The Baseball America Prospect Handbook 2008 is available now. In it are the Top 50 prospects of each of the four BA analysts who collarborate on the Top 100 Prospects that fantasy players everywhere use to learn which minor leaguers to keep on eye on during the season.
Here are the bottom 5 pitchers from each one's Top 50 prospects with their ranking on the list. Just like the Bottom 5 Hitters, fantasy players should recognize that being ranked at the bottom of a list does not mean the players are bottom-of-the-barrel.
There are several players listed who should be on everyone's Watch list albeit discounted for rookie pitchers. Here I like Max Shecherzer as a Jonathan Broxton-type reliever and Ross Detwiler, Gio Gonzalez and Adam miller as possible mid-season sources of Ks.
| BA | Jim Callis | Will Lingo | John Manuel | Chris Kline |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jair Jurrgens (48) | Max Scherzer (50) | Tim Alderson (50) | Neftali Feliz (50) |
| 2 | Ross Detwiler | Ross Detwiler | Chris Volstad | Max Scherzer |
| 3 | Luke Hochevar | Nick Blackburn | Brett Anderson | Chuck Lofgren |
| 4 | Daniel Cortes | Brett Sinkbeil | Jair Jurrgens | Nick Blackburn |
| 5 | Gio Gonzalez (39) | Brett Anderson (40) | Adam Miller (40) | Brett Anderson (39) |