 Southern Cal Slyme
Ranked prospects: Jacoby Ellsbury (13), Tyler Colvin (71), Henry Sosa (87), Engel Beltre (114), Brett Sinkbeil (121), Blake Beaven (123), Collin Balester (141)
Unranked prospects: Jose Jose, Chris Parmelee, Kyle Russell, Robert Stock, Yu Darvish, Christian Garcia, Shane Lindsay, Tim Melville, Adam Ottavino

With the exception of Ellsbury, the SoCal farm is all about projection.  Colvin has a first-round pedigree, and hit .299 with 16 homers in his first professional season, jumping all the way up to Double-A.  But his lack of plate discipline (15 BBs, 101 Ks in 125 G) means there is still a long way to go in his development.  Beltre hit just .243 in his first season of rookie ball, and whiffed 75 times in 65 games, but scouts wet themselves over his tools.  Sinkbeil whiffed a paltry 5.6 batters per nine in his second pro season, but scouts remain high on his skill set.  And Beaven, Russell, Stock and Melville have yet to face pro competition, so they're all about projection at this point.  And then there's Darvish.  Will he pitch in the US?  When will he pitch in the US?  How good would he be if he pitched in the US?  Not even Darvish himself knows the answers to those questions.

#15 Villanova Mustangs
Ranked prospects: Carlos Carrasco (53), Jed Lowrie (54), Chris Volstad (70), Chuck Lofgren (90), Anthony Swarzak (108), Trevor Cahill (120)
Unranked prospects: Josh Bell, Caleb Gindl, Chad Huffman, Andrew Lambo, Matt Tuiasosopo, Jack Egbert, Edgar Garcia, Drew Miller, Clayton Mortensen, Garrett Olson

Just three years ago, the Mustangs' farm system was the most dominant farm system in the BDBL, with back-to-back #1 rankings in this survey.  But it's now 2008, and Andy Marte, Casey Kotchman, Chad Billingsley, Jeremy Reed, Nick Swisher, Jesse Crain, Joe Blanton, Curtis Granderson, Brian McCann, Joey Votto, Dustin McGowan and Adam Wainwright aren't walking through that door.  What's left is Jed Lowrie and a collection of pitchers that may or may not become useful someday.  Opinions are divided about each one of Villanova's ranked prospects, as not one of them was unanimously ranked by all six of our experts.

#16 Allentown Ridgebacks
Ranked prospects: Jacob McGee (17), Billy Rowell (95), Tim Alderson (100), Chris Nelson (103), Chris Withrow (141)
Unranked prospects: Jeff Bianchi, Travis Denker, Jose Martinez, Michael Saunders, John Tolisano, John Whittleman, Hayden Penn

With Ryan Braun, Elijah Dukes, Billy Butler, Kelly Johnson, Mark Reynolds, Cody Ross, Scott Baker, Yovani Gallardo, Felix Hernandez, Andy Sonnanstine and Tim Lincecum all earning minimum wage on the big club, it's not like the Ridgebacks even need a farm system.  Yet they have another cheap starting pitcher on the way in McGee, and two more promising arms in the lower levels in Alderson and Withrow.  Both Rowell and Nelson were former first-round picks who were each ranked much higher in this survey a year or two ago, but have since taken a step backward.  If they can regain that step, Allentown will have two more cheap weapons at their disposal.  Interesting side note: despite the dearth of hitting prospects on the farm, Allentown dumped a top-40 prospect (Carlos Triunfel) on Cutdown Day this winter.

