Don't rely on draft slot. Purke has been slowed by injuries considerably, but when he's healthy he's drawn comps to Cole Hamels and Jeff Francis. He's a very talented young pitcher, with a more advanced repertoire and feel than most pitching prospects. Sammy Solis should be on here though-- no doubt.

Franklin looks a bit like Adam Kennedy. Wong on the other hand, looks like a .300 hitter with high on-base percentages, 15 HR power and an above-average glove. What separates Wong from the others is his low-risk profile. He isn't flashy, but he's a good bet to make it in the big leagues.

It doesn't, it says Szczur has the tools to hit .290-.300 in his peak years. That site says that Montero has the tools to hit .290-.300 in his peak years with enough power to maintain a .500 SLG. Szczur doesn't strike out, he puts the ball in play and he gets on base. He wore down after donating bone marrow and playing D1 football at Villanova and establishing himself as one of the top wideout prospects in the game. Considering the circumstances, Szczur is remarkably advanced. A remarkably advanced player with plus-plus speed, great center field defensive tools and the bat to get on base 36% of the time and hit 10-15 homeruns a season is a top prospect. Period.

Great List but... Still surprised that Matt Szczur gets no love-- a plus-plus runner with a premium defensive future in CF with polished hit skills who's put up nice numbers in the minors despite focusing on football at Villanova. Also glad to see Syndergaard and Lavarnway on there. Very surprised that Fernandez and Purke made it while Solis gets left off as usual. Check out baseballnewshound.com top hitting prospects and pitching prospects 2012, gotta say pretty well though out pieces with 20-80 grades and spreadsheet http://baseballnewshound.com/?p=2241 http://baseballnewshound.com/?p=2151

Disappointing to see Solis so low here... He gives up hits because he generates so many groundballs and the low-minors defense behind him doesn't turn enough weak grounders in to outs. He's a sure-bet to be a definitely a middle of the rotation starter in a National League rotation-- he's smart, efficient and he has polished command over his 90-93 MPH fastball, solid cutter and decent changeup. He generates plenty of grounders and his slider isn't bad either. For all of the hype surround "projectable" hard-throwing youngsters without any command and zero secondary pitches (guys like Matt Anderson, Jesus Colome who never pan out), it's always the guys like Solis that end up producing. Randy Wolf, Kirk Rueter, Denny Neagle weren't exciting prospects either, but they sure were valuable to their teams. If you're interested, check out BaseballNewsHound.com's scouting report here: http://baseballnewshound.com/?p=1385

Also, Kendrys Morales is probably available.

Yankees aren't going to grab some insane contact here. They want to rest A-Rod by DH'ing him periodically and Cashman clearly wants Jeter's horrendous Glove out of the infield as much as possible. Eduardo Nunez-- given more playing time-- is a plus defender, plus baserunner and a solid hitter. They want him to play more at SS and occasionally at third base-- sort of a Maicer Izturis-type guy. They might still add Andruw Jones, but frankly, Justin Maxwell and Chris Dickerson wouldn't be a huge downgrade.

Adam Everett. 0.

Rymer Liriano and Matt Szczur... not even close. Szczur is a young Scott Podsednik if he half-way meets his potential while Liriano is considered to be one of the top players in A-ball.

Because young pitchers not a year removed from high school are inconsistent in every facet of their game. He's 19. Remember when you were 19? imagine having people talking about you daily and random guys contemplating your "inconsistent" strikeout numbers on Baseball Prospectus threads...

What's with the Yankees draft strategy these past couple of seasons? Lots of tools in Mason Williams, Bichette, Culver, Cave, Heathcott, Gumbs but seems like they pretty much pick every talented player not highly scouted/not receiving mainstream attention. Is this Cashman's front office saving money by picking high ceiling guys/tools guys that don't receive the pre-draft attention that the Matt Purkes of the world do? I know the "theme" of the '11 draft was MLB bloodlines, but even though the draft is a gamble, I don't see the Yankees expensive scouting efforts ending with picks based almost solely on MLB bloodlines... Anyway, so what's their strategy here? It's hard to call their 2010-2011 draft dissapointing with guys that have 6 years of development time before they even resemble what they can be.

