I/O HQ: Physically tall, athletic, but without overwhelming tools. "Tools play up" due to (Ackley-, Bloomquist-)type baseball IQ.
Tweener offense: good for SS, not good for 3B.
Tweener defensive tools: Beltre-like hands, but may not have the range for SS.
NOTE: HQ's opinion above echoes the consensus, which considers Littlewood a "solid-looking" ballplayer who doesn't have a calling-card skill. All of this would have been the report on Willie Bloomquist at the same age, but then again it would have been the report on some good players, too.
..............
I/O The Rest: MLB report gives the vibe that Littlewood is a great defender, but whose bat is suspect.
Sickels inverts that: bat looks good, but defense is suspect at SS.
HBT does not have him in its top 12. Baseball Prospectus has him at #14 with a completely different take: "Has some power potential" but might not be athletic enough for short. (??)
Keith Law of ESPN (Baseball Prospectus...) opined that Littlewood projects to plus defense at short, so that in view of his growth over the summer, he projects to an HR-hitting shortstop...
Prospect Insider doesn't have Littlewood in its 16-30 list, so we'll assume that he's somewhere in their 11-15 section. Yes, I know what assume does.
..............
High School pedigree: Before last year's draft, it was taken for granted that the Mariners would select Littlewood with their first-round (supp) pick, never mind their #67 in the second.
If so, they must have been giddy. There's nothing better in Roto than --- > forcing yourself away from your guilty-pleasure pick, taking a sensible guy, and then having that guilty pleasure tumble to you in the next round...
After the Mariners were elected Fools On the Hill by 538 electoral votes to 0, for taking SS Nick Franklin in the first ... you were going to get crickets on their next SS selection. Would that the Mariners knew something we don't about Littlewood, as well...
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A month's worth of goodness, and you're only to "L"
I personally love how they are stockpiling guys for all 25 roster spots, but still are lighting up the top of the prospect scoreboard as well. It's the deep reservoir of "could be ..." guys (and a stream of them that doesn't dry up) that ultimately makes a difference at the MLB level.
http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/prospects/rankings/organization-top...
And the Royals: 8-9-10-18 & 19 (not to mention 51-68-69 & 83).
Here's an analysis of how the Royals stack up vs. previous teams with boatloads of prospects: http://www.baseballamerica.com/blog/prospects/?p=10925
The article cited (http://www.baseballamerica.com/blog/prospects/?p=10925) is really fascinating, with lots of cautionary tales. Very interesting to me how much birth-certificate corruption had an impact. Also, how forthright BA is about their ratings being so completely off sometimes.
The 1992 Braves class is clearly the winner (C. Jones/Klesko/Wohlers/Javy Lopez) because the Braves had both the smarts and the resources to leverage it for years to come. The other teams have lacked one or the other or both.
Quite a few interesting pitchers outside the top 15 ... notably, HQ calls attention to one Jordan Shipers, "who might become the jewel of this draft."
Then there's the top 15...
And international guys...
Reminds when a fan asked James whether the Red Sox had any prospects they could offer for a big name on the block. His acid reply, "dozens of them" ...
Even knowledgeable pundits are wayyyyyyyy off the mark come trade-deadline time, assuming that orgs have only a prospect or two, if that, who could be traded for a Lee type... then Lee gets traded for three guys outside the org's top 20 and the cycle starts all over again...
The Spec's text always goes down smooth, substantial, with a crisp finish...
Especially hope you'll maintain the updates on the #2 pick. With your own preferred #2-of-the-moment, if it's possible for you to give an opinion along with the reams of data :- )
I don't, but ...
Sunday (2/27) at 11 a.m. Pacific, Matt Purke takes the mound in an early-season showdown series vs. #12 Cal State-Fullerton.
The Law-Churchill juggernaut has Purke slipping (after just one game?), but others still have him at 2 or 3.
Gerrit Cole pitched one scoreless inning before getting rained out on Friday.