#17 Nashville Funkadelic
Ranked prospects: David Price (8), Matt Harrison (111), Matt Gamel (146)
Unranked prospects: Yung-Chi Chen, Eddy Martinez-Esteve, Brandon Moss, Ikko Sumi, Wilson Tucker, Michael Wilson, Jake Arrieta, Kyuki Fujikawa, Kazuo Fukumori

It has gotten to the point where I need an interpreter in order to discuss the Funkadelic farm system.  Because GM Steve Osborne tends to focus on Japanese players for his farm club, and because those players are usually ineligible for "top prospect" lists, the Funk don't do particularly well in this survey.  To date, Steve's East Asia-centric strategy has paid some dividends with Daisuke Matsuzaka, Tad Iguchi, Akinori Iwamura and Chin-Lung Hu.  Of the current crop, Chen is a 25-year-old Taiwainese-born second baseman in the Seattle organization, Sumi is a diminutive (5'8") 20-year-old third baseman who dropped out of a Japanese university to sign with the Angels, Fujikawa is a closer with the Hanshin Tigers who only has a few years of service time under his belt, and Fukumori is a reliever signed by the Rangers this winter.  Of course, none of those guys are as good as Price, who ranks among the top ten prospects in the game before he's even thrown a single professional pitch.

#18 Sylmar Padawans
Ranked prospects: Geovanny Soto (46), Lars Anderson (55), Dexter Fowler (82), Andrew Brackman (153)
Unranked prospects: Brent Clevlen, Isaac Galloway, Jared Goedert, Cody Johnson, Kyle Skipworth, Jose Arrendondo, Cesar Carillo, Jose Garcia, Richie Gardner, Kenshin Kawakami, Sean O'Sullivan, Chaz Roe, Chuck Tiffany

Every once in a while, a farm team comes along where I like the unranked players much more than the ranked players.  This is one of those teams.  Johnson showed great power potential in high school, and is still young enough to translate that power to pro ball.  Skipworth is considered to be an elite prep bat in the '08 draft class, and earns bonus points for being a catcher.  Galloway is an elite athlete, and could climb up the draft rankings with a good senior year.  And Kawakami may be the most coveted Japanese import on the market next winter.  But it's time to cut bait on some of these guys.  I mean, does anyone still hold out hope that Gardner will become a useful major leaguer?  Or Roe?  Or Tiffany?  Or Carillo?  Or Garcia?  Of course, because I've just damned them, it means at least two of them will blossom into superstars over the next year or two.

#19 Ravenswood Infidels
Ranked prospects: Jordan Schafer (32), German Duran (106), Jamie Garica (115), Chris Carter (131), Eduardo Morlan (146)
Unranked prospects: Eric Campbell, Mike Carp, Chris Denorfia, Todd Frazier, George Kottaras, Devin Mesaraco, Jermaine Mitchell, Sean Rodriguez, Jeff Manship, Darrell Rasner, Mitch Talbot

Here's another one of those teams where the unranked group seems more exciting than the ranked group.  In particular, I'd take Frazier, Mesaraco, Rodriguez or Manship over any of the ranked players other than Schafer.  The opinions on Schafer are wide-ranged, as Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus ranked him #17, while Jonathan Mayo of minorleaguebaseball.com didn't rank him among his top 50.  Some of Ravenswood's prospects seem to be going backward, as Rodriguez ranked #90 in this survey last year, Campbell ranked #98, and Talbot ranked #106.

#20 Cleveland Rocks
Ranked prospects: Justin Masterson (57), Nolan Reimold (80), John Jaso (135), Beau Mills (139), Ben Revere (143)
Unranked prospects: Tyler Greene, Matt McBride, Brad Snyder, Craig Stansberry, Randor Bierd, Kyle Drabek, Preston Guilmet, Evan Meek, Kazumi Saitoh

The Rocks owned the 17th pick in the farm draft this winter, yet walked away with the fourth-best prospect according to our panel of experts.  Masterson was ranked among the top 60 prospects in baseball by every one of our experts, with the exceptions of Baseball America (#64) and Jonathan Mayo (not ranked.)  After years of neglecting his farm system, GM Mike Stein finally broke out of the bottom five last year.  But a year later, he's back at the bottom again.