What about Nolan Arenado? He's playing a solid third base this year while hitting .300 and avoiding strikeouts. He has a .307 career average and a .830 OPS up to A+ as a 20 year old. He's seriously not better than Cheslor Cuthbert? Xander Bogarts? Middlebrooks? Ridiculous.

Sort of agree here, but don't think Cashman would lose his job. Cashman wants MLB-ready prospects, not young guys thrust into a high-stress sitatuation out of fan-panic and media-frenzy. Rookies that succeed generally do so with a low-stress, rebuilding environment (like the Rays, Marlins, Nationals had when Longoria, Crawford, Zimmerman, Coghlan, Stanton, etc... developed) or when they at least begin the season in the big leagues. Late-season call-ups in the middle of pressure-cooker playoff races won't be kind to a twenty -year old like Banuelos, or a soon-to-be dissapointment Brackman (unless he's used out of the bullpen as he should be), or a positionless Jesus Montero. Remember the booes that rained down on phenomenal talents like Henson, Hughes, Kennedy, Chamberlain when they had their growing pains? Imagine the ugly fan/media reaction when Montero makes a bunch of throwing errors a la Ramiro Pena or Eduardo Nunez, or when Banuelos-- pitching in a vital series against the Red Sox-- gets lit up by David Ortiz, Carl Crawford, Adrian Gonzalez for a young Phil Hughes line. The Yankees should thank their lucky stars that Cashman was reasonable and patient enough to NOT listen to fans and media and trade away Montero and Nova for Cliff Lee (who would've left anyway). They should be even happier he didn't trade Cano and others for a pre-injury Santana.

I disagree. Everyone loves to bash the Yankees front office, but Cashman is an extremely patient and well though-out guy. New York is a big stage, and every time New York has rushed its prospects it's been a disaster. In a lost year, panic over the team's rotation has ruined Joba Chamberlain's career. Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy had serious issues pitching in New York when they were thrown into the pressure cooker rotation. Kennedy was a shell of himself until he went to Arizona years later. Hughes was a mess during his first couple of seasons and still hasn't harnessed his brilliant-yet-over-hyped potential. Cano, Robertson and Soriano did work out very well, but Brackman could go the way of Drew Henson (at least partially) if fans see the big money arm struggle at Yankee stadium. Banuelos and Betances are too valuable, and too fragile to throw into the team's playoff race, midseason. Betances had TJ surgery a couple of years ago, and it's probably not a good move to try to squeeze 6, high-stress innings per start out of his young arm. Banuelos is 20 years old. Name one other 20 year old pitcher that has ever found success with the Yankees (outside of borderline Hall of Famers). Pitching isn't even the Yankees problem right now. They're getting plenty of quality innings out of journeymen like Colon, Garcia, Gordon, Nova, Ayala and Wade. The team has serious issues making contact with men on base, and they're very inconsistent. Their fielding has been shaky and they've seriously stunted Eduardo Nunez's development by benching him for a monthonly to allow the NY media to freak out about his rusty glove when he finally played. If it were up to Cashman, he obviously wouldn't have overpaid for Jeter (even with the 3000 hits thing)-- knowing that they'd waste their payroll on a guy that doesn't even produce like a starter.--- This may sound cold, but the Red Sox had no problem benching their captain, saying farewell to Damon and trading Garciaparra. --- They also wouldn't have Soriano who's been a disaster and would be plenty happy with their dirt-cheap middle relief core led by Robertson, Ayala and Noesi. They'd have the money to grab a useful lefty- a problem that's killing their staff's situational effectiveness-- like Brian Fuentes or Craig Breslow. Finally, how would Jesus Montero help the team exactly? A rookie power-hitting 1B/DH on a team that has to deal with getting the playing time for bat-only Jorge Posada and has a big-money 1B in Mark Teixeira. Montero isn't exactly tearing AAA apart either (.748 OPS) and even if he did have a fabulous rookie debut, how useful is a slow, rookie, right-handed DH who hits .270/.340/.480 on a team that already slugs plenty of homeruns and needs either lefty arms or veteran clutch-hitting bats.

