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MLB names three Giants among top 50 prospects
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You’ve heard this before if you’re a Giants fan, or really a fan of any team. Your team’s top prospect is a "can't miss."
For the Giants such names, that are now laughable, were promoted as guys worth waiting for. JR Phillips was one, Calvin Murray was another. Joe Fontenot was on the brink of success in 1997, as was Tony Torcato the year after. At the beginning of this decade Giants brass and other organizations were drooling over the looming greatness of Jerome Williams, Kurt Ainsworth and Jesse Foppert. Those guys each had some success with the big club, but none of them even came close to becoming the sensations we thought they were.
So we’ll take this news with a grain of salt. MLB.com released its list of the top 50 prospects in baseball, and three of the names are guys the Giants either drafted or signed.
First, get ready to feel old; Angel Villalona, who was born in on August, 17 of 1990, was ranked number 48 on the list. Villalona hasn’t impressed greatly, but has improved steadily. And considering he began competing in the pro ranks at the young age of 16 its only fair to give him some time. After August 17th of ’08 (the day he became a legal procurer of tobacco and adult periodicals) Villalona played in 27 games, hit .308, slugged .529, belted five home runs, and drove in 20. He also represented the Giants organization in the All-Star Future's Game at Yankee Stadium. Scouts still see him as a 30 home run, 100 RBI guy, but he will require some more seasoning.
Buster Poesy, named the 19th best prospect in baseball, will likely make his impact the soonest. Poesy, who split time between thee different leagues after being drafted in June is seemingly on the Giants fast track. Thanks to his three years of high level collegiate ball at Florida State, Posey looks to be acclimating himself well to professional pitchers. He ended the year with a .328 combined average and 23 RBI’s in the minors last season. Buster also plays a position the Giants will most likely have a hole at following 2009, or perhaps sooner if the incumbent, Bengie Molina, gets moved.
Madison Bumgarner found himself in the top ten of the list at number 6. His 2008 campaign was exceptionally inspiring. Bumgarner pitched in his first full professional season where he won 15 games, led the minors with a 1.46 ERA and had a fantastic strikeout to 9 innings pitched ratio of 10.42 K’s/9 innings. He was also named South Atlantic League pitcher of the week five times, named a mid season and post season all star, and was honored with the SAL Most Outstanding Pitcher award at the end of the year.
Add these three to an organization that has developed guys like Pablo Sandoval, Emmanuel Burriss, Fred Lewis, Sergio Romo, Brian Wilson, Jonathan Sanchez, Noah Lowry, Nate Schierholtz, Matt Cain and Tim Lincecum, and you have to give the Giants some credit in the way of player development. So I suppose it’s true; rumors of the farm system’s demise have been greatly exaggerated.
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MLB ·
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Buster Posey ·
Farm System ·
Prospects ·
Angel Villalona ·
Madison Bumgarner
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