The Excel workbook contains several tabs at the bottom representing each of the league’s divisions as well as a tab for top 100 lists and the top 20 lists from Baseball America.

This will be the FINAL prospect compilation update until the Fall. Thanks!

File
2009-2010 Top Prospect List Compilation.xls

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Now we know you’re time is precious, but we also know you love baseball. So to give everyone a little impetus to start interacting, we’ve devloped a little contest around commenting.

Beginning NOW, we will award prizes:

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For a more detailed look at Scout School, you can read my four-part series below:

Building a Professional Baseball Organization: Scout School with the Kansas City Royals – Part I – The Beginning
Building a Professional Baseball Organization: Scout School with the Kansas City Royals – Part II – Grading the Players
Building a Professional Baseball Organization: Scout School with the Kansas City Royals – Part III – An Athlete’s Body and Hitting the Field
Building a Professional Baseball Organization: Scout School with the Kansas City Royals – Part IV – Evaluating Players During Batting Practices and Bullpen Sessions

Ever since my Scout School experience, I relish every chance I get to watch a potential major league prospect in action. So you could imagine my excitement when I had an opportunity to see a projected top ten talent take the mound this March during my annual spring training pilgrimage.

On a beautiful cool evening in Fort Myers, Florida Gulf Coast University’s Chris Sale took the mound against conference opponent Kennesaw State. Sale is best known for his work in the Cape Cod League last summer where he won outstanding pitcher of the league honors and finished first in strikeouts, tied for first in wins, and came in third in ERA. No less than 15 scouts, mostly national crosscheckers and area representatives who had already seen Sale, gathered on this night to get a look at the projected first round talent.

The very first thing you notice about Chris Sale is his body. The kid is tall, 6’ 6” tall, and skinny. He’s not unhealthy looking, but he could put on another 20-25 pounds and still be considered very lean. It’s no secret he’s been encouraged to put on weight. Apparently, his parents have been told to help bulk up the college junior as well. Sale’s huskier dad even wears a shirt proclaiming he’s living proof that his son will fill out. Still, despite weighing in at 183 pounds soaking wet, Chris Sale looks imposing throwing off the mound in the bullpen and even more so with his shorter teammates standing nearby.

Sale comes at hitters from a high three-quarter slot delivery. He has the ability to drop down and throw side arm, and some who have seen him claim he can even show a more regular three-quarter delivery.

The lanky left-hander has a very herky-jerky approach to the plate, and he tucks and hides the ball well. He’s deceptive and gives the illusion of many body parts flying around. Yet, his arm motion is smooth and clean, and he puts limited stress on his shoulder. I’d like him to use his legs more, but with physical maturity and strength, he should eventually be able to drive more off the core of his body. 

On this night, about 75% of Sale’s pitches were fastballs…both the 4-seam and 2-seam varieties. The 2-seam fastball had much more life and tailed down and away to right-hand hitters and in to left-handers. The 4-seamer was flatter, but Sale was able to command both pitches very well. His fastball hit 93 mph once but generally sat in the 91-92 range. Some of the scouts talked about seeing him previously reach 95, but he never got that high on this night.

Reports of the Sale’s excellent changeup had me anticipating that pitch more than any other, but unfortunately, I was a little disappointed. Through the first four innings, I witnessed only two 75 mph changeups, and both were out of the strike zone. Sale didn’t seem very comfortable with the pitch and abandoned it until about the sixth inning. The more he threw his change, though, the better feel he appeared to get for the pitch. Still, I would have liked to see him mix in his changeup earlier on, especially with such a funky delivery.

Thankfully, as disappointed I was in Sale’s changeup, I was as equally impressed with his slider (more like a slurve). In fact, I felt that the slider-slurve was the most difficult pitch for me, personally, to pick up out of the hand of the left-hander. Sale threw the pitch between 75-85 mph and, with such a long arm span, it was nearly impossible to identify the spin of the breaking ball until it was already upon the hitter. Even more impressive than the actual break was the command with which he threw the pitch. I know some feel that his changeup is his true out-pitch, but on this night, I didn’t witness anything resembling solid contact against the curve-slider-slurve or whatever you want to call it.

Chris Sale demonstrated some impressive qualities on the mound on March 26, but none were better than his command and control. For such a tall pitcher with an unconventional delivery, he was able to spot his pitches extremely well and was around the strike zone all evening. After running the count to 3-2 on the first two batters he faced, Sale was never again really in danger of walking a batter.

Sale showed athleticism and agility and moved well off the mound while defending his position. His pickoff move to first base seems average at best, but a nice slide step from the stretch enables him to get the ball home quickly.

Unfortunately, it’s tough to get a truly accurate picture of a real prospect by seeing him just once. After all, everyone has an off day. But it’s not that Chris Sale had a bad day. In fact, on the contrary, the big lefty allowed just one run over eight innings. He struck out seven and didn’t walk a single batter in leading Florida Gulf State University over Kennesaw State, 11-1.

But, maybe, just maybe, I didn’t get to see the best stuff Chris Sale had to offer. Maybe he can actually hit 95 mph on the gun. Or maybe he does possess an excellent changeup. I can only report what I see.

So what did I see? Well, I saw a stud pitcher with tremendous projection and ability to be a #2 starter on a major league club. Not bad for someone who may not have had his best day, huh?

In reality, when teams consider a prospect worthy of a first or second round selection, they won’t rely solely on the report of one scout (like me). They will make sure they pay numerous visits to the player both on and off the field. Area scouts, supervisors, crosscheckers and even the scouting director will likely see the player in action. After all, they need to know exactly whom it is they are drafting and be prepared to defend a multimillion dollar investment.

Additional Notes

It’s customary for a scout to file a report of the game he’s covered. Below is the scouting report I prepared after watching Chris Sale pitch on March 26th.

(Click on Image for Full Size Report)

If you’re unfamiliar with the 20-80 scale or don’t understand how it correlates to the ability of a pitcher, I highly recommend you read Kevin Goldstein’s piece Taking a Step Back, Part Three. It’s an excellent primer on scouting pitching prospects.

Here are the grades I arrived at for Chris Sale: