My prospects 50-41

Well, it's been a bit since I posted something of substance. I'd like to thank my readers including my future stepson's father. I have decided to tackle the Twins prospect list. Prospect lists can be found on most any baseball blog this time of year, so I am not breaking new ground here. I have decided to rank the prospects with as little media influence as possible. Prospects are not going to be ranked based on hype but on what they have done since they have entered the Twins organization. This leaves out guys like Miguel Jean and Kyle Gibson although they would rank highly if I ranked based on potential. Most of the numbers considered are from the 2009 season.

For hitters I used OPS as my control. This is the formula I used: OPS +.025 per level above GCL +/- .025 for every year above or below age 22 by August 2009 + .025 for CF/SS/C + .025 for base stealers. I also perused the total numbers to look for anomalies and at this point I favored the higher hyped prospects.

For pitchers I used WHIP as my control. This is the formula I used: WHIP -.05 per level above GCL +/- .05 for every year above or below 22 by August 2009 -.2 for starters. I also favored those with high K/9 rates and gave a break to those with higher BABIP (batting average of balls in play), because they may have been unlucky. I perused the total numbers to look for anomalies and at this point I favored the higher hyped prospects.

Like everything else, this will not be a perfect indicator of success or a perfect ranking(I liked how the hitters turned out better than pitchers), but it helps level the playing field for less hyped players.

50. Tobias Striech Catcher born 4/5/1988
He was a Twins 5th round pick in 2009 from West Virginia University. He showed good power for Elizabethtown in his first season in the organization, but not alot of average. .222/.287/.450. He threw out 43% of would be base stealers.

49. Rene Leveret First Base 11/19/1985
He was a free agent signing in 2003 from South Reward, Saint Maarten. He had a solid season at Fort Myers batting .286/.363/.399. He has a decent walk rate but probably doesn't have enough power at 1b to advance much further, being he is already 24.

48. Evan Bigley Outfield 3/9/1987
He was a Twins 10th round pick in 2008 from Dallas Baptist College. He had a solid season at Fort Myers batting .280/.336/.405. He will have to show the power he showed in 2008, in the Appalachian league, in order to become a big-time prospect.

47. Santos Arias reliever/starter 3/17/1987
He was a free agent signing in 2005 from La Romana, Dominican Republic. He put up really good numbers as mostly a reliever in Fort Myers. He was 6-3 with a 2.15 ERA in 38 appearances/100.2 innings. He gave up 90 hits and struck out 72 while walking 27. Has a chance to be a solid reliever.

46. Matthew Tone lefty Reliever 2/17/1988
He was a Twins 14th round pick in 2009 from SUNY Cortland. He had a really good season his first year in the organization for Elizabethtown. He was 4-1 with a 1.31 ERA in 16 appearances/34.1 innings. He gave up only 13 hits. He also struck out 45 while walking 23. He has a a chance to be a solid reliever as well.

45. Reggie Williams Third Base 11/5/1988
He was a Twins 4th round pick in 2007 from Ballflower California High School. He batted .250/.316/.462 at Beloit. He needs to improve his on base skills to move up in the organization.

44. Edgar Ibarra lefty reliever/starter 5/31/1989
He was a free agent signing in 2006 from Valencia, Venezuela. He had a solid year in Elizabethtown. He was 6-2 with a 2.84 ERA in 14 appearances/50.2 innings. He gave up 37 hits and struck out 57 while walking 19. If he can keep his strikeout rate up, he has a chance to be a great lefty reliever.

43. Nelvin Fuentes lefty reliever 4/7/1989
He was a Twins 16th round pick in 2007 from Loaiza, Puerto Rico. He had great numbers for the Gulf Coast Twins. He was 1-1 with a 1.29 ERA in 12 appearances/21 innings. He gave up 16 hits and struck out 24 while walking just 4 guys. He's far away from the majors, but could be a tremendous lefty reliever.

42. Zach See reliever 11/23/1988
He was a free agent signing from Fort Myers, FL. He had great numbers for the Gulf Coast Twins. He was 2-0 with a .69 ERA in 13 appearances/26 innings. He gave up 16 hits and struck out 34 while walking 10. He'a also far away from the majors, but could be a great reliever if he keeps his strikeout rate up.

41. Erik Lis Designated Hitter/First Base 3/8/1984
He was a 9th round pick in 2005 from Evansville University. He had solid numbers in his second year at New Britain. He batted .283/.353/.482. He has decent power and walks a little, but is pretty limited in the field. He could be a major league lefty bench bat in 2010/11.