Ranking the Pitching Prospects: Cole, Darvish, Bauer, Hultzen and Others

Today, we are going to rank some of the pitching prospects drafted in the 2011 MLB draft, along with a few other pitching prospects who had breakout seasons in 2011.

Gerrit Cole, PIT

Yu Darvish, TEX

Trevor Bauer, ARI

Dylan Bundy, BAL

Danny Hultzen, SEA

Shelby Miller, STL

Julio Teheran, ATL

My rankings and thoughts after the jump:

Here is how I would rank these pitching prospects long term:

Shelby Miller

Trevor Bauer

Gerrit Cole

Yu Darvish

Dylan Bundy

Julio Teheran

Danny Hultzen

As you can see, I am not that high on Teheran right now. The drop in strikeout rate has me concerned, but he has not missed a beat at any level thus far, so it has not hindered his performance to date. I think it catches up to him in the big leagues. Does me finally make the Braves rotation in 2012? I think the Braves are doing all they can to get him into their rotation with their attempt to deal Jair Jurrjens.

I like Cardinal pitching prospect Shelby Miller quite a bit, and think we see him in their rotation sometime this season. It could be June or later, but I think it happens this season. Many baseball writers are stating the Cardinals are a better team without Albert Pujols in 2012. I don't see it. This team was very close to being eliminated from the playoffs, and without the help of the Braves terrible September, they would not have even made the playoffs. Miller's strikeout rate dropped as he moved up to AA in 2011 as well, but I think he is the type of pitcher who will be able to maintain a high strikeout rate from here on.

There are four pitching prospects ahead of Teheran and after Miller, and I found it difficult to rank them, to be honest. So if anyone can argue for one over the other, I wouldn't have a problem. None of these 4 prospects have pitched in the minor leagues so let's hear how you would rank these guys for 2012.

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