Balls, Bulls, Bears!

Baseball America has churned out yet another HotSheet: April 16th to April 23rd.

No. 1 JORDAN LYLES, RHP ASTROS

Team: Double-A Corpus Christi (Carolina)
Age: 19
Why He’s Here: 1-0, 0.82, 11 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 HR, 1 BB, 12 SO
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Kevin Goldstein takes a look at Pittsburgh’s Top-Prospect list. The Pirates have improved ten-fold since Huntington took office. Here’s Basbeall Prospectus’ look at the Pirates’ system:

Five-Star Prospects
1. Pedro Alvarez, 3B
Four-Star Prospects
2. , C
3. , OF
Three-Star Prospects
4. Starling Marte, OF
5. Chase D’Arnaud, SS
6. , RHP
7. , OF
8. Colton Cain, LHP
9. Rudy Owens, LHP
10. Zack Von Rosenberg, RHP
Two-Star Prospects
11. , RHP

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Adam Foster of Project Prospect gives us a taste of his Top-100 prospects with Saturday’s Top-50 prospects for 2010.

You can currently Pre-Order his Top-300 Prospects, complete with in-depth scouting analysis for a mere 40 dollars.

Rk Player Pos Age Org Level
1 RF 20.7 ATL AAA
2 CF 23.4 TB AAA
3 C/DH 20.4 NYY AA
4 RHP 21.7 WAS NCAA
5 C 24 CLE AA
6 CF/LF 22.1 SEA NCAA
7 Brian Matusz LHP 23.2 BAL MLB
8 C 23 SF MLB
9 Justin Smoak 1B 23.3 TEX AAA
10 Fernando Martinez LF/RF 21.5 NYM MLB
11 SS 23.3 MIL MLB
12 Pedro Alvarez 3B 23.2 PIT AA
13 LF/RF 24.3 OAK AAA
14 RHP 21.9 TEX MLB
15 RF 20.4 FLA AA
16 Josh Bell 3B 23.4 BAL AA
17 Yonder Alonso 1B 23 CIN AA
18 LF 20.1 SD A
19 1B 22.6 FLA AA
20 RHP 22.4 CIN NCAA
21 RHP 22.2 COL MLB
22 James Darnell 3B 23.2 SD A+
23 LHP 20.7 SF MLB
24 Domonic Brown RF 22.6 PHI AA
25 1B 23.3 OAK AAA

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Marc Hulet of Fangraphs takes the time to examine the wonderful work done by Pirates’ GM, Neal Huntington.

Huntington has had two very solid drafts in a row, opting for top-tier talent last year in Pedro Alvarez and quantity over quality this year. Two solid approaches, two very good drafts.

While was an overdraft to save some coin, he impressed in his pro debut.

1. Pedro Alvarez, 3B, High-A
DOB: February 1987 Bats: L Throws: R
Signed: 2008 1st round – Vanderbilt University
MLB ETA: Mid-2010 40-Man Roster: Yes Options: 2

2. , RHP, Double-A
DOB: May 1985 Bats: L Throws: R
Signed: 2006 1st round – University of Houston
MLB ETA: Mid-2010 40-Man Roster: Yes Options: 3
Repertoire: 90-95 mph fastball, curveball, change-up

3. , OF, Triple-A
DOB: August 1988 Bats: R Throws: R
Signed: 2005 non-drafted international free agent (Venezuela – New York Yankees)
MLB ETA: Mid-2010 40-Man Roster: Yes Options: 3

4. , RHP, Double-A
DOB: November 1988 Bats: R Throws: R
Signed: 2007 1st round – Arizona HS (San Francisco Giants)
MLB ETA: Mid-2010 40-Man Roster: No Options: 3
Repertoire: 86-92 mph fastball, plus curveball, change-up

5. , LHP, High-A
DOB: November 1987 Bats: L Throws: L
Signed: 2006 2nd round – New Hampshire HS (Atlanta Braves)
MLB ETA: 40-Man Roster: Options:
Repertoire: 89-93 mph fastball, curveball, change-up

