REDO: Rangers' All Decade (2000-2009) Top 10 Prospects, #1

by rooster on Dec 12, 2009 4:10 PM CST

BA just completed the NL Top 10 and now are doing the All Decade top 10 for each team. They ranked the players from their top 10 lists to compile an All Decade Top 10. It appears their All Decade lists are meant to rank top 10 prospects that have gone on to have careers in the majors. In other words, this isn't a list of the most highly touted prospects regardless of whether they made it majors.... of all the Top 10 lists, these are the ones that have turned out the best.

I thought it would be fun to do a community one before they get to the Rangers, which will be a while, of course, and since we're all thinking about current prospects, it seems like a good time to consider all decade prospects (2000-2009). It doesn't matter that a prospect is in another organization. For example, Ricky Nolasco is a top 10 All Decade prospect for the Cubs (3) and Marlins (8). Also, again, these are prospects who have actually done things in the majors. So, for example, Strasburg isn't in the Nats top 10 all decade prospects.

In the comments, well comment, but also add folks you think need to be added to the list AND tell me who should comprise a list of Best and Worst draft pick. The picked player must have signed a contract with the Rangers.

Here is all of the BA Rangers' top 10 prospect lists.

A couple of notes....

Andrus is #9 on the Braves All Decade Top 10. Adrian Gonzalez is #4 on the Marlins. Nelson Cruz is #9 on the Brewers. Chris Young is #2 on the Pirates and #4 on the Nationals.

Travis Hafner and Nelson Cruz were never ranked in the Rangers Top 10 lists.

Best draft pick list, so far:

Teixeira
Danks
Kinsler
Pena
Blalock
Hafner

Worst draft pick list, so far:

Meyer
Mayberry
Heard

The poll has 25 of the players from the 10 BA Rangers Top 10s of the decade that have done something in the majors.

Poll

Who is the Rangers' All Decade (2000-2009) #1 Prospect?

Mark Teixeira

72 votes

Carlos Pena

0 votes

Michael Young

4 votes

Hank Blalock

12 votes

John Danks

1 votes

Adrian Gonzalez

2 votes

Neftali Feliz

8 votes

Francisco Cordero

0 votes

Chris Young

0 votes

Edinson Volquez

0 votes

Ruben Mateo

7 votes

Ian Kinsler

0 votes

Derek Holland

0 votes

Doug Davis

0 votes

CJ Wilson

0 votes

Gerald Laird

1 votes

Chris Davis

0 votes

Mike Lamb

0 votes

Ryan Ludwick

0 votes

Taylor Teagarden

0 votes

Julio Borbon

0 votes

Nick Masset

0 votes

Kevin Mench

0 votes

Laynce Nix

0 votes

Joaquin Benoit

1 votes

108 votes | Poll has closed

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Comments

The answer is:

1. Mark Teixeira
2. Hank Blalock
3. Neftali Feliz
4. Ruben Mateo
5. Justin Smoak
6. Elvis Andrus
7. Derek Holland
8. John Danks
9. Francisco Cordero
10. Colby Lewis
10.

by Brett Perryman on Dec 12, 2009 4:24 PM CST reply actions

wouldn't you put Carlos Pena

ahead of Colby Lewis?

Ranger fans say "NO! NO!" to Go Go.
Keep Reinsdorf's chub from ruining my club.

by tricer on Dec 12, 2009 4:25 PM CST up reply actions

and no Adrian Gonzalez?

