I think he saw "2 million dollar bonus baby" and "first round draftpick" and slotted them according to that. How Taijuan Walker ranks higher than the system leader in Ks (Robles) who finished 4th in the Southern League in that stat despite graduating for a month to AAA, the AA Texas pitcher of the year (Beavan), etc is beyond me.
Taijuan Walker was considered an overdraft by some at 43. Keith Law didn't have him in his Top 100, IIRC. He cheerfully signed for slot bonus with nary a peep, way ahead of schedule. 5 of the next 7 guys behind him signed above slot (right behind him was Castellanos who cost 2.7 million ABOVE slot). Walker was not highly regarded on draft day; he was a raw tools pick, an athlete who had never focused on pitching and was still pretty good at it.
He may well BE the 5th best prospect in the system. He might be a TOR arm who's just starting to sprout, but there's absolutely no way to tell at this point. He has nice raw tools. As BA says about him from fall ball pre-draft:
"He fires an explosive 91-94 mph fastball and adds a wicked 85 mph slider. Adding to a hitter’s misery, Walker flashed a nasty 77 mph curveball and experimented with what looked to be a cutter at 87 mph. His stuff can be correctly described as downright unfair."
Which is great, but placing him after a handful of innings in the desert is pure guesswork. I had this argument about Tui with you, Doc - where do you put a draftpick based soley on money paid and exhortations given? You wanted him #1 heading in to 2005 (after Felix, I assume, was no longer going to be available) and I was willing to give him an honorary #10 spot, nothing more. Difference of preference in player rankings.
Based on this list, the author places a lot of faith in tools and potential rather than in performance. Shipers and Littlewood haven't played but make the list. Walker threw 7 innings and gets the 5th spot. Pimentel can't even make contact in the hitter-friendly desert and gets the 4th. Poythress clubs 30+ 2B and HR and leads the world in RBI and doesn't make the list.
I hope Pimentel and Walker are indeed that good. I just don't see how they could be appropriately judged to be so at this point.
~G
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