2061.22: Overrated/Underrated Bears Prospects

[BaseClogger]

10/27/2061


Looking at the game’s prospect rankings (“Prospect Pipeline”) I was amused by how poorly it misjudges some of my prospects. I decided to pick the three most overrated and underrated prospects and summarize them below. This gives me the opportunity to write about some prospects who I think fly under the radar. All the overrated prospects failed to even receive an honorable mention in my Bears’ Cubs series of TN posts.

OVERRATED
#9 1B Harith bin Haroun
Bin Haroun was once my best prospect and made several BBA top 100 lists, reaching as high as #12 overall in 2058. While his potential ratings have lumped precipitously, the 20 year-old former scouting discovery's current contact and eye ratings remain at 1. 'Griz' has a career .518 OPS in rookie ball across four seasons totaling -4.2 WAR.

#25 LF Andres Soto
You'd expect the overrated list to be corner guys, right? Andres 'Vandal' Soto was signed as a minor league free agent last year and has never been viewed as more than org depth, evidenced by the 26 year-old' assignment to AA for much of 2061. He's got a fine bat but is lacking defensively.

#33 RP Paco Hernandez
'Truck Stop' is an 80 grade nickname but alas Paco Hernandez doesn't have a future with the San Fernando organization. The 26 year-old reliever reached AAA a few seasons ago and pitched 129.1 replacement level innings for Brooks before a number crunch sent him to AA in 2061. His 4 HRA rating makes him nothing more than organizational filler.


UNDERRATED
#76 LF Rafael Ramirez
Gasp! A corner outfielder is underrated? Well, yes. Ramirez just hit .348/.385/.533 as a 22 year-old in AAA. He's been bumping and has a good shot at joining the Bears bench at some point in 2062.

#96 SS Jason Steward
I liked Steward enough to put him in my top 10 when I joined the Brewster's Babies podcast. He really needs his AVK rating to fill out to 4 to feel somewhat ok about his bat but he's otherwise ready based on his .762 OPS his first time thru AAA. He's got gold glove potential at shortstop.

#109 SS Luis Hernandez
Clearly the game doesn't know how to assess middle infielders. 'Groove Thing' (another amazing nickname for this list!) is no top shelf prospect but not even top 100??? The bat is lacking but he's a bonafide shortstop defensively. Potential power of 6 and eye of 5 will help support his lesser bat-to-ball skills. It's still very early in his devleopment.

[RonCo]

OOTP's code for rating prospects has got to be a wonder.

[trmmilwwi]

It will be fun to see how those SS's value out in a few years.

[Jwalk100]

Steward could be a 2.5 WAR SS. It's mostly defense but his offense won't be a killer. Very Thomas Kramer-like. Hernandez is a step down the ladder.