Community Rankings: Who is the Angels' Third Best Prospect?

at being patient rather his power stroke. 42/45 BB/K ratio is stellar. His power stroke is there as evident in the Futures game. I think he is the 3rd best prospect and a stud at that. The only guy in my eyes who challenges him is Reckling. After the top 4 it is a toss up and cane be placed in any order because they are all pretty damn good and young.

I wondered the same thing. With his shoulder issues, I wonder if Conger’s future is at catcher, or if he’s destined to move to first base. Of course, this would make him less valuable for us.

Of course, I’m a baseball fan, not a surgeon, so what do I know about nature of his arm/shoulder issues. The fact that after his most recent stint on the DL, that he’s back to playing catcher, is a good sign I would say.

And, if Cowart were to sign, would he be high on your list immediately or would you take a more conservative approach and prefer to watch him play. The only reason I ask, if because Trout, Grichuk, Richards, Skaggs and Martinez all appeared on our top prospect lists the last couple of years without anyone ever watching them play. The state of our minor leagues was a bit different back then.

I alo don’t share your dim outlook on our minor league system.

But Skaggs was the clear #4. When Conger went on the DL, I swapped them, but would swap them back now that he’s past his scare. They both get a significant injury discount - Conger for his history, Skaggs for being a teenage pitcher- but in the end, I’d give the on-the-cusp catcher the nod.

Richards’ peripherals look good, especially that groundball rate, but I can’t get past his propensity to give up hits in the worst situations. Three years of mediocrity at Oklahoma, followed by 108 innings of moderately-above-average pitching in a league where a whole host of Angels’ teenagers have-out pitched him. I’ve seen him pitch twice now, once in person and once on milb.tv, and both times he had difficulty putting away hitters and grooved pitches in the worst possible situations. I’m beginning to see him as the minor league version of Javier Vasquez. He might flip the proverbial switch (Some of the game’s legendary power pitchers have done exactly that relatively late in their minor league careers), but it hasn’t happened yet and it’s by no means inevitable.

I view Reckling’s situation as analogous to Adenhart circa late 2008. Adenhart’s AAA collapse wasn’t quite as extreme, but he was also older at the time. Tragically, we’ll never know what his professional outcome would have been, but he looked very, very good in spring training of 2009. I suspect Reckling, who has two very good pitches and showed no command problems until he hit AA, will experience a similar resurgence. I’d put him above Richards at this point. While it’s somewhat inconsistent to say Reckling’s 2010 stat line ultimately doesn’t matter, while Richards’ does, Reckling has the much more impressive track record of success at far younger ages.

I really like Chatwood’s fastball. His command with it is improving, and every time I’ve seen him pitch (July of last year in Cedar Rapids, spring training this year) hitters have been unable to square it up, even when he hits the fat part of plate. This isn’t the case with Richards. I don’t know what Chatwood’s change-up looks like right now, but at best it’s inconstant, so it’s not clear that he’ll stick in the rotation. If he winds up as a reliever, however, the fastball gives him a high floor. Richards’ upside probably makes him more valuable at present, but I think it’s very, very close.

So, for me: Conger, Reckling, Richards, Chatwood. Corbin would have been 11.