baseball america weighs in

Baseball America released earlier this week its highly-anticipated (at least by me) Cape League Top 30 Prospects List, authored by Jim Callis. It’s subscriber content on BA’s site, but Missouri’s athletic site reprinted the whole thing. I don’t know if they were supposed to do that, but anyway, lucky us. The full list, with scouting reports, is here.

Some things of note in the top 10:

• Aaron Crow was the obvious choice at No. 1 , a guy with stuff as good or better than scouts’ darlings Luke Burnett and Ryan Perry, doing it in a starting role and putting up ridiculous numbers to match. Callis quotes a scouting director who said Crow would go No. 1 if the draft were tomorrow. That’s pretty interesting considering the hype surrounding Vandy’s Pedro Alvarez and South Carolina’s Justin Smoak, both of whom played for Team USA this summer. It goes to show how big an impression Crow made on the Cape. A lot can happen between now and June, of course, but if Crow were to go No. 1 overall, he’d be the first Cape Leaguer taken No. 1 since Pat Burrell in 1998.

• In the second spot, Yonder Alonso gets the nod, which is surprising only in that most of his stats aren’t eye-popping. But together, they give you the best all-around hitter in the league.

• Kyle Gibson and Christian Friedrich join their Falmouth teammate Crow in the top five. It’s noted that Gibson has plenty of room for added weight on his 6’5″ frame — and added velocity that should come with it. Friedrich, who struggled in front of so many scouts at the all-star game, didn’t hurt his cause much. The top lefty pitching prospect, Friedrich and his big curveball certainly turned heads.

• Robert Stock gets the nod at No. 5, which seems high for a 17-year-old freshman who hit .228. But perhaps being that young sets him apart. Stock may have been one of the top picks in the draft out of high school but enrolled a year early at USC. If this list is any indication, he’s well on his way to being a high pick in 2009. Also, keep in mind, being a catcher sets him apart. Good ones are hard to come by.

• Scott Green gets tabbed in the sixth spot, and Callis reveals that Green actually turned down an offer from the Red Sox (who drafted him in the 15th round in ’07) which I hadn’t heard about. It appears Green will make a lot more money next year, and his Cape league summer will be a big reason why.

• The second hitter on the list is Dennis Raben at No. 7. The powerful lefty apparently upped his stock a lot with the power he showed this summer.

• Luke Burnett and Ryan Perry come in at eight and nine. Both of them were relievers this summer. Both had ERA’s a bit higher than several other relievers, but they put up huge strikeout numbers and did it with mid-90’s fastballs. Based on their arms alone, you can’t argue with their high rankings.

• Andy Oliver comes in at No. 10. He was one of the more unhittable pitchers in the league and put up a couple of dominatin performances. Only a freshman, too.

Other notes:

• More proof that scouts take more than just statistics into account — league MVP Conor Gillaspie, who had a spectacular summer — comes in at No. 13. According to Callis, some scouts still question his bat, which I find ridiculous. Maybe he won’t hit for power, that I can understand. But anyone who hits .345 on the Cape can flat out hit.

• The players on the list coming off their freshman seasons: Kyle Gibson (3), Robert Stock (5), Andy Oliver (10), Alex White (14), Grant Green (18) and Brad Boxberger (24). Some of these guys will be back on the Cape next year, but they’ll also probably be among the top invites to team USA.

• Stock, Green and Boxberger are all from USC, which certainly bodes well for the Trojans.

• Brandon Crawford hit .189 but still made it at No. 25 . He was thought of as one of the top prospects in the country before the summer, and though he struggled, scouts still saw the tools. In some sense, this shows that a Cape League season can help a lot more than it hurts. As in, a good season can really open eyes, but a bad one can be glossed over. Other surprises: Shooter Hunt and Aaron Shafer, neither of whom put up great numbers on the mound.

• Though Hunt and Shafer didn’t have great summers, their inclusion on this list makes Falmouth’s pitching staff look absolutely astounding, in retrospect. The Commodores have seven pitchers on the list.

• Some guys I thought would be on the list but weren’t: Rick Zagone, Mike Colla, Jermaine Curtis, Tom Milone, Tim Federowicz, Aja Barto, Cole Figueroa, Aaron Luna, Sean Ochinko, Eddie Burns and Terry Doyle.

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