NL West Prospect Tally: Kevin Goldstein’s Top 101

As we begin to roll into Spring Training ’tis the season for people to release their prospect lists. One of the more established and respected opinions in Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus released his Top 101 last night while you were sleeping and gave the night owls much to talk about in the dark hours of the Monday. Let’s take a look at it from the NL West side of things as to who showed up and maybe provide a thought or two:

San Francisco Giants

#18 Gary Brown, OF

Reaction: The highest I’ve seen Mr. Brown on a list and that should excite Giants fans but keep in mind the earliest we should imagine seeing him is late-2012, I imagine when the rosters expand. If we don’t see him until 2013 though, I’d be fine with that. Someone questioned Kevin on this spot:

I guess you’d figure if he ranks him at #18 he obviously does like him.

Los Angeles Dodgers

#70 Zach Lee, RHP

Reaction: Phew, only one prospect. But that doesn’t mean guys like Nathan Eovaldi and Allen Webster weren’t worth it as another reader asked him about it and Goldstein said they were “both close” to making the list. Lee has an ETA of 2014 on MLB.com’s site.

Colorado Rockies

#20 Nolan Arenado, 3B

#34 Drew Pomeranz, LHP

#61 Wilin Rosario, C

#79 Chad Bettis, RHP

#97 Tim Wheeler, OF

Reaction: From here on out in the NL West is where the better farm systems live. Pomeran, Rosario, and Wheeler should all see some playing time this year under their belts which is why you might hear Rockies fans saying 2013 will be the year to watch out for them.

Arizona Diamondbacks

#11 Trevor Bauer, RHP

#21 Tyler Skaggs, LHP

#37 Archie Bradley, RHP

Reaction: Sure is nice when you get two Top-10 picks in a draft like the Diamondbacks did this past year to nab Bauer and Bradley. From an organizational standpoint I was not a fan of them dealing Jarrod Parker but as a Giants fan I was mighty pleased. The D-Backs will have the Giants pitching model going in the next 6 years or so, so you gotta imagine they’re not going outside of the top half of the standings anytime soon.

San Diego Padres

#38 Yasmani Grandal, C

#52 Rymer Liriano, OF

#53 Robbie Erlin, RHP

#57 Jedd Gyorko, 3B

#58 Cory Spangenberg, 2B

#74 Joe Wieland, RHP

#78 Casey Kelly, RHP

#86 Yonder Alonso, 1B

#94 Austin Hedges, C

#95 Joe Ross, RHP

If you don’t have ESPN Insider access like me and you’re new to the prospect scene you can see why the Padres have the #1 rated farm system of all the organizations according to some writers. 10 prospects listed, and it’s scary to think how cost-controlled this team will be in the coming years when these guys graduate to the bigs. However, this is also the product of trading guys like Adrian Gonzalez, Mat Latos, and Mike Adams, so as you can see, drafting isn’t the only way to make a killer farm system. The Padres will pay for it in the standings in 2012, though.

Remember that this is one man’s list and as such will probably differ from either yours or some of your other favorite writers. That’s totally OK in my opinion as long as you’ve done the work and can back up your rankings. Kevin Goldstein does that.