clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Early 2013 Prospect Rankings: First Base

Jason Hunt takes an early look at his prospect rankings at the first base position going into 2013.

By Jason Hunt
Denny Medley-US PRESSWIRE - Presswire

Craig and I will be working our way through each of the 30 minor league systems in the coming months, looking at some of the top prospects in each of them. After we finish those, Fake Teams will be releasing our consensus position by position prospect rankings, including a fantasy-specific top 100 prospects list.

To start the discussion, I will be posting VERY RAW positional rankings. Note the emphasis on VERY RAW. I have begun to do my research for these upcoming projects, but it is very possible I could miss a prospect or have them ranked entirely too low or high. These are more aimed at general discussion amongst the community here, so if you've read or seen something that could be interesting to how a prospect is viewed, feel free to share it in the comments.

With that in mind, here is the criteria we will be using to determine whether a player is eligible for our prospect lists:

Hitters must have less than 130 AB in the Majors.

Pitchers must have thrown less than 50 IP in the Majors.

Graduates from 2012: Chris Carter (OAK), Anthony Rizzo (CHC), Yonder Alonso (SD), Chris Parmelee (MIN), David Cooper (TOR)

Early Top 10 First Base Prospects
Rank Name Org.
1 Jonathan Singleton HOU
2 Matt Adams STL
3 Dan Vogelbach CHC
4 Darin Ruf PHI
5 C.J. Cron LAA
6 Miles Head OAK
7 Jesus Aguilar CLE
8 Matt Olson OAK
9 Keon Barnum CHW
10 Alex Dickerson PIT

You can find notes on some of the prospects after the jump:

  • There are prospects who I think are more likely to end up at the position, but I am not including them here if either: a) I have not seen them play myself, or b) Their organization has not given up on them at the position. As a result, players like Christian Yelich, Wilmer Flores, and Miguel Sano have not been included here. I've seen Miles Head when he was in Stockton at 3B, which is why he is included in my 1B rankings.
  • Singleton is clearly the cream of the crop at 1B, as he will likely provide high batting average with solid power production at the position.
  • Miles Head has been playing 3B primarily for the A's in High-A and AA, but after seeing him in person I have almost no faith that he can stay at that position long-term other than in name. The movements just appear bad, and have included him at 1B as a result.
  • The power potential for Vogelbach is probably the highest amongst this group, but the concerns about contact remain for him.
  • A couple of 1B prospects I like, but not enough to rank in my top 10 were Jonathan Griffin of the Diamondbacks and Telvin Nash of the Astros. With Griffin, he played almost all of the season as a 23 year old in High-A, and while the numbers were great, it was the Cal League. With Nash, the strikeouts are just ugly (198 in High-A), but there is power potential there. If he can find any way to cut down on the strikeouts, he could be a decent prospect at 1B.
  • For me, Barnum and Olson are a bit interchangeable right now, as they were drafted one right after the other, and were both sent to short-season leagues for their first taste of pro ball.