Athletics Nation Community Prospect List #2

Addison Russell blew through the competition, with 65% of the vote (Dan Straily came in second, with 18%). In the nomination round, Sonny Gray was an almost unanimous choice to get into the voting round.

Sonny Gray

Last year, I wrote this about Sonny Gray:

The polished, albe short, first round pick by the A's in 2011, Gray had a brief stint in Double A in 2011, which is likely where he will be again. He performed well, and could be in Oakland as soon as 2013. But, questions about how his body will handle pitching in the majors is a lingering factor. Will he be Tim Hudson part 2, or a middle reliever? Taking polished college pitchers can be a good thing, since they reach the upper levels quickly, but you can also end up with 2004 A's top pick Jason Windsor.

Gray has pretty much lived up to that forecast, posting a FIP of 3.83 in AA Midland in 148.0 IP, and a 3.70 FIP in 4 Innings in Sacramento (with a 9.00 ERA Yikes!). At this stage, Jason Windsor had an ERA of 3.81 with a FIP of 2.75 in AAA, so Gray is actually behind where Windsor was in development.

I think Gray could be a good pitcher for the A's soon, but I am still very hesitant in the approach of polished college starting pitchers with low ceilings and seemingly low floors. My hope is that Gray does not follow after the aforementioned Jason Winsdor, and James Simmons (Who is actually now pitching for the A's in relief for AAA Sacramento.)

The Rules:

• Vote for the candidate you like in the poll below. The winning vote getter at the end of the week will go up on the board, and a new slot will open up to take his place.
• Each week, I will take the top rec'd commented nomination and put him on the list. That means that after the first 5 prospects are put up, it will be you, AN, who chooses who gets up on the board next. So do your research.
• Each prospect coming up each week will have a bio to introduce him, written by some of AN's front page editorial crew! So look forward to that.
• In the very likely case of a trade, incoming prospects will be put up to a vote for where they rank between current people on the list. Outgoing prospects will be crossed out, and everyone moved up.
• Candidates will be listed in Alphabetical order.
• If you want to check out Bio's of prospects on the list, check out the previous threads.