Steven Souza
John Sickels of the highly-respected Minor League Ball has released his annual list of the top 20 prospects in the Tampa Bay Rays farm system and a couple of things stand out.
The first is that Sickels did not give any Rays prospects an A grade, his grade for elite prospects.
Shortstop Willy Adames, whom the Rays acquired in the David Price trade, tops the list with a grade of B+/Borderline B, suggesting he is closer to a B-prospect than an A-prospect. Sickels defines B-prospects as having “a good chance to enjoy successful careers.”
Outfielder Steven Souza and shortstop Daniel Robertson also received B+/Borderline B grades.
Those three players, all acquired in trades over the last seven months, are the only players with grades above a B. Catcher Justin O’Conner and pitchers Brent Honeywell and Taylor Guerrieri all rated as B-prospects.
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Yeah...but is Joe Flacco elite?
No. No he's not.
Grade A prospects are the elite. In theory, they have a good chance of becoming stars or superstars. Theoretically, most Grade A prospects develop into stars or at least major league regulars, if injuries or other problems don’t intervene. Note that is a major "if" in some cases.
Jezbus, ever see anyone hedge his bets harder than this guy? Might as well throw all the prospects in a soup and admit you have no clue who's going to be a star, regular, or total wash out.
But he also said, which you left out,
"Until sitting down to analyze the system, I don’t think I realized exactly how much depth the Rays currently have...All in all, this is a very impressive system."
Having a few As would be great. But we've got to have more Bs and Cs than almost anyone. Some of those will likely surprise us and end up being terrific.
A la KK (hopefully).
Or Alex Cobb.