Wise Kraken 2012, 4.1: Carolina Prospect Ranking Goes to #13

[aaronweiner]

The Eduardo Rodriguez signing had a lot of critics. However, in the most recent edition of prospect rankings, Rodriguez was ranked as the fourth-highest pitching prospect and #10 overall, raising Carolina's lagging farm rating from #22 overall to #13, a huge jump for a reeling franchise.

People mocked the move, suggesting that Carolina overpaid and that Rodriguez wouldn't be equivalent to a top ten pick, much less a top five. However, a prospect rating of #10 suggests otherwise and might serve to silence the critics.

"We're thinking that we made a great move by signing Eduardo," said GM Aaron Weiner. "He's still a very long way from Carolina, but we have a lot of faith in him."

Rodriguez, just 17 years old, has posted a 2-2 record and a 3.60 ERA at Rookie League Aurora while being put on a strict pitch count.

"We're hoping that the rankings are right, and that Rodriguez really is our next Al Hall," said Weiner. "We're very proud of what he's been able to accomplish in his short professional career."

Rodriguez was very honored by the attention paid to him.

"I'm so happy that people think so much of me," said Rodriguez through a translator. "I want to live up to their hopes."

[agrudez]

Assuming that I WAS being a critic, OSA's ranking would be the last thing in the world that would ever silence me.

[aaronweiner]

OK, I agree with that. But let's presume for a second that his ranking is, say, 15 spots too high. Or 20. Doesn't that make him a top ten pick at least?

[agrudez]

Doesn't that make him a top ten pick at least?

Well, I made the comment without meticulously going through the list, so (for your apparent piece of mind ) I'll dig deeper for you.

Here are the guys I'd have taken before Rodriguez (in order of draft place - not my own ranking) based PURELY on POT (his being a raw 16 year old would have slid him behind another handful of guys, but that is a different goal post):

Estrada
Carlyle
Alexander, Jr.
MacDonald
McClure
Garcia
Burke (maybe)
Knowles (maybe)
Clayton

So he'd have slotted in between 7-10 for me based purely on POT... and 12-15 (roughly - I don't want to compile a seperate list for that) when factoring in his raw-ness.

What does that even mean, though? Any time you can get a "free" 1st round pick for a talent starved org its impossible to not call it a win. That is why I wouldn't consider myself a 'critic', but I did find it an interesting exercise drawing correlations between him and similiarly rated pitchers.

[aaronweiner]

That is an interesting correlation. I'll take that too.

[mrbornac]

I picked a bad time to be out of town when this happened, I would have loved to pick up some of those players.