Ranger fans say "NO! NO!" to Go Go.
Keep Reinsdorf's chub from ruining my club.

by tricer on Dec 12, 2009 4:26 PM CST up reply actions

I don't think so

Maybe I didn’t pay enough attention to what BA is doing, but my impression was that it was about how good they were as prospects, and I wouldn’t say that Gonzalez was every really highly regarded by the likes of BA as a Ranger. I’d have him in the group with Volquez and Hurley on the cusp of this list.

by Brett Perryman on Dec 12, 2009 5:08 PM CST up reply actions

Adrian is listed as the #1 Rangers prospect in 2004

by octoberty on Dec 12, 2009 5:16 PM CST up reply actions

Of course, that probably isnt saying much

by octoberty on Dec 12, 2009 5:20 PM CST up reply actions

Yeah

like with Hurley and Volquez that one year he topped out around the middle of BA’s top 100. He is on the list, but I don’t think he would be a top ten for this organization, if I’m understanding the definition properly.

by Brett Perryman on Dec 12, 2009 5:26 PM CST up reply actions

I was just looking at the Mariners #1s from the past

Who the heck is Ryan Anderson? He was there #1 for four straight years.

by octoberty on Dec 12, 2009 5:31 PM CST up reply actions

You don't remember The Little Unit?

Gracchus (about Obama): I think he knows what America is. America is the mob. Conjure money for them and they'll be distracted. Take away their freedom and still they'll roar. The beating heart of America is not the paper of the Constitution, it's the power of the media. He'll bring them debt - and they will love him for it.

by Aquaman, Esq. on Dec 12, 2009 5:32 PM CST up reply actions

Nope

2004 was the 1st year I started really knowing about prospects, when everyone was picking Hank Blalock for Rookie of the Year. That’s when I discovered The Newberg and Hindman.

Before that, I only remember seeing highlights of Ruben Mateo at Spring Training and Dale Hanson talking about the greatness that he was but then he would never make the team, and I’m sure I thought to myself “well, he can’t be that good then”

by octoberty on Dec 12, 2009 5:58 PM CST up reply actions

He was amazing

was just destroyed by arm injuries

by Brett Perryman on Dec 12, 2009 5:37 PM CST up reply actions

Well

I forgot that he had a year this decade where he was ranked really highly. You’re right, he’d be in the 5-7 area.

by Brett Perryman on Dec 12, 2009 5:06 PM CST up reply actions

i'm suprised about no eric hurley

wasn’t it assumed that hurley was better than all of DVD

by ab03 on Dec 12, 2009 4:30 PM CST up reply actions

i guess I am assuming we get to pick the peak of each prospect

early Hurley had much more potential than AAA Hurley

by ab03 on Dec 12, 2009 4:31 PM CST up reply actions

Hurley just never topped out very high

for BA like he did with some others (like Sickels if I recall correctly). I meant to take that into account in that list I posted, but I think you can say the same sorts of things about, say, Volquez and Danks. I thought that he had a chance to be as good as those guys, but he sort of fizzled out a bit right at the point where he would have surpassed them. And then he unfortunately had to be the one to draw the blown shoulder ticket.

by Brett Perryman on Dec 12, 2009 5:29 PM CST up reply actions

yeah

I was kind of shocked that was the case as I could have swore people had him higher than danks but apparently that was never true. maybe people did during one of the seasons but never when the rankings were coming out.

by ab03 on Dec 12, 2009 5:44 PM CST up reply actions

We here did

at least some of us at certain points. But BA never really got on his bandwagon.

by Brett Perryman on Dec 12, 2009 5:47 PM CST up reply actions

Goldstein had him in the 20's a couple years ago

and was very high on Hurley

by ramjam36 on Dec 14, 2009 8:34 AM CST up reply actions

Don;t think Elvis can be that high

the league-wide opinion on the other players on that list were significantly higher

I feel like scouts still doubted Andrus as recently as last ST

by BuckyB on Dec 12, 2009 5:08 PM CST up reply actions

BA ranked him #19 and #37 while he was a Ranger

How many other guys can you say that about, two years that high?

by Brett Perryman on Dec 12, 2009 5:10 PM CST up reply actions

good point

I just remember lots of skepticism, but I guess not everyone can be Mark Teixeira

by BuckyB on Dec 12, 2009 5:12 PM CST up reply actions

Yeah it was weird

Callis was one of the most skeptical voices on Andrus too. I guess his less prominent coworkers just outvoted him on Andrus.

by Brett Perryman on Dec 12, 2009 5:24 PM CST up reply actions

Goldstein especially

Didn’t like Elvis very much.

