2008 Top Cards Prospects – The Final Tally

Pulling all the votes together on the St. Louis Cardinals’ top minor league prospects for 2008.

As our yearly Forty Days, Forty Nights, Forty Prospects series nears its close, this article brings together the voting of all four participants from The Birdhouse, Leonda Markee (LM), Dustin Mattison (DM), Ray Mileur (RM) and me, Brian Walton (BW). The far left column of the table below is the aggregate ranking. To the right of the players’ names are our individual votes.

Next are the 2007 and 2006 rankings of the players in the new 2008 Top 40, or as I should more accurately say, Top 42. New Cardinals Brian Barton and David Freese, added to the organization via Rule 5 Draft and trade, respectively, were inserted into the list after it had been compiled.

Seven players make their initial appearance on the list for 2008 in their first year of eligibility, with six as new draftees into the organization and one, D’Marcus Ingram, a draft-and-follow from the previous draft. Ten others make the list for the first time, though they were previously in the organization.

Not surprisingly, the split is in favor of pitching, though position players gained ground thus year, now holding down 19 of our 42 spots. Eight are infielders, three are catchers and eight are outfielders.

Four of our top six are pitchers. Of the 23 hurlers on the list, eight are relievers while 15 are starters. Of the latter group, three are left-handed.

In addition, you will see a column labeled “Comm” on the far right. That is the results of a collaborative effort among a group of very knowledgeable Cardinals fans from our Message Board. While that group is ranking 50 players, not 40, I limited their list in this article to 40 for consistency. Click on this link to see the entire community list and their reasoning behind it.

Rk	Name	LM	DM	RM	BW		2007	2006	Comm
1	Colby Rasmus	1	1	1	1		1	7	1
2	Bryan Anderson	2	2	2	3		4	9	2
3	Jaime Garcia	3	3	3	2		3	36	3
4	Chris Perez	4	4	5	4		8	NA	5
5	Adam Ottavino	5	5	4	5		5	NA	4
6	Tyler Herron	6	6	7	7		20	18	6
7	Jose Martinez	10	7	12	10		30	30	13
7a	Brian Barton	6a	9a	18a	6a		NA	NA	10
8	Joe Mather	8	16	8	13		NR	NR	7
9	Clayton Mortensen	21	9	10	6		NA	NA	15
10	P.J. Walters	7	17	6	17		NR	NA	11
11	Allen Craig	13	10	9	18		NR	NA	8
12	Mark Hamilton	14	11	19	9		18	NA	14
13	Mitchell Boggs	11	12	14	16		21	34	17
13a	David Freese	12a	20a	12a	11a		NA	NA	19
14	Jarrett Hoffpauir	12	15	11	24		NR	NR	9
15	Kenny Maiques	23	13	13	14		NR	NR	16
16	Pete Kozma	NR	8	16	8		NA	NA	12
17	Tyler Greene	17	18	26	12		16	8	29
18	Jess Todd	29	21	15	19		NA	NA	18
19	Jon Jay	24	19	30	11		9	NA	27
20	Mark McCormick	9	37	18	21		11	6	20
21	Josh Kinney	15	14	27	30		13	NR	24
22	Jason Motte	16	20	22	31		NR	NR	26
23	Blake Hawksworth	26	33	17	15		2	28	21
24	Luke Gregerson	18	28	21	36		NR	NA	28
25	Jon Edwards	39	27	28	22		15	NA	25
26	Tyler Norrick	27	24	31	34		31	NA	30
27	Cody Haerther	19	38	35	26		12	5	22
28	Luis de la Cruz	NR	26	20	35		NR	NA	23
29	Stuart Pomeranz	34	30	38	23		7	4	34
30	Brad Furnish	31	35	33	27		NR	NA
31	Kyle McClellan	20	34	32	NR		NR	NR	33
32	Deryk Hooker	NR	22	25	NR		NA	NA	31
33	Mark Worrell	35	NR	24	33		24	17	32
34	Blake King	NR	39	34	20		22	NA
35	Mike Parisi	25	NR	NR	28		25	24	37
36	David Kopp	NR	NR	23	32		NA	NA	39
37	Brandon Buckman	33	36	29	NR		NR	NA
38	Nick Stavinoha	NR	NR	36	25		10	16
39	D’Marcus Ingram	NR	25	NR	38		NA	NA	36
40	Steven Hill	36	31	40	NR		NA	NA	40
NR	Andres Rosales	NR	NR	NR	NR		NA	NA	35
NR	Brett Zawacki	NR	23	NR	NR		NA	NA	38
		LM	DM	RM	BW		2007	2006	Comm
	NA=not applicable
	NR=not ranked

Now, here’s my view as to some of the movers and shakers this year.

Top debut – Clayton Mortensen - #9
(next – Pete Kozma - #16 and Jess Todd - #18)

The Cardinals’ 2007 supplemental first-rounder quieted his skeptics with a solid partial season on the mound, his first as a professional. Top pick Pete Kozma is here for his potential and second-round closer Jess Todd stood out with Batavia.

Fastest riser – Joe Mather – non-ranked to #8
(next – P.J. Walters - NR to #10 and Allen Craig – NR to #11)

Joe Mather’s meteoric rise was totally unexpected, as he did not receive a single vote one year ago. P.J. Walters and Allen Craig each stepped up with standout sophomore campaigns to leap onto our prospect map.

Biggest fall – Nick Stavinoha - #10 to #38
(next – Daryl Jones from #17 to non-ranked)

Outfielder Nick Stavinoha seemed to plateau out in 2007 after a great 2006 while Daryl Jones can’t yet seem to get a handle on those five tools that are seemingly rusting away in his kit bag.

Next are my views of some of the top individual picks and pans looking back at what we voters said one year ago.

Top 2007 pick – Markee – Brendan Ryan #16 (pictured)

Leonda was one of two voters that had Ryan in the teens one year ago, correctly anticipating his contributions at the Major League level during 2007.

Top 2007 pick – Mileur – Mitchell Boggs - #17

Ray saw the potential in Boggs a year earlier than the rest, putting this year’s #13 at #17 last year when the rest still had him in the 20’s.

Top 2007 pick – Walton – Jose Martinez - #17

One year ago, I ranked Martinez at #17, considerably more aggressive than the other voters, all three of whom had Martinez between 30 and 40. Martinez lived up to the projection, coming in at #7 this year, as everyone has now hopped onto the bandwagon. There’s plenty of room!

Top 2007 pan – Markee – Tyler Greene - #23

Of the four of us who ranked, Leonda was the least optimistic about shortstop Tyler Greene, who would suffer through an injury-racked 2007.

Top 2007 pan – Mileur – J