A brief reply to Charlie at SBNation

It is always dangerous to disagree with Charlie as his command of the facts and stats is always impressive. His posts are great. But this time, I have to disagree with his view of our farm system.

Charlie's argument is that the farm system is a disappointment this year. Our top prospects are not excelling and exceeding expectations. He gives some good examples by going through his top 10 prospects.
He is okay with Taillon, disappointed in Sanchez, okay with Heredia and Allie, fine with Marte, very disappointed in Owens and Morris, and just okay with Cain while disappointed in Von Rosenburg.

I felt this needs a bit of a rebuttal. I will use my list of top prospects.

We can agree that Taillon is doing fine. There was really no way he could have exceeded expectations.

I had Rudy Owens next, and we can agree that he has really struggled. But I think there is reason to hope he is coming out of it, but still, he has had a bad year.

Allie was third on my list and we all knew walks were going to be a problem with him. He has shown that impressive ability in many of his games. He is young enough that this is real good year considering he is facing college juniors and seniors.

Marte is my next prospect and he has had a great year. Continuing to hit well despite the injury last year and the new AA pitching. His defense also sparkles along with his throwing arm. This guy looks great.

Sanchez has dropped off. His power is gone and his consistent hitting gone. The most troubling thing is his defense is also not so good anymore. I mentioned how I still think he is overrated, and apparently I overrated him too.

Locke started slow, but has been coming out of it. He has not had a major blow up year like Owens, and if he continues on his current path his overall year will not look that bad. A bad start held him back, but he is back on track.

D'Arnaud made it to the big leagues and while not a world beater up there, he had a great AAA year. He was hitting about .290 when he was called up. In the bigs he added third base to his position total. No reason to say he had a bad year especially remembering his low average last year. This was an improvement.

Cain has had a great year. I would say he is exceeding expectations. He is not doing so well out of the pen, but he is a starter who is getting tired.

Von Rosenburg has had a bad year giving up a lot of hits and homers. However, it is not a giant concern as his walk total is low, his strike out total still very impressive, and he has not yet added the speed that everyone thinks his body will add. Not a break out year, but not a bad year.

Now, I had Andrew Lambo at 10, and he has had the worst year of any prospect in our system. Just awful. But to make up for it, Jordy Mercer had a near break out year in AA, and has found his power is sticking around in AAA. He was a little slow to start there, but is getting into his groove now.

One could also argue for great years from Grossmann, McPhearson, and a break out year for Nick Kingham and Ryan Hafner. They have all been terrific.

I also think that Charlie fails to count those who made it to the pros. The farm system started off the year including Alex Presley, Josh Harrison, and Chase D'Arnaud not to mention Eric Fryer. All of these guys made the big leagues and did at least okay if not out right amazing like Presley. Also Daniel McCutchen was in AAA at the beginning of the year and he has pitched great in the pros. Daniel Moskos did alright, and is doing fine at AAA. This is great since some were worried last year he showed himself to be a bust. Not so.

Also it is true State College is struggling, but I think they are beginning to hit as Alex Dickerson is showing himself to be a good hitter and many of the others are adjusting to wooden bats. Dan Gamache is recovering from a hand injury, but is tearing up Rookie ball as he ought. Those are the two big contributors from this year's draft. The others are signing, but are high schoolers.

The farm system is not in bad shape and I think may actually be better than it has in years past.