"The Bad: Hamilton lacks the arm for the left side of the infield" Completely incorrect. In fact, Hamilton has one of the better arms among positions players in the Reds system. Off of the mount in high school his fastball sat in the low 90s, and with a little bit of work he could clean up his mechanics.

They should just give texeira and cano Jeters gold gloves.

Betances is a future star, while Stoneburner, Nova and Brackman are all going to be filthy bullpen arms

If the Cubs are going to get it going, they might as well insert Jay Jackson in the 'pen and see what they can get out of him as a 3-pitch, hard-throwing reliever. Cashner belongs in the rotation long term. They also should deal with the Samardzija thing differently. Instead of looking at him as an impending total-failure, they should drop some time and money on improving his changeup, cutter and delivery and get some of his potential out of him. He's still a fantastic athlete with a big frame and bigger arm, wasting him as a middle reliever is useless-- especially when they have an army of them already.

And Jay Austin btw....

Kevin, What's your *overall* take on Anthony Gose? Can you make any MLB comparisons for readers to get a gauge on his potential? I know he has the speed and defensive tools to be a difference maker but his base-running has been downright awful, this season, and his performance at the plate hasn't been too promising (37SB/27CS, 32BB/103K, .712 OPS in A+). I know he's still just 20 (in a few a days), but even if he does start to develop at a better rate, is it honestly realistic to think that he'll be a starting CF in the MLB? Guys like Jiwan James and Joe Benson have similar tools, are similar ages (with James having less experience at the plate) and have been producing at much more promising rates-- yet they aren't even considered top 100 prospects.

To me it seems like both Lambo and Tabata are complete crapshoots. Both have inconsistent professional careers and both have unconventional combinations of tools for their positions. Lambo is essentially a left fielder with hopefully(keyword)enough power to make up for his poor defense and underdeveloped plate discipline. Xavier Nady? Tabata has the arm to play a good RF and the legs to play an average CF, but still doesn't seem to have the power to become better than a Melky Cabrera (in the end). His speed isn't enough to be a reliable basestealer in the MLB in the long-run--especially if he adds bulk to fix the power issues-- and his demeanor (historically) seems scarily similar to that of Elijah Lastings Milledge/Elijah Dukes. Which is more valuable in the MLB? I guess I'd take Tabata for his potential to be a complete player.

Hughes has been a very good pitcher, but he's also fallen apart lately. The Yankees already have 6 All-Stars and I doubt they're chomping at the bit to throw an injury prone, 24-year-old, star SP on to the roster when they're already trying to allow him to skip a few starts to give him rest. Secondly, if anyone on the Yankees' staff has been short-changed it has been Andy Pettitte, who has pitched against better competition (Hughes is the 5th starter) and (therefore) without the 9 runs per game worth of run support. In the end however, Pettitte may end up on the roster if Sabathia is removed by Girardi once he gets the recognition. Thirdly, David Price deserves to be on the roster well before Hughes. Not only is he the ace of the Rays' staff, but he's arguably the most valuable pitcher to his team (behind Lester) in the AL-- Lee and Sabathia have been indispensible, but the Mariners are in the basement and the Yankees' pitching staff could haved survived pretty well on Pettitte, Hughes, Vazquez, Burnett. The contending Rays wouldn't be where they are without Price.

Clippard is arguably the best set up man in the NL right now, and has certainly been the most consistent and most valuable man on the Nats pitching staff during the first half. He's been clutch, rarely gives up a big hit (or hit in general) and is often pitching two innings on back to back days... Gregerson has been very good, but both Heath Bell and Mike Adams have been too. He's nowhere near as valuable to the Padres as Clippard has been for the Nats' and he pitches in the NL West, and in a home park that kills homeruns and invigorates inning-at-a-time relievers.

I've always been a "KeJo" fan, but I stayed away from last year in favor of a late round combo of Ben Zobrist and Alberto Callaspo. I do think Kelly will rebound--his skillset is one that should do well in Arizona. He gets on base on a higher rate than most MIs and he has more power than most. He seemed to have a lot of bad luck last year. I bet .275/.440/.350 is within reach. Lastly, is Gordon Beckham really going to get all of his reps at second? Why is Mark Teahen someone to force a rising star to a new position? They had Josh Fields who wasn't that far behind and let him rot in AAA...