GatewayRedbirds.com

Top 10 Prospects ($)
1. Alex Reyes, rhp
2. Tim Cooney, lhp
3. Jack Flaherty, rhp
4. Luke Weaver, rhp
5. Marco Gonzales, lhp
6. Magneuris Sierra, of
7. Edmundo Sosa, ss
8. Nick Plummer, of
9. Junior Fernandez, rhp
10. Carson Kelly, c

Did Gonzales really fall that much or is my impression of him over inflated due to his showing late in '14?

if injury history factors into their rankings, then i reckon thats partially why.

or maybe hes just not that good

That's basically what I am wondering. Was it injury, or was he performing above expectations at the end of '14? I seem to remember a ton of buzz about him being a #3 level starter, and soon. Now he's #5 on the prospect list and falling.

Gonzales was always more on the pitchability side than the pure stuff side, so having injury problems and a bad 2015 doesn't do him many favors. On that list I think you can argue he should be higher(BP's list had quote from a scout calling Cooney a 'poor man's Marco Gonzales', for example), but it's also don't think that placement is a huge shock.

Injury does factor in, they lump that together into a generic "Risk" assessment which can be more than just injury history - for example a player could be risky because they have high ceiling but very raw.

Part of it is that Weaver and Flaherty have taken significant steps forward over the last year. His injury is certainly part of the equation, but so is their improvement.

I would definitely still put Gonzales ahead of Cooney and Cooney behind Weaver.

Fat Strat wrote:Part of it is that Weaver and Flaherty have taken significant steps forward over the last year. His injury is certainly part of the equation, but so is their improvement.

I would definitely still put Gonzales ahead of Cooney and Cooney behind Weaver.

i dont get this--cooney has outperformed gonzo though.

ill be honest--both gonzo and cooney's time in mlb are hazy to me, but i seem to remember gonzo getting lit up and cooney actually looking like a nice replacement player.

SSS on both, but i just remember not being all that much impressed by gonzo

This is all so subjective, BA tends to place alot of value on players who are really likely to contribute (Risk=Low), and that's Cooney. No question Weaver's ceiling is higher than Cooney, nobody would dispute that. All that BA's ranking is telling you is there is a pretty significant risk that Weaver won't reach that ceiling for whatever reason, he simply has too far to climb for there not to be risk. Cooney is already there, you see what you have.

go birds wrote:i dont get this--cooney has outperformed gonzo though.

ill be honest--both gonzo and cooney's time in mlb are hazy to me, but i seem to remember gonzo getting lit up and cooney actually looking like a nice replacement player.

SSS on both, but i just remember not being all that much impressed by gonzo

You're judging prospects by this tiny little period of time that they were in the majors and not by the MiLB performance and scouting reports. Marco has been the better player in the minors. He's 2 years younger. He has always scouted out a ton better than Cooney. Both are on the cusp of the MLB roster, so distance to a promotion is the same. All that being considered, I would put Marco ahead of Cooney. Not by a dozen spots. By 1 spot.

Neither has enough playing time in the majors for their MLB stats to be worth anything.