While reading through my dog eared Baseball Prospectus and checking out all the VORP's, PECOTA's, MLVR's, and EQAVG's (never figured that one out), I came upon Travis Buck's PECOTA projection. They had Travis Buck as being comparable to Jeremy Giambi.  What the......?!?!   Now, I love my Baseball Prospectus, and I realize that they can not be correct all the time, but, whatever happened to good ol' intuition? It seems Baseball America uses various leaps of faith when they come up with their top ten prospects each year.  They had Trevor Cahill in the top then this year and he had barely pitched! They also had Craig Italiano, Jermaine Mitchell, Matt Sulentic, Javier Herrera, and Richie Robnett (was he on a list?) on top ten lists....and what the heck have they done? Baseball America will habitually rate someone highly and get everyone all hyped up.  For a while it seemed that people on this board were always writing about Jermaine Mitchell and his small sample size of great statistics at Vancouver.  Now look at him.  Just horrible. The same goes for Matt Sulentic and Vince Mazzaro.  And, why does it always have to be a "top ten" list of prospects? So, let me share with you my top NINE prospects...

1.  Gregorio Petit.  Brad Ziegler says that Petit is the "most spectacular defensive player he has seen on a baseball field".  If Brad says it is so, then I am on board. Plus, it doesn't hurt that Petit is hitting great at AA and he is a leadoff hitter. Watch out Bobby Crosby, if you keep that OBP below .300 then you are going to be replaced by a more dynamic player......Petit!

2.  Brian Snyder.  Snyder has been languishing at the AA level for a while now and he has been a big "disappointment", but this year he has converted to second base and he is ripping the ball to a tune of .312/.418 with an OPS of .947.  He is 25 years old, but as a second basemen his numbers are fantastic.  He could take over second right now.

3.  Dan Meyer.  Tonight Meyer has pitched five innings against Albuquerque and has struck out nine batters. He is back and he will make us forget JoKe, er, I mean Joe Kennedy.  This is a leap of faith, but I don't care. His performance tonight has me stoked.

4.  Landon Powell.  I know, I know, he is a fatso. Everyone writes this about him. But, he is down to 220 pounds.  Everyone is against this guy, but here is a catcher who can actually throw runners out at an amazing rate.  Doesn't that sound refreshing? Isn't that scintillating to hear that while we witness everyone on this planet run on Jason Kendall?  Plus, Powell has a good batting eye and has some pop. It just FEELS like he should be a great player.  I don't care that he is batting around .220 at AA.  I like Powell over Suzuki because everyone is rooting for Suzuki and this is a contrarian list.  Suzuki gets more than his fair share of positive press.

5.  Michael Madsen.  The A's have a scary lack of pitching talent in the minors. But this Madsen has been doing some amazing stuff at AA.  He is only 6' and 160 lbs.  But so was Tim Hudson.  Now, I don't know how hard Madsen throws, but he is striking out more than a batter an inning, not giving up hits, nor serving up the homerun ball.  Also, his numbers are similar to Tim Hudson's when Hudson was at AA.  Coincidence?

6.  Porno Tadano.  I can't remember his real first name, but who cares?  He is old at 27 years, but he throws an eephus pitch for gawd's sake! Check out his stats at AA and AAA this year. Those are some good numbers! He was in gay porn in college and had the cajones, literally and figuratively, to then play professional baseball and deal with the humiliation.  I can't wait for him to be a successful middle reliever for the A's.  What a story.

7.  Donnie Murphy.  He came from the Royals of all teams.  He was ripping the cover off the ball at AAA this year.  He is our utility man of the future when Scutaro eventually leaves.  The success of Donnie Murphy will make the Royals seem even more like chumps.

8.  Jason Perry.  I know, I know, we have enough outfielders and Perry's defense apparently really sucks.  But, you can not overlook an OPS of over .920 at both AA and AAA, even if he is 27 years old.  Jeez, Billy went out and got Snelling, Cust, and Denorfia who are all over 25.  What's the concern?

9. Brad Ziegler.  He is going to be a middle reliever for the A's in the near future.  I just feel it.  He is going to be the second coming of Chad Bradford.  Just Watch!  There has to be some good karma for Ziegler for taking the time to answer fans questions on Athletics Nation on a regular basis.

Now, some of the usual suspects are off this list.  I just think that Jason Windsor doesn't have the velocity to be more than a sixth starter.  Daric Barton is all average and no power a la Sean Casey.  Richie Robnett is a whiff machine.  Javier Herrera get a lot of hype, but what has he really done except run through an outfield fence and take steroids?  I still like Pennington, he is starting to come around.  Jermaine Mitchell has three doubes and one homerun in 165 at bats.  That is Jason Kendall territory.