In previous articles, I’ve written about some top-flight outfield prospects, like Los Tres Enemigos (Hermida, Francoeur, Pie) and the 3 college players (Reed, Swisher, Granderson). While the best players (Young, Kubel, Milledge) are always written about, few have touched on the great depth at the position. Today I will talk about seven players that often go unseen at the outfield position, and probably factor somewhere in the 15-30 prospect range.

A fitting way to start this article is to touch on one of the most underrated prospects in the minor leagues. Sure, Val Majewski made enough noise to land a Sickels profile, but not by much. With Adam Loewen lost to injury, John Maine struggling and Denny Bautista traded, Majewski will battle 2003 first-round choice Nick Markakis for the title of Top Oriole Prospect. That honor will probably come with a bit of reluctance, as previous winners have included Ryan Minor, Keith Reed and Rich Stahl. What’s similar with these 3? We have forgotten them, which means it’s a good thing the Orioles have dumped much of their player development staff.

Majewski is an interesting player, because he has both the polish of a college player to go along with the youth and upside of a prep player. The Baseball Cube shows Majewski as having played two seasons at Rutgers University, in 2001 and 2002. As a 17-year-old Freshman, Majewski hit .378/.452/.618 followed by .364/.431/.627 as a Sophomore. The Orioles made him a third-round choice in the 2002 draft, quickly assigning him to the New York-Penn League. Val hit .300/.376/.464 in 110 at-bats there, before finishing the season in the South Atlantic League. Success continued in 2003, where Majewski split the year between the Sally League (.303/.383/.553) and Carolina League (.289/.321/.509). We heard next to nothing about this guy last year, but a 19-year-old with an .830 High-A OPS is solid.

And solid Majewski has remained. After turning 20 in Spring Training, the Orioles challenged Val with a promotion to the Eastern League. And Oriole management simply saw more of the same, as Majewski hit .307/.359/.490 this past season. What’s concerning is the plate discipline we saw in the NYPL and SAL has evaporated in his last two levels. His power is simply solid, with not a lot of room from improvement, which is troublesome for a right fielder. But when considering the fact that Baltimore split Jay Gibbons and B.J. Surhoff there in 2004, it’s safe to say the Orioles will use Majewski when ready.

The same cannot be said for Matt Murton, an outfielder with the unfortunate fate of first playing with the Red Sox, and now the Cubs. Neither team is particularly known for giving position prospects much of a chance, instead dealing them midseason, like Theo Epstein did in the Nomar Garciaparra trade. Murton, also a Georgia Tech Yellow Jacket, was previously known for his power after once winning the Cape Cod League home run crown. But after posting a .292/.364/.437 line in the Florida State League, it appears those days might be behind him.

Murton now has a career ISO of .135, definitely not good enough for a left fielder. But there is hope that Murton, otherwise harnessing a very solid game, will again show the power he did in his amateur days. As a Cubs fan, I love the addition of Murton, a player I feel will blossom in 2005. The FSL, nor the Southern League (where Murton will play in 2005), are great on hitters, but Matt Murton will be prove good enough to be traded, yet again.

Alex Romero is destined for the same fate, yet another outfielder in Minnesota’s glut of young outfielders. Consider the following:

Player A: .298/.361/.400
Player B: .292/.387/.405

In this old, overused game, Player A is Jason Kubel, now the second best outfield prospect in the minor leagues. Player B is Romero, a Venezuelan that put up those numbers while being a year younger than Kubel. Now it’s unfair to say if Romero will have a Kubel-like breakout in 2005, though if I were Terry Ryan, I would wait nine months to consider trading him. For now, Romero is a 21-year-old, switch-hitting outfielder with solid tools, next year, we’ll see what the Eastern League brings.

