I’m a little behind on this, but with all of the prospects lists that have already been put out, Baseball America’s list almost seems late by comparison. BA’s is probably the least Sabermetric friendly but the list is still pretty useful when you compare it other prospect analysts. There’s no surprise that Jacob Turner comes in at number one so like those before him (Rick Porcello), he’ll have to live up to the hype when he eventually gets to pitch. Casey Crosby comes in at number two and I’m very interested in seeing what happens to him. The safe bet is to keep at Lakeland but it wouldn’t surprise me if they try to skip a step for him and try to start him at Erie. Of course nothing is set in stone so the “wait and see” attitude could take place where he starts at Lakeland and ends up at Erie by midseason.
Probably the biggest ommission was Ryan Strieby, who didn’t even make the top ten. Strieby is finally getting some respect after a couple of solid seasons but BA decided he wasn’t in their top ten. The two guys the Tigers traded for, Austin Jackson and Daniel Schlereth came in at three and five respectively. Andrew Oliver, the Tigers second round pick in 2009, rounds out the top five at number four.
There’s also not a lot of love for Scott Sizemore, who just made the list at number ten. I have some reservations about him being the starter out of camp this year so we’ll see if this low ranking validates that thinking.