I'm not sure that BJ Upton's future is in the infield even if it's at 3rd base. He would be a great centerfielder. His speed and arm translate well thare and his offense would do better without the defensive responsibilities of an infielder.
BJ has the same problem that his little brother Justin has, hard hands and bad footwork which leads to throwing errors. It will be interesting to see what Arizona does long term with Justin.

How about an overview of the Diamondbacks?

I notice you didn't mention Gathright that much. The TB outfield is glutted with bright prospects, but I think Gathright could be a dynamic lead off man. Basically, I think he should get more mention. Gathright may not develop into a complete player, like everyone expects Crawford and Young to do. The fact is that he has 2 things that could really create problems for other teams. The ability to get on base and amazing speed. Rickey Henderson became one of the greatest players of all time with basically those 2 traits. Gathright may not be Rickey, but he could be Rickey-like.

He is probably the fastest guy in baseball and he even has a good batting eye. Carl Crawford is pretty good, really fast, and may develop power. That is not a leadoff hitter though. The chances of 2 of the D-Rays outfield prospects turning into Superstars is not 100%. I think the chances of Gathright turning into something much better than Podsednick and maybe as good (or better) as Juan Pierre are pretty good. He may already be there.

Thoughts?

Of course you should continue with the system overviews. I for one am interested in these sorts of articles.

Why is Delmon Young still in Double A?

The obvious answer is that these are the Devil Rays, but at some point even an idiot realizes that their ass is on fire.

Great article over at Baseball Prospectus, Bryan. Was that the first one you've written for them? Assuming this is a new gig, congrats for the much-deserved recognition. Aside from Boyd Nation's draft coverage, BP hasn't had a good prospect evaluator since Dave Cameron left, so I'm glad you're on board.

Thanks Jon, I appreciate it. But, I wouldn't call it a new gig, I don't expect to be a regular contributor over there. It was still fun to have been recognized by them.

Excellent job as always, Bryan.

Funny thing about Gathright is that last year I completely disagreed with you when you suggested that the Rays would be better off trading Rocco for something good and using Gathright in CF. Now he has reversed the negative trend in his walk rate and started to show at least a little pop in his bat (he drove the ball well several times in his brief stint with the Rays this year) and I like his potential a lot more than before. I'm also a strong supporter of trading Baldelli, though Gathright's improvement isn't really the reason for that.

I think you're really overrating Cortez. If he was a couple years younger he might be interesting but for a 24 year old his performance at Montgomery wasn't anything special. Nice batting average but his isolated power and discipline were mediocre as always. I can't see him being anything more than a utility infielder in the majors.

Dukes has had some minor issues this season, mainly with ejections though I believe he had a suspension too. It's an improvement though since every problem has been confined to the field so far.

I don't expect Hall to be around in 2007, he may not even be on the team in 2006. In '07 he'll be in his third arbitration year and his production isn't close to justifying what he'd make then.

I think Bankston is finally going to start getting the attention he deserves now. He matched Young's performance last season and so far is doing the same in 2005. He's obviously not the prospect that Young is, he has two seasons more experience, but he's still very young and should end up on a lot of peoples top prospect radars by the end of the year.

The Rays may not have a lot of established pitching prospects that don't have concerns surrounding them but the depth in the system is beginning to look very good after the 2005 draft. I feel that sheer quantity of potential contributors is a very important strength of a system due to the normal attrition of young pitchers as they develop. By this time next year I bet the system will be getting a lot more recognition for the pitching side of it, though a lot of the guys will still be far from the majors.

Jim, awesome response.

Yes, there was certainly a time when you Devil Rays fans would have killed for Rocco Baldelli. That time has passed with two significant surgeries of course, which means they should have listened to me when I said to trade him last year. But when I now say to trade Joey Gathright, that would only be in the right scenario, and it would be rooted in my confidence for Elijah Dukes to become a good player. By the way, thanks for the Dukes information, I hadn't heard any of that.

Come to think of it, Cortez probably does belong behind Brignac in the rankings, but I can see him starting at shortstop in two years. I don't think he will do any offensively, but for such a loaded lineup, having a possible Gold Glover up the middle would be nice.

HE SPELLS IT JHONNY!!!

AND FROM WHAT I'VE SEEN, I WOULDN'T LET HIM NEAR COWHIDE, SO DH IS A GOOD CHOICE!!!

Actually, it's Jonny. Jhonny is a common misspelling because that's how his name is spelled in Spanish, and when he was dominating the Mexican league this past winter, that's how his name kept showing up in the boxscores. He really isn't as bad of an outfielder as people give him credit for either - he's pretty much like Huff out there, just with more speed and he doesn't play balls off the wall as well.

A few more guys who look like they may establish themselves before the season is over -

Matt Walker - last years' 10th round pick who got 2nd round money, Walker has started so far with 17 Ks, 4 BBs, 10 hits and a .64 ERA in 14 innings. Supposedly, his FB hits 95, so I wouldn't necessarily call it an early fluke, but we'll see if he keeps it up.

John Matulia - This year's 10th round pick, he was off the radar because he was considered to have a solid commitment to UF. Still, PG ranked him as one of the top 50 HS prospects, and he's doing very well so far as a 17 year old in Princeton, hitting .377/.424/.574.

Matt Spring - last years' 5th rounder, an adequate catcher out of the JC national champions (probably will need to move down the line, but has enough athleticism to not need to DH), always had power, but is starting to lay off pitches, with an early .306/.432/.528 line in Hudson Valley.

Despite a slow start in AA (he did very well in A+, however), I'd put Elliot Johnson ahead of Cortez in terms of 2B prospects. The kid has 70 speed, and unlike COrtez, he's shown some pop in his bat, working up to .273/.350/.449 after a really slow start. As an undrafted kid, he seems to be moving along well, but he did start having some error problems this year.