April 1, 2057
by Banjo Jackson
Nashville, TN
The Nashville Bluebirds continue to have the #1 ranked farm in the BBA, including the top hitter and pitcher. This year’s crop of top prospects sees CF Crissy Tingle graduate after winning the Gillstrom Award while posting 3.6 WAR in 134 games with the Bluebirds. RHP Jeremy Nickerson was used in the Bluebirds bullpen with a logjam in the rotation and begins this season on the IL. 2B Colby Triska was added to Nashville’s roster late into the season and started 33 games with an impressive .838 OPS and 1.1 WAR in limited action. He figures to slot in most of the reps at 2B this season as Helmut Grün’s replacement. Here is a look at the updated prospect pipeline.
| Banjo's Rank | Position | Player | OSA Rank | ETA |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CF | Alfonso Gonzales | 1 | 2057 |
| 2 | LHP | Mark Lolololo | 7 | 2057 |
| 3 | 1B | Jorge Cano | 5 | 2057 |
| 4 | LF | Ra'id Usamah | 30 | 2059 |
| 5 | 3B | Essam bin Eisa | 92 | 2059 |
| 6 | 1B | De-shi Kuo | 38 | 2060 |
| 7 | SS | José Ramos | 160 | 2057 |
| 8 | RHP | Harry Spurlock | 155 | 2059 |
| 9 | RHP | Bin-ying Yen | 478 | 2061 |
| 10 | RHP | Jaak Lagerweij | 398 | 2061 |
The top 3 prospects on this list are all capable of playing in the BBA at a high level right now, however, they don’t all have positions in Nashville at the moment. Cano and Gonzles will likely be promoted sometime this season, but will be in limited short side platoon roles. Might be better off keeping them in minors to continue developing unless someone gets injured. Lolololo is expected to join the bullpen in a few weeks – another example of underuse, but who would he replace in rotation? The bottom 3 prospects are really interchangeable with a handful of players. I’m pretty high on 3B Ajwad Duqaq, but wanted more pitchers on this list. I hope he develops a bit in rookie ball and he will certainly be on this list next season. Spurlock, Yen, and Lagerweij are similar pitchers and the hope is at least one of them becomes a legitimate pitcher in the BBA. Keith Fitter, Imran bin Numair, Dane Beckham, and Pete Hulett are in that same group of pitchers, but they couldn’t all make the list. Samir Qasim seems like a glowing omission, but I’m just not sure what his role is. He could be a good pitcher in another franchise, but I wouldn’t trust him in my bullpen and won’t sniff the rotation. Likewise, I didn’t include newly acquired RF Raul Pena because I don’t have long term plans for him and will look to trade him. C Guillermo Chapa is close to the top 10, too. A hard-hitting catcher with 10 eye is incredibly rare and he isn’t a liability behind the plate, either.
All of these players are expected to contribute at the BBA level at some point in the near future. Surely, this list is likely to change over time and several youngsters may have been snubbed, but these are the ten candidates most likely to contribute in the future. Hopefully we see many of these faces with the Bluebirds, but surely some will fall victim to a trades to help improve the team. Either way, they are all valued commodities for the organization and will help lead the way to more titles.
