Baseball Prospectus - Chat with Arizona Diamondbacks Top 10 Chat

Chat: Arizona Diamondbacks Top 10 Chat

Welcome to Baseball Prospectus' Friday December 13, 2019 12:00 PM ET chat session with Arizona Diamondbacks Top 10 Chat.

This chat will be to discuss the Arizona Diamondbacks Top 10 Prospects List, released today.

Arizona Diamondbacks Top 10 Chat: Another list, another chat

jules (here): If Josh Rojas hadn't just passed the PA threshold, where would he slot in on your team rankings?

Arizona Diamondbacks Top 10 Chat: He might have snuck on in Young's spot, but I think I prefer Young's bat all in all. He's broadly in the 15-25 range or so.

AndersonAdams1 (Roswell, GA): Is Daulton Varsho really a catcher? If not, what position might he realistically play and how much does that diminish his outlook as an impact player?

Arizona Diamondbacks Top 10 Chat: He's not a disaster there, it's just a bit rough at present and even with refinement, teams are going to have their individual tolerance for these kinds of defensive profiles. There's also a bunch of soft skills to bake in behind the plate that don't come out in our framing metrics. That's all to say it isn't as binary as yes/no, he's in a large maybe bucket that encompasses a lot of catching prospects. He actually legit might be athletic enough for a third base or corner outfield spot, and he's played there some in college and summer leagues.

MarkusJ (Stockholm): What would you say the OFP is on Blaze Alexander (good name)?

Arizona Diamondbacks Top 10 Chat: He was on various drafts of the top ten, where it was 50 / glove-first everyday SS

Yuri (Israel): It's been a while since Craig has done a chat. Can you confirm that you've listened to the people and completely removed it from his job description going forward?

Arizona Diamondbacks Top 10 Chat: I can let you know you won't see him the rest of this year at least, so happy holidays Yuri

mnmccann (CA): Robinson or Julio Rodriguez?

Arizona Diamondbacks Top 10 Chat: Ooh, closer than you'd think, but Rodriguez has done it at higher levels.

fountainness (Taiwan): Among those non-big names in 2019 draft, Tristin English really caught my eye, I think his bat is real and his tools indicate that he will be given chance at position other than 1B. How do BP evaluate this kind of prospect?

Arizona Diamondbacks Top 10 Chat: Projecting these kind of guys is tough. As just a third round uh, free-swinging college first baseman, he's interesting but not really in list consideration. Defensive flexibility would help in terms of a major league bench role, and he'd also be an interesting candidate for a Jared Walsh type two-way role. But all of that increases variance and development time.

Ben (CA): Thanks for taking the time to talk with us. Any reports on how Ryne Nelson was looking in the NWL? Is there any chance he sticks as a starter?

Arizona Diamondbacks Top 10 Chat: Big fastball, big effort and control issues. You can give him innings as a starter for now for the reps, but he looks like a pretty safe bet to be a pen arm long term with that delivery.

Arizona Diamondbacks Top 10 Chat: Colorado on Monday, which is uh a less interesting system.