baseball prospects

With the Washington Nationals' publicity machine on overdrive, baseball in D.C. could be at an all-time high.

Bryce Harper, as you all know by now, is christened as the next, next, next big thing.

Stephen Strasburg and his 14 strikeout debut against the Pittsburgh Pirates lived up to everything it was meant to be and more!

Obviously, two No. 1 picks will get the glory, we all know that, but what about the guys getting drafted in the 20th, 30th, and 40th rounds.

With four picks in the first round and the first compensation round, the Blue Jays loaded up with a collection of exciting pitching prospects.

Deck McGuire at No. 11, Aaron Sanchez at No. 34, Noah Syndergaard at No. 38 and Asher Wojciechowski  (pictured) with the 41st pick all were drafted by Toronto early in the 2010 MLB Draft.

Photo credit: Gallery 2 Images

The 2007 first year player draft was very pitcher-heavy, but with the exception of the No. 1 overall selection, some of the biggest names to come out of it were actually position players.

A total of 18 pitchers were called in the first round alone, led by Vanderbilt graduate David Price, but there was good overall depth in the draft, especially through the first three rounds.

How many GMs do you think are out there right now still kicking themselves that Jason Heyward fell to No. 14?

The Milwaukee Brewers have been a young team throughout the decade. Young players such as Rickie Weeks, Prince Fielder, Ryan Braun, Yovani Gallardo, and Corey Hart have been the core of the team during the franchise turnaround.

But with some of the key players getting older, Milwaukee will need a set of prospects to produce at the Big League level.

The following are the top twenty-five prospects, according to www.milbprospects.blogspot.com.

At this point in the season, Jason Heyward, the Braves (and baseball’s) top prospect is tearing it up in Atlanta. But the Braves system still has a load of young talent, so here are my top 10 Atlanta Braves prospects as of right now.

Although the rankings are affected by performance thus far in 2010, I’m not going to make any huge drops based on performances thus far.

When was the last time that a baseball card created any headlines in the last 20 years?

More than likely you remember Wayne Gretzky purchasing the Honus Wagner card in 1991 for a staggering $451,000. Upon further investigation, that same card was sold again in 2007, for a reported $2,350,000.

To be honest, I remember in seventh and eighth grade, being driven to flea markets by my mom, trying to get that ever-elusive Ken Griffey Jr. No. 1 Upper Deck rookie card.

How fun was that?

Remember the Beckett price guides!?

We are moving closer and closer to the full-fledged prospect season, though that hasn’t stopped teams from already making some moves. The Cubs have recalled Starlin Castro, as we mentioned earlier, and there certainly could be more moves on the horizon.  

I know, I know. You’ve never heard of Tom Milone. He’s just another no-name pitcher toiling somewhere within the deep recesses of the Washington Nationals’ minor league system.

You’ve seen the various top-20 prospect lists for 2010 and he’s nowhere to be found.

*Yawn.*

“Wake me when we get to the All-Star break," you might be thinking.

OK, you’ve never heard of Tom Milone. I got that. But I’m very sure that, prior to his call up in mid 2007, you had never heard of John Lannan either.

With Adeiny Hechavarria being signed to the largest contract every given out by the Toronto Blue Jays to an international player ($10 million over four years), the Jays finally have hope that their shortstop carousel may be slowing down.

Hechavarria figures to be both a stolen bases threat and a leadoff staple for the next decade; however, I can't find anything about the kid other than really basic scouting reports and the fact that he had a .262 average last year on the Cuban National Team.