My podcast. I'd be very appreciative of any listeners-for enjoyment, criticism, or otherwise.

by Conjunction on Dec 12, 2009 6:30 PM CST up reply actions

He still doesn't

"I was going to say, 'You’re gay for Elvis.' But then I realized that I, too, am gay for Elvis." ~Adam J. Morris.

by Kinslerhomer on Dec 12, 2009 7:22 PM CST up reply actions

Smoak can't be on the list because he hasn't made the majors yet.

I don’t think you can include Mateo, either, because his first year in the bigs was 1999, and this list is 2000-2009 only. He wouldn’t have been a prospect in this decade.

by Aquaman, Esq. on Dec 12, 2009 5:34 PM CST up reply actions

Mateo was our #1 prospect in 2000, according to BA

by octoberty on Dec 12, 2009 5:35 PM CST up reply actions

Touche'.

I remember when we got Mario Ramos. Grady Fuson, what a genius.

by Aquaman, Esq. on Dec 12, 2009 5:37 PM CST up reply actions

On Smoak

I didn’t catch the “have gone on to have MLB careers” part. I guess I don’t get why that needs to be added in. Seems like the most interesting topic is just who the best prospects were and then seeing how they came out.

by Brett Perryman on Dec 12, 2009 5:39 PM CST up reply actions

The "seeing how they came out" part is why it needs to be added in.

Smoak hasn’t done anything yet, at least not at the MLB level.

by Aquaman, Esq. on Dec 12, 2009 5:41 PM CST up reply actions

But

that is a completely different list. Seeing how guys turned out makes guys’ prospect ranking trivial.

by Brett Perryman on Dec 12, 2009 5:48 PM CST up reply actions

I'm not 100% I know what BA is doing. I think they are going in large part by ML performance of the top 10s.

It doesn’t really matter what BA is doing. We can vote however we want.

Here’s why I think they are taking into account ML performance. The list for the Nats has Chris Young ahead of Brad Wilkerson. Young never broke the top 100 as a prospect, but Wilkerson was as high as 35.

Pro baseball has always been a dream, so this is pretty freakin’ cool out here. -- Tim Steggall, undrafted Rangers minor leaguer.

by rooster on Dec 12, 2009 9:04 PM CST up reply actions

BTW, BA loves them some Engel Beltre this past season. #7 prospect in our system based on the lists above.

by Aquaman, Esq. on Dec 12, 2009 5:36 PM CST reply actions

If anybody ever wonders when "This Thing" turned around in our farm system...

Look at the difference between the top 10 list for 2007 and 2008.

by Aquaman, Esq. on Dec 12, 2009 5:41 PM CST reply actions

I remember it from when Z told us all the system was primed for a turn around...

because of the enhanced presence in LA and the five early draft picks in 2007 along with some potential deadline trade pieces like Teixeria, Lofton, and Gagne.

He is a beast and a seer.

Italy's Number 107th Hardcastle and McCormick fan website!

by ghostofErikThompson on Dec 12, 2009 5:52 PM CST up reply actions

yeah

not to slobe his knobe but Z is probably the one of the most consistent prognosticators in Rangerland.

