Printer-friendly

November 13, 2012

Prospect Debate

Who Are the Rockies' Top and Fifth-Ranked Prospects?

by BP Prospect Staff

As Jason Parks noted in his prospect rankings primer, this year’s rankings are the product of a collaborative process. Before each system’s prospect list is finalized, members of the BP prospect team trade emails about the players involved, enriching the rankings with their own opinions and perspectives. We’ll be publishing excerpts from the best of those discussions throughout the offseason, generally the day after the prospect lists in question appear. Some exchanges have been edited for language or trimmed to stay on topic.

Link to Colorado Rockies prospect rankings

The top spot: Trevor Story vs. David Dahl

Jason Parks: I need to open this up again. Based on all the reports I've been given, both Dahl and Story seem like good candidates for the top spot in the Rockies system. But when I was writing up the Dahl evaluation, it seemed clear that he had the higher ceiling, and that risk was the only thing keeping him behind Story. Perhaps my sources were too liberal with their grades, but I have Dahl down as a future 7 hit tool/5 power at a premium position on the diamond. High risk because of age and level, but he has more polish than the average 2012 HS bat. Story is a damn fine prospect (and from Texas), but the tools aren't as loud and the risk isn't all that safer than Dahl given their refinement level. 

I don't know. I want to start the debate again. If my Dahl reports are close to the mark, and his stick has a 7 projection, it seems hard to rank him behind Story if he can in fact stick in CF long term. It's a close race, but if they both profile up the middle, the better stick should win out, right? 

Do you prefer Dahl or Story?