Quote:
Originally Posted by OmahaChief
Actually our farm system is not a good as once thought. All of our left handed pitching studs have pretty much busted out or got injured. We need some pitching depth at the minor league level. Beyond Odorizzi,Yentura, and Zimmer our only other hope is that Lamb rebounds from TJ surgery and Will Smith turns out decent. The rest of the minor league arms are nothing to write home about. Motogomery was here in Omaha and he looked like he had no confidence at all any more. Looked like a shot fighter when he was on the mound.
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The system is not very deep at the high levels, but it is still quite deep at A+ and below. There's a noticeable 1.5 level gap between the best talent (comes from going HS heavy in 2007, 08 and college heavy in 2009 and 2010).
I'd throw Sugar Ray Marimon into the "pitching depth" discussion as well. A name to bounce around and someone who's having decent success at NWA so far (even with getting bounced around by Springfield, which is stacked with great hitters).
It will still be a top 10 farm system at season's end.
AA and higher names of note:
Odorizzi
Ventura
Montgomery (still just 22... will still be on radars as a prospect if not a top 100 guy)
Dwyer (see Montgomery)
Will Smith (nothing special, but probably a solid back-end guy)
Justin Marks (OK results, projects similarly to Smith)
A+ and lower:
Jason Adam
Brooks Pounder (results haven't been pretty, but he's making progress in year 1 with new org)
Kyle Zimmer
Kyle Smith (2011 draftee has been dominant at low levels early)
Bryan Brickhouse (2011 draftee hasn't been as good as Smith, but has more upside)
Sam Selman (2012 draftee has been impressive early, and his control issues have disappeared)
Colin Rodgers (similar to Selman).
It's not a pitching rich system like what the Mariners or Cardinals are sitting on, but there are plenty of names to watch. Just not a ton of help close.