6. Chase D’Arnaud, SS, High-A
DOB: January 1987 Bats: R Throws: R
Signed: 2008 4th round – Pepperdine University
MLB ETA: Mid-2011 40-Man Roster: No Options: 3

7. Rudy Owens, LHP, Low-A
DOB: December 1987 Bats: L Throws: L
Signed: 2006 28th round – Arizona HS
MLB ETA: Mid-2012 40-Man Roster: No Options: 3
Repertoire: 86-90 mph fastball, curveball, plus change-up

8. Starling Marte, OF, Low-A
DOB: October 1988 Bats: R Throws: R
Signed: 2007 non-drafted international free agent (Dominican Republic)
MLB ETA: Late-2012 40-Man Roster: No Options: 3

9. , OF, High-A
DOB: September 1987 Bats: R Throws: R
Signed: 2007 non-drafted international free agent (Venezuela – Atlanta Braves)
MLB ETA: Mid-2011 40-Man Roster: Yes Options: 3

10. , RHP, Rookie Ball
DOB: November 1989 Bats: R Throws: R
Signed: 2008 20th round – New Jersey HS
MLB ETA: Mid-2013 40-Man Roster: No Options: 3
Repertoire: 88-94 mph fastball, slider, change-up

ESPN pays Keith Law a rather large wad of cash-money to analyze and rank wads of prospects. Law generally offers an interesting top-100 by sticking to his guns regardless of whether or not a player’s improved. If Keith Law says a prospect has a looping swing, it doesn’t matter if the player ever changes his swing; To Keith, nothing’s changed and he’ll proceed to rank that prospect lower than any of the other major sources.

1 , OF, ATL
2 , RHP, WAS
3 , C, CLE
4 , C, SFO
5 , OF, FLA
6 , OF, TAM
7 , LHP, TEX
8 , CF, SEA
9 Justin Smoak, 1B, TEX
10 , C, NYY
11 Brian Matusz, LHP, BAL
12 , SS, CHC
13 , RHP, TEX
14 Domonic Brown, RF, PHI
15 Wade Davis, RHP, TAM
16 Aroldis Chapman, LHP, CIN
17 , RHP, TAM
18 Casey Kelly, RHP, BOS
19 Aaron Hicks, RHP, MIN
20 Brett Wallace, 1B, TOR
21 , 1B, FLA
22 , LHP, COL
23 , RHP, NYM
24 , OF, OAK
25 , LHP, BAL
26 , 3B, CLE
27 , OF, SDG
28 , LHP, SFO
29 Tim Beckham, SS, TAM
30 , 3B, CHC
31 , C, WAS
32 Ryan Westmoreland, OF, BOS
33 , 1B, OAK
34 Eric Hosmer, 1B, KAN
35 Pedro Alvarez, 3B, PIT
36 , LHP, COL
37 , RHP, ARI
38 Shelby Miller, RHP, STL
39 Dee Gordon, SS, LAD
40 , RHP, TOR
41 , 3B, NYM
42 , C, MIN
43 Arodys Vizcaino, RHP, ATL
44 Carlos Triunfel, 2B, SEA
45 Casey Crosby, LHP, DET
46 Simon Castro, RHP, SDG
47 Brett Lawrie, 2B, MIL
48 , LHP, COL
49 , OF, LAA
50 Jay Jackson, RHP, CHC
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Adam Foster put together his Top-15 Catching Projects at the start of December and it looks pretty good.

While not all of these guys will stick, most notably Montero, Catcher is incredibly deep heading into 2010.

1. NYY
2. CLE
3. SFG
4. CHW
5. WAS
6. Wil Myers KC
7. PIT
8. Jason Castro HOU
9. MIL
10. Alex Avila DET
11. Travis D’Arnaud TOR
12. Josh Donaldson OAK
13. Lou Marson CLE
14. TEX
15. Hank Conger LAA