Last week, I ranked the Blue Jays Top 10 Prospects. Today, I’m taking it a step further and ranking the number 11-20 top Blue Jays prospects.
11. J.P. Arencibia, C
Many readers have piped in to say that leaving Arencibia off our top ten must have been a mistake, but it wasn’t. I can’t see him becoming an impact player at the big leagues. He just doesn’t have enough plate discipline and won’t hit for a high enough average to allow his on-base percentage to be adequate. He’ll probably still be good enough to warrant a starting role on some teams, but with Toronto’s multitude of high-upside catcher prospects, don’t expect him to be on the team in 2014.
12. Jake Marisnick, CF
Marisnick was drafted in the third round of the 2009 draft, and 2010 was met with mixed results. After tearing up rookie ball (.373 OBP, .459 SLG, 14/1 SB/CS), he was promoted to Lansing, where he dropped to a .298 OBP and .339 SLG. But his walk rate remained solid (7.1 percent) and his defense remained excellent. Marisnick is still only 19, so expect him to start the year in Lansing and perhaps earn a call-up to Dunedin if he plays well.
13. Chad Jenkins, SP
It’s hard to get too excited about Toronto’s 2009 first-round draft pick, Chad Jenkins. In his first pro season, split between Lansing and Dunedin, he only managed to strike out 6.7 per 9 IP, although his walk totals were low as well (2.0 BB/9). Jenkins was drafted with the assumption that he’d ascend through the minors quickly, yet he’s 23 and still hasn’t had a sniff of AA. He’s probably not going to see the majors until 2012, if he ever does.
14. Adonis Cardona, SP
Overshadowed by the monstrous contract the Blue Jays gave to fellow international free agent Adeiny Hechavarria, Cardona was given $2.8 million in July. Most refer to him as the best pitcher to come out of Venezuela this year, and I’ve surely gotten excited over him. Cardona, only 17, apparently touches 94 with his fastball and has tons of room to add velocity as he ages.
15. Eric Thames, OF
Some call Thames a fringy prospect because he’s already 24 and likely isn’t going to get much better. While I must in part agree, it’s hard to look past the fact that he OPS’d .896 in AA with 27 home runs in only 496 at-bats, while showing solid plate discipline (8.73 BB%). He’ll never be a four WAR player, but I see no reason that he can’t be a positive player in the big leagues.The minor league equivalency calculator shows that if Thames would have spent 2010 in the majors, he would have batted .242/.307/.413. Now, that’s not very good, especially considering the position (corner OF) he plays, but with a bit of improvement, Thames could be a solid fourth outfielder, good enough to warrant 300 at-bats.
The rest of this article, including my Toronto Blue Jays Top 16-20 Prospects Rankings, can be found at: http://bttn.blogspot.com/2011/01/bttn-toronto-blue-jays-top-11-20.html.
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