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The MLB Futures game is tonight at 6pm on ESPN 2, and you will see many of the game's top prospects playing tonight including Bryce Harper, Shelby Miller, Matt Moore, Henderson Alvarez, Carlos Martinez, Julio Teheran, among others. Minor League Ball's John Sickels provided his analysis on the US team and World team rosters earlier this week. Here are links to each article:
On Wednesday, Baseball America published their Midseason Top 50 Prospects and here is a glimpse at the top 5:
1 Bryce Harper, of, Nationals
2 Mike Trout, of, Angels
3 Matt Moore, lhp, Rays
4 Julio Teheran, rhp, Braves
5 Manny Machado, ss, Orioles
No real surprises in the top 5 here, except for maybe the order of the 5 in my opinion. One could make the case for Shelby Miller being in the top 5 if he had more than a few starts above High A, but that will come in time.
More on the Baseball America Top 50 Prospects after the jump:
I thought about posting the whole list, but decided to just highlight a few of the ones that surprised me. There are several surprises on this list, in my opinion, only because 3 of these guys were recently drafted or signed, and one has injury concerns earlier this season.
1. Cardinals pitcher Carlos Martinez at #18-BA's take:
Fastest riser on the list has shown 94-100 mph fastball, solid secondary stuff
2. Mets starter Matt Harvey at #30-BA's take:
Move to Double-A should provide impetus to start refining his changeup
3. Dodgers starter Zach Lee at #39-BA's take:
Plus fastball, two future plus breaking balls pairs well with excellent athleticism
4. Braves starter Arodys Vizcaino at #16-BA's take:
Staying healthy was his big task for 2011, so far so good on that front
There are a few others, but these 4 were the ones that made me say "wow". I am not saying they are not deserving, but more pleasantly surprised. I was happy to see Lee and Allen Webster getting some love in the Top 50.