Makes me question my feelings about how Ramirez will turn out but I don’t know if he quite has a grasp of the injury situation – or at least better than the Rangers

by ab03 on Dec 12, 2009 6:13 PM CST up reply actions

Thanks and nah

I obviously don’t have any kind of nuanced grasp of his injury/health outlook. My contention to the trade is a basic risk/value take. I don’t know that Ramirez will hit, and I’m definitely not as confident as I was with guys like Hafner and Gonzalez. I do think that you have a pretty good idea of what you’re going to get from Lowell, and I don’t think that, even at three million, it’s valuable enough to outweigh the chances that Ramirez comes around and gives you 3-4 nice years of at least the range of what Lowell will likely give – or valuable enough to give up Ramirez for him when you should be able to get pretty close with a FA, considering all of these nontenders. No it probably isn’t this year that Ramirez would give you that value, but again, I don’t think that you’re getting enough to weigh the ‘now’ factor quite that heavily. And June/July should be very much in play for a potential pickup with the new owner in place, so it’s not like this is the only chance they’ll have to add anything whatsoever.

by Brett Perryman on Dec 12, 2009 9:11 PM CST up reply actions

What makes everyone go with Tex over Blalock?

I wasn’t following prospects as much back then, but Blalock to me was going to be a perennial MVP candidate.

By 2028, Mark Teixeira will be in the HOF.

"I am one of the biggest Texas Ranger fans out there but I'm also one of the smartest. Deal with it."
-The Outlaw

by Gdawg on Dec 12, 2009 5:43 PM CST reply actions

He was going to be, but he wasn't.

This is a combo list of potential and results, I think.

“In other words, this isn’t a list of the most highly touted prospects regardless of whether they made it majors…. of all the Top 10 lists, these are the ones that have turned out the best.”

by Aquaman, Esq. on Dec 12, 2009 5:46 PM CST up reply actions

no

it’s not. just ranking the highest that a prospect was ever touted.

by ab03 on Dec 12, 2009 6:11 PM CST up reply actions

If it is a combination of potential and results

then the only players who should be ranked are those who have had adequate time to prove their worth.

That would make the thread useless.

"Blister please, with those wings in your spine.
Love to be with a brother of mine.
How he'd love to find your tongue in his teeth,
In a struggle to find secret songs that you keep,
Wrapped in boxes so tight, sounding only at night as you sleep." ~Jeff Mangum; Neutral Milk Hotel

by jdh90 on Dec 12, 2009 7:09 PM CST up reply actions

Just because BA liked Teixeira better

by Brett Perryman on Dec 12, 2009 5:48 PM CST up reply actions

Is that what you think too?

By 2028, Mark Teixeira will be in the HOF.

"I am one of the biggest Texas Ranger fans out there but I'm also one of the smartest. Deal with it."
-The Outlaw

by Gdawg on Dec 13, 2009 1:09 AM CST up reply actions

Yeah, I think that most of us agreed that Teixeira was a little better prospect

Blalock was my favorite, though.

by Brett Perryman on Dec 13, 2009 8:34 AM CST up reply actions

mateo makes me sad

Go Rice Owls!

by JBImaknee on Dec 12, 2009 7:48 PM CST reply actions

I remember being at my grandmother's house...

watching him homer in his debut against the Rockies and thinking about how the future was here. Now that the future is the past, I wonder in the present what of the future will inconceivably break its leg on the first base bag. :(

Italy's Number 107th Hardcastle and McCormick fan website!

by ghostofErikThompson on Dec 12, 2009 8:51 PM CST up reply actions

Rules of the list.....

In case you didn’t see my response to Z up above, we can make this list whatever we want, of course, but to clarify I believe BA is factoring in ML performance to some extent. This is all BA has to say about it:

We’ve ranked each team’s top 10 prospects from the Top 10s of the past decade as well as the best and worst draft pick for each team.

But, as I said above, they had Chris Young ahead of Brad Wilkerson even though Young never cracked their top 100. Another example is Joey Votto ahead of Jay Bruce.

So… vote as you see fit. I would tend to lean toward more toward the prospect buzz rather than major league career, though the first one is pretty easy.

Pro baseball has always been a dream, so this is pretty freakin’ cool out here. -- Tim Steggall, undrafted Rangers minor leaguer.

by rooster on Dec 12, 2009 9:22 PM CST reply actions