ME VERSUS AMERICA...BASEBALL AMERICA Well, a little while back I made my very own Yankees Top 10 Prospect list: 1. Dioner Navarro 2. Rudy Guillen 3. Eric Duncan 4. Joaquin Arias 5. Ramon Ramirez 6. Estee Harris 7. Tyler Clippard 8. Melky Cabrera 9. Brad Halsey 10. Sean Henn 10. He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named Leaving out Dre...He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named, let's compare my list to Baseball America's: 1. Dioner Navarro 2. Eric Duncan 3. Rudy Guillen 4. Joaquin Arias 5. Ramon Ramirez 6. Robinson Cano 7. Ferdin Tejeda 8. Jorge DePaula 9. Estee Harris 10. Bronson Sardinha Through the first five selections, things look pretty similar (and no this has nothing to do with the fact that I published my list around the same time as BA's, because I actually knew what I was going to go with already). However, from 6 through 10, confusion ensues. While I chose to give the number 6 spot to Estee Harris, BA had him down at number 9, ahead of him are Robinson Cano, Ferdin Tejeda, and Jorge DePaula, none of whom made my list. Seeing as they are the dominant prospect publications, allow me to defend my reasoning. Much of what BA sees in Cano at this point is based on projectability and what he will do in the future, I appreciate this, but at the same time, since I do not have the up close perspective that they MAY have, I need to see statistical evidence of what could or will happen with a player down the line before I start believing it. In Cano's case I don't see much of anything to be overly excited about. Cano has been relatively, not overwhelmingly, young for his levels and this past year in particular did not perform too well. More than anything else that is what put a damper on my expectations for him. In 2002, Cano spent the vast majority of the season playing for the Yankees old Class A affiliate, the Greensboro Bats in the Low A South Atlantic League. He hit .276/.321/.445, for a GPA of .256, and I was very excited about his "prospects" as he displayed the ability to hit for average and power, I pinned my plate discipline hopes on his being young. He also had pretty good defensive reports. Entering this season I felt that he might slip some in performance, due to going to the High A Florida State League, which is a notorious hitters hell, shockingly, he started off on fire, hitting about .400 for a few weeks. Soon after he considerably cooled off and when his time in A+ was done, he had compiled a line of .276/.313/.377 with a .235 GPA. I was somewhat under whelmed with his progress because while he maintained his batting average, he went from walking in 6% of his at bats to a walk in 4.6% of his at bats. Though on a positive note, his K rate went down from striking out in 16.5% of at bats to a strikeout in 13.4% of at bats. More alarming to me was that though I expected his power numbers to go down in terms of slugging percentage, because of the change in environment, I expected him to keep his extra base hit percentage around the same range. Unfortunately, Cano went from sending his hits for extra bases 32.8% of the time down to a meager 23.8% of the time, a huge drop-off. Whatever negative feelings I had about his season at that point were only exasperated by the Yankees promotion of him to AA-Trenton, in the middle of a slump no less, where he proceeded to hit .280/.341/.366. Upon initial glance this was an improvement for a player moving from a lower level to a higher one, however, this is not the case. In 2003, the AA Eastern League was one of the best hitters leagues in the minors and coming from the Florida State League, Cano probably should have shown even more than he did, though there is a small sample size caveat as he only had 164 ABs there. On a very positive note, his walk rate went from 4.6% of at bats to 5.5% (once again, small sample size). Thus far the one thing Cano has demonstrated consistently is the ability to hit for average, his power has come and gone, his plate discipline has not really developed. If he corrects either the plate discipline or power "problems" this year, he jumps from 10 to 15 on my list of Yankee prospects, up to the top 10, until then I will hold my excitement for him (for those of you wondering about his defense, Cano reportedly has a strong arm and soft hands though his range can be lacking, he was voted best defensive 2B in one of his leagues this year and most believe if not at 2B, his future will be at the hot corner). The second major discrepancy with the lists lies with BA's number 7, Ferdin Tejeda. I think this MUST have something to do with the tools, which they can see due to their relatively close proximity to prospects, because there is nothing in his statistical profile that piques my interest. Defensively, he's supposed to be some kind of wizard with the glove, but that's not enough for me if all a player is going to do is hit for average, and that is all Tejeda seems capable of at this moment. Tejeda is also not especially young for the amount and level of experience he has had so he cannot use that as an excuse either. Basically, I can see him as a super utility kind of backup player, but that is not valuable to me when discussing prospects. Speaking of potential major league impact, while BA goes and places DePaula at number 8 on their list, he does not make mine. My reasoning behind not having him is simple, DePaula, in my opinion, will not be able to be a starter because he is incredibly susceptible to the gopher ball and this being the case I think his future is in the bullpen. The fungible nature of the bullpen is a theory I subscribe to, and as such he has no real value for me. Finally, I would like to add BA's number 10 pick, Bronson Sardinha, as my new second number 10, with the departure of "that other guy". When the minor league season officially starts I will try and constantly update the progress of the Yankees top prospects so there'll probably be more features like this, just stay tuned, especially if anyone on these lists begins to make major moves either positively or negatively. *** Questions, comments, suggestions to mcnallyf@taftschool.org  ¶ 12:04 AM