76. Daniel Bard, SU, Boston Red Sox (B+)- Bard is a Farnsworthian, aggressive, fireballer with a high nineties tailing fastball. Unfortunately thats the former Tar Heel's only major league ready pitch and altough he uses a tight sinker/slurve in the minors, it doesn't project to be a average-plus pitch until he gets more movement. Eitherway theres plenty of pitchers that can just get by on that heat, but if he can get a breaking ball or splitter he'd be a hell of a setup man.
77. Josh Reddick, CF, Boston Red Sox (B-)- Reddick is a young gun with a very high ceiling. He had a .342 batting average in single A in 2008 but quickly sputtered in AA. He has good power, sluggin .593 last year, but the source of his trouble at the higher levels is probably the fact that he doesn't walk at all. In almost two thirds of a season he walked only 17 times, and that won't help his case for the majors, especially with Billy Beane jr., Theo Epstein making the call-ups.
78. Jeffrey Locke, SP, Atlanta Braves (C+/B-)- Locke is a solid pitcher. He was named the New Hampshire Rocket by local press, but he really doesn't have a rocket. He throws 88-92 with the regular fastball, curve, change. He was decent in his first year with the Braves' system, an his control is plus, but he needs to either polish up his average pitches or learn a plus pitch if he wants to be a 4-5 starter in the MLB.
79. Chris Carter, DH, Boston Red Sox (B-/B)- I'm no MLB scout but I have scouted for The Olympic Committee and for Team USA at the Pan American games as well as other leagues and games. Carter is an older prospect, turning 27 this coming season, and he's a good hitter but he's ranked lower because he's a DH, and his outfield play is even worse than Adam Dunn. He had a decent debut with the Sox in 2008, and with Sean Casey peacing for a T.V. job, Carter could fill that contact-guy-off-the-bench void and maybe play a little first. He has plenty of power and he makes contact with the best of 'em. He's also a Stanford Alum...
80. Jacob McGee, LHP, Tampa Bay Rays (C+/B+)- Depending on how well he recovers from T.J. surgery, McGee could be better than Davis and Hellickson or much worse. He has very good stuff with a Zito and a changeup that he can knock the dick off a humming bird with. Some project him as a set-up man because of his lack of stamina, but the 2006 AA strikeouts leader looks to me to be able to hold down atleast a 6 inning game. He's efficient and that plus-plus curve will carry him to the majors, like Zito did with his curve ball.
81. James McDonald, CL/SU, Los Angeles Dodgers (B+)- McDonald doesn't have an eye popping fastball, but like Hoffman he makes his money off of his plus-plus change. It has a Pedro Martinez screw-ball tail and is 10 mph slower than his 92 mph fastball. He also mixes in a plus curve. Broxton has his hands all over the Closer's job, but McDonald still has a bright future.
82. Sean Rodriguez, 2B/SS, Anaheim Angels, (B-)- Rodriguez has ridiculous power, especially for a middle infielder. He slugged a phat .645 with AAA in 2008. What scares me away from ranking him in the top fifty is his absolutely awful showing with the big club in 2008. He hit .204 with a John McDonald .593 OPS, which is unacceptable even at shorstop, unless of course he can field like McDonald and he can't. If he can put it together and quit striking out like Brandon Wood he'll be a very, very good player in the mold of Miguel Tejada.
83. Junichi Tazawa, SP, (B-) Boston Red Sox- The Sox have a lot of mid-range prospects and Tazawa is one of them. His 96 mph fastball was clearly a fib, he throws in the 90-92 range and mixes in a very good high 80's slider. He'll get better and he has a ceiling in the top 50, but he has absolutely no professional experience, not even in Japan.
84. Freddie Freeman, 1B/OF, (B-) Atlanta Braves- Freeman's ceiling is much higher thn a B-, no doubt, but he's only 19 and falls victim to the same thing Tazawa did above--lack of experience. He had average numbers in the Sally league in the first half of '08, but then became one of the top ten hitters in the league hitting .349 with a .418 OBP and a .562 slugging percentage. He'll be good but won't be around until 2012 or even later.
85. Chris Perez, CL, St. Louis Cardinals, (B)- Perez has absolutely electric stuff, a mid to high 90's moving fastball and two hard, plus, breaking balls to go along with it. What keeps his ranking this low, and what might keep him from maintain the CL job in St. Louis, a role that he did well taking up in 2008 actually, is his erratic control. He walked more than 4.50 batters per 9 innings in the majors and had some serious control problems in AA and in College. For instance, only pitching 40 innings in the Texas League in '07 he hit 8 batters and issued 28 walks and tossed 9 wild pitches in 2009. If Brian Bruney can be effective so can Perez.
86. Brandon Erbe, SP/RP, Baltimore Orioles, (C+/B-)- Despite the Orioles issues with starting pitching Erbe may actually become a good starter. His numbers aren't impressive through A+, but he throws a 98 mph fastball, which is always something to build on. More than likely, he'll be a backup closer to Sherrill in '09 or atleast a releiver in the near future as he tires at the end of every summer.
87. Jonathan Meloan, SP/RP, Cleveland Indians (C+/A-)- As a starter Meloan gets a C+ but as a reliever he's very good, getting an A-. With the Dodgers system he was an absolute dream reliever striking out 70 in just 45 innings with Jacksonville AA in 2007. Meloan has the real- good-shit. Meloan makes his money off of a plus 95 mph fastball and two plus-plus pitches his cutter and his curveball. He also throws an average change, but his curve and cutter are both rated 70 on the 80 scouting scale. Kobayashi shouldn't be ahead of him, but he is for 2009.
88. Chris Nelson, SS, Colorado Rockies (B-)- Nelson could be a B+ shorstop some day. He has a lot of power for a thin shortstop and plays his position well. He fell in the rankings due to a broken hamate bone in his hand in 2008, but if he moves to second, he could be with the Rockies as early as September '09.
89. Hector Gomez, SS, Colorado Rockies, (B-)- Not the bad of Nelson but has a little bit more contact potential and has a plus glove. The two of them are supposedly in competition, but wit Tulowitzki--competition for what? Water boy? Nelson would be the more likely to move to second base, it suits him better and Gomez will lose a lot of his value moving to a less important defensive position.
90. Jeremy Jeffress, SP/RP, Milwaukee Brewers, (C+/B-)- Jeffress was suspended for a 50 game substance absue policy so that already sends up red flags to me. He throws a 100 mph fastball but with lax control and not much else. If he can improve, and if he can still pitch when dropping 'roids he could be the answer to Milwaukee's Closer needs.
91. Fautino De Los Santos, RP, (C+/B-)- Fautino has good stuff headed by a 96 mph fastball. His value has dropped because he tore apart his elbow and got major surgery in 2008. His secondary pitch, a decent change is as good as its gonna get besides the fastball unless he can add to his breaking ball. If he can recover and improve his crappy 53/43 K/BB ration he could be a very good reliever.
92. Adrian Cardenas, SS, Oakland Athletics, (C+/B-)- Arian has very good patience, a good glove and decent contact hitting, hitting .300 in the low levels of the minors. He was Baseball America's top highschool player in 2006. He needs more power and a better batting average to go along with that patience if he wants to make it in the Bigs, but he's still very raw, just able to buy a beer in 2008.
93. Jordan Walden, SP, Anaheim Angels, (C+/B-)- Walden throws a 92-94 mph fastball and a 84-87 mph slider. He's a good prospect but needs to work on those mediocre numbers in high A. If he gets a little better I'd put him in front of Adenhart in a New York minute.
94. Peter Bourjos, OF, Anaheim Angels, (C+)- Bourjos is all speed and is apparently the fastest player on the Angels according to Mike Scoscia. That's an impressive statement considering Anaheim has Chone Figgins, Reggie Willits and Eric Aybar.
95. Andrew Brackman, SP, New York Yankees, (C+)- Brackman has good stuff and throws in the high nineties with a fastball/hard slider combo like Walden. He was a basketball star at NC State but chose Baseball for the $$$. He doesn't have much experience and he's coming of Tommy John Surgery but an 6'7" power pitcher deserves a look.
96. Mark Melancon, CL, New York Yankees, (B)- Obviously Melancon is blocked by Rivera in the bigs but his stuff is unquestionably good. He throws three different pitches, headed by a very good 12-6 curve and a 93-96 mph fastball. He's kind of an asswipe/douchebag, but that's what you need in a closer, a player who thinks he great and can shake off a bad outing. When Rivera retires look for him to be in the mix. He's ranked low because of T.J. surgery recovery time that was a year and a half which raises some questions about how healthy that arm is.
97. Jon Niese, SP, New York Mets, (C+)- The Mets farm system is pretty dry outside of Niese and Martinez. Niese has a good curve, good sinker and decent fastball. Upon being called up in 2008 he went Deep Throat and started sucking...Big ones. His era was above 7 in the MLB, but the Mets are gonna give him another shot heading in to 2009, and even if he doesn't make it out of Spring Training, Tim Redding, a guy that also sucks a dick, probably won't hold down a starting job for that long.
98. Tyler Robertson, SP, Minnesota Twins, (C+)- Robertson is a young sinker/slider/curve grounball pitcher and had some good seasons with low Beloit and High A Fort Meyers. In 82 innings in Fort Meyers he burned batters for 73 strikeouts, and at his previous stop he came in second in ERA. His fastball is 88-92, but his weirdo-snappy delivery keeps it low and on the ground.
99. Nick Hagadone, LHP, Boston Red Sox, (C+)- Hagadone is a beast of a left hander but when the Red Sox switched Tim Lincecum's former college closer to a starter he immediately went down with T.J. surgery--maybe that frame isn't that useful after all. He throws 93-96 and has a plus straight change and a developing 10-4 slider. If he recovers he could be a good reliever for the Sox pretty soon.
100. Todd Frazier, SS, Cincinnati Reds, (C+)- Todd Frazier is straight out of the draft and that's the only reason he's ranked so low. He's a very good hitting SS, hitting .328 and slugginh .598 with Dayton in 2008. The kid out of Rutgers needs to sure up his defense and improve on those average numbers in the upper A levels and then he'll start getting a look by scouts as a top SS.
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