Vastly underrated.

More tools then just about anyone in the system and he seems to have a clue about how to use them.

Not only does he have value to us as a player and a possible midseason call-up, but also he has trade value I’d imagine for teams needing a near-MLB-ready pitcher. He took tremendous strides last year to establish this value so I think he should be rewarded with the #6 spot.

Now that Doolittle is winning, I want to start voting for Arnold Leon. I move for Arnold Leon to be the next player added to the poll.

Tools (from BA) — “92-96 mph with his fastball, which has outstanding late life in the zone, riding in on righthanders and down and away from lefties…changeup shows signs of being a plus pitch…athletic, repeats his delivery and fields his position well”

Performance — 27.5% K-rate, 51.1% GB rate. High K’s plus high GB% is the optimal combo

Projectability — Overpowering performance without having developed a plus breaking pitch. K-rate is the best indicator of future longevity and performance.

Peak ERALF from BBPro (basically projected Peak DERA) — all approximate

Cahill — 3.30
Gonzalez — 3.74 (AAA only)
Rodriguez — 3.76
Anderson — 3.93
Gallagher — 3.94
Mazzaro — 3.94
Eveland — 4.19
Simmons — 4.38
Braden — 4.38

He’s only this low because he can’t hit the side of a barn and he’s likely to start out as a reliever. He reminds me of Jose Rijo.

Inoa, Hunter, Dixon and Weeks don’t have the projectable minor league track record that Rodriguez has. Mazzaro, Simmons, Doolittle and Donaldson don’t have his upside.

With no one on:

4.22 FIP, .314 BABIP

With RISP:

3.56 FIP, .402 BABIP

So he pitched better in the clutch but got much worse results due to luck/random fluctuation.

If for no other reason than outside of Cunningham, I think Cardenas is the most likely position-player prospect to have a starting job on the A’s in the next 2-3 years. I like Doolittle, but I need to see more. Plus, he’s a 1B (if he’s so good defensively, have they thought of trying HIM at third? Can he throw?). If Cardenas can stick at short, he might move up to the top 3 ahead of Cunningham.

I love his rate stats, and that he’s a catcher. I realize he has fluctuated wildly in the year and a half he’s been a pro, but he obviously has talent. What I’d like to know, is why the folks who post on this site and others who clearly know more about these prospects than I do, do not think of him very highly as compared to, say, Doolittle or Cardenas, when, e.g. he plays a much tougher position than Doolittle, and has much better stats than Cardenas.

Cardenas and Doolittle fighting it out.

I dont get the Mazzaro love fest. I mean he had a great year but its his only good year. Simmons is much more polished.

How about a system where the bottom two, or even three, vote-getters are dropped from the next the poll each time, so that we can gauge interest in the next ten or so guys who haven’t been on a list yet. Maybe you’re already doing something like that, but for instance it’s clear that Weeks and Hunter aren’t going to win any time soon, so I’d like to see some new names.

Or, for that matter where he will be next year.
I don’t know how long it will take him to come back from TJ surgery but last year he was listed as above Anderson in the MLB top 50 list He could prove to be a factor in 2010 or 2011, right with Cahill and Anderson.

needs to be added to the voting choices. He’s somewhere between 9-11 on my prospect list.