Three former BlueClaws were ranked among MLB’s top 50 prospects announced tonight on MLB Network. Below, find snippets of the comments on each of the players and a link to a brief video.

• 14. Domonic Brown (2008)…“He has the potential to be a five-tool player. He’s unique in size alone. When you talk about athleticism, you usually don’t talk about somebody 6-foot-5 in our sport, but he truly has the size, the leverage and the athleticism to make him unique.” – Phillies assistant GM, Chuck LaMar.
• 17. Kyle Drabek (2007)…Now with Toronto…Drabek has a very good fastball that sits in the low 90s and has touched 95-96 mph. He’s got one of the best curve balls in the Minor Leagues, a true plus pitch that he commands well. The changeup lags behind, but has the chance to be a very effective pitch, as well. He’s a bulldog on the mound, a real competitor. He’s matured a lot since being drafted, with the year off allowing him the time and space to grow up, and it’s been reflected in his pitching.
• 35. Michael Taylor (2008)…Now with Oakland…“Michael Taylor is an impressive physical specimen. Brute strength, athletic, pure hitting instincts, baserunning ability and solid defensive acumen. His skill level in a perfect world would be equivalent to a right-handed hitting Dave Parker.” – A’s director of player personnel, Billy Owens

Here is the full top 50. Phillipe Aumont, by the way, a big reliever acquired by the Phillies in the Lee deal, was ranked 48th. More on this list in the coming days. But it’s always good to get a ranking, and thus a perspective.

We’re not surprised with any of these rankings by the way. The Phillies obviously had a higher grade on Brown than Taylor. So did Baseball America, who ranked Brown first in the system the last two years. So that MLB.com does is not a shock at all. Who would be next? Travis d’Arnaud? Anthony Gose? Trevor May? Safe to say that those three have a good chance to fall somewhere in a top 100 list.

Of note…before the Halladay/Lee deals, the Phillies had three of the top 35. Only Texas and Tampa Bay could say that. This is important to note, showing the quality of player that the Phillies are producing in their system.

Also, I think tomorrow the Baseball America Prospect Handbook will arrive. That’s when you know you’re close to baseball.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 27th, 2010 at 11:00 pm and is filed under Around the Farm, Past BlueClaws. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.