With the 2008 Draft in the books, we're reminded how fast draft picks can rise. The 2007 class is taking over this list. Matt Wieters, Matt LaPorta, and David Price all enter this week's top five overall, while five other of last year's first rounders also made the list. Creating room for these players to rise, Evan Longoria, Joba Chamberlain, Homer Bailey, Sean Gallagher, and Ian Kennedy have all now graduated to the majors.
| Thanks for checking back for our second year of in-season Top 25 prospect rankings. | ||||||||||||||
| No. | Player | Pos. | Comments | Age | Org | Lvl | Pre. | |||||||
| 1 | Jay Bruce | CF | Bruce still almighty: 21-year-old wunderkind is now .400/.500/.636 through first 66 MLB PA | 21.1 | CIN | MLB | 1 ↔ | |||||||
| 2 | Clayton Kershaw | LHP | Welcome to the bigs: He has allowed two HR in 14.2 IP -- hadn't given up any in 43.1 AA IP | 20.2 | LAD | MLB | 2 ↔ | |||||||
| 3 | Matt Wieters | C | The 6-foot-5, 230-pounder is too good to still be in High-A: .344/.436/.582 with a .415 wOBA | 22.0 | BAL | A+ | 5 ↑ | |||||||
| 4 | Matt LaPorta | LF | Walk this way: LaPorta's BB rate is up from 7.8% in A-ball to 13.4% in Double-A; .411 wOBA | 23.4 | MIL | AA | 6 ↑ | |||||||
| 5 | David Price | LHP | High-A has been too easy for 07's No. 1 overall pick; 26.4% K, 3.4% BB, 1.77 FIP (23.1 IP) | 22.7 | TB | A+ | 13 ↑ | |||||||
| 6 | Colby Rasmus | CF | Turning things around? He's .269/.406/.538 with 2 HR in June (32) PA; hit 2 HR in all of May | 21.8 | STL | AAA | 7 ↑ | |||||||
| 7 | Andrew McCutchen | CF | SLG has dropped each month: .510 in April, .411 in May, .346 to start June; still, .447 overall | 21.6 | PIT | AAA | 10 ↑ | |||||||
| 8 | Cameron Maybin | CF | Solid across the board -- except for contact; .268/.366/.495, .372 wOBA, and 29.5% K-rate | 21.1 | FLA | MLB | 8 ↔ | |||||||
| 9 | Travis Snider | LF | Walking (12.6%), but lack of contact (.256 BA, 30.7% K) & power (.190 IsoP) = dissapointing | 20.3 | TOR | AA | 9 ↔ | |||||||
| 10 | Rick Porcello | RHP | Keeping the ball on the ground (65% GB), runners off bases (6.6% BB, .254 BAA); 14.2% K | 19.3 | DET | A+ | 11 ↑ | |||||||
| 11 | Andy LaRoche | 3B | Outstanding BB rate (23.3%) and isn't King (8.6%); power is down significantly (.143 IsoP) | 24.7 | LAD | MLB | 14 ↑ | |||||||
| 12 | Trevor Cahill | RHP | Still dominating High-A: 32.8% K, 7.2% BB, 2.86 FIP; has faced 66.4% as many batters as '07 | 20.2 | OAK | A+ | 15 ↑ | |||||||
| 13 | Madison Bumgarner | LHP | With Kershaw in the bigs and Price likely to follow shortly, he may open '10 as MiLB's top LHP | 18.8 | SF | A | 17 ↑ | |||||||
| 14 | Max Scherzer | RHP | Pitching like a No. 2 starter through 29.0 MLB innings -- 3.51 FIP; 25.4% K, 10.3% BB, 6 XBH | 23.8 | ARI | MLB | 20 ↑ | |||||||
| 15 | Mike Moustakas | SS | Had a .351 wOBA in May; just .225 in April & .248 through June (34 PA); .292 wOBA to date | 19.7 | KC | A | 18 ↑ | |||||||
| 16 | Jason Heyward | RF | Rome is burning: He's been dominant for Atlanta's A-ball affiliate: (.330/.385/.509, .385 wOBA) | 18.8 | ATL | A | 21 ↑ | |||||||
| 17 | Jaime Garcia | LHP | He's getting hit harder in AAA than AA; he's looking a potential top-of-the-rotation starter | 21.9 | STL | AAA | 23 ↑ | |||||||
| 18 | Mat Gamel | 3B | Who is Gamel? A 22-year-old who's hitting .380/.447/.663 through 293 AA plate appearances | 22.8 | MIL | AA | 26 ↑ | |||||||
| 19 | Jeff Clement | C | We know he can crush AAA pitching; we don't know if he'll be able to do the same in the bigs | 24.8 | SEA | AAA | 22 ↑ | |||||||
| 20 | Justin Masterson | RHP | Has been lucky in bigs so far (.177 BABIP and 2.59 ERA vs. 4.89 FIP); still, getting Ks, GBs | 23.2 | BOS | MLB | 29 ↑ | |||||||
| 21 | Jarrod Parker | RHP | Similar to Porcello, he's not getting a ton of Ks (19.5%), but he has a great walk rate (5.7%) | 19.5 | ARI | A | 16 ↓ | |||||||
| 22 | Nick Weglarz | LF | Struck out 24.1% of the time in '07 (.383 wOBA), just 16.9% of the time this year (.366 wOBA) | 20.4 | CLE | A+ | 30 ↑ | |||||||
| 23 | Fernando Martinez | CF | Four graduations and some guys have to rise, even if they're currently injured (hamstring) | 19.6 | NYM | AA | 28 ↑ | |||||||
| 24 | Carlos Gonzalez | RF | Only 36 PA deep into his MLB career, he already has 7 doubles; .266 wOBA after .327 in PCL | 22.6 | OAK | MLB | NR ↑ | |||||||
| 25 | Chris Davis | 1B | We don't have both feet on the Davis wagon; there have just been lots of graduations lately | 22.2 | TEX | AAA | NR ↑ | |||||||
| Honorables: Jake McGee (TB), Chris Marrero (WAS), Jeremy Hellickson (TB), Bryan Anderson (STL), Chris Volstad (FLA), and Brandon Wood (LAA). | ||||||||||||||
| Graduated (final ranking): Evan Longoria (3), Joba Chamberlain (4), Homer Bailey (12), and Sean Gallagher (24). | ||||||||||||||
| Dropped out of Top 25 (previous ranking): Angel Villalona (19) and Jake McGee (25) | ||||||||||||||
| * Our rankings combine a player's ceiling with the odds that he'll reach it and favor recent production | ||||||||||||||
| *** Ages are as of June 9th, 2008 | ||||||||||||||
| **** Level is the highest level the player has reached | ||||||||||||||
| <<< Our May 20th Top 25 | ||||||||||||||
| <<< Discuss these rankings | ||||||||||||||
Adam Loberstein can be reached at aloberstein@projectprospect.com. Adam Foster can be reached at adamf@projectprospect.com.