Top 100 Prospects: John Sickel's Top Rated Pitching Prospects

by Ray Guilfoyle on Dec 30, 2011 7:00 AM EST in Top 100 Prospects

ST PETERSBURG, FL - OCTOBER 04: Matt Moore #55 of the Tampa Bay Rays pitches in the fifth inning against the Texas Rangers in Game Four of the American League Division Series at Tropicana Field on October 4, 2011 in St Petersburg, Florida. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)

Fantasy owners, especially those in keeper or dynasty leagues, are always looking for the next top prospect to draft who will carry them the their next (first?) fantasy baseball championship. The prospect experts are in full force right now with John Sickels covering his Top 20 Prospects for each major league team, Baseball America with their Top 10 Prospects and Baseball Prospectus's Kevin Goldstein publishing his Top 20 Prospects as well. ESPN's Keith Law will publish his Top 100 Prospects for 2012 at the end of January.

With that said, I will post some of the top rated prospects from each of the experts over the next 3 months leading up to draft day, so today I continue with more of John Sickel's Top rated prospects for 2012. I will limit the list to A, A- and B+ rated prospects.

John Sickels updated top rated pitching prospect list after the jump:

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Pitchers

A Rating

Trevor Bauer, ARI

Julio Teheran, ATL

Shelby Miller, STL

Gerrit Cole, PIT

Matt Moore, TB

A- Rating

Jarrod Parker, ARI

Tyler Skaggs, ARI

Archie Bradley, ARI

Jacob Turner, DET

Dylan Bundy, BAL

Jameson Taillon, PIT

Taijuan Walker, SEA

Danny Hultzen, SEA

B+ Rating

Arodys Vizcaino, ATL

Randall Delgado, ATL

Jake Odorizzi, KC

Carlos Martinez, STL

Tyrell Jenkins, STL

Martin Perez, TEX

Matt Barnes, BOS

Trevor May, PHI

Jesse Biddle, PHI

Robbie Erlin, SD

Joe Wieland, SD

Keyvius Sampson, SD

James Paxton, SEA

Nestor Molina, OAK

A.J. Cole, OAK

Noah Syndergaard, TOR

Deck McGuire, TOR

Justin Nicolino, TOR

Daniel Norris, TOR

Drew Hutchison, TOR

Garret Richard, LAA

Matt Harvey, NYM

Zach Wheeler, NYM

Zach Lee, LAD

I like the pitchers the Padres received in the Mike Adams deal in 2011: Robbie Erlin and Joe Wieland, and they will benefit from pitching in Petco Park once, if, they make the big leagues.

Another team with plenty of pitching prospects are the Toronto Blue Jays and you have to think they will be dealing some should the Matt Garza rumors be true.

I am a bit surprised John rated Pirates pitcher Gerrit Cole with an A rating this soon, even though he hasn't thrown a pitch in the minors. It appears Sickels is a little more aggressive in his ratings this season, and I kinda like that. Out with the old and in with the new.

If I had to rank John's A rated pitchers thus far, it would look like this:

Moore

Miller

Teheran

Cole

Bauer

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Comments

Biddle is listed twice - just fyi

by Traindogger on Dec 30, 2011 3:37 PM EST reply actions

corrected

Ray Guilfoyle
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by Ray Guilfoyle on Dec 30, 2011 3:39 PM EST up reply actions

Cole could be scary good

100+ MPH fastball with a devastating change up is insane. People seem to like Bauer more than him for some odd reason.

If you want to say dumb things, you can't get mad when I call you dumb.

by dudedudedude on Dec 30, 2011 4:22 PM EST reply actions

Bauer is closer, as he could very well end up in the rotation before the end of the season. He did himself a lot of favors by signing early, as he could start the year at AAA if he doesn’t make the team outright. I think the thing for me with Bauer is that his ceiling isn’t that far from Cole’s, but he will likely be in the Majors at least a full year ahead of Cole.

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by Jason Hunt on Dec 30, 2011 5:36 PM EST up reply actions

Distance from majors shouldn't be a huge issue

If you’re drafting prospects, it’s a keeper league with long term intentions. If Cole was a risky player to make the majors, I could see it but his stuff is just too good not to.

If you want to say dumb things, you can't get mad when I call you dumb.

by dudedudedude on Dec 30, 2011 8:02 PM EST up reply actions