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Below is my list for the Top 50 prospects in the 2014 draft. Nothing fancy here or anything that's gonna need a ton of explanation. Just a few preferences I have before we begin:
1. I like hitters more than pitchers and if I had to choose between a pitcher and a hitter who were two of the same caliber prospects, I'd probably go with the hitter 10/10 times.
2. I prefer college guys generally to high schoolers. College players face much more parity and a higher skill level in their seasons than their prep counterparts and they have had more time to develop. This can be broken down even further that prep players from warm weather climates are better than cold weather climate players generally given their ability to play ball almost year round. Further touching upon the the competition point, those prep guys who attend the summer showcases are higher to me than those who don't.
3. Power is great and it can completely change the game, but you only hit home runs when you make contact with the ball. I'll take the lower power bat and the higher hit tool than the high power low hit tool unless you're bringing speed and defense to the table as well (such as Jacob Gatewood vs Bubba Starling).
4. Defense matters, but at the end of the day it's the bat that wins out for me. I'll take a below average defender and plus hitter over an above average fielder and below average hitter even if the defense is plus defense.
# | Name | Position | School |
1 | Brady Aiken | LHP | Cathedral Catholic HS, CA |
2 | Alex Jackson | OF | Rancho Bernardo HS, CA |
3 | Carlos Rodon | LHP | North Carolina State |
4 | Tyler Kolek | RHP | Shepherd HS, TX |
5 | Nick Gordon | SS | Olympia HS, FL |
6 | Max Pentecost | C | Kennesaw State |
7 | Michael Conforto | OF | Oregon State |
8 | Brad Zimmer | OF | University of San Francisco |
9 | Grant Holmes | RHP | Conway HS, SC |
10 | Aaron Nola | RHP | LSU |
11 | Sean Newcomb | LHP | Hartford |
12 | Jeff Hoffman | RHP | East Carolina |
13 | Forrest Wall | 2B | Orangewood Christian HS, FL |
14 | Trea Turner | SS | North Carolina State |
15 | Casey Gillaspie | 1B | Wichita State |
16 | Kyle Schwarber | 1B | Indiana |
17 | Michael Chavis | 3B | Sprayberry HS, GA |
18 | Derek Fisher | OF | Virginia |
19 | Spencer Adams | RHP | White County HS, GA |
20 | Kodi Medeiros | LHP | Waiakea HS, HI |
21 | Michael Gettys | OF |
Gainesville, GA |
22 | Derek Hill | OF | Elk Grove HS, CA |
23 | Braxton Davidson | 1B | TC Roberson HS, NC |
24 | Touki Toussaint | RHP | Coral Springs Christian HS, FL |
25 | Chase Vallot | C | St Thomas Moore HS, LA |
26 | Monte Harrison | OF | Lee summit West HS, MO |
27 | Luis Ortiz | RHP | Sanger HS, CA |
28 | Kyle Freeland | LHP | Evansville |
29 | Erick Fedde | RHP | UNLV |
30 | Brandon Finnegan | LHP | TCU |
31 | Alex Blandino | 3B | Stanford |
32 | Sean Reid-Foley | RHP | Sandalwood HS, FL |
33 | Tyler Bedde | RHP | Vanderbilt |
34 | Nick Howard | RHP | Virginia |
35 | Jacob Bukauskas | RHP | Stone Bridge HS, VA |
36 | Ti'Quan Forbes | 3B | Columbia HS, MS |
37 | Foster Griffin | LHP | First Academy HS, FL |
38 | Nick Burdi | RHP | Louisville |
39 | Michael Kopech | RHP | Mount Pleasant HS, TX |
40 | Jacob Gatewood | 3B | Clovis HS, CA |
41 | Aramis Garcia | C | FIU |
42 | Mike Papi | OF | Virginia |
43 | AJ Reed | 1B | Kentucky |
44 | Justus Sheffield | LHP | Tullahoma HS, TN |
45 | Brian Anderson | OF | Arkansas |
46 | Carson Sands | RHP | North Florida Christian HS, FL |
47 | Cody Reed | LHP | Ardmore HS, AL |
48 | Matt Chapman | 3B | Cal-State Fullerton |
49 | Marcus Wilson | OF | Junipero Serra HS, CA |
50 | Sam Travis | 1B | Indiana |
If you want to see basically every single one of these guys on video check out the Perfect Game All-Star Game from last year.