#21 New Hope Badgers
Ranked prospects: Steven Pearce (67), Tyler Robertson (99), Wes Hodges (135), Hector Gomez (150)
Unranked prospects: Jeremy Brown, Aaron Cunningham, Charlie Fermaint, Cole Gillespie, Javy Herrera, Michael Hollimon, Eugenio Velez, Jimmy Barthmaier, J.A. Happ, Wade LeBlanc, Scott Mathieson, David Pauley, Jaime Richmond, Pat Venditte

GM Tony Badger has claimed that I have been unfair to his farm system over the years.  He has claimed that I just don't appreciate the subtle nuances of his strategy, which focuses on acquiring players with underappreciated skill sets tailored to specific supporting roles in the big leagues.  But evidently, I am not alone.  No Badgers prospect was ranked higher than #43 in this year's survey by any of our experts, although both Pearce and Robertson were ranked among the top 30 by Sickels in his separate pitchers/hitters lists.  Of course, this low ranking is nothing new for this franchise.  Nor is it new for Badger, as his team has ranked #20, #17, #20 and #21 in the four full seasons in which he has been the full-time GM.  Since taking over the franchise, Badger has added a total of 24 farm players through free agency.  Of those 24, none has been ranked among the top 60 prospects in baseball, and only one (Shaun Marcum) has posted a career VORP above 0.0 so far.  And yet, over the past two years, Badger has been able to trade prospects for the likes of David Ortiz, John Lackey and Jason Isringhausen.  Go figure.

#22 San Antonio Broncs
Ranked prospects: Chris Davis (75), Kasey Kiker (96), Jordan Zimmerman (137)
Unranked prospects: Jeff Baisley, Chris Carter, Balbino Fuenmayor, Kala Kaaihue, Dallas McPherson, Brayan Pena, Max Ramirez, Kyle McCulloch, Ricky Romero, Josh Rupe

What is there to say about the San Antonio Broncs' farm system?  No, seriously.  I'm running out of material.  Davis was the team's #1 draft pick this winter, and is now their #1 prospect.  That's not a good sign when the draft class was as weak as this winter's.  Kiker and Zimmerman are both A-ball pitchers, so it's tough to predict their futures at this point.  And of the unranked prospects, I like Ramirez's chances of becoming a "ranked" prospect next year, and I think Kaaihue is a bit underrated.  There, I found something to say after all.

#23 Bear Country Jamboree
Ranked prospects: Aaron Poreda (73), Chris Perez (118), Kyle Blanks (121)
Unranked prospects: Norichika Aoki, Emilio Bonifacio, Bryan LaHair, Travis Blackley, Madison Bumgarner, Tyler Clippard, Casey Crosby, Kevin Hart, Masahide Kobayashi, Sergio Romo, Merkin Valdez

What are Blackley and Valdez still doing on a BDBL farm club?  Seriously.  It's time to let go.  There's not much to say about this group of prospects, either.  No team fell further in the ranking this year than the Jamboree.  Blanks and Blackley were acquired last year in exchange for John Lackey.  'Nuff said?  Both Perez and (to a greater extent) Kobayashi should help the Bear Country bullpen in 2009.  None of the other players on this farm team are likely to help anyone.  Ever.

#24 Great Lakes Sphinx
Ranked prospects: Josh Donaldson (131)
Unranked prospects: Ambiorex Concepcion, Jake Fox, Tony Thomas, Mitch Atkins, Thomas Diamond, Juan Mateo, Billy Petrick, David Purcey, Yasuhiko Yabuta

Only one team in the history of this survey has ever scored a perfect zero: the 2000 Boise Bastards.  If not for one pity vote by Keith Law (who ranked Donaldson #76 in his top 100), the Sphinx would have joined that illustrious club.  Come on, Scott, is this really the best you could do?  Why not follow in Doyle's footsteps and simply run your finger down the list of first-round draft picks from last season and take the first name available?  Why not run down to your local Barnes & Noble and pick up a copy of Baseball America?  Why not spend a few minutes on-line, looking for web sites dedicated to pro and/or amateur prospects?  Maybe do a Google search for top college or high school prospects?  If this farm club were a kitten, Scott Romonosky would be rooming with Michael Vick.