Yet another player that was hurt by the pitching-friendly FSL was WTNY favorite Melky Cabrera. And not only my favorite, but also frequent commenter Fabian, who tracks this stuff on a daily basis. After beating up on Midwest League pitching to the tune of .333/.383/.462, the Yankees gave Cabrera a mid-season to promotion to the FSL. It was in Tampa where Cabrera put up a .288/.341/.438, actually showing improvements in ISO and OBP-BA. So in case you’re keeping score at home, that is three consecutive spikes in ISO, finishing with .150.

Like Romero above, Cabrera is a Caribbean, switch-hitting outfielder. At previous times, I’ve compared Cabrera to Bernie Williams, another switch-hitter that played in High-A at 20, not 19 like Cabrera was in 2004. Bernie’s ISO was .152, though his average (.335) and walk (65) totals were superior. I doubt Melky will ever reach Bernie’s greatness, but I do think he’s one of the Bronx Bombers top prospects. And unless they sign Carlos Beltran or another CFer in the near future, maybe they’ll open a spot for him too. I doubt it.

On the other side of The Rivalry is another outfielder that saw a late season promotion to the FSL. Brandon Moss was one of the South Atlantic League’s best hitters this season, hitting .339/.402/.515 before getting 83 at-bats in Sarasota. The greatness did not stop in those 22 games, where Moss hit a ridiculous .422/.462/.542. This season has come as quite a surprise to scouts, as Moss had previously posted a .587 OPS in the GCL and .720 OPS in the NYPL.

His tools aren’t superior, especially his outfield defense. But it’s too early to call this season a gaffe, as we saw improvements in his strikeout rate, which also helped a jump in batting average. While I have no way to have the stats behind this, my guess would be that Moss had a BABIP higher than average, and should see a reduction in batting average next season. But if he puts up a .280/.350/.480 line in the FSL, he’ll seem even better to me than Alex Romero or Matt Murton.

From the solid to the toolsy, we move to an overlooked Tampa Bay prospect. This really shouldn’t happen, as you would expect Devil Ray fans to grasp on anything moving in the minor leagues. Elijah Dukes seemed to put all his tools together that made him a 3rd round choice in 2002, actually improving after a midseason promotion from the Sally League to the Cali League. I’ve gotten some heat on not liking Rocco and liking Gathright, but can’t we all just agree on Elijah Dukes?

In 43 games alongside Delmon Young in the South Atlantic League, Devil Ray brass promoted Dukes with a .288/.368/.423 line. What happened in Bakersfield? Average, up. ISO, up. OBP-BA, up. While he didn’t have the 14/15 SB success rate he had in low-A, 16/23 ain’t bad. And overall, 30/38 is fantastic. Like a toolsy prospect, Dukes has significant SO/BB issues, especially when he has 227 career Ks in 218 games. This kid has possible star written all over him, and will be a name I watch next year extremely closely.

But I’ll see your A-ball tools prospect, and raise you one. In case you weren’t aware, the South Atlantic League was home to not one, but 2 good outfield prospects with the last name ‘Young’. I’m not a huge fan of the White Sox minor league system, but I think Chris Young has more potential than Brandon McCarthy, Brian Anderson or Ryan Sweeney. Young put his name on the map with a solid Appy League performance last year, hitting .290/.357/.479.

More of the same came from Young this season, though there was a significant decrease in contact. Young’s batting average went from .290 to .262, and he struck out 145 times in 135 games. But, good things came from the season as well. Young stole 31 bases in 40 attempts, an improvement off the 75% success rate from 2003. His ISO went up to .243, which shows superstar potential. And to make you sabermatricians happy, he also saw a rise in walks, reaching base 66 times via the walk.

Be mad at Kenny Williams for trading Jeremy Reed, and be mad at the media for overhyping Ryan Sweeney. But be happy White Sox fans, you got a good one in Chris Young.

Quickly, a ranking of the 7: Majewski, Cabrera, Young, Dukes, Murton, Romero, Moss. That’s all for today, though I urge interested readers in researching a few other players that just missed this list: Jason Pridie (Devil Rays), Michael Bourn (Phillies) and Fred Lewis (Giants).